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Informal caregivers play a crucial role in the care of individuals with dementia, and their caregiving may significantly impact their own health and well-being. This cross-sectional survey study focuses on the perceived importance of various types and characteristics of formal support in a convenience sample of caregivers aged 65 years or older (N = 175) caring for a spouse with dementia. Participants completed a questionnaire containing 17 items describing different types of support and 12 items describing different characteristics of support, rating their importance. The questionnaire also contained questions on various caregiving-related factors. Principle components analysis (PCA) was carried out on the importance ratings, separately, on the types of support items and the characteristics of support items. Each PCA produced three components. For types of support, they were Proficiency and Opportunity, Supportive Structures, Flexible Counselling. For characteristics of support, they included Respectful and Competent, Timely Support, and Accessible and Acceptable. The three characteristics of the support components all had higher mean importance ratings than the three types of support components. The content of some components indicated that while spouse caregivers rate support for their caregiving needs as important, they may not always differentiate their own needs from those of their partner with dementia. The negative impact of caregiving was the factor most strongly and consistently associated with the components' importance ratings. This study emphasizes the need for health and social care providers to address the unique needs of spouse caregivers while simultaneously ensuring the delivery of quality care for individuals with dementia.

Introduction: Loneliness and social isolation are public health concerns. This study aimed to examine levels and trends in loneliness and social isolation among older adults (77+ years) in Sweden, assess subgroup variations, and determine associations between loneliness and social isolation., Methods: The 1992, 2002, 2004, 2011, 2014 and 2021 waves of the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) were analysed through ordered logistic and linear regressions., Results: On average, 12.5 percent of the participants experienced loneliness often/nearly always, while 6 percent were categorised as severely isolated. Loneliness and social isolation were more common in women, those aged 85+, and persons with basic education, in psychological distress or with mobility limitations. Loneliness was also associated with living alone. No increases in loneliness or isolation were identified; instead, loneliness tended to decrease in groups already experiencing lower levels of loneliness. Loneliness and social isolation were moderately associated each survey year., Discussion: This study challenges perceptions of high and increasing levels of loneliness and social isolation. Given the impact on health and wellbeing and the ageing of populations, policy and practice should still address these issues and target vulnerable groups. Subgroup analyses in trends are scarce and should be explored further in future research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Dahlberg, von Saenger, Naseer, Lennartsson and Agahi.)

microPublication Biology (micropublication.org) is a non-profit, community-focused, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing small (single-figure) reports of data, methods and software related to a variety of model organisms. A workshop on microPublications at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) conference in Summer 2023 focused on 1) publishing data-especially student research experiences, and data gathered through course-based research, and 2) using the microPublication platform and article template in teaching and learning. In this article, we further describe the microPublication platform and workflow and how PI's can use this venue to publish student work. We also provide examples of how the microPublication format can be adapted and adopted as tools for undergraduate teaching and learning., (Copyright © 2024 Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience.)

Objective: To investigate changes in socioeconomic inequalities in patient-related outcomes and pain medication use, following participation in a digital self-management intervention for osteoarthritis (OA) in Sweden., Method: Participants with hip/knee OA enrolled in the digital intervention were included. Self-reported outcomes collected were the numerical rating scale (NRS) pain, activity impairment, general health, Knee/Hip injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS-12, HOOS-12) Pain, Function, and Quality of Life subscales, 5-level EuroQol 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D-5L), Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS) for function, walking difficulties, fear of movement, wish for surgery, pain medication use, physical function measured by the 30s chair-stand test, and level of physical activity. Educational attainment was used as a socioeconomic measure and the concentration index was used to assess the magnitude of inequalities at baseline and 3 month follow-up., Results: The study included 21,688 participants (mean ± sd age 64.1 ± 9.1 years, 74.4% females). All outcomes except for PASS demonstrated inequalities in favour of highly educated participants at both time-points, with highly educated participants reporting better outcomes. At 3 month follow-up, the magnitude of inequality widened for activity impairment, but narrowed for NRS pain, EQ-5D-5L, KOOS-12/HOOS-12 Pain and Function, physical function, and wish for surgery. There were no statistically conclusive changes in the magnitude of inequalities for the remaining outcomes., Conclusions: There were inequalities in patient-related outcomes in favour of those with higher education among participants of a digital self-management intervention for OA, although the magnitude of these pre-existing inequalities generally narrowed after the 3 month intervention.