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The Internet of Health Things (technologies for exchanging data) is crucial in helping promote health and wellbeing. Family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's can significantly benefit from the Internet of Health Things by enabling caregivers to participate in programs from home to help manage their stress and distress in their caregiver role. This paper reports the results of a techno-economic analysis and a life cycle assessment comparing a video-communication delivered intervention designed to decrease the stress and distress of caregivers of people with Alzheimer's and related dementias to a hypothetical in-person delivery of the same intervention. Results indicated that the virtual intervention, compared to the hypothetical in-person intervention, was associated with lower participant costs yet, potentially more expensive from an organizational/provider perspective. Environmentally, the virtual intervention had lower carbon emissions than the hypothetical in-person delivery of the intervention. Furthermore, video-communication delivery of the intervention has the potential to reduce some of the hassles of looking for respite to attend caregiving interventions and allow caregivers to join from their preferred location across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family caregivers of older adults with significant cognitive and/or physical impairment are at increased risk for both psychiatric and physical morbidity. This article examines the research literature dedicated to the development of effective interventions to reduce distress and enhance well-being for these caregivers. Using a recent empirically based treatment (EBT) review of the literature as a backdrop, 3 overarching types of interventions were described as effective: psychoeducational skill building, psychotherapy (cognitive-behavioral in focus), and multicomponent (using a combination of at least 2 approaches such as education, family meetings, and skill building). Suggestions are made to facilitate future caregiver intervention research and translation of EBTs into the community including the need to expand rigorous research with caregivers of older adults facing problems other than dementia, including older patients with psychiatric problems; develop and test interventions designed for transitions into and out of the caregiving roles, as well as interventions designed to improve physical health outcomes and promote health behaviors; create linkages between interventions at multiple levels of delivery; extend caregiver intervention work with underrepresented ethnic and racial populations; and investigate the cost-effectiveness of caregiver interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the synchronous and temporal relations between engagement in activities and the two primary dimensions of affectnamely, positive and negative affect-using an intensive time-series design called concomitant time series analysis (CTSA). Twenty-four dementia caregivers completed 56 diary measures (4 times per day for 2 weeks) assessing their experience of positive and negative affect as well as engagement in a variety of activities. Total number of activities was significantly correlated with positive affect (r=.40), but not negative affect (r=-.12). Obtained pleasure from activities was significantly correlated with both positive (r=.42) and negative affect (r=-.17). These results may help further develop behavioral models of depression by suggesting that behavioral or self-reinforcing activities are associated primarily (or more saliently) with ones experience of positive affect. Future research examining the effect of behavioral interventions on both positive and negative affect is suggested, as is the examination of factors that may be more strongly associated with negative affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirteen percent of Hispanic households provide care to an adult aged 50 or older, but given their dramatic population growth, an increasingly large number of families will soon be placed in a caregiving role. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Hispanic caregivers could be accessed through local provider groups, with the goal of generating interventions to decrease caregiver burden. Study findings raise Anglo nurses’ awareness of the need for staff who share the values and language of diverse subgroups. Second, they confirm the presence of male caregivers, sons who alone provide personal care to a parent. Lastly, the effect of empathetic, informal interactions and personal stories in communication with Hispanics cannot be overstated. We believe that our findings are of interest to clinicians who help Hispanic families access community care agencies and, conversely, will help community agencies identify families who need assistance and clinical researchers who are seeking study participants. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There is growing evidence that psychosocial treatments incorporating behavioral intervention strategies can be effective in the treatment of depression in older adults with cognitive impairment. However, less work with such cases has focused on the use of cognitive interventions in tandem with these behavioral intervention strategies. This case study describes how cognitive behavioral intervention strategies and related homework assignments were tailored and integrated to successfully treat depressive symptoms in an older African American diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s disease. Examples of the homework strategies utilized are introduced by phase of treatment. We also discuss ways to overcome barriers to homework completion as well as methods to incorporate the client’s sociocultural context and personal history into homework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: An abridged version of the 25-item Male Sexual Health Questionnaire (MSHQ) was developed and validated (MSHQ-EjD Short Form) for assessing ejaculatory dysfunction (EjD). Methods: The MSHQ was administered to 1245 men in the Men’s Sexual Health Population Survey, 179 gay/bisexual men in the Urban Men’s Health Study, and 6909 men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in the BPH Registry & Patient Survey. Factor analysis, scale reliability, construct and discriminant validity, and the correlation between the MSHQ-EjD Short Form and the MSHQ ejaculatory function domain were assessed. Results: Factor loadings of greater than 0.5 were demonstrated for four ejaculatory function items (force, volume, frequency, and delay). The force and volume of ejaculation had the greatest factor loadings (range 0.77 to 0.81), followed by frequency of ejaculation (0.64 and 0.66). These three ejaculatory function items had a high degree of internal consistency (Cronbach alpha ≥0.78) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.72). The three items discriminated between men with none/mild LUTS and those with moderate/severe LUTS (P <0.001). After adjusting for age, depression, and erectile function, the odds ratio for a diagnosis of moderate/severe LUTS was 0.68 (95% confidence interval 0.49 to 0.96; P <0.05). The three items had a correlation coefficient of 0.95 with the 7-item MSHQ ejaculatory function domain. The MSHQ ejaculation bother item, an independent domain, showed moderate correlation with the three ejaculatory function items (r = −0.41 and r = −0.45). Conclusions: The results of our study have shown that the MSHQ-EjD Short Form, with three ejaculatory function items and one ejaculation bother item, has excellent psychometric properties and should be a useful instrument for assessing EjD in clinical and research settings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]