Search

Search Results

• Staff Training and Stress in Long Term Care Facilities Special Care Units for Alzheimer's Elders

  43-44

  S. Jean Szilagyi

  Views:

  55

  Objective:
  Special Care Units (SCU) in long term care health facilities are named to indicate "unique to diagnosis" or a level of care. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions among caregivers and licensed nurses in selected nursing homes in Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York, as they pertained to the differences in care to Alzheimer's elders in SCUs. It examined the education and experience of staff and the satisfaction of this staff as it pertained to stress and wages.

  Background:
  Long-term caregivers often experience stress, resulting in "burn-out" as a consequence of limited training, levels of care required, cognitive decline of elders and family expectations. The caregivers, on SCUs, environmentally designed for the elders with cognitive decline, need specialized training in the physical and mental dimensions of the various forms of dementia, Alzheimer's type.

  Methods:
  The study used a qualitative research design with a survey questionnaire and one-on-one interviews with administrators and human resource directors. A pilot study of SCUs in Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York was initiated. The population was the employees of these SCU. The levels of employees questioned included: Executive director/Administrator, nurses, nurse aides, housekeepers and activities staff, laundry and social service workers. The procedure was standardized to enhance the reliability of the data. The respondents were notified in advance of the specific application of their answers and were afforded the opportunity to receive a monetary donation to the SCU of their respective facilities.
  An Eden Alternative Home, with a program of goals and missions characterizing enhancement of an elder's life, a home-like environment and family-centered staff and care, in a very rural area of Pennsylvania, was also engaged to contrast and compare the hypotheses of the study.

  Results:
  On the SCU, less than 5 percent of the staff had received training specific to the care of the Alzheimer's elders. In the Eden Home, 100 percent of the staff had received training specific to the care of the Alzheimer's elders. On the SCU, less than 18 percent were satisfied with the quality and quantity of specialized and extensive training. In the Eden Home, 100 percent of the staff was satisfied with their specific training. On the SCU, using a Leiken scale, more than 55 percent felt that they should receive higher wages. In the Eden home, the results were the same. However, the longevity of the employees was 13.5 years as opposed to only 3.25 years in the SCU in other homes.

  Conclusion:
  These findings suggest there is a need to examine, expand and intensify the training of all caregivers on a special unit for the elders afflicted with dementia, Alzheimer's type.

• Experiencing older age depends on conscious decisions: A gerontológia társadalmi aspektusai a XXI. sz. 2. évtizedében Magyarországon

  77-82.

  M. Szanyi

  Views:

  155

  The author helps to show the path towards better experience of old age and to maintain health
  with small-group sessions focusing on physical – and if needed on mental – health.

• Supporting ageing with a positive psychological framework and tools

  32

  Agota Kun

  Views:

  22

  In the classical literature, but also in the everyday approach, ageing is mostly associated with decline, deterioration of various skills, abilities, capacities, mental dysfunction, increasing inactivity, shrinking relationships and similar, more negative characteristics. We think of ageing as if it were a necessarily negative, unavoidable and unavoidable deterioration - but one that we must accept passively, at the same time - at the physical, mental and psychological levels. The presentation will focus on the reinterpretation offered by a positive psychology approach, pointing out that the second half of life is not necessarily about decline, mental problems, dissatisfaction or bitterness, but can also be about fulfilment, happiness, discovering and exploiting new potentials and strengths, new goals and living a truly fulfilling life. What is at stake to make this happen? How can we support this with the tools of positive psychology? The presentation will not be about anti-ageing tips, but about how to promote mental health in later life so that we can live ourselves and our lives to the full in this period of life with a positive outlook. The focus will be on the how, so the knowledge and a possible toolkit of interventions will be presented.

• COVID-19, lockdown, elderly. Experiences of the follow up research among active older adults 2020- 2021.

  40-42

  László Patyán

  Ágnes Bene

  Ivett Stumpf-Tamás

  Views:

  117

  Introduction, aims:
  The COVID-19 pandemic caused invaluable harms on the World during last two years. Among all economic and societal consequences the negative effects for elderly people was also apparent. Researches - among others - focused on the age related inequalities for accessing and using services, economic disadvantages, the decline of psychical, physical and mental conditions, reduced quality of life, increased level of loneliness, stress and depression, such as the increase and new faces of ageism.
  This research focused on the individual and organizational consequences of COVID – 19 pandemic and the effects of the state interventions followed by. The target group were identified as active seniors who have leading positions in different local and regional senior’s associations. These people were affected individually as a member of the age group and as an experts with organizational responsibilities as well.

  Research method:
  We chose a qualitative follow up (longitudinal) research method that was committed by semi structured phone interviews, recorded and anonymised. The time of the two data record focused and followed the main Hungarian waves of the pandemic: May – June in 2020 and June – July in 2021. Sample were collected from all districts of Hungary (n=42).

  Main research topics were:
  - The situation of the older adults (experiences about the local older people, daily life, problems, issues, social connections)
  - The life in the organization (activities, new initiatives, problems, issues)
  - Individual experiences (fears, daily life, social connections, shopping habits, use of ICT, vaccination).

  Results:
  We found significant differences on the personal life situation and the perception of pandemic and related interventions during the two waves. Pandemic situation may influenced these results. The age related “stay at home campaign” made more difficulties for the older people during the first wave, meanwhile related interventions weren’t so strict during the second wave by introducing shopping timeline for older people and night curfew for all in the late nights. Even first wave did not cause such harm like the second one in Hungary.
  During the first wave we found older people as a rule following citizens. They followed all the restrictions and regulations strictly. Life situations mainly were determined by the living conditions, that is means the ones who lived in the countryside mainly a house with garden experienced less negative effects than those, who lived in the housing estate area (first wave mainly fall on March – May).
  Older people reported increased importance of the local authorities. With the lack of central supporting interventions, local authorities played main role for local support, care and security. If the local government took care of older people they felt safety. Less interventions and coordination made older people insecured.
  The second wave made new situations for people. Older adults became one of the first target groups in vaccination and people started to cope with the pandemic.
  Older adults became more critical with governmental interventions.
  Critics focussed on the
  - pandemic related communication, the vaccination (older people mainly got Shinofarm vaccine that was not accepted in the EU at that time),
  - difficulties with the availability of health services, and
  - they experienced increased economic problems.
  The life in the organization: during the first wave we found frozen life of the seniors organization, cancelled and delayed programmes. Some initiatives were also reported. People preferred to keep contact via phone instead of using another ICT tools. Some of the answerer worried about the community life, how they can restart after the pandemic, others preferred the forthcoming chance for personal meetings.
  Seniors organisations may play an important role of the senior’s life by organizing free time and social activities, advocacy, and many other aspects of active ageing. As we made a first extract of this research further analyse will focus more on the good examples and new initiatives on the social, community and organizational levels.

• Not languishing but flourishing: The message of positive psychology on ageing

  1-2

  Ágota Kun

  Views:

  37

  Traditional psychology approaches the psychological functioning of ageing primarily in terms of problems and difficulties, focusing on the deterioration of abilities, the onset of mental disorders, inactivity and the decline of relationships. However, with the emergence of positive psychology, a different way of thinking emerged, along which the concept of positive ageing was born.

• Application of Hungarian version of Test Your Memory (TYM-HUN)

  25-33.

  A. Égerházi

  Z. Gy. Kovács

  É. Magócs

  G. J. Szőllősi

  Sz. Harsányi

  Sz. Garbóczy

  L. R. Kolozsvári

  Views:

  1104

  The change in brain functions is a natural consequence of aging, e.g. difficult to recall names, to remember numbers, to learn new things. However, mental decline and dementia are not part of natural aging. Dementia is primarily a disease of the elderly. Neuropathology of Alheimer’s dementia starts long before the clinical symptoms of dementia, part of a mild cognitive impairment (MCI) might be due to this. At this stage, recognizing the cognitive dysfunction may give the opportunity to slow down the progression, respectively as soon as causal treatment becomes available, it could be used. The Hungarian version of "Test Your Memory" (TYM-HUN) is a suitable short self-test test for screening dementia and is also expected to be useful to detect MCI.