Social structure and the familiy: a United States - Germany comparison of residential proxmity between parents and adult children

'In der zweiten Lebenshälfte ist die räumliche Entfernung zwischen Eltern und einem ihrer erwachsenen Kinder von entscheidender Bedeutung für die Erbringung von alltagspraktischen Hilfeleistungen. Der vorliegende Aufsatz widmet sich der Frage, in welcher Entfernung vom Haushalt der Eltern das nächstwohnende erwachsene Kind lebt. Wir betrachten diese Frage für die USA und für Deutschland. Nur durch einen Ländervergleich wird ersichtlich, ob sich vergleichbare Mobilitätsfaktoren unterschiedlich auf die Wohnentfernung auswirken. Mit Hilfe der Daten des Sozioökonomischen Panels und des National Survey of Families and Households zeigen wir, dass die Entfernung zu den Eltern maßgeblich durch die Bildungsqualifikation und den beruflichen Status der Kinder beeinflusst wird. Ebenso durch Lebenslaufeffekte und kritische Familienereignisse etwa eine Scheidung oder eine Verwitwung. Unterschiedlich nahe leben Söhne und Töchter. Letztere leben meist näher und bei familialen Krisen wird die Entfernung vornehmlich zwischen ihnen und ihren Eltern geringer.' (Autorenreferat)'The geographical proximity between parents and their adult children is conducted in a cross-national analysis. We propose a theoretical framework in which we view the process of residential decisions as resulting from a conflict between the dependency needs of family members, life cycle positions and the occupational opportunities offered by labor market. We use comparable national data sets on the United States and Germany to address the question of whether the determinants of geographical distance between the generations differ in the two countries. As predicted, educational and occupational attainment was positively related to geographical distance between the generations. Further, life cycle factors emerged as important predictors, with persons in middle age are most likely to live farther away from parents than either older or younger children. However, major crossnational differences in predictors of geographical proximity were not found.' (author's abstract)'

Project Home Evaluation: Final Report

Evaluates a New York State Department of Health-funded project to help nursing home patients move home or into community-based settings through discharge planning services, training, and education. Examines differentiating factors such as Medicaid status

Evidence-Based Extension

This argues that Extension should embrace the evidenced-based practice movement, which links scientific evidence and practice. This movement entails a thorough scientific review of the research literature, the identification of the most effective interventions or strategies, and a commitment to translating the results into guidelines for practice. This process corresponds closely to the goals of USDA CSREES. We offer several ways in which Extension can connect with ongoing evidence-based activities in relevant areas. By doing so, Extension can improve its use of research-based practice and also inform and advance the ongoing evidence-based work occurring in the scientific community

Elder Mistreatment is Pervasive in New York State

Elder mistreatment is a pervasive problem that has major health and psychosocial consequences for older adults. This data slice shows that about 10% of older adults (age 60+) in New York State experienced elder mistreatment between 2009 and 2019. Age and poor self-rated health increase the risk of experiencing mistreatment. Black older adults are also at greater risk of financial abuse than Whites. Health care practitioners can play a key role in screening, providing education and awareness, and making appropriate referrals for older adults at risk of mistreatment

Psychosocial predictors of anxiety in nursing homes staff

Objectives: Although research shows that nursing home staff experience significant levels of stress and burnout, studies analyzing the relationship of psychosocial variables on their feelings of anxiety are scarce. This study aims to analyze the relationship between psychosocial variables and levels of anxiety among staff. Method: Participants were 101 nursing home professionals. In addition to anxiety, socio-demographic variables, depersonalization, burden, relationship with families of the residents, and guilt about the care offered to the residents were assessed. A hierarchical regression analysis was carried out to analyze the contribution of the assessed variables to staff anxiety levels. Results: The obtained model explained 57% of the variance in anxious symptomatology. Guilt about the care offered and poor quality of the relationship with residents’ family were associated with anxiety. Further, working at nursing homes where the staff report higher levels of anxiety symptoms, the presence of depersonalization and burden were also associated with anxiety. Conclusion: The findings suggest that in addition to work-related variables (burden and burnout), problems with family members and guilt about the care offered are relevant variables for understanding staff’s anxious symptomatology. Clinical Implications: Interventions that address issues of guilt about the quality of care, and problematic relationships with family members of residents, may have potential to reduce staff anxiety and promote their well-bein

Recruitment of family caregivers of persons with dementia: Lessons learned from a pilot randomized controlled trial

Family caregivers play an essential role in supporting the health and well-being of older adults with dementia, a population projected to increase rapidly over the coming decades. Enrolling caregivers of people with dementia (PWD) in research studies is vital to generating the evidence necessary to support broader implementation of efficacious intervention programs in real-world care delivery, but a range of challenges impede recruitment and enrollment of sufficiently large and representative sample sizes. In this article, we characterize the challenges and lessons learned from recruiting caregivers of PWD to participate in a pilot randomized control trial. We utilize Bronfenbrenner's ecological model to categorize the challenges into three levels: individual (i.e., understanding caregivers’ time constraints and motivations), community (i.e., reaching underrepresented populations and accessing caregiver support groups) and institutional (i.e., obtaining informed consent and navigating research registries). We found that establishing rapport and maintaining flexibility with participants was crucial for motivating individuals to enroll in our study. Building trust with local communities by collaborating with support group leaders, appointing a co-investigator who is already embedded within a given community, and establishing equitable partnerships with organizations increased recruitment rates. At the institutional level, engaging experts in regulatory affairs and geriatrics may help overcome barriers in obtaining approval from institutional review boards. We also recommend using research registries of individuals who offer their contact information to researchers. The lessons learned from our research—including the challenges and potential solutions to overcome them—may promote more effective and efficient recruitment in future research

Older people’s personal strengths during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic

Background: Although several biopsychosocial variables could play an important role as risk and protective factors of mental health, COVID-19 outbreak studies among older people have seldom focused on protective factors. The purpose of this study was to analyze how older adults’ personal strengths predict their well-being and emotional distress. Method: 783 Spanish people aged 60 and over completed a survey that included sociodemographic characteristics, perceived health, direct or indirect infection by COVID-19, resilience, gratitude, experiential avoidance, family functioning, emotional distress and well-being. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was performed. SEM invariance was also used to analyze whether there were differences between older people affected by COVID-19 and those not affected. Results: The best model supports the mediation effect of resilience, gratitude and experiential avoidance on older people’s well-being and emotional distress. Whether participants or relatives had been infected by the virus or not did not affect the results. Conclusions: Variables used as criteria in older adults are related to well-being and emotional distress, but only indirectly and mediated by resilience, gratitude and experiential avoidance. This confirms the importance of considering psychological strengths in older people’s well-being. Interventions focused on these personal resources should be considered.The authors thank all the participants in the study. This work was funded by Universidad San Pablo-CEU, CEU Universities (CEU-Santander, grant number MCOV20V3