“Powerful Tools for Caregivers”: Teaching Skills That Reduce Stress and Increase Self-Confidence

Educational Objectives 1. Describe caregiving stress and burnout symptoms and effects experienced by older caregivers. 2. Report implementation and evaluation of the “Powerful Tools for Caregivers” workshop, which is designed to increase knowledge and skills in caring for elders and reduce caregiver stress. 3. Suggest ways to alleviate caregiver burden at both micro and macro levels

Augmenting the Kappa Statistic to Determine Interannotator Reliability for Multiply Labeled Data Points

This paper describes a method for evaluating interannotator reliability in an email corpus annotated for type (e.g., question, answer, social chat) when annotators are allowed to assign multiple labels to a message. An augmentation is proposed to Cohen's kappa statistic which permits all data to be included in the reliability measure and which further permits the identification of more or less reliably annotated data points

Informal Care Giving: Cross-Cultural Applicability of the Person-Environment Model

The 21st century will be characterised by aged and ageing nations, making eldercare a growing concern. Most eldercare in most nations will be provided informally, primarily by female family members. Helping these people understand the dimensions of eldercare is a key to effective and cost-effective caregiving. The Person-Environment Model (Lawton and Nahemow 1973) is proposed as a theoretical framework for understanding, assessing, and optimising family-based caregiving. This paper presents fi ndings from a qualitative study of informal rehabilitation caregiving provided to elderly stroke survivors in Thailand. Four main rehabilitation dimensions (biological, psychological, social, spiritual) are identifi ed, as are three main caregiver needs (information, assistance, and support). We suggest that while the Person-Environment Model is useful in developed nations, it is perhaps more valuable in societies where fewer options to family-based eldercare exist, and thus where effective informal eldercare is more critical. Implications for education and training of health care providers are also discussed

Learning Womanhood in China

Childbirth, a seemingly singular event in China, is nonetheless momentous. Bearing a child transforms a girl into a woman and a mother. Motherhood, in most traditional cultures, symbolizes both the major achievement and the full attainment of femininity. This is particularly true of contemporary China

Caregiving in Social Context

The heterogeneity of family caregiving is explored with specific emphasis on differences by gender, age, race, and area of residence. The aging of the population and other social structural changes during the next several decades will simultaneously increase the size of the population in need of long-term care and constrain the options available to frail elders and their care providers. Research suggests that there will be particularly deleterious consequences for women, older elders, nonwhites, and those who live in rural areas. In addition to these social characteristics, elder abuse and neglect, negative outcomes sometimes associated with caregiving, and the importance of linkages between formal and informal providers are discussed. Finally, the many contributions of older people to society and the fact that most elders are aging well are addressed. The modification of curricula to reflect caregiving in social context will enhance training programs designed for formal and informal providers who work with impaired elders and formal courses available to students in academic institutions. The latter represent future decision makers who will have the opportunity to influence public policies and intervention strategies whose benefits will redound to frail elders and their care providers

“Powerful Tools for Caregivers”: Teaching Skills that Reduce Stress and Increase Self-Confidence

Abstract not availabl

Reassessing the Demographic Imperative

For many years gerontologists have discussed the consequences of advances that have lengthened lives but have been less successful at improving the quality of those lives. While this debate continues, the resulting demographic shift in the age profile of the United States threatens to overwhelm our ability to care for those who most need assistance. In the absence of major policy changes or dramatic medical discoveries, or both, the need for institutional care among the population 85 and older will soon exceed the available resources

Using Age, Cohort and Period Effects to Study Elderly Volunteerism

American volunteers, both informally and through organizations like the Corporation for National Service, make huge contributions to the wellbeing of millions of Americans and, via their unpaid or minimally reimbursed work, to the American economy. Can America continue to count on maintaining or increasing volunteer contributions in the future? This question is especially important as the Baby Boomers replace the current generation of older Americans. This article provides faculty and students with information on elderly volunteering. It suggests and demonstrates using age-cohort-period analysis to understand different forces affecting volunteering by older Americans. A major benefit of age-cohort-period analysis is preventing faulty conclusions and, consequently, faulty policy decisions and waste of resources. Such analysis can also enhance current and future efforts to recruit and retain volunteers, particularly among the elderly

Lifelong Learning in the United States and Japan

Assuming learning to be a lifelong process, it is important to provide older adults with the opportunities to pursue educational activities. The growing number of older adults in America and globally has led to an increased demand for educational programs in many nations. As a concept, lifelong learning emphasizes the potential to provide useful learning opportunities for older adults. Lifelong learning has become an international issue; many countries have developed lifelong learning policies. The United States and Japan represent two nations that have taken very different approaches in implementing lifelong learning for older adults. This paper examines the programs available to older adults in the United States and Japan. It is suggested that variations in lifelong learning policy and programs are explained by cultural and social structural differences between the United States and Japan. Recommendations for expanding and improving existing programs are also considered

Aging Inmates: A Convergence of Trends in the American Criminal Justice System

During the past 30 years, American prisons have experienced rapidly expanding numbers of inmates, including more who are elderly. Elderly inmates present unique management challenges to the extent they experience age-specific adjustments and adaptations to prison life. Accommodating this “special needs” population, which places a disproportionate strain on available correctional resources, raises both prison environment and policy-level questions. Although some advocate early and/or medical release for older inmates who are seen as no longer posing a threat to society, state and federal correctional data indicate that early release is not a dominant trend. This article reviews the causes of the growth in the older male inmate population and then applies tools from gerontology to provide a perspective for evaluating current or prospective correctional system responses and programs, and to raise issues and suggest policies that might benefit older inmates as well as correctional systems