The impact of computer-based cognitive training intervention on the quality of life among elderly people: a randomized clinical trial

Background: Through the process of normal aging, cognitive decline would cause a lower level of functioning in real life. This flow might interfere with health-related quality of life (QoL). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of computer-based cognitive intervention on increasing QoL of elderly people. Methods: A total number of 52 community-dwelling older adults participated in this study. This community scored � 21 in the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and a clock drawing test score � 4 from health centers in Tehran, Iran. This study is a parallel group stratified randomized clinical trial. The intervention group received a 45-min cognitive training session twice a week for 10 sessions, using Attentive Rehabilitation of Attention and Memory (ARAM) software focusing on selective attention and working memory. QoL was evaluated as a primary outcome. The control group participated in educational workshops. Results: From fifty-two persons, only one participant was excluded from the study in the intervention group during follow-up. Results revealed by increasing cognitive function, improvement occurred in QoL (F = 13.417, p value < 0.001, partial eta-squared = 0.324) as a primary outcome in the intervention group. Among eight domains of QoL, there was significant increasing in domain of role limitations due to emotional problems (F = 4.007, p value = 0.021, partial eta-squared = 0.059), social functioning (F = 2.423, p value = 0.044, partial eta-squared = 0.004), and role limitations due to physical health (F = 10.749, p value < 0.001, partial eta-squared = 0.026). Conclusions: Based on the results, ARAM showed transition and long-term effects on QoL in elderly people by improving cognitive functions such as selective attention and working memory. Trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT2016122731602N1. Registered on June 21, 2017 © 2021, The Author(s)

Pain characteristics of older residents in Iranian nursing homes Caractéristiques des douleurs ressenties par les résidents âgés dans les maisons de retraite iraniennes

Background: Pain is a common complaint among the aging population, particularly among the older residents of nursing homes. Aims: The main aim of the study was to examine the pain characteristics among older residents of nursing homes in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 394 older adults admitted to Tehran nursing homes. To gather the required data, Brief Pain Inventory and Abbreviated Mental Test score were used. Results: 51 of the female and 26 of the male participants suffered from pain. Lower extremity and lower part of back were the most frequently affected. Pain interfered with general activity (P < 0.001), mood (P = 0.016), walking (P < 0.001), normal work (P < 0.001), relations with others (P = 0.043), sleeping (P = 0.002) and enjoyment of life (P = 0.019) of the older residents and these effects were more prominent in female sex. Factors such as age, gender and schooling were of significant relationships with pain (P < 0.001) and its intensity (P <0.001). Conclusions: Chronic pain is common among older residents of nursing homes and deteriorates their quality of life. This study reconfirms the previously mentioned importance of using effective pain evaluation and pain management strategies in nursing homes. © World Health Organization (WHO) 2019. Some rights reserved

Basin-scale gyres and mesoscale eddies in large lakes: a novel procedure for their detection and characterization, assessed in Lake Geneva

In large lakes subject to the Coriolis force, basin-scale gyres and mesoscale eddies, i.e. rotating coherent water masses, play a key role in spreading biochemical materials and energy throughout the lake. In order to assess the spatial and temporal extent of gyres and eddies, their dynamics and vertical structure, as well as to validate their prediction in numerical simulation results, detailed transect field observations are needed. However, at present it is difficult to forecast when and where such transect field observations should be taken. To overcome this problem, a novel procedure combining 3D numerical simulations, statistical analyses, and remote sensing data was developed that permits determination of the spatial and temporal patterns of basin-scale gyres during different seasons. The proposed gyre identification procedure consists of four steps: (i) data pre-processing, (ii) extracting dominant patterns using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of Okubo–Weiss parameter fields, (iii) defining the 3D structure of the gyre, and (iv) finding the correlation between the dominant gyre pattern and environmental forcing. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed procedure was validated in Lake Geneva. For the first time in a lake, detailed field evidence of the existence of basin-scale gyres and (sub)mesoscale eddies was provided by data collected along transects whose locations were predetermined by the proposed procedure. The close correspondence between field observations and detailed numerical results further confirmed the validity of the model for capturing large-scale current circulations as well as (sub)mesoscale eddies. The results also indicated that the horizontal gyre motion is mainly determined by wind stress, whereas the vertical current structure, which is influenced by the gyre flow field, primarily depends on thermocline depth and strength. The procedure can be applied to other large lakes and can be extended to the interaction of biological–chemical–physical processes.</p

Protective psychosocial factors of geriatric depression in community dwelling older adults: A review article

Context: Depression is a major health problem in geriatric population and has many adverse consequences. The aim of this study was to review the existing literature on psychosocial factors that protect against depression in later life. Evidence Acquisition: A MEDLINE systematic search was done via Pubmed and Sciencedirect web pages to gather the published articles on psychosocial factors of late life depression First, the titles and abstracts reviewed and relevant articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria. Then full texts of the selected articles obtained, read, and data were extracted and categorized. Results: There were 204 articles on psychosocial factors of late life depression in community dwelling older adults and among them 29 articles included protective factors. Reading them carefully, protective factors were extracted and organized into 5 main categories: Demographic factors, psychological factors, social factors, health related factors and also spiritual factors. Conclusion: Psychosocial factors protecting older adults against depression are diverse. Identification of the modifiable ones and provision of appropriate interventions to enhance them, can be helpful in preventing geriatric depression. ©2018, Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Middle-aged women's experiences on mental health promotion: a content analysis study

Background: Mental health in middle ages, especially in women is vulnerable due to the frequent changes in this age period and consequences of the changes. Considering the importance of promoting mental health in this period, the present study aimed to explain the women's experiences on their mental health promotion during the middle ages. Materials and Methods: In this conventional qualitative content analysis using a semi-structured interview, 23 participants were selected. Considering the maximum variation among the participants, sampling was made gradually until data saturation through purposive sampling from the middle-aged women living in Kashan. Data analysis and sampling were conducted simultaneously.Results: Results showed that mental health promotion in the middle-ages can be contributed to two main themes including "continuity of mental health care to youth" and "mental reconstruction" with subcategories of achieving to physical ideals, happiness promotion, stress relief and spiritual growth. Conclusion: Findings of this study reveal that the middle-aged women use different strategies for achieving and promoting their mental health some of these solutions have short-term efficacy. However, using the effective coping strategies and providing the facilities for the extensive use of these strategies by the mental health authorities can promote mental health of the middle-aged women

Psychometric properties of the Persian version of Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale in community-dwelling older adults

Pouya Farokhnezhad Afshar,1 Mahshid Foroughan,1 AbouAli Vedadhir,2 Mahmood Ghazi Tabatabaie2 1Department of Gerontology, Iranian Research Center On Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Introduction: The Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale (SASS) is used to measure social function and social motivation in depressed patients. There is little attention to social function in the treatment of depression. The aim of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of SASS (P-SASS) for older adults.Participants and methods: This is a cross-sectional and methodological study. The participants were 550 community-dwelling older adults living in Tehran who were selected randomly from the primary health care centers. To assess the psychometric properties of SASS, we first did translation and cross-cultural adjustment on SASS and then used P-SASS and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) for gathering data. A number of analyses, including Pearson&rsquo;s correlation, exploratory factor analysis, and Cronbach&rsquo;s &alpha;, and receiver operating characteristic curve were used to manage the data with the IBM SPSS Statistics V.22. Results: The mean age of the participants was 66.09&plusmn;6.67&nbsp;years, and 58.9% of them were male. The Cronbach&rsquo;s &alpha;&nbsp;was 0.97. The test&ndash;retest reliability correlation coefficient was 0.78. Principal component analysis showed that P-SASS consists of two components. P-SASS score showed a significant negative correlation with GDS (r=-0.91, P&lt;0.01), which suggests good convergent validity. The P-SASS cutoff point was 28 (sensitivity: 0.97 and specificity: 0.94).Conclusion: P-SASS has good reliability and validity for older adults. So, it can be considered as an appropriate tool to evaluate the social function and social motivation of older persons with and without depression. Keywords: reliability, validity, Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale, older adult, social functio

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Adaptation of Mini-Cog Test in Iranian Older Adults

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Mini-Cog in Iranian older adults. It was a cross-sectional study; 50 older people with dementia and 50 without dementia who matched for age, gender, and education entered the study. The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders criteria for dementia were used as gold standard. A battery of scales included the abbreviated mental test score (AMTS), the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Mini-Cog was performed. Validity and reliability of the Mini-Cog determined using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson�s r), Cronbach�s alpha, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The Persian version of Mini-Cog showed a good inter-rater reliability (K = 0.76, p <.01) and a positive concurrent validity (r = 0.39, p <.01) with the AMTS. The sensitivity and specificity were 88 and 62.8, respectively, using the original cutoff point of 2. The findings showed that the Persian version of Mini-Cog have an acceptable sensitivity, specificity, and substantial overall agreement with the AMTS. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

Social well-being of Iranian retired men of the armed forces and their wives

Background: Social well-being is a major component of health, which was somehow neglected until the last few decades. The aim of this study was to determine the state of social well-being of Iranian retired men of the armed forces and their wives in the metropolis of Tehran. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which was conducted in Tehran, capital of Iran, in 2016. Three hundred retired men of the armed forces and their wives were selected by random sampling. We used the Social Well-Being Scale to collect data. We assessed its internal consistency and validity with Cronbach's alpha and exploratory factor analysis before using it. We used SPSS V.24 software to analyse the data via � 2 , Pearson's correlation, t-test and analysis of variance. Results: The mean age was 66.39±6.98 years; 60 were male. The findings revealed that retired men of the armed forces and their wives report a relatively modest degree of well-being. Social well-being of the participants was significantly related to their marital status (p=0.03), education (p=0.03), employment status (p&lt;0.01), housing status (p&lt;0.01), financial status (p&lt;0.01) and health status (p&lt;0.01). Conclusion: The social well-being of retired men of the armed forces and their wives was moderate and was not different from each other, and it was related to housing ownership, employment, self-rated socioeconomic condition, education, good health and married status. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Adaptation of Mini-Cog Test in Iranian Older Adults

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Mini-Cog in Iranian older adults. It was a cross-sectional study; 50 older people with dementia and 50 without dementia who matched for age, gender, and education entered the study. The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders criteria for dementia were used as gold standard. A battery of scales included the abbreviated mental test score (AMTS), the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Mini-Cog was performed. Validity and reliability of the Mini-Cog determined using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson�s r), Cronbach�s alpha, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The Persian version of Mini-Cog showed a good inter-rater reliability (K = 0.76, p <.01) and a positive concurrent validity (r = 0.39, p <.01) with the AMTS. The sensitivity and specificity were 88 and 62.8, respectively, using the original cutoff point of 2. The findings showed that the Persian version of Mini-Cog have an acceptable sensitivity, specificity, and substantial overall agreement with the AMTS. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

Validity and reliability of the Persian version of general practitioner assessment of cognition (P-GPCOG)

Objectives: The study aimed to examine the validity, reliability, and practicality of the Persian version of the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (P-GPCOG) as a brief, efficient cognitive assessment instrument in Iranian older adults. Method: The sample comprised 151 community-dwelling older adults and 79 nursing home residents (aged �60 years). The English GPCOG was translated, back-translated, and revised to prepare the final P-GPCOG. The Abbreviated Mental Test score (AMTs) and the Depression in Old Age Scale (DIA-S) were administered to the two different samples to establish the convergent and discriminant validity of the P-GPCOG. Results: The mean age of the sample was 70.67 (SD = 9.51); 57.4 were male. The mean P-GPCOG scores for the total, cognitive and informant subscales were 7.67 (SD = 4.59), 4.18 (SD = 2.73), and 3.49 (SD = 2.24), respectively. Cognitive (P < 0.001), informant (P < 0.001) and total scores (P < 0.001) differed significantly between community-dwelling participants and nursing home residents. Worse cognitive performance on the P-GPCOG correlated significantly with worse scores on the AMTs (r = 0.61, P < 0.001) and less so with depressive symptoms as measured with the DIA-S (r = �0.20, P < 0.05). Cronbach's alpha for the P-GPCOG cognitive and informant subscales were 0.90 and 0.83 respectively, indicating a high degree of internal consistency and homogeneity between items. The test-retest correlation for the total P-GPCOG score was 0.82 in 30 participants after 19 days. P-GPCOG cognitive scores correlated significantly with education. Conclusion: The P-GPCOG displayed strong psychometric properties, offering healthcare professionals a quick and efficient cognitive instrument for older Persian speakers. As with other cognitive assessment tools, the P-GPCOG cognitive score is affected by a person's level of education. © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Grou