Leisure activities,optimism, and personal growth among the young-old,old-old,and oldest-old

The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of leisure activities to optimism and personal growth among older adults. We used data from the Alameda County Health and Ways of Living Study. The sample consisted of 1600 individuals who were 60 years of age and older. While the literature shows that participating in leisure activities is relevant to improving the well-being of older adults, the impact of such participation across various age groups is yet to be determined. We employed a one-way multivariate analysis of variance to determine the age group differences with regard to optimism and personal growth. We also used a series of hierarchical regression models to examine the contribution of the types of leisure activities on optimism and personal growth across various age groups. The ability of leisure activity variables to predict optimism was the highest for the old-old group. The old-old group demonstrated the highest level of predictability from the leisure activity variables regarding personal growth. We suggest that professionals need to provide carefully selected leisure activities to enhance optimism and personal growth for clients within different age groups. Professionals may include a variety of physical, social, and volunteering activities for the young-old and old-old groups while more casual leisure activities such as community activities and entertainment can be offered to the adults of 80 years and older.     

社会支持对高校教师压力与焦虑的调节

为探讨工作压力、社会支持和焦虑的关系,并检验社会支持的调节作用,采用焦虑自评量表(SAS)、社会支持评定量表(SSRS)和大学教师工作压力量表调查369名高校教师。发现:工作压力与焦虑存在显著的正相关(r=0.445,p0.01);在控制了性别、年龄、教龄和职称后,主观支持和客观支持都可以显著的预测焦虑(β=-0.122,p0.05;β=-0.152,p0.05);主观支持对工作压力与焦虑的关系存在显著的调节作用(β=-0.122,p0.05)。压力是焦虑产生的重要原因、社会支持可以有效缓解焦虑、主观支持能调节工作压力和焦虑的关系,支持了缓冲器模型。     

Early Educational Intervention, Early Cumulative Risk, and the Early Home Environment as Predictors of Young Adult Outcomes Within a High-Risk Sample

The extent to which early educational intervention, early cumulative risk, and the early home environment were associated with young adult outcomes was investigated in a sample of 139 young adults (age 21) from high-risk families enrolled in randomized trials of early intervention. Positive effects of treatment were found for education attainment, attending college, and skilled employment; negative effects of risk were found for education attainment, graduating high school, being employed, and avoiding teen parenthood. The home mediated the effects of risk for graduating high school, but not being employed for teen parenthood. Evidence for moderated mediation was found for educational attainment; the home mediated the association between risk and educational attainment for the control group, but not the treated group.     

Development of a Curriculum for Long-Term Care Nurses to Improve Recognition of Depression in Dementia

There is increasing recognition of the severe consequences of depression in long-term care residents with dementia. Most health care providers are unprepared to recognize and to manage the complexity of depression in dementia. Targeted educational initiatives in nursing homes are needed to address this growing problem. This paper describes the development of competencies, learning objectives, and learning outcomes for a curriculum on depression in dementia for nurses working in nursing home settings. This work provides the foundation for a curriculum to improve learning for nurses and, ultimately, to advance health care outcomes for residents with cooccurring depression and dementia.     

石家庄市居民心理和谐状况研究

心理和谐是心理健康的重要内容和体现。自我和谐和主观幸福感可以作为心理和谐的衡量指标。本研究随机抽取1257名石家庄市居民为对象,以《自我和谐量表》和《幸福感指数量表》为研究工具,运用SPSS统计软件,调查分析了石家庄市居民心理和谐现状,结果表明:性别因素对石家庄市居民心理和谐程度无影响;年龄、学历、职业、家庭月收入、婚姻状况和身体健康状况对石家庄市居民心理和谐程度有影响。     

Evidence-based health promotion in nursing homes: A pilot intervention to improve oral health

ABSTRACT

Nursing home residents over the age of 65 years are at high risk for poor oral health and related complications such as pneumonia and adverse diabetes outcomes. A preliminary study found that Massachusetts’ nursing homes generally lack the training and resources needed to provide adequate oral health care to residents. In this study, an intervention targeting Certified Nurses’ Aides (CNAs) was developed and tested. We hypothesized that following the training, CNAs would have increased knowledge and self-efficacy toward providing oral health care to the residents in their charge.

This pilot study used a one-group pretest-posttest design to test the effectiveness of a psycho-educational training intervention. Utilizing the constructs of knowledge and self-efficacy from the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Social Cognitive Theory, we framed the content of a training intervention and administered a 21-item instrument. The survey was distributed to the CNA staff of a single midsize nursing home immediately prior to and after the intervention. The 1-hour training intervention was empirically supported by formative data and delivered by dental faculty researchers.

Findings indicate increases in two areas of oral health knowledge: toothbrush position and frequency of brushing. Self-efficacy, however, did not significantly change. Although the results marginally supported our hypothesis, this pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of delivering interventions to CNAs who have direct responsibility for promoting the oral health of long-term care facility residents.     

IMPACT OF A RESTORATIVE CARE PROGRAM IN THE NURSING HOME

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a progressive mobility restorative program on nursing home residents' ability to perform selected activities of daily living (ADLs) and the amount of staff assistance needed to help residents complete these ADLs. A one group repeated measures design study was conducted in a 255-bed university affiliated geriatrics center. A certified nursing assistant (CNA) specially trained in restorative mobility techniques worked with residents individually for at least 15 minutes per day, five days per week to achieve their individualized mobility goals. Items on ADL Self-Performance and ADL Support Provided from the Minimum Data Set (MDS) were collected at baseline, three months, and six months. Thirty-eight of 42 residents (90%) were included in the analyses and 31 residents (82%) completed at least 25 days of restorative activities. Some residents improved their ADL self-performance at three and six months (15% and 33%, respectively) and decreased in the amount of ADL support provided at three and six months (26% and 31%, respectively). Total ADL self-performance and support provided did not change significantly over the six-month period. Most residents maintained their baseline ADL self-performance and level of ADL support provided over the six-month study. A progressive mobility restorative program implemented by a certified nursing assistant specially trained in restorative techniques resulted in most residents maintaining their baseline ADL self-performance abilities and the level of assistance provided by staff. Studies are needed to determine if these types of programs can actually improve functional abilities and decrease the level of staff assistance needed to complete ADLs or if they are effective in maintaining or delaying functional loss and staff burden.     

大学生焦虑与领悟社会支持关系的研究

探讨领悟社会支持与焦虑的关系，为大学心理健康教育提供帮助。方法：用《领悟社会支持量表》（Perceived social supportscale，PSSS）和《焦虑自评量表》（Self-Rating Anxiety Scale，SAS），对277名大学生进行测查和分析。结果：（1）领悟社会支持能力与焦虑之间呈显著负相关；（2）大学生焦虑与领悟家庭内支持及领悟家庭外支持均呈显著负相关．结论：领悟社会支持能力是影响大学生心理健康状况的重要因素．     

Families,schools, individual characteristics,and young adults’ outcomes: Social and cultural group differences

A moderation-mediation model was developed to investigate relationships among adolescents’ family, school learning environments, individual characteristics, and measures of the academic, affective, and social outcomes of young adults from different cultural backgrounds. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal survey of Australian youth. The findings indicated that: (1) adolescents’ family backgrounds, family and school capital, and individual characteristics combined to have a large association with young adults’ educational attainment, a small relation to subjective well-being, and a medium association with social engagement, (2) adolescents’ family backgrounds moderated relationships between the intervening variables and young adults’ educational attainment and social engagement, (3) the intervening individual characteristic and social capital variables partially mediated the relationships between family background and measures of the young adults’ outcomes, and (4) after taking into account the other predictors in the model, young adults’ earlier educational attainment was related to their later attainment and social engagement.     

In care and digitally savvy? Modern ICT use in long-term care institutions

ABSTRACT

Although information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as smartphones, tablets, and the internet, have all become increasingly important in modern society, available studies on the adoption of ICTs have mostly focused on healthy and community-dwelling “young-old” adults. Relatively little is known about ICT use among long-term care residents, such as “old-old” adults, who often have various functional impairments and live in institutionalized settings. The study includes data on ICT use (TV, radio, computers, smartphones, tablets, and internet) among a large sample of 940 residents (mean age: 87.6 years) living in 20 retirement homes in Zurich, Switzerland. Twenty-one percent of residents reported using the internet, 13% used a smartphone, and 5% used a tablet. Younger older adults, those with more education, those with lower nursing-care levels, and those who reported being particularly interested in technology were more likely to own more than one ICT device. Compared with nonusers, internet users were more likely to be younger, better educated, and more interested in technology in general. Modern ICT usage has reached the long-term care sector and appears to play a significant role in many residents’ lives. Researchers should continue to examine the role of ICTs in the lives of older adults in general and for residents in long-term care in particular, given that this population is often ignored in studies of older adults and ICT use.     

Quality of life of nursing home residents before and after reminiscence therapy

This study was conducted to determine the effects of reminiscence therapy as a nursing intervention on the quality of life (QOL) of nursing home residents. This was a quasi-experimental study with a single-group pretest and posttest design. Sampling inclusion criteria were being 65 years of age or older, ability to communicate, lack of hearing impairment, lack of dementia or any given psychiatric disorder, and volunteering to participate in the study. Participants included 32 nursing home residents, who were divided into groups of 2–5 and received a total of 12 sessions of group reminiscence therapy. After the intervention, a decrease was noticed in the total score and subdomain test scores of a QOL scale. Although the study design did not allow confirmation of the effect of reminiscence, analysis showed some useful indications for further research. Additionally, participants stated that the reminiscence program might be a meaningful activity for nursing home residents.     

重庆市特殊教育教师心理健康与社会支持研究

本研究采用症状自评量表(SCL-90)与社会支持评定量表(SSRS)对重庆市132例特殊教育教师进行调查,利用SPSS统计软件采用t检验与相关性分析对各项指标均数进行统计分析。结果显示重庆市特殊教育教师除敌对因子之外,其余9个因子均明显低于国内成人常模;30岁以上和30岁以下、已婚和未婚、教龄在10年以上和10年以下的特殊教育教师在社会支持评定中的主观支持得分和社会支持总分差异显著;对SCL-90的10个因子得分与SSRS的3个维度得分及总分进行相关系数分析及回归分析,表明社会支持中的客观支持维度与SCL-90中的各个因子相关程度不显著;社会支持总分对强迫症状和抑郁具有显著的预测作用;主观支持对焦虑具有显著的预测作用,主观支持、支持利用度对强迫症状、抑郁和人际关系都有显著的预测度。     

海口市居民主观幸福感现状调查

采用“中国城市居民主观幸福感量表（简版）”作为工具,利用自评和测评相结合技术,对2257名海口市居民幸福感进行研究。结果表明：海口市居民幸福感自评平均得分为75．29,测评平均得分为81．98,处于中等偏上水平;健康、经济收入、婚姻、居住条件和社会支持是海口市居民认为影响其幸福感的前五位因素。对海口市居民主观幸福感的群体差异进行方差分析发现：婚姻、文化程度、个人月收入对主观幸福感有显著影响。     

Connecting Education,Welfare, and Health for American Families

The relationship of education to social mobility, health, and socioeconomic stability is examined in this study. The central question is: how do educational access and attainment reduce poverty and increase social immersion in a system that affords opportunity for quality health care and economic prosperity? An historic perspective, related and compared to current conditions for those who live at or below the poverty line, highlights the extreme difficulties of overcoming the barriers that separate people from consistent quality education, access to quality health care, and the opportunity to move toward economic independence.

The latest statistics showing the significance of socioeconomic status (SES) to cognitive development, educational achievement, healthy living, and social mobility are factors that have and continue to affect large portions of America's poor. The increase of early childhood programs is a beneficial first step in closing the achievement gap, but the physical and mental health problems plaguing the poor must be addressed if we are to reduce the poverty rate and improve educational opportunities for all children.     

自我效能感与朋友支持对大学生社交焦虑影响

采用交往焦虑量表（IAS）、一般自我效能感量表（GSES）和领悟社会支持问卷（PSSS）对892名大学生进行问卷调查,以探讨自我效能感对大学生朋友支持与社交焦虑的作用机制。结果表明,社交焦虑与自我效能感（r=-.29,p〈0.001）和朋友支持（r=-.11,p〈0.01）均呈负相关;自我效能感在朋友支持与社交焦虑间有中介作用。提高大学生对朋友领悟支持的主观感知能力,并提高其自我效能感水平,将有利于减少大学生社交焦虑。     

Caregiver Burden and Social Support among Mothers Raising Children with Developmental Disabilities in South Korea

This study examines caregiver burden and social supports perceived by mothers raising children with developmental disabilities in South Korea. Mothers residing in the metropolitan areas of Seoul (n = 181) responded to the mail survey with a 56.6% response rate. Respondents expressed a high level of overall burden, particularly in financial domains. Greater subjective caregiver burden for these mothers was associated with: increased disability‐related costs; maternal factors such as being younger and having higher educational attainment; and less social support. Extra cost related to disabilities was the strongest predictor of increased caregiver burden. Findings indicate that social support can reduce this burden. Implications for the practices of social service agencies and policy are discussed.     

贵州少数民族居民主观幸福感及其影响因素

采用中国城市居民主观幸福感量表简本（SWBS-CC20）、社会支持评定量表（SSRS）和自编少数民族居民社会心理压力问卷作为研究工具,选取贵州省各地区少数民族居民2000人进行问卷调查.少数民族居民主观幸福感在收入、城乡、受教育程度和婚姻状况上存在显著差异.少数民族居民的主观幸福感总分与社会支持总分、主观支持、客观支持和对支持利用度之间均存在显著性正相关;少数民族居民的主观幸福感总分与文化婚姻压力、家庭生活压力、健康安全压力和社交方面压力均存在显著性负相关.主观支持、客观支持和对支持利用度可以正向预测主观幸福感,文化婚姻压力、家庭生活压力和社交方面压力可以负向预测主观幸福感.     

Longitudinal analyses of educational outcomes for youth transitioning out of care in the US: trends and influential factors

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on data collected from two of the most extensive longitudinal studies of care leavers in the US. The Midwest Study (2003–2011) included 732 youths in foster care in three Midwestern states, and the CalYOUTH Study (2012–present) includes 727 youths in California foster care. The paper has three objectives: (1) describe trends in secondary and postsecondary educational attainment at different ages; (2) summarise findings on predictors of educational attainment; and (3) summarise findings on the impact of extended foster care (EFC) on educational attainment. Results from these two studies show that by age 21, 77–85% of care leavers finish a secondary credential and 31–52% enrol in college. By age 25, about 8% have earned a college degree. Results from multivariate analyses find that youths’ educational background and parental status were consistently associated with later educational attainment. Specific aspects of social support also influenced college outcomes. Life demands after enrolling in college (e.g. employment, parenthood) played a more influential role in college degree attainment than did aspects of youths’ background. Characteristics of colleges also predicted youths’ odds of degree completion. Finally, existing evidence suggests that EFC promotes secondary credential completion and college entry, but not college persistence or degree completion.     

Educational differences of healthy life expectancy among the older adults in China: A multidimensional examination using the multistate life table method

ABSTRACT

Healthy life expectancy (HLE) is an emerging field in aging studies. Nevertheless, understanding of HLE from the perspective of socioeconomic status (SES) is inadequate. To fill this gap, the present study explores differences in HLE by SES based on two nationally representative longitudinal databases in China. The study adopts education as a proxy of SES and employs the multistate life table method to compute HLE. Health is measured by the following four indicators: physical function, cognitive function, depression, and self-rated health. The results show that educational differences are associated with significantly different results in these four health indicators. Active life expectancy, cognitive-impairment-free life expectancy, and self-rated healthy life expectancy differ by existence of educational attainment among the old adults, with the nonilliterate group enjoying both longer cognitive-impairment-free life expectancy and self-rated healthy life expectancy, while unexpectedly, the illiterate group has a higher active life expectancy at most ages. In contrast, depression-free life expectancy is similar between the two educational categories. The positive association between educational attainment and cognitive-impairment-free life expectancy and self-rated healthy life expectancy might be explained by the beneficial effect of education in improving and maintaining cognitive ability and SES, while the negative association between educational attainment and active life expectancy might be interpreted by the higher rate of mortality and the absence of social-security support among less educated Chinese senior citizens. The lack of difference by educational attainment in depression-free life expectancy requires further investigation.     

Re-examining the relationship between education and adult mental health in the UK: A research note

Previous studies using variation in education arising from compulsory schooling laws have found no causal effects of education on mental health in the UK. We re-examine the relationship between education and mental health in the UK by taking a different approach: sibling fixed-effects with controls for polygenic scores (summary measures of genetic predisposition) for educational attainment and adult depressive symptoms. We find that higher educational attainment is associated with better adult mental health, that sibling controls reduce these associations by ∼40–70% but important associations remain and find evidence for non-monotonic effects. We also find suggestive evidence that education partially “rescues” genetic predictors of poor mental health.