National survey of the portuguese elderly nutritional status : study protocol

© 2016 The Author(s). Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Older adults and sport and physical activity professionals in spain

Presence of monitors in physical activities and sports practiced by adults older than 64 years of age in Spain is analyzed in this research. The objective of this study is to determine the existence of monitors in relation to the sociodemographic features of older adults, the size of municipalities, the activities practiced, and the organizations where they are performed. The methodology used included a cross-sectional survey applied to a sample of older adults in Spain. The most relevant conclusions are that the presence of monitors in physical activities and sports practiced by older adults is dominant (63.8%), hence, their importance, and that the presence of monitors is higher for women (81.3%) than for men (37.5%). In addition, it is concluded that the bigger the municipality the higher the tendency to have more instructors. Regarding the type of activity, wide diversification is obtained; finally, there is a larger presence of monitors in sports entities (87.5%) and nursing homes (79.5%).

Dependency in selfcare in the institutionalized elder: A descriptive study

Introduction.– Autonomy in the performance of daily living activities (DLA) are of extreme importance to the elder’s life. On pair with aging, the institutionalized elder, suffers a transition process from the changes of context from home to institution. This fact increases the elder’s dependency on self-care. By so, it is important to study the dependency degree in self-care in institutionalized elders, in order to rethink interventions to answer context changes and improve transition. Objective.– Identify the dependency degree in the institutionalized elder; explore the use of support products (SP) in self care and existance of structural barriers. Methods.– An exploratory-descriptive study, with a nonprobabilistic convinience sample was developed in two nursing homes. Instrument used was Hernâni’s Form (2009). Results.– In a total of 84 elders, averaging 87 years, with a minimum of 68 and maximum of 102 years, 45% widows, 17% analphabets, being the majority women (84%), 39% refered dependency of others as the motive for institutionalization. Bath self-care dependency was the highest self-care with dependency of the evaluated, with 79%presentedsomedegree of dependency. Eating self-careshowed the least degree of dependency (43%). Structural barriers found were steps with ramp, the SPs found were almost inexistence, being lateral support bars the most common. Conclusions.– The dependency degree of some self-cares lack interventions that target autonomy. As so, we consider that nurses should evaluate the elder’s potential for learning of new skills in order to reconstruct the process of autonomy, decreasing levels of dependency and increasing quality life.

Animação sociocultural em lares de idosos do concelho da Guarda

Dissertação Trabalho de Projeto apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Gerontologia Social.

Quality in palliative care from the patient perspective : Instrument development, perceptions of care received and the importance of care

The overall aim was to investigate the quality of palliative care from the patient perspective, to adapt and psychometrically evaluate the Quality from Patients’ Perspective instrument specific to palliative care (QPP-PC) and investigate the relationship between the combination of person- and organization-related conditions and patients’ perceptions of care quality. Methods: In the systematic literature review (I), 23 studies from 6 databases and reference lists in 2014 were synthesized by integrative thematic analysis. The quantitative studies (II–IV) had cross-sectional designs including 191 patients (73% RR) from hospice inpatient care, hospice day care, palliative units in nursing homes and home care in 2013–2014. A modified version of QPP was used. Additionally, person- and organization-related conditions were assessed. Psychometric evaluation, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Main findings: Patients’ preferences for palliative care included living a meaningful life and responsive healthcare personnel, care environment and organization of care (I). The QPP-PC was developed, comprising 12 factors (49 items), 3 single items and 4 dimensions: medical–technical competence, physical–technical conditions, identity–oriented approach, and socio-cultural atmosphere (II). QPP-PC measured patients’ perceived reality (PR) and subjective importance (SI) of care quality. PR differed across settings, but SI did not (III). All settings exhibited areas of strength and for improvement (II, III). Person-related conditions seemed to be related to SI, and person- and organization-related conditions to PR, explaining 18–30 and 22-29% respectively of the variance (IV). Conclusions: The patient perspective of care quality (SI and PR) should be integrated into daily care and improvement initiatives in palliative care. The QPP-PC can measure patients’ perceptions of care quality. Registered nurses and other healthcare personnel need awareness of person- and organization-related conditions to provide high-quality person-centred care.

Qualidade de vida e aptidão física funcional dos idosos do concelho de Évora

Já na antiguidade o Homem se debruçava sobre a temática do envelhecimento, todavia os anos passaram e este fenómeno constitui-se como um dos assuntos da ordem do dia que nos abrange a todos, porque todos queremos vivenciar o prazer de envelhecer, à semelhança dos nossos antepassados. Porém estes procuravam o elixir de uma vida eterna e nós ambicionamos o elixir de uma longa vida com qualidade. Objectivo: Avaliar a qualidade de vida e aptidão física funcional dos idosos residentes do Concelho de Évora em instituições da rede solidária e nos seus domicílios com idade igual ou superior a 75 anos. Métodos: Após a selecção aleatória e tendo por base os critérios de exclusão (sem défice cognitivo avaliado pelo MMS e sem problemas físicos que impedissem de realizar os testes funcionais) aceitaram participar no estudo 396 idosos do Concelho de Évora dos quais 196 se encontram institucionalizados nos lares da rede solidária e 200 residem nos seus domicílios. Os instrumentos de avaliação utilizados foram o EASYcare e a bateria de testes Rikly Jones- Senior Fitness Test. Conclusões: Os idosos não institucionalizados apresentam melhor qualidade de vida e aptidão física funcional face aos idosos institucionalizados. Os níveis de incapacidade do grupo de idosos são baixos, o que revela que estamos perante um grupo maioritariamente independente. Por sua vez os homens apresentam melhor auto­ percepção da sua qualidade de vida e melhor desempenho nos testes físicos realizados. Com o processo de envelhecimento é notório uma avaliação inferior nas diferentes áreas da qualidade de vida por parte dos idosos assim como um pior desempenho nos testes físicos. Verificou-se também que existem correlações significativas entre as áreas da qualidade de vida avaliadas e os parâmetros de aptidão física funcional considerados, estando estes interrelacionados. ABSTRACT: Introduction: Already in the antiquity Man was dealing with the aging topic, however the years passed and this issue is as one of the topics on the agenda that covers everyone, because we all want to experience the pleasure of growing old, like of our ancestors. Although they sought the elixir of eternal life and we are aiming the elixir of long life with quality. Aim: To evaluate the quality of life and functional fitness of elderly aged over 75 years, residents of the Municipality of Évora in the network institutions in their households. Methods: After random selection and based on the exclusion criteria (no cognitive impairment assessed by MMS and no conditions that hamper them from performing functional tests) agreed to participate in the study 396 elderly from Évora's Municipality of which 196 are institutionalized in nursing homes network of solidarity and 200 reside in their homes. The assessment instruments used were the EASYcare and battery of tests Rikly Jones- Senior Fitness Test. Conclusions: The non-institutionalized elderly have a better quality of life and functional fitness in relation to the institutionalized elderly. The levels of disability in the elderly group are low, indicating that this is a group mostly independent. ln tum the men have better self-perception of their quality of life and better performance in physical tests performed. With the aging process is an assessment of less known in different areas of life quality for elderly people as well as a poorer performance in physical tests. There was also that there are significant correlations between the areas of quality of life and evaluated the parameters of functional fitness considered and these interrelated.

Nurses’ views on the implementation of Individualised Medication Administration Guides in patients with dysphagia in care homes

As conditions such as stroke, cancer, Parkinson's disease and Huntingdon's chorea are commonly found in care homes between 15% and 30% of residents in care homes have been found to have difficulties in swallowing their medicines.To address the difficulties associated with administering medicines to patients who cannot swallow (with dysphagia), Individualised Medication Administration Guides (I-MAGs) were introduced by a specialised pharmacist in Care for Elderly wards in a general hospital in East Anglia. The guides contained detailed information about how to administer each medication and they were individualised to the needs of the patient. The I-MAGs were printed in green forms and attached to the medication chart in order to be used in conjunction with it. The ward nurses reported an increase in their confidence when administering medication when I-MAGs were present in the ward. Some patients with I-MAG were discharged to care homes where the I-MAG might have been equally useful. However, the design of such guides is not known to be suitable for care homes environment where they have never been used before. This study aims to explore the opinions of nurses and carers within care homes on the relevance and acceptability of individualised medication administration guides for patients with dysphagia (PWD).

Why is housing tenure associated with a lower risk of admission to a nursing or residential home? Wealth, health and the incentive to keep 'my home'

Background Previous research has shown that home ownership is associated with a reduced risk of admission to institutional care. The extent to which this reflects associations between wealth and health, between wealth and ability to buy in care or increased motivation to avoid admission related to policies on charging is unclear. Taking account of the value of the home, as well as housing tenure, may provide some clarification as to the relative importance of these factors.
Aims To analyse the probability of admission to residential and nursing home care according to housing tenure and house value.
Methods Cox regression was used to examine the association between home ownership, house value and risk of care home admissions over 6 years of follow-up among a cohort of 51 619 people aged 65 years or older drawn from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study, a representative sample of approximate to 28% of the population of Northern Ireland.
Results 4% of the cohort (2138) was admitted during follow-up. Homeowners were less likely than those who rented to be admitted to care homes (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.85, after adjusting for age, sex, health, living arrangement and urban/rural differences). There was a strong association between house value/tenure and health with those in the highest valued houses having the lowest odds of less than good health or limiting long-term illness. However, there was no difference in probability of admission according to house value; HRs of 0.78 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.90) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.70 to 0.95), respectively, for the lowest and highest value houses compared with renters.
Conclusions The requirement for people in the UK with capital resources to contribute to their care is a significant disincentive to institutional admission. This may place an additional burden on carers.