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Commentary on: Zhang L, Wang J, Dove A, Yang W, Qi X, Xu W. Injurious falls before, during and after dementia diagnosis: a population-based study. Age Ageing. 2022 Dec 5;51(12):afac299. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afac299.
People with dementia show a higher incidence of falls four years before diagnosis. There is a growing evidence of life-style risk factors for developing dementia in later life. Further research is needed of the behavioural risks to developing dementia and interventions to mitigate those risks.
The incidence of falls increases with age with approximately a third of people over the age of 65 years experiencing one or more falls a year. These falls can result in significant injuries, such as a fracture or even death. Dementia is largely a condition associated with age and there is a growing interest and body of research that explores the...
To explore the lived experiences of caregivers of people living in long-term care (LTC) homes during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and potential supports and resources needed to improve caregivers' quality of life.
Carers (or care partners) of adults in LTC contribute substantially to the health and well-being of their loved ones by providing physical care, emotional support and companionship. Despite their critical role, little is known about how caregivers have been impacted by the pandemic.
An interpretive descriptive approach that incorporated the photovoice method was used.
Using a purposive sampling strategy, six family carers in Ontario, Canada were recruited between September and December 2021. Over a 4-week period, caregivers took pictures depicting their experience of the pandemic that were shared in a virtual focus group. Visual and text data were analysed using thematic analysis with an inductive approach.
Caregivers expressed feelings of frustration, confusion and joy. Emerging themes included: (i) feeling like a ‘criminal’ amidst visitor restrictions and rules; (ii) experiencing uncertainty and disappointment in the quality of care of long-term care homes; (iii) going through burnout; and (iv) focusing on small joys and cherished memories.
The combination of visual and textual methods provided unique insight into the mental distress, isolation and intense emotional burdens experienced by caregivers during the pandemic.
Our findings underscore the need for LTC organizations to work in unison with caregivers to optimize the care of residents and support the mental health of caregivers.
This work adhered to the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) checklist.
The caregivers included in the study were involved in the co-creative process as active contributors informing the design and validation of the codes and themes.
The critical care nursing workforce is in crisis, with one-third of critical care nurses worldwide intending to leave their roles. This paper aimed to examine the problem from a wellbeing perspective, offering implications for research, and potential solutions for organisations.
Discursive/Position paper.
The discussion is based on the nursing and wellbeing literature. It is guided by the authors' collaborative expertise as both clinicians and researchers. Data were drawn from nursing and wellbeing peer-reviewed literature, such as reviews and empirical studies, national surveys and government and thinktank publications/reports.
Critical care nurses have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with studies consistently showing critical care nurses to have the worst psychological outcomes on wellbeing measures, including depression, burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These findings are not only concerning for the mental wellbeing of critical care nurses, they also raise significant issues for healthcare systems/organisations: poor wellbeing, increased burnout and PTSD are directly linked with critical care nurses intending to leave the profession. Thus, the wellbeing of critical care nurses must urgently be supported. Resilience has been identified as a protective mechanism against the development of PTSD and burnout, thus offering evidence-based interventions that address resilience and turnover have much to offer in tackling the workforce crisis. However, turnover data must be collected by studies evaluating resilience interventions, to further support their evidence base. Organisations cannot solely rely on the efficacy of these interventions to address their workforce crisis but must concomitantly engage in organisational change.
We conclude that critical care nurses are in urgent need of preventative, evidence-based wellbeing interventions, and make suggestions for research and practice.
Background
A gap in research about the trajectories of function among men and women aging with functional limitations because of multiple sclerosis (MS) hinders ability to plan for future needs.
Objectives
Using a biopsychosocial model, we characterize how men and women with MS report changes over time in their function and test how person-level differences in age, diagnosis duration, and sex influence perceived function.
Methods
A longitudinal study with multiple waves of surveys was used to collect data on participant perceptions of function, as well as demographic and contextual variables. Self-reported functional limitation was measured over a decade. The study participants were community residing with physician-diagnosed MS.
Results
The people with MS had a diagnosis duration of about 13 years and were around 51 years of age, on average, at the start of the study. They were primarily women and non-Hispanic White. We analyzed the data using mixed-effects models. Subject-specific, functional limitation trajectories were described best with a quadratic growth model. Relative to men, women reported lower functional limitation and greater between-person variation and rates of acceleration in functional limitation scores.
Discussion
Results suggest function progressed through two pathways for over a decade, particularly closer to diagnoses. Variability in trajectories between individuals based on sex and years since diagnosis of disease indicates that men and women with MS may experience perceptions of their function with age differently. This has implications for clinician advice to men and women with MS. 
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