Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ., Volume 4, Issue 2 (August 2014) – 10 articles , Pages 67-168

Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, may limit the older adults’ ability to execute daily life activities; generating tiredness and/or overload on the caregivers. Objective: To determine the existing relationship between tiredness, the caregiver and the effects on the caregiver’s health. Method: Quantitative analytic study. The sample was assembled with 123 family caregivers and 123 older adults with a chronic degenerative disease. The sampling method was non-probabilistic. Results and Discussion: It was found association between tiredness and care’s repercussions (r=.438, p<.01), this suggest that, the higher the fatigue presented by the caregivers, higher the repercussions in their health will be (r=.546, p<.01). Also, a correlation from the care given by the familiar and the repercussions on the caregiver’s health (r=.546, p<.01), indicating that, the more extensive and complex the care given, greater the affectation this will have on the caregiver´s health. The care was related with the tiredness allows us to affirm that the more extensive and complex the care, the more tiredness is perceived by the caregiver (r=.109, p<.01). Conclusion: The caregiver’s tiredness is high; it is associated with the overload of the care and has several repercussions on the health or the wellbeing and future interdisciplinary-based interventions. Full article

Alzheimer's disease has become one of the most prevalent and worrying diseases in our society due to the impact that it has on the patient as well as family members and caregivers. Largely due to the fact that nowadays pharmacological treatments are not curative of this dementia, we considered alternative therapies that improve all the parameters of the disease. In this respect, it is known the direct relationship between chronic stress experienced by the individual in the last years of their life and the appearance of the first symptoms of the disease, standing out depression, anxiety and sadness. Thinking about the extraordinary benefits that music has, we set out to assess the impact that music therapy would have on these symptoms. For this purpose, we carried out a brief intervention using a protocol standardized by us. At the same time, we conducted standardized questionnaires that measure depression and anxiety related to stress and happiness related to well-being, before and after the intervention, being able to assess whether there is any improvement, and if the use of questionnaires is suitable to quantify it. The results show a great improvement in patients regarding these symptoms, and therefore music therapy can be considered to be a very effective therapeutic tool to reduce the stress in these patients. Full article

Within the elderly population, the specific circumstances that some of the elderly find themselves due to certain socio-cultural factors make them more likely to be abused while residing in assisted living residences, due to the facts that the abuse is coming from the organisation it is unlikely to be reported, or brought to the attention of others, making it difficult to detect and, as a result, an issue not often discussed. We intend to investigate these possibilities; however, due to lack of information on this subject, we aim to address this issue by investigating the number of elderly people living in nursing homes who have suffered abuse due to agents outside of the organisation, such as the family, other residents and Friends. A brief questionnaire was created on an Excel Spreadsheet for the collection of data for this study, these questionnaires where then passed on the social workers of 4 assisted living residences, in the geographical scope of the Murcia region. The data collected correspond to the time period between January and December 2013. The results lead us to believe that the principal risk factors associated with this type of abuse is being a woman, a widow and with and age of about 80 years. Psychological abuse from family members was the most frequently reported type of abuse in the study. Full article

Case description: Woman, 79 years old. Medical history: hypertension, Atrial fibrillation (AF) permanent treated with acenocoumarol and mitral insufficiency. Barthel 90, Lowton-Brody. 2. The patient came to the emergency room for rib pain (musculoskeletal) in last two weeks, without other symptoms. We initiated analgesia and the patient was discharged. She came back with new symptoms: epistaxis and dyspnea. Exploration and complementary tests: cardio-pulmonary auscultation arrhythmic tones with sternal border systolic murmur left, crakling sounds in the lungs, with decreased breath sounds. Chest x-ray: right hilar mass with right pleural thickening, and diffuse bilateral infiltration. CBC: hemoglobin 7.9 g/dl (First: 11.6 g/dl), WBC 11.57x10l. Biochemistry: PCR 72.90 mg/l, urea 85 mg/l. Coagulation: INR undetermined, activity prothrombin <12.5%. Diagnosis: bilateral alveolar hemorrhage. Diagnosis Differential: bilateral alveolar hemorrhage, bilateral pneumonia, heart failure congestive (Acute Lung Edema). Conclusion: 0.5% of the population uses oral anticoagulants, between 6.8-11.1% by FA an INR>, increases the risk of bleeding. This is a patient with multimorbidity, moderately dependent, with poor treatment compliance and anticoagulation control. Given these data (anemia, no signs of infection or heart failure), and the test results, we opted for the first possibility alveolar hemorrhage diagnosed.
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Rate the elderly nutritionally will allow us to achieve and maintain good nutritional status in the elderly population. Objectives: 1 Assessment of nutritional status of the population.. Two. Evaluation of population intake according to recommended intakes. Three. Valuations menu and antioxidant capacity compared to the Spanish average. Methods: The study was conducted with 28 elders. Sociodemographic indicators, anthropometric data, blood pressure, questionnaires assessing the nutritional status and assessment of intake were used. In addition, the antioxidant capacity of menu technique ORAC was determined. Results: Males had higher overweight and obesity increased women. The waist-hip ratio was higher in men (0.94 ± 0.08 cm). Regarding the intake, there is greater risk of malnutrition 50% (MNA and NSI), excess cholesterol and folic acid deficiency, vitamin D and magnesium in both sexes. The antioxidant capacity was 31,377 umol / day and total polyphenols of 2,344 mg / day. Conclusions: There is a high risk of malnutrition (MNA, NSI) and cardiovascular disease (ICC) among participants. The antioxidant capacity of the menu three times the reference values and the energy profile of the elderly is inadequate, with excess fat and cholesterol and low in carbohydrates Full article

The work presented aims to analyze the similarities and differences in health and quality of life of family caregivers and professionals serving seniors in a position of dependency. Specifically, the results presented were obtained from the evaluation of 600 caregivers, of which 33.83% are family and 66.17% are professionals, to determine their burden or stress experienced, as well as their physical and psychological health and their overall, work, family and social quality of life. The results indicate that there are differences between the two groups of caregivers. The family caregivers have higher levels of overload and have poorer physical and psychological health as a result of their tasks. Professional caregivers experience greater satisfaction with life in general and in other factors such as work, family and social relationships. Finally, this justifies the need to implement interventions to improve the health of caregivers. Full article

Resilience was a concept introduced in the study of responses and positive adaptation of people living in risky environments, contexts and situations that posed potential threats to normal development like poverty, disease and violence. Subsequently introduced in the study of developmental phenomena and processes that occur in all ages and stages of the life cycle, including the later stages. The resilience´s perspective has modified the previous model of aging that associated losses with a more comprehensive in that people have high levels of positive functioning, despite adverse circumstances, limitations and impairments. This conception is convergent with the approach of resilience and the idea that a resilient person is normal, isn´t exceptional. Two psychobiological processes support psychological resilience in old age: neuroplasticity and psychoneuroimmunology. To finish, are highlighted the personal resources and requirements called resilient contributing to successful aging, including longevity. Full article

This paper is part of a widest study about quality of life of older people who are enrolled in a university programme for seniors. This part belongs to a the first phase, focused on the assessment of the quality of life of senior students enrolled into the first year of the Diploma Sènior (a three years degree) of the Open university for Seniors (UOM), educational programme offered by the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) to people over 50 years. This paper shows the results of the subjective perception of the quality of life of older people enrolled in the first year degree, during three different and correlative academic years (2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12) of UOM. Our main goal is to understand and assess which are components related to their quality of life, that they give more importance or consideration for their own quality of life. The outcomes show that a huge majority, a 93%, thinks that the most important component is "to have good health" and only a 0.8% of the sample perceived their quality of life as bad or low. Full article

We conducted a randomized, controlled study in order to investigate the feasibility, security as well as the effects of the practice of mindfulness upon the evolution of AD. The efficacy of a Mindfulness-based Cognitive Stimulation program for Alzheimer’s patients was tested in this double-blind, randomized clinical trial, using repeated measures of CAMDEX (CAMCOG y MMSE) every six months during two years. A total of 168 patients, presenting a Probable Alzheimer Disease according to NINCDS-ADRDA criteria and treated with donepezil, were randomly assigned to the four following non-pharmacological treatments: standard cognitive stimulation, progressive muscular relaxation, mindfulness-based Alzheimer stimulation and control group, which received no intervention. Each experimental group worked in 90-minute sessions, three times per week during two years (a total of 96 weeks). Results indicated that the Mindfulness-based Alzheimer Stimulation group did not show as much a significant decline of cognitive function as the other groups did. Therefore, it seems that mindfulness practice, as implemented in this program, can have a preventive role against the progression of cognitive impairment in AD. These results support the use of mindfulness as a non-pharmacological treatment. Full article

Alzheimer type dementia is one of the main health problems, due to the disability and dependence it produces. The implementation of Law 39/2006 attempts to respond to the needs by means of a catalogue of socio-health services and resources to provide support to the patients and their relatives. A study was conducted with 255 caregivers/relatives of people diagnosed with Alzheimer type dementia in order to determine the profile of the beneficiaries of these services, taking into account the caregivers' knowledge, the phase of the illness, and level of dependence. The results show that caregivers with knowledge of the disease and patients who are at a more advanced stage are the ones who use the most resources. Specifically, caregivers with knowledge used the family respite to a greater extent, and predominantly caregivers of patients at a mild phase of the disease enjoyed volunteer services and help at home, whereas caregivers at more advanced phases used the Day Center and economic aid. Lastly, we underline that volunteer service is used by subjects with a lower level of dependence, whereas more dependent people use economic aid the most. Full article