Informal caregivers are the main source of dementia care. Considering the importance of both family caregivers and persons living with dementia (PwDs), this paper explores how these two parties go through their dementia journey and how they envision robots to support them. We adopt a person-centered care approach which views these couples as reciprocal carepartners, rather than as care-givers and care-receivers. We conducted a community-based participatory research study with a dementia advocacy organization to imagine how robots can support these dementia dyads. The contribution of this paper is threefold: First, we introduce a person-centered care approach and show how this new approach reveals the issues of PwDs and carepartners (CPs) as partners and citizens. For example, PwDs' main challenges were not dementia symptoms but the concomitant stigma such as fears of being considered abnormal. This issue has rarely been discussed in HRI. Second, we suggest slow communication as an important robot design feature. When robots can wait for PwDs to proceed with information without judging PwDs' relatively slow response, PwDs feel respected and less stigmatized. Third, we address the importance of paying attention to disagreements between PwDs and CPs about robot design preferences. Considering the interdependency of the two parties, robot design processes should allow the two to negotiate.

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) affect over 50 million persons globally, and the number is expected to rise. In response, health ministries are developing and implementing policies and programs to systemically address the needs of individuals and families affected by ADRD. While national plans of action on ADRD are advancing among European Member States of World Health Organization (WHO), those in the Asia-Pacific and Americas are lagging behind. Since previous studies have largely ignored the Americas and Asia-Pacific—where approximately two-thirds of the global ADRD population resides—this study sought to identify (a) the socioeconomic factors associated with the likelihood of having a national dementia policy, and (b) to examine common and differing features among the national plans in these regions. Employing the dementia policy guidelines of WHO and the Pan American Health Organization as an extraction guide for data collection and analysis, the national dementia plans and available socioeconomic data of 10 Member States were analyzed with comparative and qualitative analyses. Findings suggested at least a 14-fold increase in the likelihood of having a national dementia plan if a Member State had one of the following: a universal health care system, more than 14% of the population 65 years of age or older, or high-income. All the Member States in the study identified dementia as a public health priority, but priorities differed. Inconsistencies included development of information systems, training for health care professionals, and long-term care systems.

As a global public health concern, elder abuse negatively affects health, psychosocial wellbeing, and mortality among elders. Research and practice efforts made to explore effective prevention and intervention strategies are growing. Despite the growing number of intervention studies on elder abuse, research synthesis on the empirical literature seems lacking. This study aims to identify the pooled effect size of prevention and interventions targeted ultimate and intermediate outcomes for elder abuse that occurred in community settings. Following the Cochrane guideline, our team searched across eight electronic databases and manually searched reference lists of eligible studies and existing systematic reviews for all potentially eligible studies. A random-effects model of 51 effect size estimates reported an overall positive and statistically significant treatment effect of psychosocial interventions for elder abuse, d = 0.63, p < 0.05. The overall treatment effect was approaching statistical significance at 0.1 level for ultimate outcomes, d = 0.32, p = 0.09, and intermediate outcomes, d = 0.75, p = 0.1. An overall significant effect size was found among family-based interventions, d = 0.59, p < 0.05, and interventions targeting older adults and their caregivers, d = 0.45, p < 0.05. Existing evidence supports an overall significant effect for psychosocial interventions for elder abuse. Interventions that used a family-based model, combined education and supportive services, and targeted both caregivers and elders, showed significant effect size, suggesting such features being considered in elder abuse intervention design. Future intervention research is needed to shed light on the link between intervention activities and ultimate change in elder abuse behaviors.

Objectives: This study identified the prevalence of depression and tested the influence of acculturation and family dynamics on depressive symptoms, among a community sample of older Chinese Americans. Method: Data came from a survey of 385 Chinese Americans aged 55 and older (M _age = 72.4 years, SD = 8.7) living in a large metropolitan area in the American Southwest. The survey was administered in 2013 through face-to-face interviews. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 12-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Results: Approximately 19.5% of the sample reported mild depressive symptoms and an additional 8.5% reported moderate depressive symptoms. Three-step hierarchical regression analyses indicated that smaller family support network size and more family conflict were risk factors for depressive symptoms. The effect of acculturation was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms after controlling for family dynamics. Discussion: Family support and conflict play a prominent role in explaining depressive symptoms among Chinese American older adults. The effect of acculturation is minimal when older adults have supportive families and good health. Interventions or services aimed at promoting family harmony for members of this population should be considered.

Purpose: Agitation frequently accompanies cognitive decline among nursing home residents. This study used cross-sectional and longitudinal (up to 18 months) methods to examine agitation among profoundly and moderately impaired residents using both staff report and direct observation methods. Design and Methods: The study included participants (N = 78) from a larger study who completed either 12 or 18 months of data collection. There were four measurement points, each separated by 6-month intervals. We recorded agitation using two measures: (a) the computer-assisted behavioral observation system (CABOS) and (b) the staff-completed Nursing Home Behavior Problem Scale. We used longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling to capture the dynamic nature of behavior change as a function of individual resident characteristics and time. Results: The profoundly cognitively impaired residents (M Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] score = 1.7) displayed more agitation than the moderately impaired group (M MMSE score = 15.4) at Epoch 1 (cross-sectional analyses). Longitudinal analysis found a significant linear and quadratic trend only with the profoundly impaired residents using the CABOS. These residents showed slight improvements in agitation up to 12 months, with agitation increasing significantly from 12 to 18 months. Implications: With nursing homes receiving an increasing number of profoundly cognitively impaired residents, these results have potential cost and policy implications. Measuring agitation over time by using both staff report and observation measures presents various problems, and we present an alternative measure that may help to avoid these difficulties.

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas in China. This study aims to examine the role of dementia beliefs and knowledge in influencing dementia worry among rural adults in China. Data were generated in a cross-sectional survey of 577 participants. Hierarchical regression analyses found that both the beliefs and knowledge of dementia contributed to higher levels of dementia worry. The propensity score matching method affirmed the robustness of regression results. In addition, those aged 45-64 reported higher worry about dementia than those aged 65 or older, while being married was related to lower dementia worry. As one of the first kind studies that examined dementia worry in rural Chinese population, our findings suggest that policy and practice efforts should address cultural beliefs of dementia as they contributed to higher worry about dementia in rural areas.