Journal of Applied Gerontology

In this article, the authors report data from four states that have computerized their long-term care ombudsman databases and are using the same software. The authors explore the apparent differences among these four states to encourage critical thinking in interpreting the meaning of these data. Just as a national ombudsman database draws closer, so does the need for practitioners, researchers, educators, and policy makers to be vigilant in understanding that data must be contextualized. Otherwise, premature and inaccurate conclusions may be drawn. Critically important is the link between those persons who analyze and interpret and the ombudsman practitioners who collect and report these data.

This study aimed to determine if self-reported social support and life events explained differences in levels of anxiety and depression among 109 elderly psychotropic drug users compared to 90 nonusers (aged 62 to 98). Two thirds of the respondents were French-speaking, mostly female (82.1%) and widowed (57.4%), and recipients of a home care program in Montreal, Canada. The life event and social support scales, broken down by item value, did not differentiate users from nonusers, except for feelings of loneliness reported by 40% of users compared to only 16% of nonusers (p < .001). Analysis of the relation between psychiatric symptomatology and psychosocial variables, broken down by item value, showed greater sensitivity among users to perceived (subjective) lack in social support. In contrast, only “feelings of loneliness” had an effect on the level of mental health of nonusers. There was no effect with regard to objective items of social support.

In this study, the authors examined the characteristics of family-generated videotapes used to manage the manifestation of verbally disruptive behaviors (VDB) in nursing home residents. Videotapes prepared by the relatives of 30 verbally disruptive nursing home residents to be shown to residents were systematically observed and coded for content and mode of presentation. The relationship between the videotapes' characteristics and their impact on the resident was studied. The majority of the time in the videotape was spent talking about the past or present of the family, was characterized by an overall feeling of respect, and did not show great variability in the features examined. Videotapes coded as showing more love and those not talking about current events were associated with higher effectiveness in reducing VDB. This treatment proved to be an appropriate and rewarding avenue to involve family members in the care of their frail institutionalized elderly relatives.

This 20-year follow-up study examined the physical, psychological, and social outcomes, and social supports of 49 survivors of an original sample of 418 rural adults who were aged 65 years and older in 1976. The majority of adults lived alone but received regular assistance. Families, especially adult children, were their primary social supports. Very few formal supports were used. Psychological well-being among the very-old was good as expressed through life satisfaction and morale, despite multiple health problems and moderate levels of dependence on others for activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal data from this study support the need to rethink issues of social support, independence, and family relationships in very-old age.

Early in the 20th century economies stagnated and populations dwindled in the Texas Hill Country. Over the past three decades, however, several Hill Country counties have experienced a remarkable reversal of demographic fortune, culminating in a notable influx of older migrants with wealth. This study documents this flow with census data for 34 counties in Texas Hill Country between 1965 and 1990. Correlation statistics show a close relationship between elderly inmigrant flows and economic resurgence in several counties. In particular, elderly in-migration rates were closely tied to increases in county income, as well as growth in the service, retail, and construction sectors.

This article uses data from focus groups to examine how older nonmetropolitan residents of upstate New York construct their transportation arrangements during different stages of the life course. The article also analyzes the effectiveness of different modes of transportation in facilitating life-maintenance and higher order needs of older individuals. Almost universally, youngold (age 65 to 74) rural residents drive themselves to most of their activities; a small proportion also use public buses to fill some of their transportation needs. Old-old (age 75 and older) individuals, by necessity, rely on a wider range of transportation options because of driving cessation among some in this group. The focus groups allowed older participants to speak for themselves regarding what they liked and disliked about different transportation options, thus providing findings that policy makers and transportation planners might use for designing transportation systems that meet the needs of older rural and small-town residents.