This study investigated the relationships among gender role and self-reported health functioning in a sample of community dwelling older adults. One hundred and two (55 female, 47 male) participants were recruited through seniors’ associations in Windsor, Ontario. Analyses of variance were conducted separately by gender to compare the self-rated physical health functioning, wellness, and life satisfaction of participants differing on classification of their gender role. For older women classified as androgynous, gender role exhibited significant effects on general wellness and life satisfaction, but not on self-reported physical health functioning. In support of Bem’s androgyny model of optimal adjustment, post-hoc analyses revealed that women who rated themselves as androgynous reported better overall wellness levels than their peers. Older men’s self-reported physical health functioning and general wellness did not differ significantly by gender role. Limitations and implications are discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of aging on the ability a) to name famous faces and b) to access biographical knowledge about famous people from different modalities of presentation (faces and names). Healthy elderly subjects (n = 117) divided into three different age groups were assessed using a semantic memory test of famous people. Results of this study indicate a decline in naming performance between oldest and youngest groups. In contrast, no difference between groups was found in terms of the ability to access semantic knowledge about famous people. Finally, a main effect of modality of presentation (faces vs. names) was found, revealing greater ability to identify famous people in the verbal (names) than in the visual modality (faces). Taken together, results of this study may contribute to developing new cognitive intervention programs in older adults presenting with proper-name anomia.

As part of its recruitment process, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) will face the challenge of screening out individuals who are sufficiently impaired in their ability to provide informed consent. In the process of developing the design of the CLSA, a review of the literature was performed with the goal of identifying currently existing telephone cognitive screening tools that can be used to identify eligible study participants for population-based research on aging. We identified 12 telephone screening tools, four of which were based on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) and eight that were based on other face-to-face screening tools. Characteristics – including the constructs measured, the length of time for administration, the scoring/classification scheme, and any information regarding the validation of each tool – were extracted and summarized.

To document the use of health services for psychological distress symptoms, we collected data from a cross-section of adults aged 65 years and over. Nearly 13 per cent met DSM-IV criteria for mood or anxiety disorders. In addition, 42.4 per cent of those having at least one DSM-IV diagnosis reported having used health services. Results show a direct association between the presence of a probable DSM-IV diagnosis and health service use. However, our results show no significant association between gender and health service use, and do not support the hypothesis that minimal social support increases the probability of older adults using health services for psychological distress. The analysis suggests unmarried elders are more likely than married elders to use health services. Furthermore, this study shows that older adults having a high level of daily hassles reported using health services for psychological distress than those reporting a low stress level. We conclude that a large proportion of elderly mental health needs in Quebec are potentially not being met.

This study was aimed at providing normative data for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The norms were built from a sample (n = 2409) of community-dwelling French speaking residents from Québec aged 65 and older. The analyses indicated that socio-demographic variables such as education level, age, and gender of individuals influenced significantly the scores of older adults on the MMSE. More precisely, MMSE scores increased with education level and decreased with age. Moreover, women had significantly higher scores than men. On this basis, distinct tables of normative data were produced for women and men. In each table, the MMSE scores corresponding to percentiles 5, 10, 15 and 50 were identified according to four age categories and three education levels. Overall, the use of the present normative data by clinicians will improve their accuracy in detecting cognitive impairment in older adults from Québec.

Biological specimen collection is an integral part of many longitudinal epidemiological studies. It is important to achieve high participant satisfaction for continuing involvement, and high sample quality for accurate biomarker measurement. We conducted a study to evaluate these issues on the sample collection proposed for the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). There were 85 participants recruited, and 65 attended either a hospital laboratory or private laboratory. Approximately 100 mL of blood and a random urine specimen were collected from each participant for a total of 2,108 sample aliquots. Quality standards were met for more than 90 per cent of samples and were similar for samples collected in both laboratories. More than 90 per cent of participants rated satisfaction with the collection as being good or excellent, and 84 per cent would be willing to repeat the collection in one to three years.

Because the concept of retirement is prominent in both popular thinking and academic studies, it would be helpful if the notion were analytically sound, could be measured with precision, and would make possible comparisons of patterns of retirement over time and among different populations. This paper reviews and assesses the many concepts and measures that have been proposed, summarizing them in groupings that reflect non-participation or reduced participation in the labour force, receipt of pension income, end-of-career employment, self-assessed retirement, or combinations of those characteristics. It concludes that there is no agreed measure and that no one measure dominates. Instead, new proposed measures continue to take account of additional refinements as new data sets become available, thereby further restricting possible comparisons. The confusing array of definitions reflects the practical problem that underlies the concept of retirement: It is an essentially negative notion, a notion of what people are not doing – namely, that they are not working. A more positive approach would be to focus, instead, on what people are doing, including especially their involvement in non-market activities that are socially productive, even if those activities do not contribute to national income as conventionally measured.

An increasing number of studies have documented the cognitive profile of individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but few studies have investigated the individuals’ psychological health and personality traits or how these factors interact with cognition. In the present study, 27 healthy older adults and 30 persons with MCI completed questionnaires covering psychological health, morale, personality, self-efficacy, and self-actualization. The results indicated that individuals with MCI are more depressed, anxious, hostile, and have lower morale than matched healthy older adults. Furthermore, our results show a positive association between the level of depression of MCI persons and the severity of their cognitive dysfunctions. In contrast, there were no group differences on measures of personality traits. Thus, while psychological distress is present in persons with MCI, those individuals are not characterized by differences in personality traits relative to older adults who experience no cognitive impairment.

This survey assessed the extent of and satisfaction with collaboration between physicians and nurse practitioners (NPs) working in Ontario long-term care homes. Questionnaires, which included the Measure of Current Collaboration and Provider Satisfaction with Current Collaboration instruments, were mailed to NPs and physicians with whom the NP most frequently worked. The 14 matched-pairs of NPs and physicians reported similar levels of collaboration; however, physicians were significantly more satisfied with collaboration than were NPs (z = -2.67, p = 0.008). The majority of physicians (85%) and NPs (86%) indicated that collaboration was occurring, and 96 per cent of physicians and 79 per cent of NPs were satisfied with their collaboration. About one third of physicians reported that the NP had a negative effect on their income, but their satisfaction with collaboration did not differ from those who reported a positive effect. Overall, these physicians and NPs collaborate in delivering care and are satisfied with their collaboration.

Standard clinical diagnostic procedures are often inappropriate and frequently not feasible to apply in population-based studies, yet ascertaining accurate disease status is essential. We conducted a systematic review to identify algorithms, criteria, and tools used to ascertain 17 chronic diseases, and assessed the feasibility of developing algorithms for the CLSA. Of the 29,616 citations screened, 668 papers met all inclusion criteria. We determined that the information included in a disease algorithm will differ by condition type. The diagnosis of some symptomatic conditions, such as osteoarthritis and arthritis, will require substantiation by clinical criteria (e.g., x-rays, bone density measurement) while other conditions, such as depression, will rely solely on self-report. Asymptomatic conditions, such as hypertension, are more difficult to ascertain by self-report and will require additional physiologic measures (e.g., blood pressure) as well as laboratory measures (e.g., glucose). This pilot study identified the tools necessary to develop disease ascertainment algorithms.

The article examines where older adults seek help in caring for a parent with dementia and the factors associated with their identification of community health and support services as sources of assistance. The authors conducted telephone interviews, using random digit dialing, of 1,152 adults aged 50 and over in the city of Hamilton. Respondents received a vignette that raised issues related to parental dementia. In identifying support sources, over 37 per cent of respondents identified their physician, 33 per cent identified informal support such as family and neighbors, and 31 per cent identified home health services. Only 18 per cent identified community support services. Female participants having higher levels of education were more likely to identify their physician as a source of support. Knowing where to find information about community support services was associated with an increased likelihood of mentioning physicians and home health services as sources of assistance.

The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of fear of falling (FOF) among patients over age 60 with dizziness, falls, or syncope; and to analyze risk factors associated with FOF, including data from the tilt table test. This study included 200 older patients referred to a geriatric outpatient clinic specializing in dizziness, falls, and syncope. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients who experienced FOF (yes vs. no) and whether FOF restricted leaving home alone or performing activities of daily living. FOF occurred in 50 per cent of patients in this population. Among these, 44 per cent gave up going out alone and 10 per cent stopped doing basic activities of daily living. Beyond age 75, FOF was associated with recurrent dizziness, depression, and symptoms on standing, but not prior falls.

Une des clés au succès de l’Étude longitudinale canadienne sur le vieillissement (ÉLCV) sera de tirer profit des sources de données secondaires, en particulier données relatives à l’utilisation des soins de santé (USS). Pour examiner les aspects pratiques, méthodologiques et éthiques d’accéder à des données sur l’USS, des entrevues qualitatives individuelles ont été réalisés auprès de 53 administrateurs de données et commissaires/ombudsman à la protection de la vie privée à travers le Canada. Les participants de l’étude ont indiqué que d’obtenir la permission d’accéder à des données sur l’USS est généralement possible; cependant, ils ont noté que ce processus sera complexe et long, exigeant des travaux préparatoires considérables et méticuleux afin de s’assurer que la documentation soit appropriée et que le tout soit conforme aux variations juridiques ainsi qu’aux lignes, législatives et politiques.

This article presents two studies dealing with ageism. The objective of the first study was to adapt to French language and validate the Fraboni of Ageism Scale-Revised (FSA-R) which contains 23 items, while the objective of the second study was to test a structural model containing ageism as measured by the FSA-R and the “Big Three”: empathy, social dominance orientation, and dogmatism, controlled for by sex and age. The results of the first study (n = 323) generated a version of the FSA-R comprising 14 items, of which the psychometric properties were very satisfactory. Using structural equation modelling and bootstrap procedure, the results of the second study (n = 284) showed a direct negative and significant effect of empathy on agism. They also showed that this negative effect was mediated by dogmatism and social dominance orientation, which both exerted a positive effect on ageism.

With this study we set out to determine if differences exist across culture change models (CCM) in relation to formal caregivers’ perceived access to empowerment structures and reported provision of individualized care. We recruited staff working in facilities that had implemented the Eden Alternative, GentleCare, Facility Specific Social Models of Care (FSSMOC), or no CCM. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) compared these constructs by CCM for each of three caregiver groups (Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, and care aides). Results suggest that considerable differences exist between formal caregivers and by CCM. The greater caregivers’ day-to-day contact with residents, the more CCMs appear to affect perceived empowerment and reported provision of individualized care. Findings suggest the greatest benefits existed for staff working in facilities with a FSSMOC. Conversely, in only one instance did responses from staff in Eden Alternative facilities differ from those in facilities with no CCM.

Because public acceptance is critical for the successful integration of nurse practitioners into the Canadian health care system, the current study explored how women of different ages perceive nurse practitioners. Middle-aged women held more positive views of health care professionals in general and were more likely to indicate that they would seek help from nurse practitioners compared to younger and older women. Across all three age groups, respondents were more likely to seek help from physicians than from nurse practitioners, especially for acute (versus preventive) health concerns.