A cross-sectional description of the health characteristics of cognitively impaired older adults.

OBJECTIVES: The analysis presented here describes the care needs of older adults with and without cognitive impairment. To describe the health characteristics of older adults with and without cognitive impairment who receive home care or Aged Residential Care services in New Zealand. METHODS: A descriptive analysis of the initial interRAI assessment for adults older than 55 years was undertaken. Data were grouped by level of assessed cognitive impairment. The population proportions for each level of the following scales were calculated: Changes in Health, End-stage Disease, Signs, and Symptoms Scale (CHESS), pain, pressure injury risk, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), depression screening, and body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: The analysis included 93,680 assessments. The mean age was 83 years (SD = 8.7) a positive association was observed between age and cognitive impairment (p < 0.01). People with cognitive impairment were less likely to have been recently hospitalised or to have attended ED (p < 0.01). Significant associations with effect sizes ≥3 were observed for cognitive impairment and ADL (p < 0.01, γ = 0.63), pain (p < 0.01, γ = -0.32), and risk of pressure injury (p < 0.01, Cramer's V = 0.271). CONCLUSIONS: The results reinforce a need to be alert to the differential care needs of older adults with moderate/severe cognitive impairment. The findings may act as a trigger for practitioners to focus assessment on aspects of care that, due to context, may otherwise be underassessed or untreated.

Kama muta: Conceptualizing and measuring the experience often labelled being moved across 19 nations and 15 languages.

English-speakers sometimes say that they feel "moved to tears," "emotionally touched," "stirred," or that something "warmed their heart;" other languages use similar passive contact metaphors to refer to an affective state. The authors propose and measure the concept of kama muta to understand experiences often given these and other labels. Do the same experiences evoke the same kama muta emotion across nations and languages? They conducted studies in 19 different countries, 5 continents, 15 languages, with a total of 3,542 participants. They tested the construct while validating a comprehensive scale to measure the appraisals, valence, bodily sensations, motivation, and lexical labels posited to characterize kama muta. The results are congruent with theory and previous findings showing that kama muta is a distinct positive social relational emotion that is evoked by experiencing or observing a sudden intensification of communal sharing. It is commonly accompanied by a warm feeling in the chest, moist eyes or tears, chills or piloerection, feeling choked up or having a lump in the throat, buoyancy, and exhilaration. It motivates affective devotion and moral commitment to communal sharing. Although the authors observed some variations across cultures, these 5 facets of kama muta are highly correlated in every sample, supporting the validity of the construct and the measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).