RESUMO
Notwithstanding the oldest-old cohort being the fastest-growing population in most ageing societies, characterizing successful ageing in adults of advanced age, such as nonagenarians and centenarians, remains challenging. This study investigated the successful ageing subphenotypes using the data from Hong Kong Centenarian Study 2. Between April 2021 and September 2022, 146 family caregivers of community-dwelling older adults aged 95 or above were interviewed by phone. Latent class analysis identified three classes-Overall Frail (46.6%) with poor mobility, cognitive and functional health, Nonambulant (37.0%) but good functional health, and Robust (16.4%) with overall good health-from 11 indicators based on caregivers' reports. Although we found a low prevalence of fulfillment of all indicators of successful ageing, our findings will help care professionals appreciate the heterogeneity underlying partial successful ageing in this vulnerable cohort for segmented and targeted healthy longevity interventions.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effectiveness of a translated version of Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) II in Hong Kong's service delivery context. METHOD: The localized intervention was adapted from REACH II with 12 individual-based sessions, which addressed multiple domains including disease education, safety, caregiver (CG) well-being, and care recipients' problem behavior. Two-hundred and one dementia family dyads completed the intervention. RESULTS: The efficacy of the intervention was demonstrated by the significant improvement in the perception of positive aspects of caregiving, reduction in depressive symptoms, subjective burden, bother and caregiving risks among CGs, and abatement in behavioral problems among care recipients. Treatment implementation was reflected from the high rate of adoption of each intervention component by interventionists and satisfactory reception from CGs. Promises in reach and adoption were demonstrated by the participation of 85 interventionists from 11 NGOs across 18 districts and CGs of a variety of demographic characteristics. DISCUSSION: This study is the first attempt to translate a highly successful evidence-based dementia CG intervention developed in the USA into the Hong Kong service delivery context. The current results echoed the success of REACH II. The values and challenges of translational research are discussed.