Association between health-related empowerment and health-protective behaviors among community-dwelling older adults.

BACKGROUND: Empowerment is a broad concept seen as a critical approach for helping older adults who lack power to gain control over various aspects of their lives, including their health-protective behaviors. AIM: The study investigated the association between health-related empowerment and health-protective behaviors in older adults. DESIGN: A cross-sectional correlational research design was used by recruiting a convenient sample of 200 older adults. TOOLS: The Elder Health Empowerment Scale and Health Protective Behavior Scale were used to collect the participant data. RESULTS: It showed a significant positive correlation between health-related empowerment and health-protective behaviors in older adults (r = 0.891, p = 0.001), indicating that as health-related empowerment increases, engagement in health-protective behaviors also increases. Furthermore, health-related empowerment accounted for a large proportion of the variation in health-protective behaviors (85.7 %). CONCLUSION: Overall, these findings suggest that there is a need for interventions to improve the health-related empowerment of older adults, particularly in terms of their ability to turn their health goals into actionable plans, overcome barriers to health, and make informed healthcare choices. However, the studied older adults generally engage in health protective behaviors; there is variability in the extent to which they engage in specific behaviors, which may provide valuable insights for developing targeted health promotion programs and interventions.

Using the information-motivation-behavioral skills model for targeting older adults' climate change management practices: in the road of COP27.

BACKGROUND: Climate change is a rapidly evolving public health problem warranting global attention in the 21st century. The World Health Organization declared that climate illiteracy is highly prevalent among older adults, especially in lower- and middle-income nations. AIM: To determine the effect of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model-based intervention for climate change management practices among older adults. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental employed a pre-posttest, two-group research design. PARTICIPANTS: The studied sample comprised 80 older adults (aged 60 years and above), assigned to study and control groups (n = 40 each) after completing a baseline survey of six validated measures. RESULTS: The study group of proposed intervention based on IMB model demonstrated significant improvement in the mean scores of information (98.62 ± 3.56), motivation (90.14 ± 3.02), actual skills (84.13 ± 8.76), and practices (85.80 ± 3.94), p = 0.001. CONCLUSION: The intervention based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model has demonstrated credible feasibility in significantly improving the climate change-related information, motivation, skills, and management practices of older adults immediately after the posttest. It should be emphasized that this improvement showed a significant decline at the six-week mark; albeit the study participants' scores remained significantly higher than their pre-test values, there is clearly a need for reinforcement to maintain positive outcomes over the long term. The existing outcomes call for replication of this intervention in other cohorts, such as uneducated older adults and those residing in assisted-living facilities.

Effect of psychological first aid program on stress level and psychological well-being among caregivers of older adults with alzheimer's disease.

INTRODUCTION: Older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience drastic changes in their physical and mental abilities. AD patients became heavily dependent on their caregivers for everyday functions, which have significant implications not only for them but also for their caregivers. So, many AD caregivers experienced an increased level of depression and anxiety symptoms, lower perceived control, and higher burden compared to non-AD caregivers. Therefore, psychological first aid (PFA) and educational interventions are designed to enable those caregivers to meet the daily requirements of their patient care and to cope with its challenges. AIM: Determine the effect of psychological first aid program on stress level and psychological well-being among caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's disease. DESIGN: One group pre-test post-test was followed. SUBJECTS: A convenience sample of one hundred (100) caregivers of older adults with AD. SETTING: All online groups concerned with the care of Alzheimer's disease patients on Facebook. TOOLS: Socio-demographic and clinical data of older adults with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers' questionnaire, Alzheimer's disease knowledge scale, Kingston caregiver stress scale, and authentic identity measures (AIM) scale of psychological well-being RESULTS: The psychological first aid program has highly statistically significant effect on the AD caregivers' knowledge, stress level and psychological well-being as (t=-30.707, P = 0.000, t = 8.500, P = 0.000 & t= -4.763, P = 0.000 respectively). CONCLUSION: Psychological first aid program is considered an effective intervention in decreasing the AD caregivers' stress and increasing their psychological wellbeing and knowledge regarding delivering care for AD patients.