(Press-News.org) More than 50% of Australians living in residential aged care facilities have a dementia diagnosis, with aged care services around the world preparing for the number of older people aged 65 years and above to double in the next 30 years.
For the first time, experts at the Caring Futures Institute at South Australia’s Flinders University are using innovative eye-tracking technology to ensure that the voices of all older people are heard to drive positive and effective change in keeping with the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s call to re-assess the quality of aged care in Australia.
The Flinders University research group been instrumental in forging significant progress within the aged care sector by developing two new validated quality assessment tools – the Quality of Life-Aged Care Consumers (QOL-ACC) and the Quality of Care Experience-Aged Care Consumers (QCE-ACC) – which are available and being used throughout the sector.
Now, the eye-tracking technology with older people living with dementia in residential aged care facilities will improve the online assessment tools to enable wider collection of self-reported quality of care and quality of life information from older people themselves, says Matthew Flinders senior research fellow Dr Rachel Milte of new article published in Quality of Life Research.
“Older adults living with a diagnosis of dementia in residential care can find it challenging to respond to traditional text based questionnaires to rate the quality of life and quality of care they receive.
“By using eye-tracking technology we can collect crucial information about how older people with dementia read and respond to questionnaires, helping to understand how we can better design and adapt these for their needs.”
In the study, researchers asked 41 residents ranging from ‘no’ to ‘mild or moderate’ cognitive impairment to complete a simple quality-of-life survey while sitting at a computer installed with eye-tracking technology.
In real time, the technology records where participants focus their eye gaze while completing the questionnaire, the text they read and don’t read, and parts of the questionnaire they spend the most time looking at.
“This information helps us to design questionnaires which are easier for older people to complete, as well as understand whether they are reading all the key information to give high quality data for use in assessing quality of care in residential aged care homes.”
Dr Milte and her colleague Dr Jyoti Khadka are now expanding this research program with funding from an Australian Association of Gerontology Strategic Innovation Grant.
“The next project will focus on maximising self-completion of questionnaires and reduce the need to rely on proxy assessments by family members or close friends, which will support the scalability and cost-effectiveness of the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program,” says Dr Khadka.
“To have an aged care system which truly meets the expectations of all Australians, we need to understand the quality of care of all older people from their own perspectives. This includes people with dementia,” he says.
“We know from research in the disability sector and aphasia (language disorder) research that people with communication difficulties can self-report their own quality of life, if instruments are tailored to their needs and abilities,” he says.
The research will draw together information from diverse research areas including accessible communication, aged care research and health economics and bring it together for the first time to develop quality assessment tools which support the inclusion of self-reported quality of life and quality of care data from people living with dementia.
These accessible communication tools will be designed to be applied alongside traditional text based questionnaires to enable a broad understanding of the quality of care experienced by older people in residential aged care.
“Ultimately, the new tools will provide accurate information to policy makers and practitioners about which innovations in care should be funded to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of all older Australians,” concludes Dr Milte.
The article, Feasibility of self-reported health related quality of life assessment with older people in residential care: insights from the application of eye tracking technology (2023) by Rachel Milte, Matthew Crocker, Kiri Lay, Julie Ratcliffe, Brendan Mulhern, Richard Norman, Rosalie Viney and Jyoti Khadka has been published in Quality of Life Research (Springer) DOI: 10.1007/s11136-023-03488-w
END
Eye-tracking technology helps give a voice to older people living with dementia
2023-09-07
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Capturing carbon in savannas: New research examines role of grasses for controlling climate change
2023-09-07
In recent years, the escalating impact of global warming has prompted efforts to reverse troubling trends, often by planting trees to capture and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it. New research from a team led by Young Zhou, from the Quinney College of Natural Resources and the Ecology Center, shows that, in addition to trees, humble grasses also play an essential role in capturing carbon — more important than previously thought.
A recent initiative set its sights on capturing carbon in tropical savannas, an ecosystem characterized by shared space of trees and grasses. The project initiated ...
Street medicine filling a major gap by providing behavioral health care for people who are homeless
2023-09-07
Mental health and substance use disorders are prevalent among people experiencing homelessness, yet access to care for these health issues is challenging for people living on the streets. Now, a new survey conducted by a team of researchers from USC Street Medicine found that, in California, street medicine programs are helping to fill this gap, delivering critical, high-level mental health and substance use treatments to the state’s unsheltered population.
The survey, published in Community Mental Health Journal, shows that street medicine has the potential to serve as the basis for a strategy to expand access to behavioral health care for people who ...
UC Irvine researchers discover a nanobody which may lead to treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa
2023-09-07
A team of scientists from the University of California, Irvine, believe they have discovered a special antibody which may lead to a treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa, a condition that causes loss of central vision, as well as night and color vision.
The study, Structural basis for the allosteric modulation of rhodopsin by nanobody binding to its extracellular domain, was published in Nature Communications. Authors of the study were Arum Wu, PhD, David Salom, PhD, John D. Hong, Aleksander Tworak, PhD, Philip D. Kiser, PharmD, PhD, and Krzysztof Palczewski, PhD, in the Department ...
Use of common painkillers alongside hormonal contraception linked to heightened risk of blood clots
2023-09-07
Women who use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers alongside hormonal contraception appear to be at a small increased risk of blood clots known as venous thromboembolism (VTE), finds a large Danish study published by The BMJ today.
The risk was greater in women using combined oral contraceptives containing third or fourth generation progestins, but smaller in women using progestin-only tablets, implants and coils, alongside the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) ibuprofen, diclofenac, and naproxen.
The researchers stress ...
High intake of several emulsifier E numbers linked to increased cardiovascular disease risk
2023-09-07
High intake of several emulsifiers (part of the ‘E numbers’ group of food additives), widely used in industrially processed foods to improve texture and extend shelf-life, is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), suggests a study published by The BMJ today.
Given that these food additives are used ubiquitously in thousands of widely consumed ultra-processed food products, these findings have important public health implications, say the researchers.
Emulsifiers are often added to processed and packaged foods such as pastries, cakes, ice cream, ...
RIT researchers pioneer solutions for degenerative disc disease and back pain
2023-09-06
Rochester Institute of Technology researchers are improving non-invasive treatment options for degenerative disc disease, an ailment that impacts 3 million adults yearly in the U.S., according to the Mayo Clinic.
Using state-of-the-art gene editing technology in mesenchymal stem cells, the researchers will add to the growing field of regenerative medicine, the process of producing cellular therapies to alleviate pain and lack of mobility.
Karin Wuertz-Kozak and Thomas Gaborski, faculty-researchers in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, recently received a National Institutes of Health award for “Extracellular vesicles produced by CRISPR-activated ...
Subscriptions drive views of alternative and extremist videos on YouTube
2023-09-06
As the second most popular social media platform in the world, YouTube frequently attracts criticism. In particular, critics argue that its algorithmic recommendations facilitates radicalization and extremism by sending users down "rabbit holes" of harmful content.
According to a new study published in Science Advances, however, exposure to alternative and extremist video channels on YouTube is not driven by recommendations. Instead, most consumption of these channels on the platform can be attributed to a small group of users high in gender and racial resentment who ...
Grasping entropy: Teachers and students investigate thermodynamics through a hands-on model
2023-09-06
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2023 – Though a cornerstone of thermodynamics, entropy remains one of the most vexing concepts to teach budding physicists in the classroom. As a result, many people oversimplify the concept as the amount of disorder in the universe, neglecting its underlying quantitative nature.
In The Physics Teacher, co-published by AIP Publishing and the American Association of Physics Teachers, researcher T. Ryan Rogers designed a hand-held model to demonstrate the concept of entropy for students. Using everyday materials, Rogers’ approach allows students to confront ...
Immune system plays vital role in longer multiple myeloma remission
2023-09-06
MIAMI, FLORIDA (Sept. 6, 2023) – A new study from researchers with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and other top-tier cancer centers highlights the vital role that the immune system plays in determining the duration of patients’ remission from multiple myeloma.
Their findings, published Sept. 2 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, suggest that the health of patients’ immune systems may determine how long they will experience progression-free survival from this deadly blood cancer.
Additionally, the researchers were pleasantly surprised to discover that patients’ immune systems ...
Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian receive NIH support for project addressing postpartum maternal health in underserved communities
2023-09-06
As part of a National Institutes of Health initiative to improve maternal health and pregnancy outcomes nationwide, Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian will play a pivotal role as collaborators with Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) as one of 10 nationwide IMPROVE (Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone) Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence.
The research center, called the NY Community-Hospital-Academic Maternal Health Equity Partnerships, or NY-CHAMP, ...