PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Residents of rural ‘glades’ take a ‘leap of faith’ to combat dementia

Nursing study uses faith-based approach to address cognitive impairment in Florida’s often-forgotten rural settings

Residents of rural ‘glades’ take a ‘leap of faith’ to combat dementia
2024-01-30
(Press-News.org) The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) is disproportionately high among rural, racially/ethnically diverse older residents. In fact, they face up to an 80 percent greater risk of cognitive impairment in older age, and 2.5 times potentially preventable ADRD-related hospitalizations compared to urban dwellers. It is estimated that early and accurate diagnosis in the mild cognitive impairment stage could save up to $7 trillion in patients’ health and long-term care costs by 2050.

To address these health disparities in rural underserved populations, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and collaborators employed an innovative study at the Southern tip of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. The “Glades” is comprised of four small farming cities with about 50,000 residents who are primarily African American, Hispanic and Afro-Caribbean. With more than 30 churches in the cities of Pahokee and Belle Glade alone, this region provided a good fit for testing their faith-based approach.

Researchers adapted “Faith Moves Mountains,” a protocol developed by Nancy E. Schoenberg, Ph.D., used for cancer screening and detection in rural Appalachia, for cognitive decline in rural Floridians. The objective of the study was to increase basic ADRD knowledge, early detection and intervention, and to determine if race/ethnicity, older age, female gender, lower educational levels, and more years lived rurally and alone would predict the number of referrals, new dementia diagnoses and treatment.

Results of the study, published in the journal Aging & Mental Health, showed that referrals and years lived rural were significant and positive predictors of new ADRD treatments, respectively, regardless of participant characteristics. Years living in the Glades and African American and Afro-Caribbean ethnicity were significantly related to higher referral rates following screening for cognitive decline.

For the study, local faith community members were trained as research assistants to recruit, administer surveys, conduct brief memory assessments, teach brain health strategies, and follow-up with residents. Church leaders introduced the study through the area-wide church council. A church pastoral leader initiated the 20-minute “power-teaching” group sessions with a prayer, which often was accompanied by hymns.

Outreaches were offered virtually during the pandemic, then in-person monthly at rotating church sites and repeated one year later. The brief Montreal Cognitive Assessment (Mini-MoCA) instrument was used to screen for mild cognitive dysfunction to test fluency, orientation and recall.

Findings showed that ADRD diagnoses increased from 0.9 percent pre-intervention to 24.3 percent post-intervention. Of the 235 total participants, 55.3 percent received a referral for additional cognitive testing, diagnosis and treatment as appropriate. African Americans had lower Mini-MoCA recall scores and Afro-Caribbean participants had lower Mini-MoCA fluency scores than non-Hispanic white participants. African American and Afro-Caribbean participants had higher odds of being referred to a primary care provider than white non-Hispanic participants.

In addition, there was a substantial increase from pre- to post-test basic knowledge AD, which was significantly different by ethnic group. The largest increase in basic knowledge was seen in Afro-Caribbean participants and the smallest increase was seen in African American participants.

“Rural populations are likely to be less informed about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias due to limited access to education, public awareness campaigns and health care as well as limited digital literacy and insufficient access to the internet,” said Lisa K. Wiese, Ph.D., senior author and an associate professor, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.

Contrary to published evidence that racially and ethnically diverse middle age and older adults are unwilling to participate in cognitive screening, researchers found their faith-based approach was successful in engaging rural residents in learning about risk factors and risk reduction.

“There are many benefits of early screening, such as distinguishing symptoms from other potentially preventable causes, allowing for time to initiate medications to manage symptoms that are more effective when started earlier in the disease process, and providing time for long-term care planning,” said Christine L. Williams, DNSc, co-author and professor emeritus, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.

Importantly, this community-based effort is now being sustained independently of this research, with support by Palm Health Foundation, and a robust group continues to meet weekly to pursue the goals of increasing brain health awareness, educational interventions, chronic disease screenings and follow-up.

“An effective faith-based community approach grounded in trust between research teams and rural residents will be particularly important as the rapidly emerging science of ADRD prevention, detection and treatment is expected to produce important breakthroughs,” said Wiese. “Ultimately, we need to ‘build hope for quality of life while living with ADRD,’ particularly in often-forgotten rural settings.” 

Study co-authors are Ishan C. Williams, Ph.D., associate professor of nursing, University of Virginia School of Nursing; Janet Holt, Ph.D., emeritus professor, FAU Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing; Jennifer Hagerty Linger, Ph.D., professor and vice chair for research, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing; James E. Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., professor of neurology, chief, Division of Cognitive Neurology, and director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health and the Lewy Body Dementia Research Center of Excellence, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; and Schoenberg, associate vice president for research and health disparities, and professor, behavioral science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

The study was supported by the National Institute of Aging, National Institutes of Health (Wiese) and the Florida Department of Health, Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program (Wiese).

- FAU -

About the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing:

FAU’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing is nationally and internationally known for its excellence and philosophy of caring science. The College was ranked No. 11 nationwide by US News and World Report in 2021 for “Best Online Master’s in Nursing Administration Programs” and No. 32 for the “Best Online Master’s in Nursing Programs.” In 2020, FAU graduates earned a 95.9% pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®) and a 100% AGNP Certification Pass Rate. The baccalaureate, master’s and DNP programs at Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The College is the only one in the U.S. to have all degree programs endorsed by the American Holistic Nursing Credentialing Corporation.

 

About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.

 

END


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Residents of rural ‘glades’ take a ‘leap of faith’ to combat dementia Residents of rural ‘glades’ take a ‘leap of faith’ to combat dementia 2 Residents of rural ‘glades’ take a ‘leap of faith’ to combat dementia 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Emotions drive donation behavior in disease relief projects on a fundraising platform

Emotions drive donation behavior in disease relief projects on a fundraising platform
2024-01-30
The digital age has profoundly changed how we communicate as humans. Today, we can regularly interact with people we are unrelated to and unacquainted with in real time across the world. Because of this, individuals can now engage in prosocial behaviors, including cooperating, sympathizing, helping and donating, with complete strangers, but the motivating factors behind these behaviors are poorly understood. Analysis of data generated from a fundraising website suggests that positive emotions elicit higher total donation amounts while negative emotions result in higher individual donation amounts.   Fundraising ...

Comfort isn’t only a feeling, it’s a study

Comfort isn’t only a feeling, it’s a study
2024-01-30
A lot of factors go into an individual’s comfort, and it’s more than just how one feels about the temperature   The thermal environment refers to the physical surroundings as it pertains to the heat exchange of an individual and its environment. Naturally, the thermal environment also relates to comfort, or more specifically, thermal comfort. This type of comfort is an important metric to measure an individual’s feelings as it relates to their environment and can be directly associated with health, efficiency, comfort, and energy consumption. ...

After 7 years, alcohol control program still reduces child abuse

2024-01-30
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A neighborhood alcohol control project in Sacramento that reduced cases of child abuse and neglect soon after implementation still had a positive impact seven years later, a new study found.   Results showed that, in one of the neighborhoods where the program was put into place, total entries into foster care were reduced by 11.8% and alcohol-related foster care entries were reduced by 11.2% a full seven years after implementation.   These new results were not as strong as those found right after the project was implemented, and there are other caveats to the success of the program. But the results are still very encouraging, said Bridget Freisthler, ...

Prenatal substance exposure and childhood mental health

Prenatal substance exposure and childhood mental health
2024-01-30
An observational study found links between prenatal substance exposure and mental health in children 10–12, but also found that controlling for environment and genetics eliminated many associations. Qiang Luo and colleagues analyzed longitudinal data from almost 10,000 participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort, looking for associations of maternal self-report of prenatal exposure to caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana with mental health outcomes from age 10 to 12. Although the authors found many associations between prenatal exposure to the ...

Gene-based therapy may slow development of life-threatening heart condition

2024-01-30
A new study in mice shows that replacement of a dysfunctional gene could prolong survival in some people with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a rare inherited disorder in which the muscular walls of the heart progressively weaken and put patients at risk of dangerous irregular heartbeats. The investigational treatment targets the loss of function of a gene implicated in many cases of ARVC, plakophilin-2 (PKP2). The PKP2 gene provides instructions for making a protein that holds heart tissues together. When the gene — one of several thought to contribute to the disease —is defective ...

Oral health indirectly influences subjective psychological well-being in older adults

Oral health indirectly influences subjective psychological well-being in older adults
2024-01-30
In humans, oral health influences general health and well-being in many ways. Other than reducing the need for oral rehabilitation later in life, maintaining good oral health reduces the risk of several systemic diseases. Therefore, investing time and effort into improving oral health can be highly beneficial for older adults. However, whether the health benefits of improved oral health extend to psychological domains remains unclear. Positive psychological well-being is known to positively affect the survival rates of both healthy and unhealthy populations. Thus, to increase life expectancy, it is important to identify the factors associated with ...

Asparagus and orchids are more similar than you think

Asparagus and orchids are more similar than you think
2024-01-30
What does an asparagus have in common with a vanilla orchid? Not much, if you are just looking at the two plants’ appearances. However, when you look inside - their leaves are more similar than you would think – as revealed by the composition of their cell walls. By studying plant cell walls – which are to plants what skeletons are to humans – we can reveal the composition of how leaves and stems of plants are actually constructed. This is exactly what a team of University of Copenhagen researchers has done, in a large comprehensive study. In doing so, they have created something truly novel: a large "reference catalogue" ...

DNA particles that mimic viruses hold promise as vaccines

2024-01-30
 Using a virus-like delivery particle made from DNA, researchers from MIT and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard have created a vaccine that can induce a strong antibody response against SARS-CoV-2. The vaccine, which has been tested in mice, consists of a DNA scaffold that carries many copies of a viral antigen. This type of vaccine, known as a particulate vaccine, mimics the structure of a virus. Most previous work on particulate vaccines has relied on protein scaffolds, but the proteins used in those vaccines tend to generate an unnecessary immune response that can distract the immune system from the target. In the mouse study, the researchers found that the ...

Citizen scientists contribute to motor learning research

Citizen scientists contribute to motor learning research
2024-01-30
A new research study examined the results from data generated by citizen scientists using a simple web-based motor test. The big data approach provides researchers with a unique way to explore how people correct for motor control errors. The resulting insights may one day pave the way for personalized physical therapy or tailor an athlete’s training routine. The results are available in the January 30th issue of the journal Nature Human Behaviour. “This exploratory approach does not replace lab based studies, but complements ...

New research shows how pollutants from aerosols and river run-off are changing the marine phosphorus cycle in coastal seas

2024-01-30
New research into the marine phosphorus cycle is deepening our understanding of the impact of human activities on ecosystems in coastal seas.   The research, co-led by the University of East Anglia, in partnership with the Sino-UK Joint Research Centre at the Ocean University of China, looked at the impact of aerosols and river run-off on microalgae in the coastal waters of China.  It identified an ‘Anthropogenic Nitrogen Pump’ which changes the phosphorus cycle and therefore likely coastal biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.  In a balanced ecosystem, microalgae, also known as phytoplankton, provide food for a wide ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Premenstrual symptoms linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease

Newly discovered remains of ancient river landscapes control ice flow in East Antarctica

Newly discovered interstellar object 'may be oldest comet ever seen'

Animal-inspired AI robot learns to navigate unfamiliar terrain

Underserved youth less likely to visit emergency department for concussion in Ontario, study finds

‘Molecular shield’ placed in the nose may soon treat common hay fever trigger

Beetles under climate stress lay larger male eggs: Wolbachia infection drives adaptive reproduction strategy in response to rising temperature and CO₂

Groundbreaking quantum study puts wave-particle duality to work

Weekly injection could be life changing for Parkinson’s patients

Toxic metals linked to impaired growth in infants in Guatemala

Being consistently physically active in adulthood linked to 30–40% lower risk of death

Nerve pain drug gabapentin linked to increased dementia, cognitive impairment risks

Children’s social care involvement common to nearly third of UK mums who died during perinatal period

‘Support, not judgement’: Study explores links between children’s social care involvement and maternal deaths

Ethnic minority and poorer children more likely to die in intensive care

Major progress in fertility preservation after treatment for cancer of the lymphatic system

Fewer complications after additional ultrasound in pregnant women who feel less fetal movement

Environmental impact of common pesticides seriously underestimated

The Milky Way could be teeming with more satellite galaxies than previously thought

New study reveals surprising reproductive secrets of a cricket-hunting parasitoid fly

Media Tip Sheet: Symposia at ESA2025

NSF CAREER Award will power UVA engineer’s research to improve drug purification

Tiny parasitoid flies show how early-life competition shapes adult success

New coating for glass promises energy-saving windows

Green spaces boost children’s cognitive skills and strengthen family well-being

Ancient trees dying faster than expected in Eastern Oregon

Study findings help hone precision of proven CVD risk tool

Most patients with advanced melanoma who received pre-surgical immunotherapy remain alive and disease free four years later

Introducing BioEmu: A generative AI Model that enables high-speed and accurate prediction of protein structural ensembles

Replacing mutated microglia with healthy microglia halts progression of genetic neurological disease in mice and humans

[Press-News.org] Residents of rural ‘glades’ take a ‘leap of faith’ to combat dementia
Nursing study uses faith-based approach to address cognitive impairment in Florida’s often-forgotten rural settings