Care For Older Persons Research Articles

Probiotic-Reduced Inflammaging in Older Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

The disparity between increased lifespan and healthy aging, marked by prevalent "inflammaging", highlights the global challenge in care of older persons. This study explored the anti-inflammatory effects of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum HEAL9 (LpHEAL9), alone or combined with berries, on older volunteers with chronic low-grade inflammation (LGI). It was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, with a total of 66 volunteers (>70years old), randomly assigned, and equally distributed, to placebo, LpHEAL9 or LpHEAL9 + Berries group. After a 2-week run-in period, participants underwent a 4-week dietary intervention. Intake of LpHEAL9 showed a trend towards reduction in serum CRP but without reaching statistical significance. However, LpHEAL9 significantly decreased fecal calprotectin levels compared to placebo. LpHEAL9+Berries did not show any effect on inflammation. Both probiotic groups showed a trend in improving cognitive function albeit not reaching statistical significance. Our findings suggest that the probiotic strain L. plantarum HEAL9 has a modest impact on LGI in a healthy older population (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02342496).

Ethical challenges in residential care facilities during COVID-19: Leaders' perspective.

Person-centred care is based on ethical principles, and it is regarded as high-quality care. Care of older persons should embrace person-centredness. During the pandemic, older persons were highlighted as a vulnerable group at risk of developing serious illness and/or suffering death from COVID-19. Several pandemic-related measures were introduced in residential care facilities (RCFs) to reduce this risk, which influenced the possibilities to lead and provide a person-centred care. This study's aim was to explore ethical challenges in relation to person-centredness during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspective of leaders in RCFs. The study had a qualitative descriptive design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 leaders working in RCFs in Sweden. Data were analysed using conventional content analysis. The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. The participants received oral and written information about the study and gave written consent. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The overarching ethical challenge was Having to disregard the individual needs of the person in order to protect the group and society. This included (a) Protecting the group versus promoting the older person's autonomy; (b) Being forced to lead care based on uncertainty instead of evidence; (c) Striving to provide dignified care but lacking opportunities; and (d) Going far beyond ordinary duty and endangering one's own and the staff's health. The ethical challenges meant being torn between the person's individual needs and protecting the group and society, with clashing ethical principles as a consequence. The leaders faced ethical situations resulting in undignified and compromised person-centred care, which has implications for stakeholders and management who need to address the work conditions in RCFs.

Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly: an untapped setting for research to advance pain care in older persons.

The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a community-based care model in the United States that provides comprehensive health and social services to frail, nursing home-eligible adults aged 55 years and older. PACE organizations aim to support adequate pain control in their participants, yet few evidence-based pain interventions have been adopted or integrated into this setting. This article provides a roadmap for researchers who are interested in collaborating with PACE organizations to embed and evaluate evidence-based pain tools and interventions. We situate our discussion within the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), a meta-theoretical framework that considers multi-level influences to implementation and evaluation of evidence-based programs. Within each CFIR domain, we identify key factors informed by our own work that merit consideration by research teams and PACE collaborators. Inner setting components pertain to the organizational culture of each PACE organization, the type and quality of electronic health record data, and availability of staff to assist with data abstraction. Outer setting components include external policies and regulations by the National PACE Association and audits conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which have implications for research participant recruitment and enrollment. Individual-level characteristics of PACE organization leaders include their receptivity toward new innovations and perceived ability to implement them. Forming and sustaining research-PACE partnerships to deliver evidence-based pain interventions pain will require attention to multi-level factors that may influence future uptake and provides a way to improve the health and well-being of patients served by these programs.

Ethical issues surrounding appropriate care for older persons in the Intensive Care Unit.

Increasing numbers of older patients are being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as the world's population ages. The biological process of ageing, senescence, results in altered ability to maintain normal homeostasis and organ function, including of the cardiovascular, immune, and neuromuscular systems. This contributes towards increased frailty in older patients, associated with functional limitations and increased vulnerability. Although widely defined using chronological age, the concept of "old age" is thus multifactorial, including biological, but also psychological and sociocultural aspects, which should all be taken into account when considering what is appropriate in terms of ICU admission and management. As for all patients, but perhaps particularly in this subgroup, decisions regarding ICU admission and treatment and the withdrawing and withholding of life support must be individualized.

Challenges and opportunities in strengthening primary mental healthcare for older people in India: a qualitative stakeholder analysis

BackgroundPrimary mental healthcare (PMHC) allows for complex mental health issues in old age to be addressed. India has sought to improve PMHC through legislation, strategies and programmes. This study analyses the challenges and opportunities involved in strengthening PMHC for older persons in India from the perspectives of key stakeholders.MethodsSemistructured interviews were conducted with 14 stakeholders selected from the PMHC system in India and analysed using thematic analysis. First, the analysis was organizationally structured in accordance with the six WHO mental health system domains: (1) policy and legislative framework, (2) mental health services, (3) mental health in primary care, (4) human resources, (5) public information and links to other sectors, and (6) monitoring and research. Second, for each building block, challenges and opportunities were derived using inductive coding.ResultsThis study highlights the numerous challenges that may be encountered when attempting to strengthen age-inclusive PMHC. Among these challenges are poor public governance, a lack of awareness and knowledge among policy-makers and other stakeholders, and existing policies that make unrealistic promises to weak primary healthcare (PHC) structures with an excessive focus on medicalizing mental health problems. Thus, the mental health system often fails to reach vulnerable older people through PHC. Established approaches to comprehensive, family- and community-oriented PHC support attempts to strengthen intersectoral approaches to PMHC that emphasize mental health promotion in old age. Targeting the PHC workforce through age-inclusive mental health education is considered particularly necessary. Experts further argue that adequate monitoring structures and public spending for mental health must be improved.ConclusionsIn this study, we aim to elaborate on the mental healthcare developments that may serve to achieve equity in access to mental healthcare in India. Coordinated and collaborative efforts by public and private stakeholders involved in the care of older persons, both with and without lived mental health experiences, as well as their families and communities, are necessary to bring the vision of those policies for PMHC to fruition. The findings presented in this study can also inform future research, policies and practice in other low- and middle-income countries.

Benefits and barriers associated with the use of smart home health technologies in the care of older persons: a systematic review

BackgroundSmart home health technologies (SHHTs) have been discussed in the frame of caregiving to enable aging-in-place and independence. A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines to gather the up-to-date knowledge on the benefits and barriers of using SHHTs in the care of older persons from the perspective of older persons and their caregivers.MethodsTen electronic databases were reviewed for empirical peer-reviewed literature published from 01.01.2000 to 31.12.2021 in English, German, and French reporting on experimental, qualitative, quantitative, and other empirical study designs were included. Included studies contained user-feedback from older persons over 65 years of age or their caregivers (formal and informal). We used an extraction document to collect relevant data from all included studies and applied narrative synthesis to analyze data related to benefits and barriers of SHHTs.Results163 empirical peer-reviewed articles were included, the majority of those published between 2014 and 2021. Five first-order categories of benefits and five of barriers were found with individual sub-themes. SHHTs could be useful in the care context where continuous monitoring is needed. They improve self-management and independent living of older persons. Barriers currently exist with respect to ease of usability, social acceptance, and cost.ConclusionsSHHTs could be useful in the care context but are not without concerns. Researchers and policy makers can use the information as a starting point to better understand how the roles and outcomes of SHHTs could be improved for the care of older persons, while caregivers of older adults could use our findings to comprehend the scope of SHHTs and to decide when and where such technology could best address their individual family needs. Limitations lie in the possible exclusion of relevant articles published outside the inclusion criteria as well as the fact that due to digital divide, our review represents opinions of those who could and wanted to participate in the included 163 studies.Trial registrationThis review has been registered as PROSPERO CRD42021248543. A protocol was completed in March 2021 with the PRISMA-P guidance. We have extended the review period from 2000 to 2020 since the registration of the protocol to 2000–2021.

Ageing well in place: EET as an answer to the need for integrated care and support

Background: Older people prefer to stay as long as possible in their own home and environment. However, as people age, they are typically confronted with age-related declines on different domains; often leading to multidimensional (physical, psychological, social and environmental) frailty, which is associated with an increased vulnerability to adverse health outcomes and a decrease in wellbeing. In order to age well at home, one must shift from the (often) current fragmented, supply-driven support to a more integrated and multidisciplinary demand-driven support that focuses on the wants and needs of older people and their caregivers.
 The Elder Expertise Team in Tienen (Belgium): Currently, as also mentioned by our stakeholders of informal caregivers, there is insufficient continuity and coherence between the different disciplines involved in the support and care at various echelons. This often leads to non-transparency, not only for older frail people but also for their informal and formal caregivers. As a result, the problems are not recognized, nor treated in time, leading to a threatening of the autonomy, participation in society, health and wellbeing and often leading to an admission into a residential care facility.
 To address this need, in Tienen, the “Elderly Expertise Team (EET)” was established in 2019 with the objective of enabling frail elderly people to live at home for as long and as qualitatively as possible by offering the most appropriate care and support. The EET has a multidisciplinary, cross-sector and cross-organizational composition, using a network-oriented approach. In order to give an answer to multidimensional frailty, besides healthcare partners also partners from welfare are part of the EET.
 The EET serves as a “single point of entry” which coordinates care and support across a network of different care and support providers. The EET uses a stepped-care approach: (1) one starts with giving (general) advice by phone, (2) if there is a need for additional case-specific support an assessment and/or screening is done, leading to case-specific tailored advice and a short-term treatment of up to 5 sessions is provided; (3) if necessary, a referral to more specialized care is done. Besides the care for older persons and their caregivers, the EET also provides coaching, trainings and intervisions for formal caregivers. This all results in better and integrated care and support, leading to reduced admissions to residential care and a better wellbeing for the older person and his/her context.
 Future: Currently, the EET works mainly at the intervention level. However, in the future a more population-based approach using risk-profiles for multidimensional frailty and doing pro-active home visits might also lead to a better casefinding and prevention of frailty. Moreover, as the focus is now on clinical and service integration, the EET recognizes the need for functional integration by means of shared electronic patient records.

Effects of an age suit simulation on nursing students’ perspectives on providing care to older persons - an education intervention study

ABSTRACT Nursing students are important future health care providers to the growing number of older persons in society. However, two barriers are their common ageist attitudes and lack of interest in geriatrics. This is a concern in light of the global demand for nurses and a challenge that need to be addressed in nurse education. Age suit simulation has been shown to affect the attitudes of students toward older persons, but the important context of home is often missing from studies. Accordingly, the present study employed a quantitative approach with the goal of investigating the effects of aging simulation with an age suit in a home context as a part of experiential learning among second-year nursing students. The age simulation allowed the students to experience both specific and common health problems from the patient’s point of view in a controlled environment and a relevant context: the home. Data were collected using a questionnaire in a quasi-experimental pretest – posttest design with a control group. Results showed that the intervention had a positive effect on various aspects of the nursing students’ perspectives on caring for older persons. Work experience was associated with more positive attitudes. The control group was more negative toward geriatrics as a career choice than the intervention group. In conclusion, age suit simulation can be an innovative part of nurse education because it raises awareness and understanding of the health challenges of older persons, which are important in combating ageism among future nurses.

“Now I Understand You”: Changes in the Communication of Professionals in Nursing Homes After Receiving Training in the Validation Method

Caring for older persons is a challenge for professionals who work in nursing homes. Problems in maintaining effective communication with a person with dementia in an effort to understand their needs is a major barrier to good care. Therefore, the main goals of this study were to explore communication barriers between professionals and people with dementia and to observe changes in communication patterns between them after completing Naomi Feil's introductory training in the bases of the validation method (BVM). The 11 professionals who worked in nursing homes attended a 16-hour introductory course on BVM. Participants were interviewed individually three times. The goal was to observe qualitatively the changes in relationships and communication patterns with people with dementia. The results were analyzed thematically. The professionals highlighted how, after the training, they had a different understanding of the person with dementia and a more humane perspective. These changes also reflected how the professionals experienced improvements in job satisfaction, security, and confidence. This study concluded that training nursing home staff in BVM for person-centered and human care has positive implications on how the professionals view their daily work and their way of interacting with older residents. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(4):157-168.].

Factors associated with receipt of informal care among the Vietnamese older persons: Evidence from a national survey.

The rapidly growing older population in Vietnam poses an increasing need for care among the older persons, who have mainly relied on informal care at homes and communities. This study examined the Vietnamese older persons' individual and household factors determining their receipt of informal care. This study provided cross-tabulations and multivariable regression analyses to identify who provided assistance to the Vietnamese older people along with their individual and household characteristics. The nationally representative survey on older persons, namely Vietnam Aging Survey (VNAS) in 2011 was used in this study. We found that proportions of older persons having difficulty in activities of daily living (ADLs) were different in regard to their age, sex, marital status, health status, working status, and living arrangements. In care provision, gender differences were clear, in which females generally had significantly higher rates of providing care to older persons than their male counterparts. Care for older persons in Vietnam has been mainly provided by their families, and thus changes in socio-economic, demographic factors along with differences among generations in family values will be a key challenge to maintain such care arrangements.

Updating the British Geriatrics Society recommended undergraduate curriculum in geriatric medicine: a curriculum mapping and nominal group technique study.

medical education must adapt to meet the challenges and demands of an ageing population, ensuring that graduates are equipped to look after older patients with complex health and social care needs. Recommended curricula in geriatric medicine in the United Kingdom and Europe offer guidance for optimal undergraduate education in ageing. The UK version, written by the British Geriatrics Society (BGS), requires updating to take account of innovations in the specialty, changing guidance from the General Medical Council (GMC), and the need to support medical schools preparing for the introduction of the national Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA). the BGS recommended curriculum was mapped to the most recent European curriculum (2014) and the MLA content map, to compare and contrast between current recommendations and nationally mandated guidance. These maps were used to guide discussion through a virtual Nominal Group Technique (NGT), including 21 expert stakeholders, to agree consensus on the updated BGS curriculum. the curriculum has been re-structured into seven sections, each with 1-2 overarching learning outcomes (LOs) that are expanded in multiple sub-LOs. Crucially, the curriculum now reflects the updated GMC/MLA requirements, having incorporated items flagged as missing in the mapping stages. the combined mapping exercise and NGT have enabled appropriate alignment and benchmarking of the UK national curriculum. These recommendations will help to standardise and enhance teaching and learning around the care of older persons with complexity.

How Does The Use Of Anticoagulants Influence The Outcome Of Elderly Thoraci̇c Trauma Patients?

Objective: As a result of the demographic transition, an increasing number of elderly patients require therapeutic anticoagulation for a variety of comorbidities. These individuals need multidisciplinary care because they frequently use many drugs, have concomitant conditions, and have functional status that is already compromised Material and Method: A total of 103 trauma patients over the age of 65 who were admitted to the emergency department due to thoracic trauma were evaluated according to Gender, trauma etiology and characteristics, comorbidities, antithrombolytic therapy use, rib and sternum fracture, hemothorax, pneumothorax, and contusion due to thoracic trauma. Results: There were 72 male patients and 31 female patients with The average age of 73.8 +/- 8.61 years (min: 65, max: 96). The rates of hemothorax, pneumothorax, hemopneumothorax, contusion, atelectasis, and pneumonia were not significantly different between patients using and not using antithrombolytics (respectively, p = 0.666, p = 0.320, p = 0.212, p = 0.369, p = 0.633, p = 0.652). Comorbid conditions or using antithrombolytics had no impact on how long patients stayed in the hospital (p = 0.503, p = 0.814). The only predictor that significantly increased the length of stay was determined to be the tube thoracostomy (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Antithrombolytic usage had no impact on hemothorax, pneumothorax, or contusion development. However, further research and implementation initiatives are required in order to completely integrate geriatric principles into the care of older persons who have experienced trauma.

NEAR: NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR AGING RESEARCH

Abstract The global increase in life expectancy is one of the greatest achievements of the last half century. However, the demographic developments towards an older population also challenge many parts of the society, especially the health care. Promoting healthy ageing is therefore one of the most important commitments of the 21st century and to succeed, scientifically based knowledge of older individuals’ health- and care requirements are needed. To better understand the individual and population aging process, the National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) was founded in 2018 to build and run a national infrastructure by integrating existing databases from the 15 major longitudinal studies on aging and health in Sweden. To show the added value of NEAR, this symposium will present results from four ongoing NEAR projects: 1) Developing a metric of global brain integrity in multiple Swedish studies with different scanners; 2) Functional aging trajectories and drug interactions; 3) Long-term prediction of dementia using machine learning algorithms; 4) The new aging – how different aspect of ageing has changed over half a century. The creation of national infrastructures is needed to achieve broad, multidisciplinary research perspectives that cannot be achieved by individual databases. Moreover, to address the increased health demands of an older population and enhance new opportunities for aging research, a critical mass of data is needed to increase sample sizes, variations, representativeness, and generalizability. Ultimately, this can lead to the identification of sustainable intervention strategies for better health and care for older persons during the coming decades.

Experiences of family caregivers of the older people with limitations in activities: A qualitative study.

Functional disabilities increase with ageing and limitations in daily living activities (ADLs) occurred as a consequence. Older people living at home may therefore become dependent on family members in managing activities in daily living. As the informal caregivers' role is known to be challenging, their experiences need to be explored to strengthen their new roles as family caregivers. This study aimed at exploring family caregivers' experiences of providing care for older people living at home with limited ADLs in Sri Lanka. Caregivers caring for older people with limitations in activities at home were purposively selected. Limitations in ADL were determined using the Sinhala-validated Barthel Index. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 caregivers who cared for older people with several basic self-care limitations. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results consist of three themes related to caring for older people with limited ADLs: committed to providing compassionate care for the activity-limited older person, trapped in one's own home by caring for the activity-limited older person and in need of respite and support in caring for older persons with limitations of activity. Motivated to care, adapting to care-giving challenges, changed life pattern, neglecting one's own health, emotional suffering, lack of knowledge and skills and wanting assistance in care-giving and with financial support were resultant subthemes. Family caregivers of older people with limited activities living at home, face many challenges to their own health. Supporting interventions will therefore be necessary. An introduction of educational training programmes for informal caregivers would promote the health and well-being of functionally disabled older people and their caregivers. Developing home-based care will be a future solution since the availability of informal caregivers will be at risk due to a rapid increase in older people and social changes related to the family structure.

Nursing students' attitudes and associated factors towards older people in Heilongjiang Province, northern China: Across-sectional study.

AimAttitudes toward older persons could affect services that are provided to them and change the value of the care they receive. The attitude of nursing students toward older persons is very important as it will affect their care of older patients in future. However, in China, the attitude of higher vocational nursing students toward older persons has not been widely studied. The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes and factors toward older people among nursing students in higher vocational colleges in Heilongjiang Province.DesignA cross‐sectional study.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was conducted using cluster sampling. A total of 1106 nursing students from two higher vocational colleges in Heilongjiang Province participated. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to identify the factors influencing nursing students’ attitudes toward older people.ConclusionThis study showed that the vocational college nursing students have a positive attitude towardolder persons. However, the proportion of respondents taking care of older persons as their first choice in their future career needs to be increased. Advanced vocational colleges should pay attention to the attitudes of nursing students toward older persons, and strengthen the education of career development planning, which has practical significance in meeting the diversified health needs of older persons and ensuring healthy aging.

Social and Regional Factors Predict the Likelihood of Admission to a Nursing Home After Acute Hospital Stay in Older People With Chronic Health Conditions: A Multilevel Analysis Using Routinely Collected Hospital and Census Data in Switzerland.

If hospitalization becomes inevitable in the course of a chronic disease, discharge from acute hospital care in older persons is often associated with temporary or persistent frailty, functional limitations and the need for help with daily activities. Thus, acute hospitalization represents a particularly vulnerable phase of transient dependency on social support and health care. This study examines how social and regional inequality affect the decision for an institutionalization after acute hospital discharge in Switzerland. The current analysis uses routinely collected inpatient data from all Swiss acute hospitals that was linked on the individual level with Swiss census data. The study sample included 60,209 patients 75 years old and older living still at a private home and being hospitalized due to a chronic health condition in 199 hospitals between 2010 and 2016. Random intercept multilevel logistic regression was used to assess the impact of social and regional factors on the odds of a nursing home admission after hospital discharge. Results show that 7.8% of all patients were admitted directly to a nursing home after hospital discharge. We found significant effects of education level (compulsory vs. tertiary education OR = 1.16 (95% CI: 1.03–1.30), insurance class (compulsory vs. private insurance OR = 1.24 (95% CI: 1.09–1.41), living alone vs. living with others (OR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.53–1.76) and language regions (French vs. German speaking part: OR = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.37–0.80) on the odds of nursing home admission in a model adjusted for age, gender, nationality, health status, year of hospitalization and hospital-level variance. The language regions moderated the effect of education and insurance class but not of living alone. This study shows that acute hospital discharge in older age is a critical moment of transient dependency especially for socially disadvantaged patients. Social and health care should work coordinated together to avoid unnecessary institutionalizations.

The experiences of nurse educators in establishing a teaching practice in the care of older persons: A focused ethnography study.

Gerontological nursing is not a career choice for most new graduates. Nurse educators, who influence students' career decisions, lack expertise in older person care. The academic culture may affect educators developing gerontological expertise. The study explored the culture of a Canadian pre-licensure nursing education program in relation to educators' expertise in gerontological nursing. In a focused ethnography, 22 nurse educators/researchers/administrators participated in interviews and/or observations conducted from March 2018 to December 2018. Content analysis of interview transcripts and fieldnotes occurred concurrently with data collection. Themes characterizing the culture were: Structure and Hierarchy, Losing Gerontology, Teaching Challenges, and Valuing Older Persons and Their Care. Participants felt: a hierarchy limited gerontologists' support for undergraduate educators and the curriculum; the integrated curriculum reduced the focus on gerontology; limited professional development opportunities and excessive workload constrained building gerontology expertise; and valuing older persons and their care influenced access to gerontology resources. The culture of a pre-licensure nursing program impacted educators building expertise in older person care. More research is needed to overcome barriers that constrain educators' proficiency in gerontological nursing. Increasing the number of educators adept in gerontology will develop nurse graduates with an appreciation for working with older persons.

Standards and quality of care for older persons in long term care facilities: a scoping review

BackgroundCaring for older persons has become a global necessity to ensure functional ability and healthy ageing. It is of paramount importance that standards of care are monitored, especially for older persons who live in long term care facilities (LTCF). We, therefore, scoped and summarised evidence relating to standards and the quality of care for older persons in LTCFs in gerontological literature globally.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review using Askey and O’Malley’s framework, including Levac et al. recommendations. PubMed, CINAHL, Health Sources, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched with no date limitation up to May 2020 using keywords, Boolean terms, and medical subject headings. We also consulted the World Health Organization website and the reference list of included articles for evidence sources. This review also included peer-reviewed publications and grey literature in English that focused on standards and quality of care for older residents in LTCFs. Two reviewers independently screened the title, abstract, and full-text of evidence sources screening stages and performed the data extraction. Thematic content analysis was used, and a summary of the findings are reported narratively.ResultsSixteen evidence sources published from 1989 to 2017 met this study’s eligibility criteria out of 73,845 citations obtained from the broader search. The majority of the studies were conducted in the USA 56% (9/16), and others were from Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Norway, Israel, Japan, and France. The included studies presented evidence on the effectiveness of prompted voiding intervention for urinary incontinence in LTCFs (37.5%), the efficacy of professional support to LTCF staff (18.8%), and the prevention-effectiveness of a pressure ulcer programme in LTCFs (6.3%). Others presented evidence on regulation and quality of care (12.5%); nursing documentation and quality of care (6.3%); medical, nursing, and psychosocial standards on the quality of care (6.3%); medication safety using the Beer criteria (6.3%); and the quality of morning care provision (6.3%).ConclusionThis study suggests most studies relating to standards and quality of care in LTCFs focus on effectiveness of interventions, few on people-centredness and safety, and are mainly conducted in European countries and the United States of America. Future studies on people-centerdness, safety, and geographical settings with limited or no evidence are recommended.

Registered nurses’ experiences of barriers in providing care for older patients with low mood in Swedish municipal settings: A qualitative study

Low mood and depression are common mental states among older people, and are difficult to diagnose and treat, causing suffering and declining functions. The aim of the study was to describe registered nurses’ experiences of barriers in providing care for older persons with low mood in Swedish municipal settings. Ten registered nurses working in municipal settings were interviewed using a qualitative approach. The analysis resulted in two main categories, ‘Professional barriers in the care of older persons with low mood’ and ‘Organisational barriers in the care of older persons with low mood’, and four subcategories. Improvements regarding increased knowledge about the use of assessments tools are suggested. Registered nurses should strive to listen to the older person's desires and needs. Furthermore, suggestions about improved collaboration within the organisation as well as with other caregivers in order to provide quality care to older persons with low mood, are made. COREQ was used as criteria to report qualitative data.

ESPEN practical guideline: Clinical nutrition and hydration in geriatrics

Malnutrition and dehydration are widespread in older people, and obesity is an increasing problem. In clinical practice, it is often unclear which strategies are suitable and effective in counteracting these key health threats. To provide evidence-based recommendations for clinical nutrition and hydration in older persons in order to prevent and/or treat malnutrition and dehydration. Further, to address whether weight-reducing interventions are appropriate for overweight or obese older persons. This guideline was developed according to the standard operating procedure for ESPEN guidelines and consensus papers. A systematic literature search for systematic reviews and primary studies was performed based on 33 clinical questions in PICO format. Existing evidence was graded according to the SIGN grading system. Recommendations were developed and agreed in a multistage consensus process. We provide eighty-two evidence-based recommendations for nutritional care in older persons, covering four main topics: Basic questions and general principles, recommendations for older persons with malnutrition or at risk of malnutrition, recommendations for older patients with specific diseases, and recommendations to prevent, identify and treat dehydration. Overall, we recommend that all older persons shall routinely be screened for malnutrition in order to identify an existing risk early. Oral nutrition can be supported by nursing interventions, education, nutritional counselling, food modification and oral nutritional supplements. Enteral nutrition should be initiated if oral, and parenteral if enteral nutrition is insufficient or impossible and the general prognosis is altogether favorable. Dietary restrictions should generally be avoided, and weight-reducing diets shall only be considered in obese older persons with weight-related health problems and combined with physical exercise. All older persons should be considered to be at risk of low-intake dehydration and encouraged to consume adequate amounts of drinks. Generally, interventions shall be individualized, comprehensive and part of a multimodal and multidisciplinary team approach. A range of effective interventions is available to support adequate nutrition and hydration in older persons in order to maintain or improve nutritional status and improve clinical course and quality of life. These interventions should be implemented in clinical practice and routinely used.