01/2025 journal articles
SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS AMONG NURSING HOME RESIDENTS WITH DEMENTIA BY HOSPICE ENROLLMENT
F.L. Troiani, J. Rumbut, J. Tjia
Jour Nursing Home Res 2025;11:1-7
Show summaryHide summaryBACKGROUND: Nursing home residents with dementia are at risk for social isolation, particularly in the time period preceding death. Whether hospice enrollment affects social connectedness in this vulnerable population is unclear.
OBJECTIVE: Among nursing home residents with dementia, to describe the prevalence of social connectedness up to 3 months prior to death and to characterize the association of hospice enrollment with social connectedness.
DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Decedent cohort study of nursing home residents with dementia in the United States who died in 2018. Data sources include the Minimum Data Set 3.0, the Medicare Master Beneficiary Summary File and Hospice files.
MEASUREMENTS: Main outcome measure is the Social Connectedness Index, a validated measure of social connection in the nursing home based on behavioral symptoms, wandering and receipt of care (range 0-5; 5=socially connected). Multivariable logistic regression characterizes the association of hospice enrollment with social connectedness.
RESULTS: Of 212,253 nursing home decedents with dementia in 2018, 80.4% (n=170,566) were socially connected (SCI=5). In adjusted analysis, relative to not being enrolled in hospice, enrollment in hospice with an admitting diagnosis of dementia was associated with increased odds of being socially connected (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.20; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 1.16-1.23) but being in hospice for a primary diagnosis other than dementia was associated with decreased odds of social connectedness (AOR 0.92; 95% CI 0.89-0.94).
CONCLUSION: Social connectedness differed among nursing home decedents with dementia by hospice enrollment. Hospice enrollment plays an important role in quality of life for nursing home residents.
CITATION:
F.L. Troiani ; J. Rumbut ; J. Tjia (2025): Social Connectedness Among Nursing Home Residents with Dementia by Hospice Enrollment. The Journal of Nursing Home Research Science (JNHRS). http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/jnhrs.2025.1
DEALING WITH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN AN EXPERIMENTAL NURSING HOME: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FRENCH ALZHEIMER VILLAGE
K. Pérès, G. Marie-Bailleul, S. Dreano-Hartz, V. Hernandez-Ruiz, H. Amieva
Jour Nursing Home Res 2025;11:8-13
Show summaryHide summaryOBJECTIVES: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nursing Homes (NHs) struggled to protect their residents, but not all NHs managed the COVID-19 crisis in the same way; some having protected more effectively their residents than others. The study aimed at evaluating the management of the COVID-19 crisis in an experimental NH and comparing the dynamic of contaminations to more typical NHs of the same area.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of the COVID-19 monitoring data.
Setting and Participants. NHs, including an experimental one, the French Alzheimer Village, unique in France, designed as a dementia-friendly community to promote good quality of life and well-being.
MEASUREMENTS: The temporal and spatial distribution of the infections in the Village between June 2020 and December 2022 was described and contamination rates were compared to a control group composed of the comparable NHs of the area using the national monitoring data of the COVID-19 pandemic.
RESULTS: Out of the 151 residents who lived in the Village over the studied period, 80 were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (52.3%), but with very few consequences (one person referred to hospital and two deaths). Only two cases (2.5% of the infections) occurred in 2020-2021, the highest-risk period of the epidemic (vs. 72.2% in the control group). Focusing on 2022 (that counted 97.5% of the contaminations), each of the 16 houses of the Village has been contaminated but with differences in terms of temporal and spatial spread of the virus. However, the contaminations have been mainly contained to the house scale.
CONCLUSION: Probably thanks to its specificities (architecture, organization, sanitary protocols), the experimental French Alzheimer Village provided a very efficient protection of its residents during the highest-risk period of the pandemic (2020-2021) against the severe consequences of the epidemic, while preserving a certain well-being. Lessons must be learned to propose anti-epidemic effective management strategies dealing with both, protection and preservation of the resident’s quality of life.
CITATION:
K. Pérès ; G. Marie-Bailleul ; S. Dreano-Hartz ; V. Hernandez-Ruiz ; H. Amieva (2025): Dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic in an Experimental Nursing Home: The Experience of the French Alzheimer Village. The Journal of Nursing Home Research Science (JNHRS). http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/jnhrs.2025.2