Does diverse staff and skill mix of teams impact quality of care in long-term elderly health care? An exploratory case study

Objectives Many European countries face challenges in long-term care for older people, such as the growing number of older people requiring care, the increasing complexity of their health care problems, and a decreasing workforce that is inadequately prepared. Optimizing the staff and skill mix of health care teams may offer part of the solution...

Walking or vitamin B for cognition in older adults with mild cognitive impairment? A randomised controlled trial

Objective: To examine the effects of aerobic exercise or vitamin B supplementation on cognitive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Design: Randomised placebo-controlled trial. Setting: General community. Participants: Community-dwelling adults aged 70-80 with MCI. Interventions : The 152 participants were randomly...

The 24-h distribution of falls and person-hours of physical activity in the home are strongly associated among community-dwelling older persons

Objectives: Most research on falls among older persons focuses on health-related factors that affect the ability to maintain balance. The objective of the study is to determine the association between physical activity and occurrence of falls among community-dwelling older persons. Methods: The distribution of falls and person-hours of physical...

Meer bewegen voor ouderen gymnastiek: Verslag van een evaluatiestudie [More exercise for seniors: Report of an evaluation study]

Since 1980, More Exercise for Seniors (MBvO in Dutch) has provided a number of special physical activities for the elderly. The aim is to improve social participation and integration, and to prevent a need for care. Despite the fact that MBvO has been active for more than 25 years, and weekly 300,000 people participate in gymnastics, swimming,...

Research goals for folate and related B vitamin in Europe

In the past decade, the understanding of folate bioavailability, metabolism and related health issues has increased, but several problems remain, including the difficulty of delivering the available knowledge to the populations at risk. Owing to the low compliance of taking folic acid supplements, for example, among women of child-bearing age...

Once a week is not enough: Effects of a widely implemented group based exercise programme for older adults; a randomised controlled trial

Objectives: To determine the effects of gymnastics on the health related quality of life (HRQoL) and functional status of independently living people, aged 65 to 80 years. Gymnastics formed part of the More Exercise for Seniors (MBvO in Dutch) programme, a group based exercise programme for older adults in the Netherlands. It has been widely...

Promotion of health and physical activity improves the mental health of elderly immigrants: Results of a group randomised controlled trial among Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands aged 45 and over

Objectives: Older immigrants from non-industrialised countries are a growing group, they have comparatively many health problems and are often hard to reach through health promotion and other preventive services. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a short health education and physical exercise programme on the health and the...

Development and evaluation of "Aging Well and Healthily": A health-education and exercise program for community-living older adults

The Aging Well and Healthily (AWH) program consists of health education by peers and low-intensity exercise. It was evaluated via a small randomized controlled trial and a community intervention trial involving older adults in the Netherlands. Reasons stated for participation were to exercise (35%), to acquire information about health (28%), and...

Development and validation of the observation list for early signs of dementia (OLD)

Objective: Development and validation of a short Observation List of possible early signs of Dementia (OLD) for use in general practice. Design: Stepwise development using reviews of publications and expert consensus. Field study for evaluation of reliability. Validation study (interviews, family forms) using existing valid and reliable measures...

Klinische betekenis van extra vitaminen uit supplementen en verrijkte voedingsmiddelen [Clinical importance of extra vitamins from supplements and enriched foodstuffs]

-Consumers increasingly use vitamin supplements. Also, since June 1996, foodstuffs enriched with vitamins are available on the Dutch market. -These sources of extra vitamins may be useful for groups at risk for marginal vitamin deficiencies. -These risk groups include the chronically ill (e.g. diabetics), people using medicaments, older people...

Physical and psychosocial disability in elderly subjects in relation to pain in the hip and/or knee

Objective. To determine physical and psychosocial disability in subjects aged 55 to 74 years living in the community, in relation to pain in the hip and/or knee, and to explore the relationships between pain, physical and psychosocial disability, and selected background variables. Methods. A subsample from a community based study on pain,...