The Everyday Function Intervention Trial (EFIT) protocol: A randomized clinical trial.

Background: Preserving cognition and everyday function is essential for maintaining independence and reducing risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Useful Field of View training (UFOVt) is a computerized cognitive training program that achieves these goals; however, the mechanisms underlying UFOVt are unclear. The Everyday Function Intervention Trial (EFIT) is a double-blind randomized clinical controlled trial designed to assess potential cognitive, psychosocial, biological, and lifestyle mechanisms underlying UFOVt.

Predictive Utility of Four Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Assessments and Cognitive Status Changes Among Cognitively In-Tact Older Adults.

Purpose: To examine the factor structure and predictive utility of four instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) measures to identify cognitive status changes among older adults enrolled in the ACTIVE Trial.

Major Findings: Extracted factors represented IADL instruments. Baseline performance on the Everyday Problems Test (EPT) predicted 5-year MMSE scores (est.

Differential Longitudinal Associations Between Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Status by Living Situation in Older Adults.

This study explores whether living situation modifies longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and changes in cognitive status across ten years in generally healthy, community-dwelling older adults. Participants ( = 687, = 73.92 years) from the no-contact control condition of a multisite longitudinal study completed the Mini-Mental State Examination, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, and self-reported living situation.

Undergraduate students engaging in hands-on gerontology research: a participatory case study of value gained and lessons learned.

As the population ages, it is essential that professionals across disciplines have experience and competence working with older adults. Though experiential learning opportunities have been extensively documented as a tool to accomplish this goal, student engagement in gerontology research has not been examined in detail. This participatory case study highlights the perspectives of undergraduate student researchers involved in a hands-on pilot research study that explored connections between cognitive, physical, and everyday function in midlife and older adults while testing the feasibility of a mobile app for early detection of cognitive decline related to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Older Adults' Perceptions of Cognitive, Physical, and Exergame Training: A Mixed Methods Investigation of a Four-Armed Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.

Although the health benefits of behavioral interventions for older adults are well studied, research focused on intervention acceptability in older adult populations is less established and is needed. This mixed methods study investigated older adults' perceptions of training interventions. Community-dwelling older adults ( = 41) were randomized into three groups (cognitive, physical, and exergame) and completed 20 in-lab training sessions over 10 weeks.

The Impact of Monetary Incentives on Delay Discounting Within a Year-Long Physical Activity Intervention.

Background: Delay discounting is the depreciation in a reward's perceived value as a function of the time until receipt. Monetary incentive programs that provide rewards contingent on meeting daily physical activity (PA) goals may change participants' delay discounting preferences.

Purpose: Determine if monetary incentives provided in close temporal proximity to meeting PA goals changed delay discounting, and if such changes mediated intervention effects.

Bushfires and Mothers' Mental Health in Pregnancy and Recent Post-Partum.

Background: The compounding effects of climate change catastrophes such as bushfires and pandemics impose significant burden on individuals, societies, and their economies. The enduring effects of such syndemics on mental health remain poorly understood, particularly for at-risk populations (e.g.

The moderating impact of neighborhood walkability on mHealth interventions to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity for insufficiently active adults in a randomized trial.

Background: Ecological models suggest that interventions targeting specific behaviors are most effective when supported by the environment. This study prospectively examined the interactions between neighborhood walkability and an mHealth intervention in a large-scale, adequately powered trial to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).

Methods: Healthy, insufficiently active adults (N = 512) were recruited purposefully from census block groups ranked on walkability (high/low) and socioeconomic status (SES, high/low).

Heatwaves and wildfires suffocate our healthy start to life: time to assess impact and take action.

Adverse environmental exposures in utero and early childhood are known to programme long-term health. Climate change, by contributing to severe heatwaves, wildfires, and other natural disasters, is plausibly associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and an increase in the future burden of chronic diseases in both mothers and their babies. In this Personal View, we highlight the limitations of existing evidence, specifically on the effects of severe heatwave and wildfire events, and compounding syndemic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on the short-term and long-term physical and mental health of pregnant women and their babies, taking into account the interactions with individual and community vulnerabilities.

Anxiety management in Australian general practice: an analysis of encounters from 2006 - 2016.

Background: Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent mental health conditions managed predominantly by general practitioners (GPs). This study aimed to examine the management of anxiety by Australian GPs since the introduction of the Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners initiative in 2006.

Methods: We conducted secondary analysis of Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health data on GP encounters for anxiety from 2006 to 2016 (N = 28,784).

Feasibility of a pilot dyadic randomized controlled trial testing the effects of three behavioral interventions on older adults' cognitive, physical and everyday function.

Maintaining functional abilities is critical for optimizing older adults' well-being and independence. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) pilot examined the feasibility of testing the effects of three commercially available interventions on function-related outcomes in older adults. Pairs of community-dwelling older adults (N=55, Mage=71.

The Preventing Alzheimer's with Cognitive Training (PACT) randomized clinical trial.

Background: To address the rising prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, effective interventions that can be widely disseminated are warranted. The Preventing Alzheimer's with Cognitive Training study (PACT) investigates a commercially available computerized cognitive training program targeting improved Useful Field of View Training (UFOVT) performance. The primary goal is to test the effectiveness of UFOVT to reduce incidence of clinically defined mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia with a secondary objective to examine if effects are moderated by plasma β-amyloid level or apolipoprotein E e4 (APOE e4) allele status.

Training Computers to See the Built Environment Related to Physical Activity: Detection of Microscale Walkability Features Using Computer Vision.

The study purpose was to train and validate a deep learning approach to detect microscale streetscape features related to pedestrian physical activity. This work innovates by combining computer vision techniques with Google Street View (GSV) images to overcome impediments to conducting audits (e.g.

Adaptive Goals and Reinforcement Timing to Increase Physical Activity in Adults: A Factorial Randomized Trial.

Introduction: Potent lifestyle interventions to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity are urgently needed for population-level chronic disease prevention. This trial tested the independent and joint effects of a mobile health system automating adaptive goal setting and immediate financial reinforcement for increasing daily walking among insufficiently active adults.

Study Design: Participants were randomized into a 2 (adaptive versus static goal setting) X 2 (immediate versus delayed financial incentive timing) condition factorial trial to increase walking.

Feasibility and Enjoyment of Exercise Video Games in Older Adults.

Several interventions have been developed to enhance social connectedness among older adults. However, little research has demonstrated their performance in a social distancing environment. Exergames are not only beneficial to older adults' physical and cognitive health, but they also allow players to interact with each other at a distance, which can reduce loneliness and increase social connection.

Effects of Goal Type and Reinforcement Type on Self-Reported Domain-Specific Walking Among Inactive Adults: 2×2 Factorial Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: WalkIT Arizona was a 2×2 factorial trial examining the effects of goal type (adaptive versus static) and reinforcement type (immediate versus delayed) to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among insufficiently active adults. The 12-month intervention combined mobile health (mHealth) technology with behavioral strategies to test scalable population-health approaches to increasing MVPA. Self-reported physical activity provided domain-specific information to help contextualize the intervention effects.

Correction to: Variable Magnitude and Frequency Financial Reinforcement is Effective at Increasing Adults' Free-Living Physical Activity.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40614-019-00241-y.].

Variable Magnitude and Frequency Financial Reinforcement is Effective at Increasing Adults' Free-Living Physical Activity.

Financial rewards can increase health behaviors, but little research has quantified the effects of different reinforcement schedules on this process. This analysis compares the average moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) associated with six distinct positive reinforcement schedules implemented within a physical activity promotion clinical trial. In this trial, participants ( = 512) wore an accelerometer for 1 year and were prescribed one of two types of MVPA goals: a static 30-min goal or an adaptive goal based on the MVPA produced over the previous 9 days.

Older Adult Lifespace Varies by Driving Status and Residential Population Density.

Individual- and environmental-level factors may explain differential trajectories in lifespace mobility in older adults. The current study tested whether driving status was associated with lifespace, whether lifespace change varied by driving status, and whether residential context moderated the relationship between driving status and lifespace. Participants were older adults ages 65 to 94 (mean 73.

Cognitive Training Attenuates Decline in Physical Function Across 10 Years.

Objectives: Poor physical function is associated with negative health and cognitive outcomes. Although nine studies demonstrated that cognitive training reduces age-related declines in physical function, only one study has examined the effects beyond immediate posttest changes. The first aim of this study was to assess the impact of three cognitive training programs on physical function measures across 10 years and the second aim was to examine whether baseline cognitive self-efficacy or depressive symptoms moderated training effects.

A viewpoint on change point modeling for cognitive aging research: Moving from description to intervention and practice.

Chronological age is a commonly-used time metric, but there may be more relevant time measures in older adulthood. This paper reviews change point modeling, a type of analysis increasingly common in cognitive aging research but with limited application in applied research. Here, we propose a new application of such models for cognitive training studies.

Funeral and interment practices of rural residents: A mixed methods study.

There are few studies on interment preferences and practices for people in remote and rural regions of developed countries. This mixed methods study in rural Australia collated data on funeral and interment practices with an ethnographic exploration of the post-death preferences of terminally-ill rural residents. In the region, between February 2015 and May 2016, 44% of decedents were cremated.

Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics of WalkIT Arizona: A factorial randomized trial testing adaptive goals and financial reinforcement to increase walking across higher and lower walkable neighborhoods.

Little change over the decades has been seen in adults meeting moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guidelines. Numerous individual-level interventions to increase MVPA have been designed, mostly static interventions without consideration for neighborhood context. Recent technologies make adaptive interventions for MVPA feasible.