Help-Seeking Behaviours for Mental Health in East Asian American Informal Caregivers of People Living With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias.

Aim(s): To explore mental health help-seeking behaviours among East Asian American dementia caregivers and construct a theory grounded in their behaviour patterns.

Design: Qualitative using constructivist grounded theory design.

Methods: We recruited 20 East Asian American dementia caregivers between August 2023 and March 2024 using purposive sampling.

Feasibility and Acceptability of the Smarthealth Intervention for Dementia Caregivers. A Qualitative Analysis of a Single-Group Pilot Study.

Aim(s): To explore the feasibility and acceptability of acoustic monitoring and real-time recommendations for stress detection and management (i.e., smarthealth intervention).

Associations Between the Multidimensional Body Image Constructs and Self-Rated Health among African American Adults in the Southeastern United States: A Preliminary Study.

Background: This pilot study examined sex differences in body image constructs among African American (AAs) adults and their association with self-rated health (SRH).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, where participants were recruited through advertisements and snowball sampling techniques. A battery of questionnaires measured demographic data, SRH, and body image constructs.

Stress and Hypertension Among African American Female Family Caregivers of Persons Living With Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias: Protocol for a Pilot Internet-Based Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Caregivers of persons with Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) neglect their health, including by ignoring stress levels. African American women are vulnerable and susceptible to hypertension. Chronic caregiving stress and hypertension place them at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

An I-Change approach to understanding exercise determinants among Black individuals with hypertension.

Objective: Black populations are disproportionately affected by hypertension and are less likely to engage in blood pressure-lowering activities, such as exercise, compared to non-Hispanic White populations. There is a lack of theory-informed approaches to understand how individual and environmental racial disparities impact exercise participation among Black individuals with hypertension. The I-Change Model, an integrated behavior change framework, combines concepts from social and health psychology to explain the interaction between awareness, motivation, and action in adopting and maintaining health behaviors.

Recruitment Challenges and Strategies in a Technology-Based Intervention for Dementia Caregivers: Descriptive Study.

Background: Researchers have encountered challenges in recruiting unpaid caregivers of people living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias for intervention studies. However, little is known about the reasons for nonparticipation in in-home smart health interventions in community-based settings.

Objective: This study aimed to (1) assess recruitment rates in a smart health technology intervention for caregivers of people living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias and reasons for nonparticipation among them and (2) discuss lessons learned from recruitment challenges and strategies to improve recruitment.

Empowering Dementia Caregivers: Incorporating Caregiving Training Resources Into Current Procedural Technology Codes.

Purpose/objectives: We aim to explore Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for caregiving training services and their potential impacts on caregivers of people living with dementia.

Description Of The Project/program: In response to the growing need for support for caregivers of people living with physical and mental health issues, CPT codes for caregiving training services will be activated for the calendar year 2024. These codes cover (1) family group behavior management and modification training services and (2) caregiver training for techniques to help patients maintain their quality of life.

Detection of Cognitive Impairment From eSAGE Metadata Using Machine Learning.

Objective: Using the metadata collected in the digital version of the Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (eSAGE), we aim to improve the prediction of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia (DM) by applying machine learning methods.

Patients And Methods: A total of 66 patients had a diagnosis of normal cognition (NC), MCI, or DM, and eSAGE scores and metadata were used. eSAGE scores and metadata were obtained.

Health Social Networks of Black Women With Hypertension.

Background: The prevalence of hypertension is 55% among African American/Black women, who have a higher risk for poor health outcomes compared to women from other racial and ethnic groups, in part because of uncontrolled blood pressure. Previous research results suggest that peers may positively influence self-management of chronic conditions like hypertension. However, few studies have described the personal characteristics of peers in the health social networks of Black women.

Dyadic Hair Cortisol Self-Collection Procedure.

Background: At-home self-collection of specimens has become more commonplace because of measures taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Self-collection of hair cortisol is important because chronic stress is present in many populations, such as older adults living with Alzheimer's disease and their family caregivers. For the evaluation of chronic stress, scalp hair can be used as a predictive biomarker because it examines the cumulative, retrospective stress from previous months.

Nurse scholars of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program.

Background: The challenge to increase the diversity, inclusivity, and equity of nurse scientists is a critical issue to enhance nursing knowledge development, health care, health equity, and health outcomes in the United States.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the current nurse scholars in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP).

Discussion: Profiles and the programs of research and scholarship of the current AMFDP nurse scholars are described and discussed.

Sudarshan Kriya Meditation Reduces Substance Abuse Cravings and Improves Physical and Emotional Well-Being of Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder: A Pilot Study.

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is widely prevalent in the United States and there are high levels of comorbidity between OUD and mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychotherapy, in addition to medication-assisted therapy, are considered important components of long-term OUD treatment. Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) is a breathing-based mind-body intervention that has been demonstrated to have multiple physiological and psychological benefits.

Promoting successful participation of people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in pain-related neuroimaging research studies.

Recruitment and retention of participants for pain-related neuroimaging research is challenging and becomes increasingly so when research participants have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). This article shares the authors' recommendations from several years of successful recruitment and completion of pain-related neuroimaging studies of people living with ADRD and includes supportive literature. While not an exhaustive list, this review covers several topics related to recruitment and retention of participants living with ADRD, including community engagement, capacity to consent, dementia diagnostic criteria, pain medication and other study exclusion criteria, participant and caregiver burden, communication concerns, and relationships with neuroimaging facilities.

Hair Cortisol Concentration, Perceived Stress, Mental Well-Being, and Cardiovascular Health in African American Older Adults: A Pilot Study.

(1) Background: African Americans experience high rates of psychological stress and hypertension, which increases their risk of cardiovascular disease with age. Easy-to-collect psychological and biological stress data are valuable to investigations of this association. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC), as a proxy biomarker of chronic stress exposure, provides such advantages in contrast to collection of multiple daily samples of saliva.

Neural Processing of Health Information and Hypertension Self-Management in African Americans.

Background: Uncontrolled blood pressure (BP) rates are persistently high among African Americans with hypertension. Although self-management is critical to controlling BP, little is known about the brain-behavior connections underlying the processing of health information and the performance of self-management activities.

Objectives: In this pilot study, we explored the associations among neural processing of two types of health information and a set of self-management cognitive processes (self-efficacy, activation, decision-making, and hypertension knowledge) and behaviors (physical activity, dietary intake, and medication taking) and health status indicators (BP, health-related quality of life, anxiety, and depression).

Race-Related Differences Between and Within Sex to Experimental Thermal Pain in Middle and Older Adulthood: An Exploratory Pilot Analysis.

This brief report details a pilot analysis conducted to explore racial differences in pain sensitivity and unpleasantness between cognitively healthy Black and White adults, stratified by sex. A total of 24 cognitively healthy adults (12 Black and 12 White) from two completed studies were matched by age and sex, and divided into two groups based on race. Stratified analyses by sex demonstrated that Black females reported experiencing pain intensity ratings of all three intensity sensations at lower temperatures than White females.

Improving hypertension control and cardiovascular health: An urgent call to action for nursing.

Background: Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and affects nearly one in two adults in the United States when defined as a blood pressure of at least 130/80 mm Hg or on antihypertensive medication (Virani et al., 2021, Circulation, 143, e254). Long-standing disparities in hypertension awareness, treatment, and control among racial and ethnic populations exist in the United States.

Challenges to dietary hypertension self-management as described by a sample of African American older adults.

Background: Hypertension rates are disproportionately higher among Black or African Americans (Black/African American) compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. However, research on self-management strategies to control hypertension through healthy eating such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and ketogenic diets has underexplored the use of dietary strategies among older Black/African American adults. In reporting contemporary challenges with implementing dietary strategies targeting blood pressure control among Black/African American older adults living with hypertension, this study addresses a clear need.

Treating the most vulnerable: A discursive review of experimental pain in Alzheimer's disease.

Aim: The purpose of this manuscript is to summarize research on how experimental pain is experienced by adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to translate results into implications for nurses.

Design: This discursive review synthesizes the results of three previous research studies exploring experimental pain in adults with AD.

Methods: Using a series of fictional clinical vignettes, the authors discuss how the results from three previous papers using acute experimental pain can potentially be translated into clinical practice.

Co-created health education intervention among older African American women living with hypertension.

Introduction: African Americans over the age of 60 years face disproportionate risk of developing hypertension, which can be mitigated with lifestyle changes. This study examines the acceptability and cost of a patient-centered, co-created health education intervention with older African Americans living with hypertension.

Methods: Twenty women participated in this study that included four weekly, two-hour group sessions centered on hypertension knowledge and calibration of home blood pressure monitors, stress and interpersonal relationship management, sleep and pain management, and healthy eating.

Smarthealth technology study protocol to improve relationships between older adults with dementia and family caregivers.

Aim: The aim of this study is to develop a Smarthealth system of monitoring, modelling, and interactive recommendation solutions (for caregivers) for in-home dementia patient care that focuses on caregiver-patient relationships.

Design: This descriptive study employs a single-group, non-randomized trial to examine functionality, effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of the novel Smarthealth system.

Methods: Thirty persons with Alzheimer's Disease or related dementia and their family caregivers (N = 30 dyads) will receive and install Smarthealth technology in their home.

Mindfulness in Motion and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) in Hypertensive African Americans.

Objectives: Hypertension increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. This pilot study's purpose was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a novel intervention, Mindfulness in Motion (MIM) and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension DASH (MIM DASH), to improve diet, mindfulness, stress, and systolic blood pressure (BP) in older African Americans with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and hypertension.

Design: Cluster randomized controlled trial.

Neural Processing and Perceived Discrimination Stress in African Americans.

Background: Racial discrimination is one of many barriers experienced by African Americans that interfere with health self-care management. Discrimination stress may decrease the tendency for individuals to resonate with the social-emotional appeals embedded in persuasive health information, which are known to play a key role in producing behavior change. Understanding the neurobehavioral underpinnings of discrimination stress experienced by African Americans may help reduce or resolve this important health disparity.