scholarly journals Immersive Virtual Reality for the Management of Pain in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Benham ◽  
Minhee Kang ◽  
Namrata Grampurohit

Immersive virtual reality (VR) can provide a high level of engagement and distraction analgesia to address pain. However, community-based applications of this technology for older adults have not been studied. The objective of this study was to examine the applicability and effectiveness of an immersive VR intervention for pain, depression, and quality of life (QOL) in older adults. This pretest–posttest, mixed-methods design included senior center members ( n = 12) with pain that interfered with daily functioning. The outcomes included the Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) depression scale, World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief Version (WHO QOL-BREF), and open-ended questions. The VR intervention (15- to 45-min sessions, 12 sessions over 6 weeks) was well accepted with no dropouts. There was a significant decrease in pain ( p = .002, d = −1.54) with no effect on depression and QOL. There were no adverse effects, and positive perceptions of VR were reported. The 6-week immersive VR intervention was applicable and effective in reducing pain intensity for community-dwelling older adults.

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Chen Chang ◽  
Wen-Chen Ouyang ◽  
Mei-Chun Lu ◽  
Jung-Der Wang ◽  
Susan C. Hu

ABSTRACTBackground:Depression is closely associated with quality of life (QOL) in older adults. Being elderly and exhibiting mild depressive symptoms may not lead to a depression diagnosis, but these attributes are clinically important. However, the extent to which these factors influence QOL and its determinants in older adults remains unclear.Methods:Questionnaires were administered to people aged 65 years or older at community senior centers in Taiwan to collect socio-demographic information and to assess results from the brief version of the World Health Organization's Quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-BREF), Modified Barthel Index (MBI), 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Levels of depressive symptoms were classified as no depressive symptoms (NDS), lower level of depressive symptoms (LLDS), and higher level of depressive symptoms (HLDS), corresponding to GDS = 0, 1≦GDS≦5, and GDS>5, respectively. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to assess associations between the WHOQOL-BREF and its covariates for different levels of depressive symptoms.Results:A total of 454 older adults participated. The GDS and MBI scores significantly affected the WHOQOL-BREF physical and psychological domain scores in the LLDS group. Gender influenced the WHOQOL-BREF scores in the NDS group, and increased age demonstrated protective effects on the three domains in the HLDS group. Moreover, the association between the WHOQOL-BREF and its covariates varied for different levels of depressive symptoms.Conclusions:Treatment for depressive symptoms is of high priority, and early recognition of and appropriate intervention for mild depressive symptoms may improve community-dwelling older adults’ QOLs.


Drugs & Aging ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 785-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Cossette ◽  
Maimouna Bagna ◽  
Modou Sene ◽  
Caroline Sirois ◽  
Gabrielle P. Lefebvre ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Dezhi Li

Due to the poor functioning in daily living activities, community-dwelling older adults spend more time in their neighborhood environment. The perceived neighborhood environment is crucial to their quality of life (QoL). To explore the complex influences of perceived neighborhood environment on QoL, a questionnaire was designed to measure their perception of each factor of neighborhood environment and each domain of QoL. Based on collected data, the reliability test was applied to revise the questionnaire. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were adopted to hypothesize and test the integrated model for community-dwelling older adults. The results show that community-dwelling older adults’ perceptions of neighbor support, facilities related to physical exercise and recreation, and accessibility to facilities impact their overall QoL with diverse coefficients of 0.437, 0.312, and 0.295, respectively; neighbor support (0.207) on physical health; sidewalk condition (0.134), natural environment (0.260), and facilities related to daily life (0.165) on psychological health; and neighbor support (0.298), facilities related to daily life (0.206), and design-related safety (0.225) on social relationship. This revealed that perceptions of neighborhood environment have diverse impacts on their QoL. This study can provide targeted retrofit strategies for communities to enhance QoL of community-dwelling older adults efficiently.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohko Maki ◽  
Tomoharu Yamaguchi ◽  
Tetsuya Yamagami ◽  
Tatsuhiko Murai ◽  
Kenji Hachisuka ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Yaxmehen Bello-Chavolla ◽  
Carlos Alberto Aguilar-Salinas ◽  
José Alberto Avila-Funes

Abstract Background The type 2 diabetes (T2D) specific dementia-risk score (DSDRS) was developed to evaluate dementia risk in older adults with T2D. T2D-related factors have been shown increase the risk of age-related conditions, which might also increase dementia risk. Here, we investigate the associations of DSDRS with frailty, disability, quality of life (QoL) and cognition in community-dwelling older adults with T2D. Methods We included 257 community-dwelling older adults with T2D to evaluate the association between DSDRS and Mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Isaac’s set-test (IST), clock drawing test (CDT), quality of life (SF-36), risk of malnutrition (Mini-Nutritional Assessment or MNA), as well as frailty, Katz’ and Lawton-Brody scores. We also assessed the phenotype and correlates of high-estimated dementia risk by assessing individuals with DSDRS >75th age-specific percentiles. Results Mean age of participants was 78.0 ± 6.2 years. DSDRS showed a significant correlation with MMSE test, IST, CDT, SF-36, MNA, Lawton-Brody and Katz scores, and an increasing number of frailty components. DSDRS was higher among frail, pre-frail, and subjects with limited ADL and IADL (p < 0.001). Participants with DSDRS >75th age-specific percentiles had lower education, MMSE, IST, SF-36, MNA, Katz, Lawton-Brody, and higher frailty scores. High-estimated 10-year dementia risk was associated with ADL and IADL disability, frailty and risk of malnutrition. When assessing individual components of DSDRS, T2D-related microvascular complications were associated to all outcome measures. Conclusion The DSDRS is associated with frailty, disability, malnutrition and lower cognitive performance. These findings support that T2D-related factors have significant burden on functional status, QoL, disability and dementia risk.


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