Dyadic Perceptions of COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Everyday Life

It is important to understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic not only on individuals’ daily lives, but also their close partners. Current literature suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted older adults’ lives in several ways, including the frequency of social interactions and change in various life habits (Lesbrasseur et al., 2021). Data from 42 middle-aged and older, long-term married or cohabitating dyads were collected as part of an ongoing study of everyday cognition and functioning among couples. Participant age ranged from 40-85+, and couples were partnered for 9-60+ years. During this study, COVID-19 pandemic impact was assessed using six items (1 = No change to 4 = Severe change) examining daily routines, medical and mental health access, social contacts, and pandemic and family-related stress; reports ranged from six to 19. On average, women reported significantly higher COVID-19 pandemic impact compared to men. For both partners, the greatest disruptions reported related to routines and social contacts. Further analysis examined COVID-19 pandemic impact in dyads. For eight dyads, both partners reported relatively lower COVID-19 impact (6-11), whereas for six dyads, both partners reported higher impact scores (14-19). Discussion focuses on within-dyad and between-dyad differences related to perceptions of the pandemic’s impact.

Measuring Subjective Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: Harmonization between the Cognitive Change Index and the Measurement of Everyday Cognition Instruments

ABSTRACTBackgroundSelf and informant (proxy or study partner) reports of everyday cognitive functioning have been shown to be associated with incipient neurodegenerative disease. The 20-item Cognitive Change Index (CCI) and the 39-item Measurement of Everyday Cognition (ECog) were each developed to characterize early subjective changes in cognitive function.ObjectiveWe examined the relationship between CCI and ECog self and informant evaluations to determine content overlap and provide a co-calibration for converting between these widely used instruments.Methods950 participants (57.1% female, mean age=71.2yrs) from ADNI and the Indiana ADRC with self evaluations and 279 participants (60.9% female, mean age=71.8yrs) with informant evaluations (Indiana ADRC) were included. Analyzed variables for the CCI and ECog included domain mean scores, memory domain total scores, and total scores for all items. Pearson correlations, regression analyses, and frequency distributions were used to assess the relationship between CCI and ECog. Sex, years of education, race, APOE ε4 carrier status, and baseline diagnosis were also analyzed as potentially relevant covariates.ResultsCCI and ECog total scores were highly correlated for the self (r=0.790, p<0.001) and informant (r=0.860, p<0.001) versions. Frequency distributions of total scores were generated and self and informant histograms were plotted separately. Quadratic regressions for self (r2=0.682) and informant (r2=0.863) scores were used to create a translation table between the CCI and ECog total scores.ConclusionSelf and informant total scores can be harmonized and translated between the CCI and ECog to facilitate cross-study and longitudinal assessment of perceived cognitive change, an important patient-reported outcome.

Adaptation and Validation of the Spanish Version of the Everyday Cognition Battery Scale for Assessing Everyday Cognition in Older Adults

Introduction: Ageing entails a series of neuroanatomical and neurophysiological changes in some cognitive processes that directly affect the daily life and autonomy of a person. We believe it is necessary to have tools that assess the cognitive functions that are essential for carrying out daily activities in an independent manner. The aim of this study was to translate the Everyday Cognition Battery (ECB) scale into Spanish, adapt it to the sociocultural context of Spain, and validate it by testing the psychometric properties, i.e., the reliability and validity of the translated version.Methods: The translation and adaptation of the ECB into Spanish was carried out following the method recommended by Beaton et al., the process concluding with a pilot test to ensure that subjects were able to understand the scale correctly. Between March and October 2019, the study population voluntarily completed the translated version of each of the four subscales that make up the battery of tests. The translated version was validated by analysing its psychometric properties, using reliability or internal consistency tests assessed with Cronbach's alpha coefficient and validity tests analysed using correlation tables and Spearman's correlation coefficient. The scale considered to represent the gold standard in the assessment of cognition was the Rapid Assessment of Cognitive Functions (RACF), and to assess Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) this was the Lawton and Brody Index. Results: The total study population included 226 subjects, of which 52 participants were excluded, resulting in a study sample size of 174 older adults. The recognition, inductive reasoning and computation span tests showed good reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient of >0.827, >0.836, and >0.823, respectively), while the knowledge test showed questionable reliability with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of >0.615. The validity analysis demonstrated that all the combinations of correlations of the different scales were significantly and positively related to one another. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the ECB tool is socially and culturally equivalent to the original version, and both its validity and reliability for assessing everyday cognition in older adults have been demonstrated.

Modern structure of everyday cognition

As the result of the present study the structure of everyday cognition has been investigated and the principles of its typology have been formulated. The types, forms, levels and means of everyday cognition have been identified. The author has come to the conclusion that the means of daily activity and everyday cognition constitute the basis of the social heredity mechanisms and the reproduction of social life.

773 The relationship between personality and sleep: Subjective cognition as a mediator

Introduction Research has found relationships between sleep quality and personality traits. Poor subjective sleep quality has been observed within individuals scoring high in Neuroticism and low in Conscientiousness. Personality traits have also been associated with cognitive functioning and the link being worse cognition and poor sleep quality is established. However, less is known regarding the role of cognitive functioning in the relationship between personality and sleep quality, particularly in aging populations. This study investigated whether subjective cognition acted as a mediator between individual personality traits and subjective sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults. Methods Middle-aged and older adults (N=269; Mage= 64.5, SD=7.8; 123 women/146 men) who were cognitively healthy completed an online survey through Qualtrics measuring demographics, personality (Big Five Inventory-10; BFI-10), self-reported sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSQI), and subjective everyday cognition (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire; CFQ). Separate mediation analyses using SPSS PROCESS macro [and testing for indirect effects using 5,000 bootstrapped samples and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) and controlling for conditional associations among all pathways] examined whether subjective everyday cognition (CFQ scores) mediated the relationship between different personality traits (BFI-10 Conscientiousness and Neuroticism scores) and self-reported sleep (PSQI-Total Score), controlling for age and sex. Results Neuroticism and PSQI-Total Score was partially mediated by CFQ. There was a significant association between Neuroticism and total PSQI (total effect=0.588, SE=0.110, p&lt;0.001). There were positive associations between Neuroticism and CFQ (a-path effect=2.765, SE=0.383, p&lt;0.001) and CFQ and PSQI (b-path effect=0.068, SE=0.017, p&lt;0.001). The indirect effect was significant (effect=0.187, SE=0.054, 95% CI=0.088 to 0.301). There was no association between Conscientiousness and PSQI-Total Score (total effect=-0.123, SE=0.133, p=0.358), therefore mediation analysis (testing of CFQ as a mediator) was discontinued. Conclusion In middle-aged and older adults, subjective everyday cognition mediates the relationship between Neuroticism personality trait and self-reported sleep quality. Individuals scoring higher in Neuroticism report worse subjective sleep quality as their subjective cognitive failures increase. Findings underscore the interacting roles of personality and everyday cognition on perceived sleep. Clinicians should consider individual personality profiles (via personality assessments) and subjective everyday cognitive ratings for a better understanding of the factors impacting middle-aged and older adults’ sleep profiles. Support (if any):

Freedom and Faith Between Kant and Hegel

This chapter considers some of the varied responses in Germany to the scepticism of Hume and the transcendental idealism of Kant. It covers Hamann, Jacobi, Schiller, and Fichte. Both Jacobi and Hamann draw on Humean scepticism to vindicate religious faith. Hamann sees sceptical distancing from everyday cognition as a route into mystical religious consciousness of the world. Schiller criticizes the elevation of ‘dignity’ at the expense of ‘grace’ in Kant’s account of autonomy. He proposes instead an ideal of freedom as moral and aesthetic wholeness. The ethical implications of this ideal are discussed. Fichte rethinks the Kantian idea that transcendental idealism is the basis of freedom: philosophy becomes rational insight into a universal content grasped mystically by religion. Influenced by Kant’s discussion of the conditions of self-awareness, Fichte argues that its precondition is mutual recognition of self and other. Mutual recognition is, in turn, the basis of rights.

Cognitive dysfunction among people with systemic lupus erythematosus is associated with reduced participation in daily life

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the distribution of cognitive function in people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) by objective and self-report measures and associations between cognition and participation among people with SLE. Methods Fifty-five volunteers with SLE (age: 39.7 ± 12.7yrs, female: 92.7%) completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to measure cognitive ability objectively, the Cognitive Symptom Inventory (CSI) and PROMIS Cognitive Function 8a (CF) to assess self-reported everyday cognition, and PROMIS-43 Profile to assess self-reported ability to participate in social roles and activities (participation) and other disease-associated symptoms (e.g., depression, pain, fatigue). Results The average MoCA score was 25.3 ± 3.1, with 47.3% of participants scoring <26, which is indicative of cognitive impairment. Group average CSI (35.8 ± 7.9), CF (T-score = 45.0 ± 8.5), and participation (T-score = 46.9 ± 11.2) scores suggest mildly impaired functional cognition and participation compared to normative data. Participation correlated with self-reported everyday cognition measures (r ≥ 0.56, p < 0.01) but not with MoCA (r = 0.25, p = 0.06). In hierarchical linear regression analysis, CSI, fatigue, and pain were each significant independent predictors of participation (R2 = 0.78, p < 0.01). Conclusions We found that cognitive dysfunction is common among people with SLE. Along with pain and fatigue, reduced everyday cognitive function contributes to reduced participation in social, leisure, work, and family-related activities.