Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of the 6-minute and 2-minute walk tests in frail older persons.

Design: Pre/post–design with measures at admission and discharge to in-patient geriatric rehabilitation.

Participants: Fifty-two subjects (35 women, 17 men; age 80 ± 8 years).

Results: Only 1 of the first 8 subjects could complete a single trial of the 6-minute walk test at admission. The 2-minute walk test was feasible in this population, with 50 (out of 52) subjects able to complete at least one trial at admission. There was an increase in distance walked when three trials of the 2-minute walk were performed, at both admission and discharge (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion: The 2-minute walk test is a feasible measure of functional capacity and was better tolerated than the 6-minute walk test in older persons in geriatric rehabilitation. Consideration needs to be given to the potential of a training effect or the need for repeated measures to obtain a best estimate for the 2-minute walk test.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore styles of engagement used by families with staff in long-term care facilities. Data were gathered through personal interviews with 35 family members. Five styles of engagement were identified: positive, negative, peremptory, cautious, and limited. Factors associated with these different styles were also identified. Implications for practice are discussed.

The study focuses on perceived control and coping strategies regarding activity restriction due to osteoarthritis in a sample of older women. Using a cross-sectional design, it examines how these variables, separately and in combination, predict anxious symptoms and depressive symptoms. Perceived control did not predict anxious symptoms, while approach-type coping strategies did. Perceived control and approach-type coping strategies individually predicted depressive symptoms. Higher perceived control in interaction with avoidant-type coping strategies significantly predicted lower depressive symptoms. Overall, the findings suggest that perceived control and coping strategies with regard to activity restriction relate in different ways to anxious symptoms and to depressive symptoms.

This article offers reflection on the validity of relational data such as used in social network analysis. Ongoing research on the transformation of the support network of caregivers of persons with an Alzheimer-type disease provides the data to fuel the debate on the validity of participant report. More specifically, we sought to understand the factors that might influence the description of the support network by persons involved in caregiving. The issue warrants special attention, given that social relations – in their form and their content – constitute the raw material of network analysis. We propose that how persons describe their social network corresponds to a subjective process that rests, in part, on their representation of their cultural and social universe.

This study consists of a secondary analysis of data collected during the SIPA demonstration project. Its purpose is to identify the proportion of Adult Day Care (ADC) users as well as the determinants of use in this group of persons 65 years old and over receiving home care services in Montreal. Results show that 18.8% of the sample have at least one ADC presence during a 6 months study period. The following factors increase the probability of ADC use: being younger; not having a university degree; being born outside of Canada or for persons born in Canada, living with a caregiver; receiving help from the CLSC for daily life activities more than once a week; being in the catchment population of an ADC which fees are lower; and for men only, having had a stroke or presenting more functional incapacities.

Adults aged 65 and younger make up a significant proportion of nursing-home residents. To date, however, there is no research examining their quality of life (QOL), including how their perceptions of QOL compare to those of older nursing-home residents. This study used a multidimensional approach to (a) assess the QOL of younger nursing-home residents and its relationship to health, social support, and leisure activities; and (b) compare the QOLs of younger and older residents. The sample consisted of 43 younger residents (M = 53.7 years) and 38 older residents (M = 79.92 years). Results indicate that there were no age differences in QOL, suggesting the need for a broad conceptualization of QOL in the nursing-home population.

This article examines the struggle to win lifetime eligibility for selected home care benefits provided through the Veterans Independence Program (VIP) for veterans' widows in recognition of their years of unpaid caregiving – a policy change eventually implemented between 2003 and 2004. It explores how arguments on their behalf shifted from discourses of dependency, cost-saving, and compassion to ones of entitlement and commemoration between 1981 and 2004 as the large cohort of Second World War veterans and their wives moved towards the end of their lives. This policy victory for veterans' widows marked a historic shift in mandate for Veterans Affairs Canada and an important recognition by the state of unpaid caregiving as a form of national service. If Canadians are to learn from this example, however, it must be through seeing all caregiving labour – not just that of veterans' wives – as equally heroic and worthy of compensation.

The growth of research knowledge on culturally diverse family caregivers for the aging population lags behind the increase of culturally diverse populations in Canada. This study examines the effects of culture, as manifested through cultural variables, on the caregiving burden of family caregivers in a Chinese-Canadian community. A random sample of 339 Chinese-Canadian caregivers for elderly relatives completed a telephone survey. Results of hierarchical stepwise multiple regression analysis reported the predicting effects of culture-related variables on caregiving burden. The findings indicated that being an immigrant, having a Western or non-Western religion as compared to having no religion, and having a lower level of filial piety, predicted a higher level of caregiving burden. Chinese tradition does not exempt the caregivers from being burdened. Policies and practices should address the needs of family caregivers according to the intra-cultural variations identified in this study.

This study employs a longitudinal design to examine rural–urban differences in home care service use over time, drawing on data from the Manitoba Study of Health and Aging (MSHA). Characteristics of community-dwelling, cognitively intact adults aged 65 years or older not receiving home care services in the province of Manitoba (n = 855) were collected in 1991/1992. Place of residence was categorized as urban/small-town zone or predominantly rural area. A 5-year follow-up determined subsequent home care use. Urban residents were more likely to receive home care than those in small-town zones or predominantly rural areas. Characteristics associated with use differed according to place of residence, with the exception of baseline physical functioning and changes in physical functioning that consistently emerged as significant. Directions for future research are discussed.

This paper reports on the results of analyses using administrative data from British Columbia for 10 years from fiscal 1987/1988 to 1996/1997, inclusive, to examine the comparative costs to government of long-term home care and residential care services. The analyses used administrative data for hospital care, physician care, drugs, and home care and residential long-term care. Direct comparisons for cost and utilization data were possible, as the same care-level classification system is used in BC for home care and residential care clients. Given significant changes in the type and/or level of care of clients over time, a full-time equivalent client strategy was used to maximize the accuracy of comparisons. The findings suggest that, in general, home care can be a lower-cost alternative to residential care for clients with similar care needs. The difference in costs between home care and residential care services narrows considerably for those who change their type and/or level of care, and home care was found to be more costly than long-term institutional care for home care clients who died. The findings from this study indicate that with the appropriate substitution for residential care services, in a planned and targeted manner, home care services can be a lower-cost alternative to residential long-term care in integrated systems of care delivery that include both sets of services.

An in-depth understanding of human factors and human error is lacking in current research on seniors' falls. Additional knowledge is needed to understand why seniors are falling. The purpose of this article is to describe the adapting of the Integrated Safety Investigation Methodology (ISIM) (used for investigating transportation and industrial accidents) to studying seniors' falls. An adapted version—the Seniors Falls Investigative Methodology (SFIM)—uses a systems approach to take an investigation beyond the immediate cause of an incident and reveal unsafe acts and deeply imbedded unsafe conditions that contribute to adverse outcomes. An example case study is used to describe six phases of the investigative process in detail. The SFIM has the potential to identify safety deficiencies; utilize existing knowledge about falls; establish a standardized reporting system; shift focus from the faller to the system; and guide targeted prevention.