Understanding correlates of fear of falling among older Vietnamese people contributes to healthcare professionals' ability to develop effective cross-cultural and culture-specific interventions to reduce older people's fear of falling and to improve quality of life.

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C ognition, the ability to process thought, entails perceiving, saving, recalling and using information. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists components of cognition as language, thought, memory, executive function, judgment, attention, and perception. 1 Preserving multidimensional cognitive structure allows older adults to maintain social connectedness, an ongoing sense of purpose, the ability to function independently, functional recovery from illness or injury, and the ability to cope with residual functional deficits. 2 The brain may be able to achieve new or regain lost functions by changing its internal connectivity network. Due to interaction between neuronal plasticity and cognitive plasticity, the aging brain can reorganize cognitive demand or cognitive plasticity as needed. 3 However, cognitive ability decline does occur, and includes memory disorders, neuropsychiatric symptoms, orientation disorder, aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, executive function disorder, and personality change. 4,5 Dementia is a group of symptoms characterized by significant cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in one or more cognitive domains, such as learning and memory, language, executive function, complex attention, perceptual-motor, and social cognition. 6,7 Dementia results from a variety of diseases and injuries that primarily or secondarily affect the brain; it is chronic and progressive. 1 Globally, over 47 million people have dementia and over 7 million new cases are recorded every year. 8,9 The prevalence of dementia is much greater in Abstract OBJECTIVES: This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the effect of a cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) program on the cognitive ability of demented older adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two nursing homes were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups. Simple random sampling technique was used to recruit 27 demented older adults from each nursing home. The experimental group received a CST program three times per week for 5 weeks. The control group received usual care. Data collection was performed from March to May, 2018. Instruments used were a Demographic Questionnaire, Mini Mental State Examination (Indonesian version), and the CST program adapted for the culture of East Java, Indonesia. Descriptive statistics were calculated for data analysis. RESULTS: Findings revealed an effect of CST on cognitive ability of demented older adults. The experimental and control groups were not significantly different before the intervention (p = 0.161). After the CST program, the mean cognitive ability score in the experimental group was significantly higher than before the program (p < 0.001). After the CST program, the mean cognitive ability score in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group (p < 0.001). The mean cognitive ability score for the control group did not differ significantly between pre-test and post-test (p = 0.058). CONCLUSION: CST improves cognitive ability in demented older adults. Nurses and health care tea...

E nd stage renal disease (ESRD) is one of the diseases most commonly found among elderly people. At present, there is a growing tendency for the disease to occur more frequently worldwide, including in Thailand. According to an occurrence report in Thailand, it was found that the number of ESRD patients had increased from 410.90 people in 2007 to 522.80 people in the year 2009. Later, the number increased from 10,181 people in 2012 to 12,800 people in the year 2013. Furthermore, it was predicted that the number of elderly patients with ESRD would increase up to 34, 594 in the year 2017. 1 This is a significant problem which is likely to become even more serious in the near future. ESRD is the condition in which the nephron is gradually destroyed until it loses function. The deterioration in the functioning of the kidneys, namely filtration, tubular reabsorption, waste reduction, excretory system, and hormone production, leads to the end stage or the so-called ESRD. When chronic kidney disease (CKD) progresses to ESRD, the filtration rate will become lower than 15 ml/min/1.73 m 2 of the body surface area for more than a period of three months. 2 This can weaken the excretory system, water balance, pH balance, and the production of crucial hormones. As the kidney function decreases, this contributes to significant signs or symptoms e.g. hypertension and heart failure in the cardiovascular system; asthma, dyspnea due to fluid overload, pulmonary edema, and pneumonia in the respiratory system; and nausea and vomiting and anorexia in the digestive system. In addition, it will also affect the nervous system due to the accumulation of uremia and the imbalance of water and electrolytes. 3 When kidneys do not function Abstract OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to study the resilience of elderly patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) and its related factors towards hope, self-efficacy, optimism, and family relationships RESEARCH TOOLS AND METHOD: This present study is a piece of descriptive correlation research. The samples included ninety-seven elderly patients who were diagnosed with ESRD and treated at the Outpatient Department, Chronic Kidney Disease and Artificial Kidney 1 Clinic, Sakaeo Crown Prince Hospital. The data were collected using interviews, and they were then analyzed with descriptive statistics and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. RESULTS: The findings revealed that the studied samples had moderate resilience (71.1%). A significant positive correlation was found between resilience and hope (r = 0.536, p < 0.001) family relationships (r = 0.449, p < 0.001) and self-efficacy (r = 0.349, p < 0.001). While, optimism (r = 0.289, p = 0.004) was found as a low positive correlation to resilience among the elderly people with ESRD CONCLUSION: Among the elderly patients with ESRD in this study, a significant positive correlation was found between resilience and hope, self-efficacy, optimism, and family relationships. Therefore, nurses or healthcare professionals who are taking care of elderly patients with ESRD...

Purpose This study aims to examine the factors predicting burden among the male caregivers of older adults with stroke. Design/methodology/approach This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. A simple random sampling technique was used to recruit 98 male caregivers in the outpatient department’s neurological clinic, at Banphaeo General Hospital. Data was collected using six questionnaires: the demographic questionnaire, the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale, the perceived health status interview form, the caregiver and patient relationship interview form, the Barthel ADL index and the Zarit burden interview. Descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis. Findings The male caregivers of older adults with stroke had a mild to moderate level of burden. Factors such as depression of caregivers and activities of daily living of older adults predicted the burden among male caregivers, explaining 53.6% of the variance. The findings imply that nurses can plan new approaches and interventions to alleviate the burden of male caregivers by reducing their depression levels and encouraging activities of daily living in the older adults. In addition, effective programs can be developed to provide informational support to caregivers for reducing their burden level. Originality/value Male caregivers with depressive symptoms had an increased caregiving burden. Therefore, health-care professionals should support and formulate guidelines to reduce the burden of caregiving among the male caregivers by considering predictive factors.