Research / Journal abstracts

A KFF analysis estimates that life expectancy in the U.S. dropped 2.7 years between 2019 and 2021, from 78.8 years to 76.1 years, largely due to COVID-19 deaths. American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people experienced the largest decline in life expectancy of 6.6 years during this time, followed by Hispanic and Black people (4.2 and 4.0 years, respectively). Also, provisional data for 2021 show that life expectancy was lowest for AIAN people at 65.2 years, followed by Black people, whose expectancy was 70.8 years, compared with 76.4 years for White people and 77.7 years for Hispanic people. It was highest for Asian people at 83.5 years...

The LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston has entered the second phase of a two-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study aims to develop and test the feasibility of an intervention called "LDCare," which was designed to support long-distance caregivers of older adults with dementia who receive home care. In the second phase, researchers will examine the feasibility of conducting the LDCare intervention by sampling a group of 40 long-distance caregivers and their care recipients. At present, 17 caregivers are enrolled in the study...

The Disability and Health Journal has published a report that explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment among people with disabilities. The study evaluates changes in employment-to-population ratios during the COVID-19 recession and recovery, and examines differences in employment trends for disabled and non-disabled individuals across occupational categories (essential, non-essential, teleworkable, non-teleworkable, frontline, non-frontline). The research draws on nationally representative data from the Current Population Survey to highlight disparities in employment outcomes between disabled and non-disabled individuals.

The University of California, San Francisco and Northwestern University are testing a program for caregivers of people with Alzheimer's Disease. The program, titled LEAF (Life Enhancing Activities for Family Caregivers) is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging, and is designed to help lower stress and support caregivers. Participants must be the primary caregiver of someone with Alzheimer’s disease or probable Alzheimer's, be English-speaking, and have access to Wi-Fi.

Through a national survey, focus groups and a series of documentary videos, NCOA has collected data from grandparents providing part-time child care to young grandchildren. This research has helped helped NCOA create a one-of-its-kind Grand Connections workshop series to support grandparent caregivers.

The most recent issue of the Journal of Gerontological Social Work, A Tribute to Rosalie Kane: Honoring Her Life and Work as Scholar, Mentor, and Social Worker in Gerontology, is dedicated to the life and work of Rosalie Kane. Rosalie helped shape much of our current thinking about long-term services and supports (LTSS). The nine articles and commentaries cover topics ranging from the importance of learning participant preferences to the role of "quality of life" measures in evaluating LTSS.

Nominations are now being accepted for HCUP’s Outstanding Article of the Year Award, which will recognize research published in peer-reviewed journals in 2020 that used the HCUP databases to explore and address healthcare research topics and issues. Work honored will demonstrate how HCUP has contributed to the healthcare services field. The nomination period will close on March 3, 2021. For complete information, please visit the HCUP-US website at www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/news/awards.jsp.

In 2017, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation launched the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model to test whether connecting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to community resources can improve health outcomes and reduce costs by addressing health-related social needs (HRSNs)—adverse social conditions that affect health and health care. This report describes the Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who were eligible for the AHC Model in the Assistance Track.

This resource includes links to nine different articles on self-direction featured in the Special Issue of Journal of Gerontological Social Work.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness, usage, perceived effectiveness and potential future use of improvement tools and techniques via two sets of comparisons: between public and private sector organisations, and between manufacturers and service organisations.