Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ., Volume 4, Issue 3 (December 2014) – 16 articles , Pages 169-339

The Cognitive Stimulation and Emotional Intelligence for Seniors Program (PECI-PM), combines cognitive stimulation with intervention and stimulation of aspects related to emotional intelligence. The purpose of this study was to analyze the emotional intelligence results of the first stage of PECI-PM implementation. A sample of 28 program users who had completed 20 sessions and participated in the two evaluations (pre-post) was employed for this. Emotional Intelligence was evaluated before and after intervention using the Inventario Breve de Inteligencia Emocional para Mayores [Brief Emotional Intelligence Inventory for Senior Citizens] (EQ-i-M20). After intervention with the PECI-PM, improvement was observed in most of the emotional intelligence dimensions (Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Adaptability and Mood). In the Stress Management dimension, there was no change in scores after intervention, which leads us to reconsider the weight of this emotional intelligence dimension in the older population. On the other hand, the role of the Interpersonal dimension, which correlates significantly with other emotional intelligence factors (Intrapersonal and Adaptability) in older people, should be emphasized. Full article

To practice strength and balance activities are shown as useful tools to fall prevention by diverse metanalysis. On the other side, aquatic environment offers interesting properties for a therapeutic reeducation, being the Ai Chi one of its applications. Aim: To evaluate the repercussion of an Ai Chi programme on aged people’s balance. Method: A randomized controlled trial was developed comparing two groups formed by aged people with risk of fall according to the Timed Up & Go test. Intervention Group (IG) followed twelve Ai Chi sessions combined with their thermal programme; and Control Group (CG) just followed the thermal programme. Both groups spent two weeks in the Balneario of Archena (Murcia, Spain). Results: Both groups improve their balance; however, only the IG reached the non-risk of fall from the Timed Up & Go test. Conclusions: The combination of Ai Chi sessions and a thermal programme had a positive effect on aged people’s balance, showing a therapeutic and clinical relevance. Full article

The main objective of this study is to know the involvement in the care of families in Home for the Elderly of San St John of God in Seville. This is a pilot quantitative, descriptive and observational study. After a process of non-probability has formed a convenience sample of 20 relatives of elderly residents, including 5 are men and 15 are women. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire "Scale-Zarit caregiver burden" and data analysis has been made by the SPSS 15.0 statistical program. Administered questionnaires, all agree that most of the care of the elderly is performed by the medical personnel of the residence, which implies that the results aren´t overloaded. And they claim that the informal support of the elderly doesn´t cease with the institutionalization. The involvements of family members in nursing homes meet the objective of having a collaborative role, in which the family is the memory and the voice of the elderly by the passage of time or by the disease who have they can´t answer questions as they arise for health professionals. Full article

The high prevalence of malnutrition in hospitals remains a problem of special importance in Spain at present due to the negative impact on the clinical course of hospitalized patients. Numerous studies show hospital malnutrition rates close to 33-50% of the hospitalized population. This impact is much more important and of greater importance when it comes to critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. Nutritional and metabolic deficit States have a direct impact on the patient, hindering the clinical evolution of the patient and increasing morbidity and mortality rates and hospital complications and healthcare costs arising. Develop an appropriate nutritional approach through nutritional media is a fundamental goal and a basic pillar for optimal management of the critically ill patient, being able I see hampered in many cases, especially in patients who present with hypercatabolism and hypermetabolism with significant energy consumption secondary to the disease process leading to admission. To this must be added the great difficulty of a comprehensive and complete assessment of nutritional status where many of these parameters, nutritional surveys and functional tests can be complicated to perform, unreliable, or may provide incorrect, incomplete or impossible data its realization. Full article

Nursing homes have the characteristic of being “complete institutions” or “enclosed microcosms” and the quality of life (QoL) in late adulthood is generally perceived as a multidimensional construct. Over recent years, media reports have focused on the deficiencies in nursing home residences, and a subsequent increase in the demand for instruments capable of measuring this construct has arisen. Objective: To compare the quantitative functional mobility, level of independence, depressive symptoms and QoL of nursing home residents compared with home care recipients. Methods: have analyzed the quality of life and physical and psychological disorders 400 people over 60 years old, admitted to nursing homes or living with their families through the implementation of a questionnaire covering three different indices (Barthel Index, Yesavage and WHOQOL-OLD) to assess the degree of dependence of people. Results: has resulted in a significant reduction in quality of life of older people living in nursing homes (p<0.001) compared to older usually live with their families. Our results show that the degree of physical and / or psychological dependence on our largest is the determinant for entry into a nursing home in our community (p>0.001) factor. Conclusions: the current model residences require a change that allows responding to the real needs of our elderly institutionalized. Full article

Among older people, the health is one of the most important aspects of the quality of life, especially emphasizing the important of the physical condition as the ability to attain and maintain their maximum independence. The general objective is to quantify the effect on the dynamic and static balance, strength and flexibility of the extremities for a period of 3 months and then, the consequences of another three months without exercises. Methodology: Study pre- and post-training with a random sample with 36 institutionalized old men, people over 65 years old with normal-mild cognitive impairment, divided into three groups: vestibular exercises, power exercises, and a non-intervention control group. Results: A significant improvement with balance, flexibility and muscle strength of the lower limbs in each of the group in relation to the control group. The decline of functional capacities measured by a battery of tests after three months without intervention. Conclusions: Balance, muscle strength and flexibility of the lower and upper extremities in institutionalized people over 65 of this study improve following the treatment protocols designed from the lower-limbs power exercises and vestibular exercises in relation to the control group. The functional capacity goes down unless they exercise regularly to improve results.
Full article

In early 2000 the first steps in the empirical evidence of the effects that a good emotional intelligence (EI ) can have on people, however, despite the benefits of studied this construct in various fields such as education, labor or health, there are not many studies focusing on the study of skills that EI has on caregivers of Alzheimer. In this paper Social Skills and IE caregivers of Alzheimer patients are evaluated. A psychoeducational intervention to 21 informal caregivers of Alzheimer's patients with an experimental group and a control group in the Alzheimer associations of Alicante and Elche. After surgery, it is observed that the levels of emotional IE in the experimental group were maintained. Caregivers verbalized an improvement after surgery. We believe that the results are good as a preliminary study and it would be interesting to expand both the number of hours of the workshop as the subject in order to generalize the results. Full article

This work presents the evaluation of the stress symptoms associated to the task of caring for a dependent relative at home. The role played by variables such as type of caregiver (nurse/non-nurse), the relative dependency level, the number of hours per day dedicated to caring and the years the caregiver had been caring for the relative was studied. The sample was made up of 100 caregivers, and the variables associated to stress studied in the present work were intrusion, avoidance and activation. Results showed that non-nurse caregivers caring for a low dependency relative for a period of less than two years were those suffering a higher impact, with more symptoms associated to stress. Hours caring per day worked as a protective variable of stress, in that those caregivers dedicating a lower number of hours to caring had lower risk of suffering stress symptoms. These results clearly show the stressful impact of the first stages of dependency, even at the lowest level of dependency in a relative, on non-professional caregivers and highlight the need to provide strategies, similar to those shown by professional nurses looking after their own relatives, to reduce stress. This kind of intervention would prepare the caregiver for the future stages when the dependency level in the relatives and the effort caring for them would be higher. Full article

We present results of our research, which has been aimed at understanding the experience, practice, and sexual life in women over 50 years of age. We studied a sample of 729 women of between 50 and 80 years of age. The research is part of qualitative feminist research methodology. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected through focus groups and a questionnaire drawn up by our research team. The results show the satisfaction of older women-of all ages-with their sex life and the importance of contextual and relational sexuality issues of women. Autoeroticism is the most established sexual practice in this group of older women and highlights who want to experience some changes in their current sex life around the desire for a more sensual and emotional sexuality, with a claim of more passionate and frequent relations. The data collected reveal a qualitative difference in the reality of sex over the age of 70. Full article

Today, there is still some controversy about the influence of the variable sex on cognitive functioning and quality of life in old age. The main objective of the study presented is to analyze possible differences between older men and women in relation to their cognitive abilities and quality of life. The study sample consists of 264 persons aged between 65 and 95 years from the provinces of Jaen and Granada who were assessed with a cognitive screening test, a verbal fluency test, a task of sustained attention, a task to assess learning potential, a working memory task, and of quality of life questionnaire. The results show that, once the educational level and age of participants is controlled, men show superior performance on cognitive screening tasks, working memory, sustained attention and verbal fluency; while women performance above men in verbal memory tasks and verbal learning. In quality of life, men show better health and greater independence, while women scored higher than men on social integration and use of social services. Full article

Depression is a mood disorder characterized by loss of interest or pleasure in activities of daily living. Frequent and disabling geriatric syndrome that often goes unnoticed, which generates physical and functional. The objective was to know the depressive symptoms in older adults in a rural community in the state of Puebla, Mexico. Study was descriptive, correlational, cross, made of 155 seniors was an applied to Scale Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression CES-D and the Scale of Yesavage. The age range of older adults was 60 to 90 years, with a predominance of female gender in 65.2%, the CES-D reported 18.7% were found no clinical y significant symptoms, 70.3% in symptoms of sub- threshold depression, 9% in possible major depressive episode, 1.9% in probable major depressive episode. Similar results to those of Scale of Yesavage 43.2% found no evidence of depression, 32.9% with mild depression, 17.4% with moderate depression and 6.5% with severe depression. Noticing a difference by gender (Women=8482.00, Male=3608.00, p=.023). Knowing depressive symptoms in older adults can implement care interventions based on scientific evidence. Full article

The participation of the elderly in cognitively demanding activities is considered an enhancing factor of cognitive function. However, the life cycle psychosocial variables such as education and type of profession also influence in cognitive functioning. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between daily stimulation and cognitive functioning in a sample of healthy older adults, controlling the effects of education and the type of profession. The study involved 164 adults over 60 years, from rural and urban areas, with different levels of education and professional level which were assessed with an extensive battery of neuropsychological measures, as well as in an inventory of everyday activities built ad hoc. The results show that different cognitively demanding everyday activities are related to with cognitive processes, both fluids and crystallized. Furthermore, it was found that daily stimulation plays an important role in cognitive functioning outside of education and the type of profession performed. Overall, the results of this study shows the importance of everyday activity as a protective mechanism against cognitive decline, as well as the need to adopt a model of active aging Full article

The Quality of Life (QoL) is a multidimensional, dynamic and modular concept. QoL is influenced by psychological mechanisms related to the adaptation disease. The aim of this paper is to describe the research line on QoL and chronic disease. The specific objective is to determine the mechanisms involved in the change of QoL in a group of elderly people with cancer. Method. The study is prospective quasi-experimental. With a sample of 130 participants with cancer. Results. The rehabilitation program improves muscular fitness, cardiovascular efficiency, (at rest and effort) and reduces the continued decline related to treatment. We have observed a significant increase in QoL in the period evaluated. This result confirms that QoL at baseline of the disease is low. Adherence to the program achieved is 93%. Conclusions. We confirm the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program tailored to the symptoms generated by the disease and cancer treatment in improving QoL of older people. The program is a therapeutic option to preserve the QoL of the patient in the continuum of the disease. Now we are studying the timing where the implementation of the program is most effective. Full article

There exists both a physical and mental deterioration that affects the functional status of elderly people. It is expected to determine the level of physical condition and the mental health status of old physically autonomous women and establish relationships. A sample of thirty women aged 67.52±3.1 was taken. While physical condition was assessed using the Senior Fitness Test (SFT), for the mental health was used the Mini-Mental test. Besides, weight and height were recorded and body mass index was calculated (BMI). Regarding BMI and following World Health Organization’s criteria related to obesity, the sample is not outside the typical limits. Scores of SFT determined that all results were within normal limits except those of the two-minute walk’s test and the flexibility focused on the lower body, balance and agility. The Mini-Mental test results are also within the normal limits. A positive moderate correlation (r=0.67) was obtained from the static equilibrium test thanks to a strength test of the lower extremity. People with more strength in the lower extremity obtained lower scores in the agility test (r=-0.67). There is moderate positive correlation (r=0.62) between the test of agility and speed of travel. Correlations of physical test with the Mini-Mental are low. Definitely, the level of physical fitness and mental health is in the normal range. It has not been found a relationship between the physical fitness and the mental health status. Full article

We have studied the effects of normal aging on visual attention. Have participated a group of 38 healthy elderly people with an average age of 67.8 years and a group of 39 healthy young people with average age of 19.2 years. In a first experiment of visual detection, response times were recorded, with and without covert attention, to the presentation of stimuli (0.5º in diameter grey circles) appearing in three eccentricities (2.15, 3.83 and 5.53° of visual field) and with three levels of contrast (6, 16 and 78%). In a second experiment of visual form discrimination circles and squares with the same features as in the previous experiment were presented, but in this case subjects only should respond to the emergence of the circles. In both age groups, the covert attention reduced response times. Compared to young people, the older group achieved better results in some aspects of attention tests and response times were reduced more in the stimuli of greater eccentricity. The data suggest that there is a mechanism of adaptation in aging, in which visual attention especially favors the perception of those stimuli more difficult to detec Full article

Objective: To study if an exercise program designed for patients with osteoporosis and osteopenia can be decrease the pain and improve quality of life. Method: 84 patients between 50 and 83 years old was participated at the study, 42 persons in the experimental group and 42 persons in the control group. The study was made in Puçol CEAM (Valencia) for 9 months on the experimental group was performed exercises supervised by the physical therapist 2 days a week for 1 hour. In this period of time, pain, quality of life, support and service satisfaction was measured. Results: After performing paired samples t test, shows how the experimental group decreased their pain and improve their quality of life from the initial to the final score. By contrast, the control group worsened. After testing regression is statistically significant relationship between pain, quality of life and assistance exercises. The perceived satisfaction by patients in the experimental group was very good, and 100% of them would like to continue doing the exercise program. Conclusions: The implementation of a specific exercise program for patients with osteoporosis and osteopenia reduces pain and improves quality of life of participants. Full article