The Role of Attitudes and Culture in Family Caregiving for Older Adults

This study evaluated cultural differences in attitudes toward caregiving and the stress levels of family caregivers. Participants included 98 Japanese American and 86 Caucasian American family caregivers caring for frail elders. Analyses using MANOVA and multiple regression analyses revealed that the Caucasian caregivers had more positive attitudes and provided more hours of care than the Japanese caregivers but that both groups had elevated levels of caregiver stress. The stress that family caregivers currently experience could lead to a future generation of care recipients who enter old age in worse condition than their predecessors. Professionals need to work together to develop culturally appropriate, evidence-based interventions to address this issue.     

The adolescent menstrual attitude questionnaire,part II: Normative scores

Results obtained from administering the Adolescent Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire to 860 pre‐ and 1,013 postmenarcheal girls from 49 randomly selected schools in a large western Canadian city are reported. Scores obtained for both the pre‐ and the postmenarcheal versions of the total scale and the subscales are presented by age and by grade. In addition, for postmenarcheal girls, the self‐report of menstrual symptoms gives insight into the prevalence of symptoms and the perception of symptom severity. Correlations between self‐reported symptoms with the Menstrual Symptoms subscale score and the total scale score add validity to the scale. These data may be used by clinicians for comparison when administering the scale to individuals or to groups.     

Self-Reported Height,Calculated Height,and Derived Body Mass Index in Assessment of Older Adults

Body mass index (BMI) is frequently used as assessment of nutritional and health risk. Yet, there is no consensus regarding assessment of height and cutpoints for weight classification in older adults. We first investigated differences in height by self-report (SR-height) and height calculated from measured knee-height (KH-height) and derived BMI in a cross-sectional assessment of 145 older adults residing in a Midwestern United States city. We further compared the proportion of older adults classified as at risk by seven different BMI cutpoints for weight classification as reported in the literature. We found no substantive difference in SR-height and KH-height or derived BMI, but we did find significant differences in the proportions of participants classified as At Risk across different BMI cutpoints. In community and clinical practice, SR-height and KH-height, and BMI derived from these, can be used interchangeably, but the lack of consensus regarding BMI cutpoints could lead to misclassification of older adults at risk.