JMIR Aging

Family and unpaid caregivers play a crucial role in supporting people living with dementia (PLWD), yet they are not systematically identified and documented by health systems.

The demand for support among people with dementia (PWD) is increasing with a diminishing capacity for providing care. As the trend of ageing at home continues, technologies can help maintain PWD's autonomy, enabling them to live independently for as long as possible. Furthermore, digital applications can have numerous positive biopsychosocial effects on the health of PWD, including physical, cognitive, and social functions.

In 2022, the US Department of Health and Human Services released the first National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, identifying actions for both government and the private sector. One of the major goals is to expand data, research, and evidence-based practices to support family caregivers. While IT tools are widely deployed in health care settings, they are rarely available at scale in community agencies. In 2019, the state of California recognized the importance of a statewide database and a platform to serve caregivers remotely by enhancing existing service supports and investing in a web-based platform, CareNav. Implementation commenced in early 2020 across all 11 California Caregiver Resource Centers.

A number of studies document the benefits of face-to-face social interactions for cognitive functioning among middle-aged and older adults. Social activities in virtual worlds may confer similar if not enhanced cognitive benefits as face-to-face social activities, given that virtual interactions require the additional cognitive tasks of learning and navigating communicative tools and technology platforms. Yet, few studies have examined whether social activities in online settings may have synergistic effects on cognitive functioning beyond those of face-to-face interactions.

Older veterans with anxiety disorders encounter multiple barriers to receiving mental health services, including transportation difficulties, physical limitations, and limited access to providers trained to work with older persons. To address both accessibility and the shortage of available providers, evidence-based treatments that can be delivered via guided self-management modalities are a potential solution.

In the United States, over 60% of adults aged 65 years or older have multiple chronic health conditions, with consequences that include reduced quality of life, increasingly complex but less person-centered treatment, and higher health care costs. A previous trial of ElderTree, an eHealth intervention for older adults, found socioemotional benefits for those with high rates of primary care use.

With countries promoting generic drug prescribing, their growth may plateau, warranting further investigation into the factors influencing this trend, including physician and patient perspectives. Additional strategies may be needed to maximize the switch to generic drugs while ensuring health care system sustainability, focusing on factors beyond mere low cost. Emphasizing affordability and clarifying other prescription considerations are essential.

Technology is already a part of our daily lives, and its influence is growing rapidly. This evolution has not spared the health care field. Nowadays, a crucial challenge is considering aspects such as design, development, and implementation, highlighting their functionality, ease of use, compatibility, performance, and safety when a new technological tool is developed. As noted in many works, the abandonment rate is usually higher when a user has a terrible experience with these instruments. It would be appropriate to incorporate the final users—whether they are patients, health care professionals, or both—in the stages of instrument design to understand their needs and preferences. Since most apps that fail did not include end users and health care professionals in the development phase, their involvement at all stages of app development may increase their commitment and improve integration, self-management, and health outcomes.

The population of older adults worldwide continues to increase, placing higher demands on primary health care and long-term care. The costs of housing older people in care facilities have economic and societal impacts that are unsustainable without innovative solutions. Many older people wish to remain independent in their homes and age in place. Assistive technology such as health-assistive smart homes with clinician monitoring could be a widely adopted alternative to aged-care facilities in the future. While studies have found that older persons have demonstrated a readiness to adopt health-assistive smart homes, little is known about clinician readiness to adopt this technology to support older adults to age as independently as possible.

Falls pose a significant public health concern associated with high mortality rates, increasing occurrence due to the aging population and prevalence of risks such as multimorbidity and frailty. Falls not only lead to physical injuries but also have detrimental psychological and social consequences negatively impacting quality of life. Identifying individuals at high risk for falls is crucial, particularly for those aged 60 years or over and living in residential care settings, and current professional guidelines favor personalized, multifactorial fall risk assessment approaches for effective fall prevention.

As the population of individuals with HIV ages rapidly due to advancements in antiretroviral therapy, virtual care has become an increasingly vital component in managing their complex health needs. However, little is known about the older adults living with HIV’s perceptions of virtual care.

Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) are a growing global health challenge. ADRD place significant physical, emotional, and financial burdens on informal caregivers and negatively affects their well-being. Web-based social media platforms have emerged as valuable sources of peer support for these caregivers. However, there has been limited investigation into how web-based peer support might influence their mental well-being.