OBM Geriatrics is an Open Access journal published quarterly online by LIDSEN Publishing Inc. The journal takes the premise that innovative approaches – including gene therapy, cell therapy, and epigenetic modulation – will result in clinical interventions that alter the fundamental pathology and the clinical course of age-related human diseases. We will give strong preference to papers that emphasize an alteration (or a potential alteration) in the fundamental disease course of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular aging diseases, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, skin aging, immune senescence, and other age-related diseases.

Geriatric medicine is now entering a unique point in history, where the focus will no longer be on palliative, ameliorative, or social aspects of care for age-related disease, but will be capable of stopping, preventing, and reversing major disease constellations that have heretofore been entirely resistant to interventions based on “small molecular” pharmacological approaches. With the changing emphasis from genetic to epigenetic understandings of pathology (including telomere biology), with the use of gene delivery systems (including viral delivery systems), and with the use of cell-based therapies (including stem cell therapies), a fatalistic view of age-related disease is no longer a reasonable clinical default nor an appropriate clinical research paradigm.

Precedence will be given to papers describing fundamental interventions, including interventions that affect cell senescence, patterns of gene expression, telomere biology, stem cell biology, and other innovative, 21st century interventions, especially if the focus is on clinical applications, ongoing clinical trials, or animal trials preparatory to phase 1 human clinical trials.

Papers must be clear and concise, but detailed data is strongly encouraged. The journal publishes a variety of article types (Original Research, Review, Communication, Opinion, Comment, Conference Report, Technical Note, Book Review, etc.). There is no restriction on the length of the papers and we encourage scientists to publish their results in as much detail as possible.

Publication Speed (median values for papers published in 2023): Submission to First Decision: 5.7 weeks; Submission to Acceptance: 17.9 weeks; Acceptance to Publication: 7 days (1-2 days of FREE language polishing included)

Current Issue: 2024  Archive: 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017

Special Issue

Models of Caregiver Support

Submission Deadline: February 25, 2019 (Open) Submit Now

Guest Editor

James S. Powers, MD

Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA
Clinical Associate Director, Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), Tennessee Valley Health System
Tel.: 615-936-3274
Fax: 615-936-3156

Website | E-Mail

Research Interests: Accidental Falls; Delirium; Dementia; Geriatric Consultation; Geriatric Syndromes; Hospital Care of Elderly; Interdisciplinary Patient Care Teams; Long Term Care; Patient Centered Medical Home

About This Topic

Care for aging persons involves consideration of caregiving. Aging persons experience heavy healthcare utilization and functional self-care limitations. In addition to clinical needs, some of this high-need population also have behavioral and social needs. The majority of long-term care provided to older adults and persons with disabilities is provided by unpaid family caregivers and friends. The 2015 National Caregiver Survey conducted by the National Alliance for Caregiving in partnership with the American Association of Retired Persons estimates that 43.5 million unpaid caregivers provide assistance to at least one adult and the average caregiver spends over 24 hours per week in this role. Many caregivers report their health to be worse because of caregiving strain, and most report another unpaid caregiver assists them in their tasks. Caregivers help loved ones with at least one activity of daily living and four instrumental activities of daily living in addition to arranging or supervising outside services. The National Academy of Medicine predicts that the future professional workforce will be inadequate to meet the care needs for our aging population and that we will continue to rely on informal caregiving to supply the majority of long-term care services. Caregiver resources consist of skilled and non-skilled services. The major barrier to utilization of caregiver resources continues to be lack of awareness of available services with many caregivers also facing significant challenges trying to access community services, understanding eligibility criteria, and completing applications for services.

It is my pleasure to serve as Guest Editor for this Special Issue of the journal OBM Geriatrics focused on the subject of Models of Caregiver Support. Innovative care models which demonstrate improved outcomes in health and well-being, care utilization, and cost moderation can be scaled to enhance care generally. Successful models can involve the service setting, direct care delivery, and organizational culture. It is my pleasure to invite you to submit an invited feature article on the topic of Models of Caregiver Support. The manuscript may be either a full paper or a communication based on your own research in this area, or may be a focused review article on some aspect of the subject. Please note that for your contribution, all article processing charges will be *waived*. Potential contributors to this special edition of OBM Geriatrics may include investigators and participants in innovative models of care such as interactive, self – directed virtual care management, automated decision support tools, sharing of best practices, development of care management tools and referral help lines, long-distance caregiving, and addressing the need for professional support and guidance to cope with caregiver stress. Submissions with data and analyses are particularly welcome. Additionally, thoughtful descriptive proposals to identify high-need patients and caregivers, improve the cultural environment and attitudes regarding aging and society, health policy concerns, and successful team-based and collaborative care models are welcome.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted through the LIDSEN Submission System. Detailed information on manuscript preparation and submission is available in the Instructions for Authors. All submitted articles will be thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process and will be processed following the Editorial Process and Quality Control policy. Upon acceptance, the article will be immediately published in a regular issue of the journal and will be listed together on the special issue website, with a label that the article belongs to the Special Issue. LIDSEN distributes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License in an open-access model. The authors own the copyright to the article, and the article can be free to access, distribute, and reuse provided that the original work is correctly cited.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). Research articles and review articles are highly invited. Authors are encouraged to send the tentative title and abstract of the planned paper to the Editorial Office (geriatrics@lidsen.com) for record. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office.

Welcome your submission!

Publication

Open Access Original Research

Exploring the Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Blood Coagulability in Caregivers of Patients with Dementia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Received: 13 October 2019;  Published: 19 February 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2001108

Abstract

The incidence of vascular diseases among caregivers of dementia patients is high, and one potential cause is the exacerbation of blood coagulability due to mental strain from caregiving. This study aimed to examine the effects of aerobic exercise on blood coagulability, from the perspective of improving the health of caregivers. Thirty-one [...]
Open Access Concept Paper

Admiral Nursing in Primary Care: Peri and Post-Diagnostic Support for Families Affected by Dementia within the UK Primary Care Network Model

Received: 19 September 2019;  Published: 18 October 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1904081

Abstract

The UK population is ageing. In 2017 approximately 18% of the UK population were aged 65 years or over and projected to grow to almost 21% by 2027 according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) (2018a). Increased age is the greatest risk factor for developing dementia (Van de Flier & Scheltens 2005). It is estimated that there are [...]
Open Access Review

A Model for Understanding Hispanic/Latino Family Caregiving for Older Adults

Received: 19 May 2019;  Published: 07 August 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1903065

Abstract

Background: In 2016, Hispanic/Latino (H/L) Americans made up 8% of the older population (≥65) and 22.9% of the oldest population (≥85) in the United States. It is projected that the older H/L population will grow to 21% by 2060. Currently the older H/L population depends primarily on their families for care. Methods: Review published [...]
Open Access Review

Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Art in Care of Ageing Society: Focus on Dementia

Received: 28 March 2019;  Published: 15 July 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1903062

Abstract

Background: Art enhances both physical and mental health wellbeing. The health benefits include reduction in blood pressure, heart rate, pain perception and briefer inpatient stays, as well as improvement of communication skills and self-esteem. In addition to these, people living with dementia benefit from reduction of their non-cognitive [...]
Open Access Original Research

Estimating Potential Cost Containment through Provision of Unplanned Institutional Respite Services to Support Home-Based Care within Japan’s Long-Term Care Insurance System

Received: 19 February 2019;  Published: 09 July 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1903061

Abstract

Background: Many informal caregivers providing at-home care to older family members want to continue serving as the primary caregiver if they get sufficient support. A key service enabling continued at-home care is access to unplanned respite care facilities for temporary institutional care on short notice and in emergencies. Methods: This [...]
Open Access Original Research

Empirical Examination of Caregiving Processes and Outcomes among Adult Siblings of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Received: 25 February 2019;  Published: 20 May 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1902054

Abstract

Most individuals with disabilities in the US live in family settings; in some families, siblings are default long-term support providers. Although researchers have explored the roles of parent caregivers, the roles of sibling caregivers need attention. In this study, we examined caregiving processes and outcomes among 322 adult sibling support [...]
Open Access Review

Admiral Nurse Case Management: A Model of Caregiver Support for Families Affected by Dementia

Received: 26 February 2019;  Published: 10 May 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1902053

Abstract

People with dementia do not exist in isolation and whilst there has been a strong thrust to identify the needs of people with dementia against a background of person centred care, they live within relational contexts with family members. Case management is a model of care that can support the care needs of both the person with dementia and [...]
Open Access Research Article

The Relationship between Caregiver Stress and Behavioural Changes in Dementia

Received: 01 March 2019;  Published: 09 May 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1902052

Abstract

Background: Clinical studies have shown that caregivers of dementia patients often experience a great deal of stress related to caregiving. This paper examines caregiver stress within the context of behaviour change in dementia using the Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale (KCSS) and the Kingston Standardized Behaviour Scale [...]
Open Access Concept Paper

Understanding the Functional Roles of Multi-Modal Processing and Gc Activation In Older People's Performance in Caregiving Training

Received: 05 October 2018;  Published: 25 December 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1804026

Abstract

The current article addresses the working memory constraints experienced by older people in caregiving training. Two different approaches aiming to free the older people’s working memory space were discussed. They include multi-modal visual processing and Gc activation. The emphasis was on the theoretical underpinnings of both approaches [...]
Open Access Original Research

Simplifying Caregiver Resources in Eldercare: Identifying the Support Needs of Caregiving Employees

Received: 26 October 2018;  Published: 13 December 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1804024

Abstract

Background: The majority of long-term care provided to older adults and persons with disabilities is provided by unpaid family caregivers and friends. Employers have a stake in long-term care services as well since 60% of caregivers are employed outside the home, 49% have gone in late, left early, or taken time off during the day to deal [...]
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