The rates of dementia are on the rise as populations age. Storytelling is commonly used in therapies for persons living with dementia and can be in the form of life review, and reminiscence therapy. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine the range and extent of the use of digital technologies for facilitating storytelling in older adults and their care partners, and to identify the processes and methods, the technologies used and their readiness levels, the evidence, and the associated outcomes. Eight electronic databases were searched: Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Abstracts in Social Gerontology, ERIC, Web of Science, and Scopus. We included 34 studies. Mild cognitive impairment or dementia represented over half of medical conditions reported in the studies. Overall, our findings indicate that the most common use of digital storytelling was to support older adults’ memory, reminiscence, identity, and self-confidence; however, the level of evidence of its effectiveness was low.
Occupational therapy strategies include technologies to enhance function in persons with dementia. Technologies can also reduce risks of wandering and should be affordable. Ethical issues of the use of technology must be addressed. More research is needed to increase levels of evidence.
Muscle strength is sex-related and declines with advancing age yet, a comprehensive comparative evaluation of age-related strength loss in human females and males has not been undertaken. To do so, segmented piecewise regression analysis was performed on aggregated data from studies published 1990-2018 and available in CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO databases. The search identified 5613 articles which were reviewed for physical assessment results stratified by sex and age. Maximal isometric and isokinetic 60°s-1 contractions of the KE and KF from 57 studies and 15,283 subject (N=7918 females) had sufficient data reported on females and males for meaningful statistical evaluation to be undertaken. The analysis revealed that isometric KE and KF strength undergo similar rapid declines in both sexes late in the 6th decade of life. Yet, there is an abrupt age-related decline in KE 60°s-1 peak torque earlier in females (41.8 years) than males (66.7 years). In the assessment of KF peak torque, an age-related acceleration in strength loss was only identified in males (49.3 years). The results suggest that age-related isometric strength loss is similar between sexes while the characteristics of KE and KF peak torque decline are sex-related which likely explains the differential rate of age-related functional decline.
Novelty
• Inclusion of muscle strength and torque of KE and KF data from >15 000 subjects
• Isometric KE and KF strength loss are similar between sexes
• Isokinetic 60°s-1 KE torque decline accelerates 25 years earlier in females and female age-related KF peak torque decline does not accelerate with age
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