Objectives Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are associated with distress among caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD), but less is known about how relationship quality may buffer this association. This study examines the association between daily BPSD and daily perceived distress among family caregivers and the moderating role of relationship quality. Methods Data were from 173 family caregivers of PWD from the Daily Stress and Health study. Relationship quality was assessed at the baseline interview; then on each of the 8 following consecutive days, caregivers reported frequency of daily BPSD (six domains) and their respective distress (calculated as daily distress sum and daily distress mean scores) through daily evening phone interviews at home. A 2‐level multilevel model approach was employed to differentiate within‐person (WP) and between‐person (BP) effects. Results Greater daily BPSD occurrence was associated with higher daily distress (sum and mean scores) at WP and BP levels. However, relationship quality moderated the association between daily BPSD occurrence and daily distress sum scores at both WP and BP levels. Caregivers who reported better relationship quality with the PWD had lower levels of daily distress sum scores in response to daily BPSD occurrence, compared to their counterparts with poorer relationship quality. Conclusions This study revealed that relationship quality attenuated the effect of daily BPSD occurrence on caregivers' distress. Future dementia caregiver education and support programs should consider building relationship quality into the personalized program design to improve caregiver mental health and well‐being.

Anticholinergic challenge-induced odor identification decline was associated with cognitive improvement, and short-term improvement in odor identification tended to predict longer term cognitive improvement. These simple inexpensive strategies have the potential to improve selection of patients with MCI for ChEI treatment.

Background: Anticholinergic challenge can induce odor identification impairment that indicates Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, and short-term change in odor identification impairment with cholinesterase inhibitor (CheI) treatment may predict longer term cognitive outcomes. Objective: In patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) treated prospectively with donepezil, a CheI, for 52 weeks, to determine if 1) acute decline in odor identification ability with anticholinergic challenge can predict cognitive improvement, and 2) change in odor identification over 8 weeks can predict cognitive improvement. Methods: MCI was diagnosed clinically without AD biomarkers. At baseline, the University of Pennsylvania Smell identification Test (UPSIT) was administered before and after an anticholinergic atropine nasal spray challenge. Donepezil was started at 5 mg daily, increased to 10 mg daily if tolerated, and this dose was maintained for 52 weeks. Main outcomes were ADAS-Cog total score and Selective Reminding Test (SRT) total immediate recall score measured at baseline, 26 and 52 weeks. Results: In 100 study participants, mean age 70.14 (SD 9.35) years, atropine-induced decrease in UPSIT score at baseline was not associated with change in ADAS-Cog or SRT scores over 52 weeks. Change in UPSIT score from 0 to 8 weeks did not show a significant association with change in the ADAS-Cog or SRT measures over 52 weeks.

Advance care planning (ACP) is an important process of discussion and documentation that may help older adults receive the end-of-life care they prefer. Although existing literature predominantly finds greater self-reported religiosity to decrease the rates of ACP, a clear consensus is not yet evident. Data from 3,182 adults aged 55 and older participating in the 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study were used to investigate this association and examine the moderating role of cognition. Participants reporting at least one of two ACP behaviors (written instructions and assigning a health care proxy) were categorized as formal planning only, engaging in only informal discussions was categorized as informal planning, and those who completed both or none were categorized accordingly. Cognition was measured using self-reported memory change over the last two years and with objective cognitive testing scores. Using multinomial logistic regression, three forms of ACP behaviors were regressed on a religiosity/spirituality scale, the two cognition measures, and demographic and psychosocial covariates. Greater religiosity was associated with a lower likelihood of engaging in both plans compared to none (OR=0.91, 95%CI=0.84-0.97), however this effect was no longer significant with the inclusion of race. Higher cognitive scores were associated with greater odds of engaging in informal-only (OR=1.07, 95%CI=1.04-1.10) and both plans (OR=1.04, 95%CI=1.01-1.06); subjective memory change was not associated with ACP. Neither cognitive measure significantly moderated the negative association of religiosity on ACP, suggesting that the awareness of worsening memory does not undermine the tendency to avoid planning among the highly religious.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pronounced already high turnover rates among home care aides (HCAs). High turnover negatively affects home care quality. Job satisfaction among HCAs is a major driver of turnover, but little is known about factors associated with HCAs’ job satisfaction during COVID-19. Using survey data, the purpose of this study was to identify variables associated with job satisfaction among HCAs during the pandemic (N=114). Correlational analyses show that lower job satisfaction is associated with experiencing financial hardship, lack of PPE and employer protocols/guidance, understaffing, lower quality of employer communication related to COVID-19, and HCAs’ lower perceived preparedness to care for clients with COVID-19. In a regression analysis, experiencing financial hardship and lower quality of employer communication remained significant predictors. Findings underscore the importance of employer supports in HCAs’ job satisfaction and provide important lessons for how employers can support HCAs during the pandemic and beyond.