Over 43.5 million Americans provide informal care to a fast-growing elderly population in the United States. Informal care allows care-recipients to remain functional members of society. However, research suggests that the demands of informal care can negatively impact the health of caregivers. For example, caregiver burden increases the risk for poor health in caregivers compared to non-caregivers. Caregiving research is on the rise, but the dynamics of informal care in active retirement communities remains widely unexplored. To provide adequate services to lessen caregiver burden and improve the Quality of Life (QoL) of informal caregivers, the various settings in which informal care is delivered must be evaluated. Aiming to understand the needs of informal caregivers and the protective factors against caregiver burden in active retirement communities, data from the USF Health and The Villages study, conducted from October 2011 and March 2013, were analyzed. Data from twenty-nine focus groups (N=144) was used to explore the challenges faced by seniors in a caregiver role and the availability of resources that decrease caregiver burden. The primary focus was informal care and the challenges associated with the caregiver role; findings revealed a great need for caregiver relief and limited information on existing resources is available to informal caregivers. Consistent with existing literature on caregiver burden, having no personal time, financial burden, physical demands, and poor health were commonly identified as the biggest caregiving challenges. However, findings strongly suggest that the unique structure of The Villages community encourages high social support that may be the strongest protective factor against caregiver burden in the community.

Person-centered care is important to the quality of life of nursing home residents with dementia. Preference assessments enable person-centered care by documenting residents’ preferred activities. Residents with severe dementia are less likely to have a role in preference assessment due to communication challenges associated with the disease. External supports (visual and text cues) are effective in improving the communication of residents with dementia, but these cues are often not used in practice. Standard assessment (verbal questioning) places greater demands on short-term memory and attention, which are known deficits in dementia. Applying a within-subjects design, this study evaluated two conditions (standard and supported) for assessing preferences of residents with severe dementia (N=21). This study examined the effect of these conditions on residents’ consistency over time (1-week) and utterance types in response to preference questions. Naïve judges (N=10) listened to the interviews and rated residents’ communication clarity and their confidence with understanding residents’ preferences. Results show that residents with severe dementia can report preferences with similar consistency in both assessment conditions; however, residents may comprehend the assessment better when provided in a supported format. In addition, residents successfully engaged in preference interviews without proxy participation. Anecdotally, many residents demonstrated an accurate understanding of their environment and how they would prefer to spend their days. Future studies will optimize visual stimuli, choice options, staff training components, efficiency measures, and examine acceptability by nursing home staff.

This study sought to explore the utilization and perception of best practices by community-based technology training programs when instructing older adults to become technologically literate. The target population included adults age 55 years and older of the Baby Boomer generational cohort who ranged academically from possessing a high school diploma or General Education Diploma (GED) through a college degree and had enrolled in a local technology training program to improve their technological skill level with the goal of obtaining employment and/or to remain functionally independent. This study was conducted at three community technology training centers located in the southeast that offered computer training classes for both civilian and ex-military older adults and employed a mixed methods research design. Data was collected through a series of participant interviews, surveys, and class observations to establish an understanding of current participant computer literacy status, demographic details and experiences, class structure, the computer curriculum, and training execution. It was the intent of this study to help maintain increased focus on the necessity of reducing the present digital divide that exists between younger and older adults by highlighting the importance of designing technology training programs that incorporated both expert recommended best practices for instructing older adults, as well as the expressed benefit and personal needs of the Baby Boomer population being served by local technology training centers.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and emerging pharmacogenomics therapies that propose to lower serum low density lipid (LDL) levels. The search of various data bases resulted in nine research articles being selected for review. Syntheses of the articles suggest emerging phamacogenomic drug therapy can improve treatment outcomes for individuals with a diagnosis of FH. The Human Genome Project (HGP) has had far reaching applications for genomic technologies and pharmacagenomic interventions, tailored to human conditions associated with select genomic traits. Synthesis of nine research articles demonstrate that little is known on the topic and reveals extensive gaps in the evidence. This thesis concludes with implications for nursing education, practice, policy and research along with limitations are noted.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. With the population rapidly aging, it is expected that 1 out of 3 Americans will have diabetes by 2050. Mobile devices and mobile applications have the potential to contribute to diabetes self-care by allowing users to manage their diabetes by keeping track of their blood glucose levels. Usability is important for systems that help people self-manage conditions such as diabetes. Age and diabetes-related cognitive decline might intensify the impact of usability issues for the users who need these mobile applications the most. As highlighted by usability researchers, the context of use (i.e. environment, user, task, and technology) has a significant impact on usability. The environment (lighting, temperature, audio and visual distractions, etc.) is of special interest to the mobile usability arena since in the case of mobile devices, is always changing. This dissertation aims to support the claim that context and more specifically environmental distraction such as semantic auditory distractions impact the usability of mobile applications. In doing so, it attempts to answer the following research questions: 1) Does semantic auditory distractions reduce the effectiveness of a blood glucose tracking mobile application? 2) Does semantic auditory distractions reduce the efficiency of a blood glucose tracking mobile application? 3) Does semantic auditory distractions reduce the user satisfaction of a blood glucose tracking mobile application? To answer the study research questions, a true experimental design was performed involving 30 adults with type 2 diabetes. Participants were paired based on their age and experience with smartphones and randomly assigned to the control (no semantic auditory distractions) or experimental (semantic auditory distractions) group. Research questions were tested using the general linear model. The results of this study confirmed that semantic auditory distractions have a significant effect on efficiency and effectiveness, and hence they need to be taken into account when evaluating mobile usability. This study also showed that semantic auditory distractions have no significant effect on user satisfaction. This dissertation enhances the current knowledge about the impact of semantic auditory distractions on the usability of mobile applications within the diabetic senior population.

Parkinson's Disease affects more than 1 million people in the United States with 60,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. Currently, there is no cure for Parkinson's Disease, but there are several treatment options available. Currently the most popular surgical option is Deep Brain Stimulation. Microelectrode recording helps identify nuclei as the microelectrode passes through them. While the firing frequencies of the target nuclei are well defined, other nuclei are not. This study will attempt to characterize the Zona Incerta, which is the structure directly above the Subthalamic Nucleus, a target nucleus. Characterization of the firing frequency of the Zona Incerta will help aid Deep Brain Stimulation procedures. Looking at the Interspike Intervals for 25 files showed that the average firing frequency is 11.6Hz. A file recorded in the STN was used for comparison and to validate the methods used. This yielded an average firing frequency of 37.5Hz.

Nas últimas décadas, houve uma redução significativa da cárie dentária na população infantil; porém, os índices de doenças bucais nos demais grupos populacionais permanecem altos. Na perspectiva de favorecer o acesso de todas as faixas etárias aos serviços de saúde bucal, em todos os níveis de atenção, foi criada, em 2004, a Política Nacional de Saúde Bucal (Brasil Sorridente), tendo como uma das principais frentes de atuação os Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas (CEOs), que oferecem à população os serviços de atenção secundária. Este estudo descritivo, do tipo levantamento, teve como objetivo descrever o perfil da atenção secundária em saúde bucal, oferecida pelos CEOs pertencentes ao espaço geográfico do Colegiado de Gestão Regional de Jaú (CGR-Jaú), localizados nos municípios paulistas de Bariri e Jaú, no período compreendido entre o início das atividades dessas Unidades e 31 de dezembro de 2009. Foram utilizados dados referentes à infraestrutura e às características dos serviços: i) tipo de CEO; ii) presença de Laboratório Regional de Prótese Dentária (LRPD); iii) especialidades oferecidas; iv) origem dos encaminhamentos (no tocante ao nível de atenção); v) frequências de atendimento em cada especialidade; vi) situação dos tratamentos requisitados (se concluídos, não concluídos ou não realizados), e vii) tempo de duração dos tratamentos. Também se levaram em conta os dados relativos às características demográficas dos usuários local de origem, sexo, idade e ao fluxo desses usuários, no que tange a origem e destino. A obtenção desses dados deu-se por meio da revisão da totalidade dos prontuários de pacientes atendidos nesses CEOs e de consulta aos bancos de dados do Ministério da Saúde. Os CEOs do CGR-Jaú oferecem as especialidades mínimas exigidas para sua implantação, além da especialidade Prótese. Verificou-se que esses CEOs apresentaram predominância de usuários do sexo feminino. As maiores frequências de atendimento foram encontradas nas especialidades Prótese (30,3%) e Cirurgia (35,2%), nos CEOs de Bariri e Jaú, respectivamente. Observou-se ainda, no período objeto do estudo, que os municípios do CGR-Jaú, que possuem CEOs instalados, absorvem a grande maioria dos atendimentos, sendo 98,9% para o CEO-Bariri e 72,99% para o CEO-Jaú. Os reduzidos fluxos, em nível intermunicipal, sugerem a realização, por parte dos gestores de saúde que compõem este Colegiado, de revisão do Plano Diretor de Regionalização (PDR), o qual se constitui no instrumento utilizado para estabelecimento desses fluxos, bem como de avaliação da possibilidade de oferta desses serviços em nível municipal. Tais procedimentos fazem-se necessários, visando ao suprimento das demandas locais e garantindo, assim, o cumprimento de um dos princípios mais relevantes do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS): a integralidade da atenção. / In recent decades, a significant reduction of dental caries in children, however, rates of oral diseases in other populations remain high. In order to favor the access of all ages to oral health services at all levels of care, was established in 2004, the National Policy for Oral Health (Smiling Brazil), having as one of the main fronts specialized dental clinics (CEO), offering services to the population of secondary care. This study descriptive, survey, aimed to describe the profile of secondary care dental care, offered by CEOs belonging to the geographic area of the Regional Management Board Jau (CGR-Jau), located in the municipalities of Bariri and Jau, in period between the beginning of the activities of these units and December 31, 2009. We used data on infrastructure and service characteristics [type of CEO, the presence of Regional Dental Laboratory (LRPD), specializations available, source of referrals (for the level of care), frequency of attendance in each specialty, location of treatment required (if completed, not completed or not done) and duration of treatment], users\' demographic characteristics (place of origin, gender, age) and the flow of these users (source and destination). Obtaining these data was through the review of all records of patients seen in those CEOs and query the databases of the Ministry of Health of CEOs CGR-Jau offer specialties minimum required for its implementation, as well as specialty Prosthesis and are dominated by female users. The highest frequencies were found to care for Prosthetics (30.3%) and Surgery (35.2%), and the CEOs of Bariri Jau, respectively. It was also observed in the study period, the CGR-Jau municipalities that have installed CEOs absorb the vast majority of cases, and 98.9% for the CEO-Bariri and 72.99% for the CEO-Jau. The reduced flows, intramunicipal level, suggest the need for review by health managers who comprise the Board, the Master Plan of Regionalization (PDR), that is the instrument used to establish these flows, as well as the evaluation of possibility of offering such services at municipal level, aimed at responding to their local needs, thus guaranteeing the fulfillment of one of the most relevant principles of the Unified Health System (SUS), the integrality of care.

Introdução: O enfermeiro de prática avançada é o profissional que desenvolveu uma base de conhecimento especializado, habilidades complexas para tomada de decisão, competências clínicas com alto nível de autonomia e integra em sua atuação profissional a pesquisa, a educação, a prática assistencial direta e a gestão. A Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS) brasileira é um cenário com grande potencial para desenvolvimento de práticas avançadas de enfermagem. Objetivo: Construir um perfil de competências para a prática avançada de enfermagem no contexto da Atenção Primária à Saúde brasileira. Método: estudo exploratório e de abordagem qualitativa, que no referencial teórico-metodológico adotou as seis etapas propostas por Zarifian para construção de competências. Foram os sujeitos da pesquisa: egressos do mestrado profissional na Atenção Primária no Sistema Único de Saúde e da residência uniprofissional em Atenção Básica na Saúde da Família, ambos da Escola de Enfermagem da Universidade de São Paulo. Realizou-se uma oficina de trabalho para elencar ações com potencial para prática avançada de enfermagem, a partir de um mapa com ações desempenhadas pelos enfermeiros na APS. O material empírico resultante foi submetido à análise de discurso para posterior construção das competências. Foram seguidos todos os preceitos éticos. Resultados: Participaram do estudo oito sujeitos, sendo dois egressos do mestrado profissional e seis da residência profissional. Os sujeitos reconhecem que a prática avançada de enfermagem amplia as ações e prática clínica dos enfermeiros e que a residência profissional é um modelo potente para formação de práticas avançadas de enfermagem. Foram identificadas 29 ações com potencial para a prática avançada do enfermeiro na APS. As competências construídas com base nessas ações foram: prática clinica ampliada, integralidade do cuidado, autonomia para tomada de decisões complexas, ser referência para a formação continua de profissionais de enfermagem e no desenvolvimento de pesquisa. Conclusão: elaborou-se um perfil de competências para a formação enfermeiros de práticas avançadas para a APS. Estudos posteriores serão necessários para ampliar e aprofundar essas competências, com o envolvimento de outros sujeitos, como gestores, apoiadores técnicos e profissionais da Atenção Primária. / Introduction: Advanced practice nurses are professionals who acquired specialized know-how, complex skills for decision making, and clinical competences with a high level of autonomy. These nurses also incorporate research, education, care practice and management to their professional performance. Brazilian primary health care is a setting with great potential for the development of advanced practice nursing. Objective: To build a profile of competences for advanced practice nursing in the Brazilian primary health care context. Method: This is an exploratory study, using a qualitative approach, whose theoretical-methodological framework adopted the six stages proposed by Zarifian for the construction of competences. The study subjects were graduates of the professional master program in Primary Health Care at the Unified Health System, and the uniprofessional residency program in Primary Health Care at the Family Health Strategy, both in the School of Nursing, at the University of São Paulo. A workshop was conducted to choose actions with a potential for developing advanced practice nursing, based on a map with actions developed by primary health care nurses. The resulting empirical material was submitted to discourse analysis for later construction of the competences. All ethical principles were observed. Results: Eight subjects participated in the study, of whom two had graduated in the professional master program and six in the professional residency program. The subjects recognized that advanced practice nursing improves the actions and clinical practice of nurses and that the professional residency program is a powerful model for teaching advanced practice nursing. A total of 29 actions with a potential for developing advanced practice nursing in primary health care were identified. The following competences were built based on these actions: increased clinical practice, care comprehensiveness, autonomy for making complex decisions, being a reference for the permanent education of nursing professionals and in the development of research. Conclusion: The authors created a profile of competences for the education of advanced practice nursing in primary health care. Further studies are needed to broaden these competences, with the participation of other subjects such as managers, technical supporters and primary health care professionals.

Nas últimas décadas, houve uma redução significativa da cárie dentária na população infantil; porém, os índices de doenças bucais nos demais grupos populacionais permanecem altos. Na perspectiva de favorecer o acesso de todas as faixas etárias aos serviços de saúde bucal, em todos os níveis de atenção, foi criada, em 2004, a Política Nacional de Saúde Bucal (Brasil Sorridente), tendo como uma das principais frentes de atuação os Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas (CEOs), que oferecem à população os serviços de atenção secundária. Este estudo descritivo, do tipo levantamento, teve como objetivo descrever o perfil da atenção secundária em saúde bucal, oferecida pelos CEOs pertencentes ao espaço geográfico do Colegiado de Gestão Regional de Jaú (CGR-Jaú), localizados nos municípios paulistas de Bariri e Jaú, no período compreendido entre o início das atividades dessas Unidades e 31 de dezembro de 2009. Foram utilizados dados referentes à infraestrutura e às características dos serviços: i) tipo de CEO; ii) presença de Laboratório Regional de Prótese Dentária (LRPD); iii) especialidades oferecidas; iv) origem dos encaminhamentos (no tocante ao nível de atenção); v) frequências de atendimento em cada especialidade; vi) situação dos tratamentos requisitados (se concluídos, não concluídos ou não realizados), e vii) tempo de duração dos tratamentos. Também se levaram em conta os dados relativos às características demográficas dos usuários local de origem, sexo, idade e ao fluxo desses usuários, no que tange a origem e destino. A obtenção desses dados deu-se por meio da revisão da totalidade dos prontuários de pacientes atendidos nesses CEOs e de consulta aos bancos de dados do Ministério da Saúde. Os CEOs do CGR-Jaú oferecem as especialidades mínimas exigidas para sua implantação, além da especialidade Prótese. Verificou-se que esses CEOs apresentaram predominância de usuários do sexo feminino. As maiores frequências de atendimento foram encontradas nas especialidades Prótese (30,3%) e Cirurgia (35,2%), nos CEOs de Bariri e Jaú, respectivamente. Observou-se ainda, no período objeto do estudo, que os municípios do CGR-Jaú, que possuem CEOs instalados, absorvem a grande maioria dos atendimentos, sendo 98,9% para o CEO-Bariri e 72,99% para o CEO-Jaú. Os reduzidos fluxos, em nível intermunicipal, sugerem a realização, por parte dos gestores de saúde que compõem este Colegiado, de revisão do Plano Diretor de Regionalização (PDR), o qual se constitui no instrumento utilizado para estabelecimento desses fluxos, bem como de avaliação da possibilidade de oferta desses serviços em nível municipal. Tais procedimentos fazem-se necessários, visando ao suprimento das demandas locais e garantindo, assim, o cumprimento de um dos princípios mais relevantes do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS): a integralidade da atenção. / In recent decades, a significant reduction of dental caries in children, however, rates of oral diseases in other populations remain high. In order to favor the access of all ages to oral health services at all levels of care, was established in 2004, the National Policy for Oral Health (Smiling Brazil), having as one of the main fronts specialized dental clinics (CEO), offering services to the population of secondary care. This study descriptive, survey, aimed to describe the profile of secondary care dental care, offered by CEOs belonging to the geographic area of the Regional Management Board Jau (CGR-Jau), located in the municipalities of Bariri and Jau, in period between the beginning of the activities of these units and December 31, 2009. We used data on infrastructure and service characteristics [type of CEO, the presence of Regional Dental Laboratory (LRPD), specializations available, source of referrals (for the level of care), frequency of attendance in each specialty, location of treatment required (if completed, not completed or not done) and duration of treatment], users\' demographic characteristics (place of origin, gender, age) and the flow of these users (source and destination). Obtaining these data was through the review of all records of patients seen in those CEOs and query the databases of the Ministry of Health of CEOs CGR-Jau offer specialties minimum required for its implementation, as well as specialty Prosthesis and are dominated by female users. The highest frequencies were found to care for Prosthetics (30.3%) and Surgery (35.2%), and the CEOs of Bariri Jau, respectively. It was also observed in the study period, the CGR-Jau municipalities that have installed CEOs absorb the vast majority of cases, and 98.9% for the CEO-Bariri and 72.99% for the CEO-Jau. The reduced flows, intramunicipal level, suggest the need for review by health managers who comprise the Board, the Master Plan of Regionalization (PDR), that is the instrument used to establish these flows, as well as the evaluation of possibility of offering such services at municipal level, aimed at responding to their local needs, thus guaranteeing the fulfillment of one of the most relevant principles of the Unified Health System (SUS), the integrality of care.

Em odontologia, pacientes com necessidades especiais são aqueles com doença ou situação clínica, que implique em um atendimento diferenciado. O Centro de Especialidades Odontológicas é a referência municipal da Estância Hidromineral de Poá - SP, para atendimento odontológico especializado a todos os grupos desta população, nos âmbitos ambulatorial e domiciliar. O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar as necessidades de tratamento periodontal, de restaurações dentárias, exodontias e do uso de próteses removíveis destes indivíduos, atendidos no período de janeiro de 2011 a dezembro de 2016, em relação aos diferentes grupos de diagnóstico e com a população em geral. A amostra total foi composta pelos Pacientes com Necessidades Especiais, também denominados PNE, do CEO-Poá (n=497). Foram avaliados gênero, idade, diagnóstico principal, história médica, âmbito de atendimento, tabagismo, etilismo, acometimentos sistêmicos, e necessidades odontológicas. Os dados foram compilados para o formulário eletrônico epi info 7.0, tabulados, e analisados estatisticamente. No perfil deste PNE, idade média de 37,9 anos, sendo 50,75% do gênero masculino, principalmente com doenças sistêmicas (32,59%) seguida de deficiências físicas (16,70%). As principais necessidades dos PNE foram os tratamentos periodontais (60,70%), seguido das exodontias (59,55%), e restaurações dentárias (57,95%), sendo todos estes percentuais maiores que da população em geral. A reabilitação protética foi possível em 17,11% dos indivíduos, principalmente no grupo denominado condições sistêmicas. O uso de próteses removíveis destes PNE foi menor que da população em geral, e associada ao tipo de diagnóstico e faixa etária. Esses achados reforçam a importância da prevenção odontológica para PNE em CEOs. / In dentistry, patients with special needs are those with a disease or a clinical situation that require a differentiated care. The Center of Dental Specialties of Poá Spa Town is the municipal reference for specialized dental care, therefore have a large number of patients encompassing all categories of diagnosis in this diverse group of people. Treatments are carried out in the outpatient setting, at home, or patient may also be referred to a hospital for general anesthesia. The present study aims to analyze the impact patients diagnosis has on their dental needs. Dental needs for each diagnosis will be considered for attended patients from 2011 to 2016. The physical records will be reviewed, and the demographic data compiled to an electronic form that was specially developed for this study (Annex C). After statistical analysis, it will be possible to verify if there is a relation between main diagnosis, age, gender, scope of care, medical history and dental needs of this group of patients. The compilation of this information will allow a better understanding the characteristics of population attended in a particular municipality. Protocols to meet the dental needs of each group will be suggested. This knowledge may favor safe dental practice, implantation of new services or their improvement. Also may help developing new strategies to promote oral health and better quality of life for these patients.