Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Aging-In-Community: The Influence Of Social Capital On Accessory-Dwelling Unit Access And Utilization Among Older Americans, Travis M. Gagen

Doctoral Dissertations

Accessory-Dwelling Units (ADUs) are one form of the built-environment in which the field of public health law can intervene to improve population aging. Modifying the built-environment to incorporate ADUs allows older adults to utilize a higher level of smart home technologies (SHT) to age-in-community. Under Massachusetts law MGL c. 40A, the state gives authority to cities and towns to adopt ordinances and bylaws to regulate the use of land, buildings and structures. A mixed-methods research design was used to examine the access and utilization of ADU and SHT among older adults. Of the 351 Massachusetts town and cities, 66.5% were …

Improving Mental Healthcare For Older Adults: Community Based Screening For Social And Emotional Loneliness And Major Depressive Disorder, Eunice Kowalczyk

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Purpose: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a devastating mental health disorder affecting older adults that is often misdiagnosed or untreated due to a lack of screening and the stigma that MDD symptoms are a normal and expected part of aging. The goal of this quality improvement (QI) project was to implement a community-based screening intervention to identify community-dwelling older adults at risk for or suffering from MDD, and facilitate further evaluation and care.

Methods: Participants were community dwelling older adults, age 56 and older, in Massachusetts. Two screening tools were administered in two sites that screened for social and …