Mortality: Church and Religious Service Attendance Impact (Research, Video 1:39)

Have you ever thought about attending church or religious services as a means of extending your life? Apparently, others have in the past. Unfortunately, previous studies on the association between attendance at church and religious services and mortality often have been limited by inadequate methods for reverse causation, inability to assess effects over time, and limited information on mediators and cause-specific mortality. This particular study, which is focused on women, evaluates the associations between attendance at religious services and subsequent mortality. 

Using a self-reported questionnaire over a period of 20 years, participants numbering 74,534 women in the Nurses' Health Study who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Among the 74,534 participants, there were 13,537 deaths. Data analysis was conducted from returns of 11,996 questionnaires. After adjustment for major lifestyle factors, risk factors, and attendance at religious services, attending a religious service more than once per week was associated with 33% lower all-cause mortality compared with women who had never attended religious services.

The research concluded that “frequent attendance at religious services was associated with significantly lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality among women. Religion and spirituality may be underappreciated resources that physicians could explore with their patients, as appropriate.”

The following video explains research on church attendance regarding “middle-aged (ages 40 to 65) adults who attended church (or other houses of worship) and reduced their risk for mortality by 55 percent.” Research is explained by Marino Bruce, associate director of the Center for Research on Men's Health at Vanderbilt University and main author of the study with Keith Norris, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. There are also nine other co-authors.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.
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Unbefriended Patients (Research, Video 3:02)

“Unbefriended” is a word most people rarely hear or use. The very thought of being unbefriended carries a sadness that makes people dread experiencing it. Unfortunately, too many people are heading in that direction.

In the healthcare arena, unbefriended patients are those who have no surrogates to represent them in making medical decisions for self-determination. Being unbefriended jeopardizes a fundamental concept of American healthcare. Even more complicated both legally and ethically is an unbefriended patient who also happens to be in a vegetative state.

The process for making decisions on behalf of unbefriended patients is complicated and varies throughout the country. An example is this case of an unbefriended hospital patient admitted with cardiac arrest. The patient suffered significant brain damage and was in a vegetative state. This case occurred in a state where, unless an unbefriended patient will imminently die despite medical therapy, all measures must be taken to prolong the patient's life. With no surrogate with whom healthcare professionals could have a goals-of-care discussion, they were obligated to continue aggressive management despite knowing it would prolong, but not improve the patient’s condition. Prolonging life included a feeding tube and being transferred to a long-term care facility.

The importance of having early healthcare discussions regarding treatment and written advance directives including a surrogate (durable power of attorney) to make medical decisions cannot be stressed enough. If you were dying right now, would you be unbefriended? Would you be protected from overtreatment or undertreatment? Dr. Eric Widera explains solutions to this problem in this video brought to you by members of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Frances Shani Parker, Author
Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

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Loneliness: Let Someone Know You Care (Research, Video 3:57)

Loneliness, an unpleasant emotional response to isolation, is a topic that is often avoided, even though everyone has probably experienced it at some time. As a hospice volunteer, I have seen many lonely older adults. Research on loneliness suggests that not having positive social relationships in one’s life is a significant risk factor in terms of “broad-based morbidity and mortality.” An important factor is how the person perceives social isolation. Being alone is not the same as being lonely. As the older adult population continues to age and decline in health, perceived loneliness can impair executive functioning, sleep, and mental and physical well-being.

The following includes an excerpt from my book from a chapter exploring the importance of being remembered and other emotional nourishment patients need to feel whole.

“Everybody at the senior citizen center asks about you all the time,” I read aloud to Jeannine from a letter she had received earlier that week. “We still meet every week to play bridge and gossip. It’s not the same without you. People say you were the best bridge player. These days, even I’m winning games. Last week, we had our annual spring party. The last time you came, the two of us ate most of the cookies and didn’t feel embarrassed at all (smile). We sure had some good times together.”

Jeannine stopped me to explain everything, just in case I hadn’t understood what I had read. “See, I learned how to play bridge a long time ago when hardly anybody I knew was playing. My friend Laura taught me because she needed a partner to play with her. I learned as a favor to her and to make new friends. I guess I caught on fast. Next thing I knew, I was teaching her a few things. I remember eating those cookies, too. And they were delicious. We played pranks all the time. We were just a bunch of overgrown kids having a ball cracking jokes whenever we got together.”

Jeannine had been going to the center for sixteen years. Now, she was in a nursing home away from the buffet of fun they had created. But none of that mattered today. What mattered was that they still cared about her, and she had this cherished letter to prove it. She experienced a mental feast of enjoyment. I smiled, knowing her satisfaction was caused by something she had eaten, something called love food.”

© Frances Shani Parker

(Excerpt from Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteerin Urban Nursing Homes)

This video explores a resident's loneliness and the importance of being remembered.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.
Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Alzheimer’s Dementia Doll Therapy (Research, Video 3:05)

Dementia affects more than 47.5 million people worldwide, and the number is expected to increase as the population ages. Doll therapy has often been used as a management strategy for people with advanced dementia to decrease stress while adding responsibility, caring and structure to their lives. However, for too long, there was no protocol or official record of scientific experimentation of doll therapy success. A review of 12 studies reports that dementia doll therapy usually improves cognitive, behavioral and emotional symptoms along with overall well-being. Doll therapy is recommended because it helps many people with dementia relate better to their external environments.

Doll therapy continues to be a source of interesting discussion. These are two considerations people sometimes have before presenting a doll to someone with dementia. Will the doll be viewed as an added responsibility the person doesn’t want to assume? Will the person resist playing with a doll known not to be a real baby? The adult daughter in the video below shares her mother's reactions to the doll she gave her.

“This is my Mom. She’s 84 years old and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about three years ago. She will be moving into a home this weekend and has been depressed and crying for days. I learned that doll therapy is now being widely used with seniors. I fell in love with this particular doll’s smile and realistic appearance and ordered her right away, hoping she’d give Mom something to make her feel less alone during her transition.”

Did the doll gift work? Draw your own conclusions. 

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.
Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Aging in Place Planning (Research, Video 1:50)

Many older adults view aging in place as the gold star of living well during declining years. It means having the health, social, and physical support you need to live safely and independently in your home or community. Aging in place is an advanced life event that supports independence and well-being. But planning ahead for aging in place has to be done with the same commitment as planning for any important life event. A lack of planning can greatly impede the realization of this life event for many older adults.

What do older adults perceive as their roles in planning for aging in place? Focus groups with 68 older adults over age 65 and living in the communities (rural, urban, and suburban) answered open-ended questions about their perceptions of future health events, needs, and planning. Three investigators analyzed and identified these five emerging advanced life events that impacted their ability to remain at home:

1) Hospitalizations
2) Falls
3) Dementia
4) Spousal Loss
5) Home upkeep issues

Many subjects reported a lack of planning for aging in place and perceived that life events such as those listed above simply would not happen to them. Other reasons for not planning ahead included these:

1) Uncertainty in future
2) Being too healthy/too sick
3) Offspring influences
4) Denial/procrastination
5) Pride
6) Feeling overwhelmed
7) Financial concerns

Although many older adults had not communicated their needs to their offspring, they still expressed reliance on offspring for taking care of their future advanced life events. If life events such as aging in place are to happen in increasing numbers, the reasons for older adults not planning ahead must be addressed vigorously to prepare them for future home needs and a voice in their care along with their offspring and/or other advocates.

Aging in place takes planning. Preparing for future needs is the key. The following video offers helpful resources to improve living while aging at home. Keep in mind that, while aging in place is what many older adults say they want, aging at home until the end of their lives is no guarantee of a high quality of life. Each situation has unique needs to be considered that may include other living options such as retirement communities.

Frances Shani Parker, Author
Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Old-Young Aging Expectations (Research, Video 4:08)

Are people less or more angry as they age? What about their degrees of sadness? Is it harder for others to hurt their feelings? Many older adults think they have become much more resilient and calmer in dealing with their feelings. Others say they are less tolerant and more annoyed and resentful than they were when they were younger. What do you expect to be the likely answer to these questions on anger and sadness based on research?

A study investigating age differences in anger and sadness was done with 82 younger and 80 older adults. Participants relived personal angry and sad memories and expressed aloud their feelings. Various emotional responses such as verbal expressions, facial behaviors, and physiological arousal were also noted. While age differences in sadness were less pronounced, older adults really did react with less anger than did their younger counterparts. Is that what you expected?

Expectations regarding aging, including physical aging, are often self-fulfilling among older adults and stereotypically incorrect among younger adults. This video illustrates the importance of both older and younger adults having positive aging expectations.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.
Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Laughter Therapy in Nursing Homes (Research, Dementia Video 5:42)

Look at his face. Think about his lack of agitation, the light of wellness he reflects beyond his actual physical expression. You are looking inside. This could be someone you know with dementia, someone who has been engaged in a special way that opened an inner door of enlightenment. This could be someone experiencing joy in a nursing home. Maybe that wonderful stimulation came from laughter therapy, a series of techniques designed to produce laughter, reduce anxiety, and improve well-being.

In nursing homes where many residents ache with loneliness and feelings of depression, laughter can be a happy solution. This was demonstrated in a laughter therapy research study that included 32 nursing home residents in the control group and 33 nursing home residents from another nursing home. For two days per week (21 sessions in total), residents of the experimental group received laughter therapy. Total quality of life scores of residents in the experimental group significantly increased in comparison to the pretest. Nursing homes are encouraged to integrate laughter therapy into healthcare and as a routine nursing intervention.

Residents with dementia can benefit greatly from laughter therapy. This video features the Smile Study with Dr. Lee-Fay Low. He reminds us that behind the dementia is a real person.

Frances Shani Parker, Author
Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Prayer Requests from Patients and Healthcare Practitioners (Nurse Research, Video 2:36)

Nurses and other healthcare practitioners sometimes are asked by patients to pray for or with them. Although spiritual care is believed by many to be a part of the healing process, patients’ prayer requests can still be perceived in different ways. For this reason, exploring the comfort levels of nurses receiving patient-initiated prayer requests was studied.

This study involved 134 nurses in America completing an online survey which was later analysed. Their responses revealed the following patterns of ease and dis-ease in response to patients’ requests for prayer.

1)  The pattern of ease for prayer with patients distinguished three themes: being open to the voice of calm or silence, experiencing physical or spiritual peace, calling the chaplain.

For these nurses, prayers are natural components of nursing care. The majority of responses to all scenarios demonstrated an overwhelming ease in response and capacity to pray with patients on request.

2)  The pattern of dis-ease for prayers with patients distinguished two themes: having cautious hesitancy and praying to whose God.

These nurses experienced dis-ease with patients’ prayer requests, no matter what the situations were.

Healthcare practitioners should be prepared for how they would respond to patients’ requests for prayer.

In the following video presented by the Christian Broadcasting Network, a Christian nurse in the UK was suspended for initiating an offer to pray with a patient.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.
Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Healthcare (Research, Video 4:13)

Most people will agree that their sex and sexuality are core components of their human experiences. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are no different in this regard. Unfortunately, they continue to be discriminated against in society based on these important components that reflect who they are as people. This discrimination exists in the healthcare system and negatively impacts the kinds of treatment they receive.

Scholarly research on the sex and sexuality of terminally ill lgbt people receiving palliative and hospice care, especially those from minority populations, is very limited. LGBT sexual expressions may change with advancing age and illness in ways that differ from more traditional concepts. While the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding marriage equality has further advanced LGBT cultural views in society, much more research is needed to advance understanding of this population’s unique healthcare challenges.

All healthcare clinicians should focus on treating lgbt clients with patient-centered care that respects who they are and enhances their quality of life.

Produced by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine, this video features the palliative care insights of Dr. Bruce Scott. He shares ways for healthcare professionals to improve their relationships with lgbt clients and positively impact care.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.
Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog