Self-perceptions of aging seem to be a key variable to understand physical and mental health (see the systematic review conducted by Tully-Wilson et al., 2021). Following Levy’s (2003) stereotype embodiment theory, negative attitudes towards aging originate as aging stereotypes (e.g., “older people are frail”; Warmoth et al., 2016) during childhood. They are internalized and reinforced in adulthood, both consciously and below conscious awareness, becoming aging self-stereotypes in old age and affecting self-perceptions of aging (Levy, 2003). Kordnat et al. (2016) developed an implicit association test (IAT; Greenwald et al., 1998) to assess implicit age stereotypes for specific life domains (health and family domains) across the life span and found positive stereotypes towards older people for family domain and negative for health domain. However, the associations between implicit age stereotypes and adults’ psychological distress have been scarcely analyzed. The aims of this communication are: a) to present the preliminary data of the validation of the implicit association test (IAT, Greenwald et al., 1998) to measure implicit aging stereotypes and b) to explore the relationship between implicit aging stereotypes and older adults’ psychological distress (loneliness, guilt associated with self-perception as a burden, and anxiety and depressive symptoms).

The IAT used is an adaptation of the IAT developed by Kordnat et al. (2016). The IAT explores the relationship between the categories of sickness/health and old/young age. The task has a target category that consists of: a) a set of 6 words of physical and mental sickness (e.g., frail, weak, sad, lonely) and 6 words of physical and mental health (e.g., healthy, energetic, happy, in company); and b) 6 photos of old people and 6 photos of young people.

Preliminary results of the implicit aging stereotypes task associations with older adults’ psychological distress in 100 community dwelling older adults will be presented.

Findings will be discussed. The implicit (below awareness) assessment of the aging stereotypes with the IAT in older adults could provide a better understanding of the role of aging stereotypes in older adults’ psychological distress, avoiding the weaknesses of assessing the construct through self-report measures.

Seamless transition to the community and a shorter Length of Stay (LOS) at hospitals are considered priorities in many health care systems. In Hong Kong, Hospital Admission Risk Reduction Program for the Elderly (HARRPE)1 - a risk prediction tool has been used by hospitals to facilitate discharge of older patients and minimize the need for hospital or emergency re-admission. Older patients score > 0.2 and present greater social-care needs than medical issues will be followed up by a community NGO, in service partnership with the hospital, through an 8-week, home-based, Intensive Discharge Support Program (IDSP)2. Apart from evaluating the success in admission risk reduction, this study was also to assess the program’s effects on patients’ health status and well-being for both discharged patients and family carers, and to understand the underlying supportive mechanism of IDSP.

A mixed-method approached was used, as establishing control groups was not feasible due to both ethical and practical concerns. Structured interviews integrating standardized instruments were employed to evaluate changes in outcome variables pre-and-post IDSP intervention for both the discharged patients and their carers. To complement the quantitative data, two focus groups involving 9 carers were organized to explore the essential and critical service elements of the discharge program, including their effects on promoting patients’ wellbeing or alleviating caregiver burden.

48 patient-carer dyads were recruited from the discharge program, with 35 pairs (73%) successfully completed both pre-and-post IDSP interviews. 68.6% of the discharged elders had no hospital readmission during the 8-week in IDSP. While there were statistically significant improvement in ADL, IADL (p<0.001), the environment domain of WHOQOL(p<0.05), and 3 other domains measured by the Health Status Questionnaire (HSQ-12), namely social functioning, role limitation due to mental health and level of fatigue (p<0.05) among the patient group, there was only one outcome variable – the environment domain of WHOQOL showed significant improvement (p≤0.01) among carers. Focus group discussions also highlighted the importance of using a family-based approach in providing discharge support.

This Discharge support program which emphasizes hospital-community collaboration seems beneficial to older patients’ timely recovery and smooth transition back to community.

Although the losses associated with aging activate additional psychological resilience resources, dependency settings, which often require admission to Residential Care Facilities (RCF's), need adequate care so that the person can maintain his/her dignity and quality of life. The activation of mechanisms for regulating losses and the preservation of the identity and autonomy of the person respecting his/her decision-making capacity are central for the preservation of the well-being of people with dependence. Portuguese RCF's are mainly based on care models that are opposed to the models of attention centered on the person, which value the person's potential and decision-making capacity. The COVID-19 pandemic has tested RCF's, highlighting their weaknesses and limitations.

This study aimed to identify ways to improve the provision of care in RCF's during the pandemic.

This is a qualitative study, with data collection through an online questionnaire. Participants were invited to indicate strategies to improve the provision of care to elderly residents in RCF's. The study included 198 RCF ́s workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Content analysis of the collected data was performed.

Preliminary results on the ongoing study: The results indicate that the strategies that RCF´s workers consider most necessary are at the level of human resources, also highlighting the need for greater proximity, affection and attention to residents, the personalization of care and the valorization of the resident person and his/her opinions. These are considered by the participants as central strategies for the quality of care and satisfaction of RCF ́s workers.

The needs identified are in line with the guiding principles of Person-Centered Care. The use of reminiscence as a strategy for valuing the person and his/her identity, as well as the promotion of self-determination, evaluating and allowing the person to make decisions may be central to meeting the needs identified at the level of care. The necessary transition from RCF's in Portugal to paradigms of centered care is thus reinforced by the results of this study.

Elderly people who live in nursing homes can be faced with intramural relocations for various reasons, whether individual or per group. Because the impact of these intramural relocations on residents is unknown, our aim is to explore how relocations within nursing homes affect residents from different stakeholder-perspectives.

We performed semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group with various stakeholders of intramural relocations to collect a broad outlook on its practice based on diverse perspectives and lived experiences. The interviews and focus group were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using responsive and thematic analysis.

Seventeen interviews were held and one online focus group with six participants. In the interviews, participants mentioned various reasons for intramural relocations, such as outdated real estate for group relocations or changing healthcare demand for individual relocations. Participants distinguished various levels of impact on residents on different moments in time (before, during and after the relocation). The impact varied from very positive (e.g. looking forward and excited) to very negative (e.g. stressful, traumatic, hard to understand). Aspects that influenced the impact of relocation were related to 1) the mental resilience of residents, 2) how relocations were organized, 3) the presence and quality of social connections of residents and 4) if benefits of the new (care) environment were experienced. The focus group added insights on the importance of clear and timely communication with residents and recognizability of (personal) items and personnel from the former nursing home to reduce negative experiences of residents relocating within nursing homes.

The impact of relocations within nursing homes differs per situation, moment in time and resident. Aspects found that influence the impact provide targets to reduce the negative impact on residents: practices should focus on good preparation, clear communication, preserving social connections of residents where possible and paying attention to the benefits of the new (care) environment for the residents. Further research may focus on the lived experiences and perceived impact of relocations within nursing homes of residents themselves to develop in depth insights into tailored (care) needs of residents during the relocation process.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is known to be one of the risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Neuropsychiatric symptom (NPS) is present not only in dementia, but also mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this study, we examined NPS of MCI with DM and compared MCI with DM and our MCI database to investigate the characteristics of MCI with DM.

The participants were subjects who were diagnosed as MCI from type 2 DM participants enrolled in Osaka University Hospital. To estimate NPS, we used Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) score.

The number of MCI subjects with DM who were estimated NPS was 19. According to the NPI score, apathy is the most severe symptom in MCI (average score = 2.5±3.3). This result was the same as the score of our database. In the frequency of NPS, there was no difference between the results in NPI of MCI with DM and MCI of our data (n = 225) except for sleep disturbance and appetite/eating disturbance (chi-squared test, P < 0.05). The sleep disturbance was more frequent in MCI with DM than in MCI of our database. On the other hand, the appetite/eating disturbance was less frequent in in MCI with DM than in MCI of our database. Moreover, the appetite/eating disturbance was not observed in MCI with DM.

NPS of MCI with DM is almost the same as MCI of our database except for sleep disturbance and appetite/eating disturbance. This result might be influenced by the disorder of lifestyle habits that is often observed in patients with DM or cognitive impairment of DM.

The limitation of our study is the small number of cases, further investigation is needed.

Dementia risk varies along the social gradient, which needs to be considered in risk reduction and prevention strategies. Revealing links of social determinants of health (SDOH) and modifiable health and lifestyle factors for dementia holds clues towards maximizing dementia risk reduction opportunities, especially for vulnerable populations. Therefore, the aim was to investigate associations of SDOH and a dementia risk score in Indigenous Māori and Non-Māori (mainly European descent) in midlife and early late-life.

A subsample of the New Zealand Health, Work and Retirement study completed standardized face-to-face cognitive assessments (adapted ‘Kiwi’ Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination/ACE-R) in 2010. We computed the Lifestyle for Brain Health (LIBRA) dementia risk score, comprising 8 risk factors (low/moderate alcohol consumption, heart disease, physical inactivity, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, depression). Higher scores indicate higher dementia risk/poorer lifestyle (range= -1;+9.2). First, we assessed associations of LIBRA and cognition. Second, we performed adjusted regression analysis for area-based (socioeconomic deprivation, health care access, neighbourhood safety) and individual SDOH (education, employment status, net income, social loneliness) with LIBRA stratified for Māori and Non-Māori.

In 918 participants (age: M= 62.9 years, SD= 6.7, range= 48-75; females= 52.8%; Māori= 26.2%), a higher LIBRA score (M= 1.8, SD= 1.6, observed range= -1; +7.4) was associated with lower cognitive functioning (b= -0.30, 95%CI= [-0.48;-0.11], p= .002) and cognitive impairment (OR= 1.41, 95%CI= [1.10;1.81], p= .007), adjusted for age, sex, education, ethnicity and area-based socio- economic deprivation. Higher area-based socio-economic deprivation was associated with higher LIBRA in Māori (b= .10, 95%CI= [0.02;0.18], p= .020), but not in Non-Māori (b= 0.01, 95%CI= [- .03;0.05], p= .677). Employment status and lower neighbourhood safety were associated with higher LIBRA in Non-Māori only. Health care access difficulties and social loneliness were associated with higher LIBRA in both populations, while education and net income were not.

SODH are differentially associated with dementia risk in midlife and early late-life New Zealanders. Area-based socioeconomic deprivation was linked to dementia risk in Indigenous Māori, but not in Non-Māori. This points to systematic inequities in dementia risk, which require equity- focused policy-based public health approaches to risk reduction.

Loneliness is experienced by many older people and associated with depressive symptoms. Childhood adverse events have been found to be a predictor of loneliness in young adults. We would like to investigate whether childhood traumatic events are associated with loneliness in older people with depression. We also explored what kinds of traumatic events are more related to loneliness and whether family support will modify the association of interest.

Older adults (≧60 years) with history of major depressive disorder were enrolled from outpatient clinics. Participants cannot be diagnosed as dementia. They received a series of questionnaires, including cumulative illness rating scales, Hamilton depressive and anxiety rating scales (HDRS and HARS), Geriatric depression scale(GDS), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire(CTQ), Chinese version of the family adaptation, partnership, growth, affection and resolve(APGAR), and Mini-mental status examination.

Fifty-four participants were enrolled. The average age was 68.8 years and female predominance (83.7%) with mean educational year of 10.4. Univariate analysis was performed first using LS score as dependent variable, and only those variables with p value less than 0.2 were put into multiple linear regression. In the multiple regression model, age, gender, education, GDS, HDAS were entered as covariates and CTQ was treated as independent variable. The results showed that CTQ score was positively associated with LS (ß=0.565, p<0.001). The family support, presented as APGAR score, was not modified the results. In the explore analysis, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect also showed positively associated with loneliness in the participants; however, physical abuse and sexual abuse did not have the same findings.

Childhood adverse events may be positively associated with loneliness in older people with depressive disorder after adjusting for confounders. We should pay more attention on the childhood traumatic events in these patients. In addition, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect rather than physical abuse and sexual abuse seemed to have more impact on the loneliness in these participants. However, some limitations, such as small sample size, recall bias of childhood events, difficulty of recall physical and sexual abuse, and other latent confounders, should be considered before making a final conclusion.

How an individual is informed of the traumatic loss of a loved one can influence the grieving process and quality of life for survivors. Objective: this qualitative survey aimed to explore how age influences the experience and feelings of those who have received communication of this type of death from a professional figure.

30 people recruited through the use of social networks and word of mouth participated in the study. The participants were divided into three groups according to the age variable (1 group: 10 participants up to 35 years old; 2 group: 10 participants aged between 45 and 55 years; 3 group: 10 participants aged 60 and over) who have received notification of the death of a loved one from police officers or health care professionals. The data was collected through an ad hoc questionnaire, completed online. The thematic analysis technique used Atlas.ti software 8.

the following four key themes were identified: (a) how the communication took place; (b) reactions; (c) support; and (d) coping strategies.

it is possible that advanced age confers greater resilience and coping strategies through life experiences to mitigate the stressful impact of communicating an unexpected and violent death.

Empathy is a core characteristic expected from all healthcare professionals. Higher empathy is associated with reduced burnout, greater job satisfaction, and better patient outcomes. However, there are inequalities in care provided to older adults and people with dementia. Several reports have highlighted that, too often, care lacking in empathy is provided to older populations. The healthcare workforce needs to have the skills and attitudes to provide high-quality care that incorporates empathy. Therefore, appropriate education needs to be provided at undergraduate level to enhance empathy. To understand how empathy can be enhanced towards older adults and people with dementia, a systematic review and meta-analysis were completed.

The objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis were:

• To identify what educational interventions were used to enhance empathy in healthcare students towards older adults and people with dementia,

• To identify what instruments were used to measure empathy change,

• To determine the efficacy of interventions on empathy.

A systematic literature search was completed in March 2021 using five electronic databases, grey literature, and snowball approaches. Studies were assessed by two independent reviewers using a pre-determined set of criteria. A narrative synthesis was completed, data was grouped and tabulated, and a random-effects meta-analysis was completed on eligible studies.

Of 1,937 studies, 25 studies of moderate quality evaluated interventions that targeted empathy towards aging (n=20) and dementia (n=5). Three types of interventions were used: simulation, intergenerational contact, and mixed approaches, and most (84%) reported positive empathy change post-intervention. Empathy was measured most frequently using generic, self-administered instruments. Meta-analysis of studies (n=9) showed a small, but significant effect on empathy change; however, heterogeneity was high.

The evidence suggests that interventions can enhance empathy in undergraduate healthcare students towards older adults. However, few studies reviewed empathy towards dementia and the impact of interventions, therefore further research is needed.

Although sexual violence (SV) is increasingly recognized as a major public health problem, older people are ignored in policies and practices on SV. Research on prevalence and impact of SV in older adults is limited and Belgian figures on the subject are non-existent. This mixed-methods study aimed to better understand the nature, magnitude and mental health impact of SV in older adults in Belgium.

We conducted face-to-face interviews trough structured questionnaires with 513 older adults (70+) across Belgium and 100 old age psychiatry patients. Quantitative data were triangulated with qualitative data from 15 in-depth interviews with older SV victims.

Over 44% of Belgian older adults and 57% of old age psychiatry patients experienced SV during their lifetime, 8% and 7% respectively in the past 12-months. Lifetime exposure to SV was associated with depression (p=0.001), anxiety (p=0.001) and PTSD in older adults with chronic disease/disability (p=0.002) or lower education level (p<0.001). A minority of victims (40%) disclosed their experiences to their informal network and 4% sought professional help. Older victims are willing to share their experiences, but ask health care workers to initiate the conversation.

This study highlights the importance of recognizing older adults as a risk group for SV and the need for tailored care for older victims. Health care professionals working with older adults need to be qualitatively trained to initiate a conversation around SV and its mental health impact in old age through training, screening tools and care procedures.

Dementia grief can be described as a caregiver’s anticipatory grief experience due to losses occurring before the care recipient’s physical death. Among other things, these losses can include loss of memory, intimacy, communication, relationship resolution, and family identity. Psychosocial interventions have been developed to address and reduce these pre-loss grief reactions. The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the evidence on existing dementia grief interventions for caregivers of persons with dementia (PwD).

Electronic databases Web of Science (SSCI), PsycArticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX Literature with PSYNDEX Tests and MEDLINE were searched from September 2016 to September 2021. The systematic review was carried out following PRISMA guidelines and it was registered to the PROSPERO database (CRD42021268998). All adult family or friend carers of older persons with dementia were included. All types and severity stages of dementia were included except studies about young onset dementia and dementia grief. Also, family carers could not be bereaved.

The 12 included studies contained multifaceted interventions with heterogenous formats. Eight studies had a quantitative, two a qualitative and two a mixed method design. Sample size ranged from two to 273 participants. Interventions included elements of psychoeducation, cognitive and emotional therapeutic strategies based on CBT, acceptance- based and mindfulness-based strategies. The interventions showed statistically significant small to moderate effects on dementia grief. In addition to the effects on dementia grief, the interventions also had a positive impact on mental health-related variables such as burden, depression, empowerment, and resilience.

There has been an increase in dementia grief interventions suggesting that dementia grief has been acknowledged as a valid and important construct to describe the dementia caregiver experience. It remains unclear whether health care providers know about and implement elements of the grief interventions in every day clinical encounters with dementia caregivers. Thus, future research should determine the practicing health care providers’ knowledge about dementia grief and its available interventions. Furthermore, it should be examined whether the intervention effects are transferable to caregivers of patients with other terminal illnesses or degenerative disorders, or whether they must be modified.

The use of side-rails from the headboard to the foot of both sides of the bed (from now on “the rails”) is the most used tool to prevent falls in our hospital setting. However, its consideration as physical restraint in the different international consensus is not clear. In the GERBAR study (NCT04861025), we intend to evaluate the perception of the rails as a measure of physical restraint, both by hospitalized users and by the health personnel who care for them. The trial is being performed at the Consorci Sanitari Alt Penedes-Garraf, CSAPG (Barcelona, Spain). In this report we show partial results of the data obtained from the health personnel belonging to Nursing Department.

An online poll has been carried out through the intranet and corporate emails in the last two months of 2022. All the people who works as health personnel at the CSAPG (1652 people) have been invited to this poll.

We obtained a total of 246 responses, of which 27 responses have been removed for not being completed correctly. 152 responses were made by health personnel attached to the Nursing Department: 72 auxiliary nursing personnel (15.38% of the total CSAPG professionals in this professional group) and 80 nurses (14.47%). Proportion of job seniority greater than two years was 74.34% (69.44% auxiliary personnel, 78.75% nurses). 91.67% have been women with a median age of 40.87 years. 46.40% of this sample does not considered the rails as physical restraints (50% auxiliary personnel and 41.25% nurses). When analyzing by job seniority, 48.72% of the professionals with <2 years of seniority does not consider the rails as a physical restraint (44.25% in those with >=2 years). Professional group and job seniority were not significantly associated with perception of the rails as a physical restraint (chi-square 1.17, p 0.2793 for professional group and chi-square 0.23, p 0.6288 for job seniority).

An important proportion of health professional belonging to Nursing Department does not consider the rails as a physical restraint. This perception was not related to the professional group or job seniority.

Primary care clinics (PCCs) in Japan have acquired the capacity for screening and diagnosing dementia in its early stage. They face challenges in accommodating the complex care needs of people with early-stage dementia in collaboration with other healthcare providers in the community. The study aims were; 1) to classify team-based care models of PCCs for post-diagnostic care for people with early-stage dementia in Japan’s Community-based Integrative Care System and 2) to compare the scope of care in each model.

We conducted a cross-sectional postal survey to certified Dementia Support Doctors working in PCCs in Tokyo. To classify team-based care models, the questionnaire asked about the members, roles, and collaboration of the community-wide care team for early-stage dementia in which participants’ PCCs were involved. We gathered information on care provision across seven domains that PCCs offered for people with early-stage dementia. Three-step latent class analysis was performed to classify models and analyze differences in the proportions of care provision in each domain. The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology institutional review board approved the study.

From the 188 responses, PCCs’ team practices were categorized into three classes, which we named “co-managed,” carved-out,” and “stand-alone” models. While the first two ran an extended care team through in-person communication across facilities in the community, the last applied a minimal team approach with limited and indirect external interaction. The “co-managed” and “carved-out” models were distinguished by how team members shared decision-making responsibilities for patient care. Maximum likelihood estimation grouped 46.6%, 32.8%, and 20.6% of the PCCs into each model in the above order. The three models significantly differed in the proportions of care provision in five of seven domains. The proportions in each domain were the highest for the “co-managed” model (60.7-100%), followed by the “carved-out” (46.2- 98.2%) and “stand-alone” (25.7-88.6%) models.

PCCs in Japan’s Community-based Integrative Care System formed three models of post- diagnostic support for people with early-stage dementia. Considering the application of the team approach and the breadth of care provision, either “co-managed” or “carved-out” models are recommended with available community resources in mind.

Most studies about older adults´ loneliness are related to risk factors that increase the probability of loneliness and its negative consequences. These issues are linked with the negative traditional perspective of aging that focuses on decline, illness, and dependency. Although the probability of these conditions increases with age, current older adults age in better conditions than years ago. Positive Psychology is a new perspective that focuses on people´s strengths as protective factors of mental and physical health, including older people. Considering the negative consequences of loneliness in older adults, knowing the factors that may protect older adults from loneliness is needed.

This study aimed to analyse whether sociodemographics, physical, mental or social characteristics act as protective factors against older adults´ loneliness. Method: 274 Spanish people aged 65 and over completed an online survey that included sociodemographic information (sex, age), perceived health, quality of life, anxiety, depression, family functioning, gratitude, experiential avoidance, purpose of life, personal growth, and resilience. Loneliness was assessed using the Spanish version of the Three-Item Loneliness (Hughes et al., 2004). The average age was 70.46 (SD= 4.42) and 61.7% were women (N= 169) and 55.1% were married (N= 151). A regression model was tested.

The results point out that women show higher scores on loneliness than men. The more loneliness, the lower perceived health, quality of life, family functioning, gratitude, life purpose, personal growth and resilience were. In contrast, the more loneliness the more experiential avoidance, anxiety, and depression. The regression model showed that depression (β = 0.202; p≤ .01), family functioning (β = -0.385; p≤ .001), experiential avoidance (β = 0.318; p≤ .001) and personal growth (β = 0.152; p≤ .01) were the best predictors of loneliness. This model explained 44.3% of variance.

Considering the Positive Psychology perspective when studying older adults´ loneliness is needed. This perspective focuses on older adults´ protective factors and not only on risk factors as a target for prevention and intervention programs that aim to reduce loneliness. Building a more resilient older adults group population may help them to cope with adversities like loneliness.

Clinically, the older adults who do not respond to administrative surveys are at high risk for dementia and other diseases in many cases. The aim of this study is 1) to examine this hypothesis, and 2) to establish a support system to reach out to them and help them live well, in the community-based participatory research (CBPR) in Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo, Japan, using a mail survey as a starting point to visit older community-residents who did not respond to the administrative survey.

The participants were residents aged 65+, living in Chiyoda ward, Tokyo, Japan in 2021 (N=4009, mean aged 74.2±6.6, female 54.9%). We conducted the survey by following three steps. First, we distributed self-administered questionnaire to all participants by mail. Second, a survey request letter was mailed to the older adults who did not return the survey (N=675, aged70+). We conducting visit investigation by visiting nurses for old-old people (N=87), and conducting assessment to evaluate risks of dementia and physical health. Third supporting people with high risk of dementia through cooperation among various organizations and various professions, and conducting watching support by visiting nurses as prophylactic care.

For the investigation by mail, 2050 participants sent back the investigation form. Of the 87 people living alone or in aged households who responded to the request for a visit survey, we were able to conduct home-visit surveys for 46 participants (implementation rate: 52.9%). As a result of the comprehensive assessment, 15 participants (mean aged 81.9±5.0, female 53.6%, MMSE: 25.2±2.8), were regarded as participants with high risk of dementia, and 3people of them were started watching support work.

We established a support system for people living with dementia that consist early detection and continuous support by the visiting nurse. There were many cases in which the home-visit nurses investigation led to continuous support. For the further research, it is necessary to review the long-term outcomes of those who received early support concerning whether they could maintain their quality of life.

This international symposium combining experts from Canada, Australia and the USA and supported by the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry will present an update on the recent advances in therapeutic interventions for late life mood and cognitive disorders, including late life depression, anxiety and apathy associated with dementia, and preventive strategies including mind-body interventions. Four leaders of the field will present the summary of novel studies: starting with Dr. Benoit Mulsant (CA) presenting the results of the recently completed OPTIMUM study of novel strategies optimizing treatment of late-life treatment resistant depression. He will be followed by Dr. Krista Lanctot’ (CA) update on novel therapies for apathy associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and Dr Nancy Pachana (AU) will present on non-pharmacological approaches to treatment of anxiety associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Finally, Dr. Helen Lavretsky (USA) will present on the recent studies of mind-body therapies used to treat and prevent late life depression and cognitive decline, along with the discussion of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. The panel will conclude with a brief discussion of future directions in the development of therapeutic interventions.

Treatment-resistant depression in late life has been understudied and is lacking evidence supporting augmentation or switching strategies. Recently completed OPTIMUM multi-site study (funded by the PCORI) sought to compare effectiveness of augmentation strategies (bupropion or aripiprazole) to switch to bupropion, in the first step of 1-week acute treatment followed by randomization into the 2nd step of augmentation with Lithium or switch to nortriptyline. The augmentation strategies in the first step produced the most robust response compared to switching, and did not differ in the 2nd step. Primary outcomes included remission rates and wellbeing measures. A discussion of future directions will be provided at the end of this presentation.

In those with Alzheimer’s disease, apathy is common and associated with decreased quality of life, increased risk of decline and increased mortality. As such, apathy is increasingly recognized as an important treatment target. Recent advances in diagnosis and treatment will be reviewed.

In this presentation, several methodological issues will be discussed, such the importance and prevalence of apathy in Alzheimer’s disease (AD); current diagnostic criteria for apathy in neurocognitive disorders, and will present the results of recent pharmacologic interventions for apathy in AD.

In this presentation, new focused and innovative treatments for anxiety in persons with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease with co-morbid anxiety will be discussed. Anxiety is common in Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's disease and contributes to increased disability and poorer quality of life. Yet only a small fraction of such patients received any form of treatment for mental health issues. Non-pharmacological approaches to address anxiety are advantageous in these populations. Research on tailored CBT and innovations such as virtual reality approaches for these groups will be discussed.

Standard pharmacological therapies for treatment of late life depression offer limited efficacy with the downside of adverse events and drug-drug interaction. Novel strategies are needed for more effective and safe treatment and prevention strategies for mood and cognitive disorders in late life. This presentation will focus on the recently completed studies of Tai Chi for treatment of late life depression, and yoga for prevention of cognitive decline in older women at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Neural and peripheral biomarkers of treatment response will be described. Future directions in mind-body therapies research will be outlined.

The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of loneliness in informal caregivers of people with dementia in Chile during the Covid-19 pandemic.

195 Chilean informal caregivers responded to an online or telephone survey. They were asked about sociodemographic aspects, clinical and caregiving changes experienced by them and the person with dementia during the pandemic, perceived psychosocial support and loneliness.

Less years of formal education, lower income, low level of support with care tasks, living with the person with dementia, low social support, high levels of burden and depressive and anxious symptomatology were significantly related to higher loneliness. In contrast, carrying out physical and mental activity was significantly associated with lower feelings of loneliness. Almost half of the variability of loneliness was explained by higher depressive and anxious symptomatology (β = 0.53), low psychosocial support (β = -0.29) and living with the person with dementia (β = 0.16) (adjusted R2 = 0.48).

The risk of developing loneliness in informal caregivers of people with dementia is high. Special emphasis should be placed on developing interventions that improve the mental health of this group, as well as increasing their contact with formal and informal support networks. Thus, they would be able to cope with care tasks in a better way, reducing the likelihood of experiencing feelings of loneliness.