Exploring French Canadian high school students' interest in and perspectives of a career with older adults.

For the next 30 years, population aging will impact many facets of our society. Of specific concern is future human resources in the aging sector and related health fields. Every year, high school students make decisions related to their future careers, but few express interests in a career in aging. The goal of this study was to explore high school students' interest in and perspectives of a career in the field of aging. The specific objectives of the study were to identify high school students' perspectives of older adults, explore their level of interest in an aging-related career and understand the reasons for their level of interest for a career in aging. In this qualitative descriptive study, 41 French-speaking students in Grades 10 and 11 from an eastern Canadian province participated in a total of five focus group discussions where an educational video complemented the semi-structured interviews. Content analysis produced four common themes: perspectives of aging and older adults, exposure to aging in school, reasons for disinterest and increasing awareness and interest. Results indicate a lack of aging content or intergenerational activities in schools, whereas students made suggestions for better integration of aging content in the school curriculum. Future research with school guidance counsellors or educators would be beneficial in understanding aging content integration and student exposure to aging. Study limitations are also presented.

Université du troisième âge : les besoins en formation continue des personnes âgées francophones au Nouveau-Brunswick.

Continuing education is the ideal mechanism to allow retired people to maintain their autonomy and health for as long as possible. Despite the importance of education in the development of human beings, very few studies have been identified on the need for continued education in older adults. This quantitative descriptive study allowed us to better understand the interests and the needs of seniors related to continuing education in French-speaking older adults in New Brunswick (n = 408), and to identify the perceptions of participants with regard to the benefits, the challenges and the preferences of seniors for continuing education. Study results indicate that the main interests of participants were for training in technology (computers), gardening and health matters. Given the lack of research in this domain, these results will be useful for future planning of continuing education initiatives for seniors.

Cognitive change in patients with Huntington disease on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status.

Huntington disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with cognitive, motor, and psychiatric deterioration over time. Although there is currently no cure for HD, there has been a surge of clinical trials available to patients with HD over the past 5 years. However, cognitive measures have generally been lacking from these trials. A brief, repeatable neuropsychological battery is needed to assess cognitive endpoints. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) may be useful for assessing change in interventional studies or for clinical monitoring. A total of 38 patients with HD were assessed using the RBANS, other cognitive tests, and the standardized HD battery (Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale, UHDRS) at two clinic visits approximately 16 months apart. The RBANS Attention Index, as well as individual subtest scores on Coding, Digit Span, List Recognition, Figure Copy, and Figure Recall all declined significantly over this interval. Performance on the UHDRS cognitive tests (Symbol Digit Modalities; Stroop Color, and Stroop Word) also declined, as did functional capacity. Results suggest that cognitive changes were detected both on established cognitive tasks used in HD research and on the RBANS in patients with measurable functional decline. The RBANS provided additional information about other cognitive domains affected (e.g., memory) and may be a useful measure for tracking longitudinal change.

Cognitive deficits in Huntington's disease on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status.

Huntington's disease (HD) is associated with a variety of cognitive deficits, as well as motor and psychiatric disturbances. As clinical trials for HD evolve, briefer screening instruments will be needed to determine cognitive effects of interventions. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) may fill this gap. A total of 75 participants diagnosed with HD were evaluated with the RBANS, as well as several other scales typically used in HD. RBANS performances for these participants fell significantly below expectations for the Total Scale score, all five Indexes, and 11 of the 12 individual subtests. Cognitive scores on the RBANS were also significantly related to other markers of HD, including motor abnormalities, functional abilities, and other cognitive scores. Although additional research is needed, the current study supports the clinical applicability of the RBANS in patients with HD.