Browsing by Author "Leon, Tomas"

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    Factors associated with loneliness in Latin-American family care partners during the COVID-19 pandemic
    (2024) Leon, Tomas; Tapia-Munoz, Thamara; Slachevsky Chonchol, Andrea; Costa Beber, Bárbara; Aguzzoli, Fernando; Nubia, Carla; Vilar-Compte, Mireya; Gaitan-Rossi, Pablo; Olavarria, Loreto; Castro, Loreto; Pinto, Alejandra; Guajardo, Tania; Grycuk, Emilia; Chen, Yaohua; Iracema Leroi, Iracema; Lawlor, Brian; Duran-Aniotz, Claudia; O’ Sullivan, Roger; Miranda-Castillo, Claudia; International Working Group
    Background: COVID-19-related restrictions led to an increase in overall loneliness and social isolation. Before the pandemic, care partners reported higher levels of loneliness and higher loneliness prevalence compared to non-care partners. Because of the spread and severity of the infections, and the access to support spread, we expect a different impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LATAM care partners. Objectives: To describe the loneliness levels of LATAM caregivers and to identify socioeconomic and health factors associated. Design: An international online cross-sectional survey for care partners, embedded within the ‘Coping with Loneliness and Isolation during COVID-19’ (CLIC) Study conducted between June 2020– and November 2020. Setting: We analysed data from 246 family care partners living in Latin American countries (46% Mexico, 26% Chile,18% Brazil, and 10% from Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Guatemala y Costa Rica). Measurements: We assessed loneliness using the 6-items of De Jong Gierveld loneliness Scale. We described the levels of overall, emotional, and social loneliness pre and during Covid, and reported the distribution of care partners who improved, worsened or maintained their levels of loneliness. Moreover, we used longitudinal multiple linear regression models with bootstraps errors of 1,000 iterations to identify factors associated with the levels of overall, emotional, and social loneliness during the pandemic. Results: Participants were mostly women, 50 years and older, in a partnership, highly educated and with finances meeting their needs, with good to excellent physical and mental health. Among the total of care partners, 55% perceived higher overall loneliness, 56% higher emotional loneliness, and 21% higher social loneliness during the pandemic in comparison with pre-COVID-19 levels. Perceived mental health was associated with the overall, emotional, and social loneliness. Conclusions: Regardless of their living and health situation, during the pandemic, loneliness increased in all groups of care partners. These should be taken in consideration when planning public health approaches for crises such as pandemics or other large-scale disruptive events.
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    The power of knowledge about dementia in Latin America across health professionals working on aging
    (2020) Ibanez, Agustin; Flichtentrei, Daniel; Hesse, Eugenia; Dottori, Martin; Tomio, Ailin; Slachevsky, Andrea; Serrano, Cecilia M; Gonzalez-Billaut, Christian; Custodio, Nilton; Miranda, Claudia; Bustin, Julian; Cetckovitch, Marcelo; Torrente, Fernando; Olavarria, Loreto; Leon, Tomas; Costa Beber, Barbara; Bruki, Sonia; Suemoto, Claudia K.; Nitrini, Ricardo; Miller, Bruce L.; Yokoyama, Jennifer S.
    Methods: We investigated opinions among health professionals working on aging in LACs (N =3365) with regression models including expertise-related information (public policies, BI), individual differences (work, age, academic degree), and location. Results: Experts specified low public policy knowledge (X2 = 41.27, P < .001), high levels of stigma (X2 = 2636.37, P < .001), almost absent BI knowledge (X2 = 56.58, P < .001), and needs for regional diagnostic manuals (X2 = 2893.63, df = 3, P < .001) and data-sharing platforms (X2 = 1267.5, df = 3, P < .001). Lack of dementia knowledge was modulated by different factors. An implemented BI-based treatment for a proposed prevention program improved perception across experts. Discussion: Our findings help to prioritize future potential actions of governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to improve LACs’ dementia knowledge.

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