Lynette Ruth Goldberg

University of Tasmania · Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre

Background Dementia prevalence is predicted to triple to 152 million globally by 2050. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) constitutes 70% of cases. There is an urgent need to identify individuals with preclinical AD, a 10–20-year period of progressive brain pathology without noticeable cognitive symptoms, for targeted risk reduction. Current tests of AD path...

Background Dementia prevalence is predicted to triple to 152 million globally by 2050. Alzheimer's disease (AD) constitutes 70% of cases. There is an urgent need to identify individuals with preclinical AD (a 10–20-year period of progressive brain pathology without noticeable cognitive symptoms) for targeted risk reduction. Current tests of AD path...

Introduction: Providing integrated and evidence-based support to individuals and families following a diagnosis of dementia is essential in order to optimise their quality of life and assist them to live well. Memory clinics provide multidisciplinary services specialising in the assessment and post-diagnostic treatment of people with dementia. This...

Introduction Evidence suggests that the pathology underlying cognitive decline leading to dementia begins 15–20 years before cognitive symptoms emerge. Thus, identifying biomarkers in this preclinical phase is critically important. Age-related decrease in muscle mass and strength, a known risk factor for sarcopenia, frailty and cognitive decline, a...

Abstract Background The oral health of many older Australians is poor and associated with many systemic health problems. However, nurses often have a limited understanding of the importance of oral healthcare for older people. This study aimed to investigate Australian nursing students’ perception, knowledge, and attitude toward providing oral heal...

Objective: The online program began in 2012 to support aged care workers without a tertiary education or vocational qualification. This paper documents changes in the student profile since initiation of the program, and how the program may support recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and engage other educators,...

Objective: To investigate the perspectives of Australian nursing educators on the preparation of Bachelor of Nursing students for the care of older people’s oral health. Background: The Australian population is ageing. Older people with poor oral health are at increased risk of worsening health and chronic disease conditions. Nurses can and need to...

Background The worldwide prevalence of dementia is rapidly rising. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), accounts for 70% of cases and has a 10–20-year preclinical period, when brain pathology covertly progresses before cognitive symptoms appear. The 2020 Lancet Commission estimates that 40% of dementia cases could be prevented by modifying lifestyle/medical r...

Introduction This paper details the journey of eight Aboriginal women from Circular Head, a rural and remote area of North-West Tasmania, as they undertook an innovative 2-year program of tertiary studies in dementia to address a documented community need. The Chief Executive Officer of the Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation (CHAC) had identified...

Poor oral health increases the risk of aspiration pneumonia for older people. This is due primarily to six pathogens found in the mouth: five bacteria and one fungus. With a cohort of older people who were dependent on others for their oral care, we analyzed the load and type of bacteria and fungi from swabs of cheek, gum, and tongue mucosa. There...

Restraint use in Australian residential aged care has been highlighted by the media, and investigated by researchers, government and advocacy bodies. In 2018, the Royal Commission into Aged Care selected ‘Restraint’ as a key focus of inquiry. Subsequently, Federal legislation was passed to ensure restraint is only used in residential aged care serv...

Previous research suggests oral and written language can act as barometers of an individual’s cognitive function, potentially providing a screening tool for the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other forms of dementia. Idea density is a measure of the rate at which ideas, or elementary predications, are expressed and may provide an i...

Restraint use in Australian residential aged care has been highlighted by the media, and investigated by researchers, government and advocacy bodies. In 2018, the Royal Commission into Aged Care selected ‘Restraint’ as a key focus of inquiry. Subsequently, Federal legislation was passed to ensure restraint is only used in residential aged care serv...

Objective: Developing a questionnaire to assess the perception, knowledge, and attitude of nursing students in providing oral health care to older people, and associated influential factors. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions to dental services have had a notable impact on the increase in older people’s oral and associat...

Dementia is a global public health issue. First Nations people are at increased risk due to complex intergenerational factors grounded in inequalities in health services and economic and educational opportunities. While there is yet no drug-related cure for this progressive and terminal neurological condition, evidence confirms that increased under...

Background: The recognised relationship between oral health and general health, the rapidly increasing older population worldwide, and changes in the type of oral health care older people require have raised concerns for policymakers and health professionals. Nurses play a leading role in holistic and interprofessional care that supports health an...

Background: aspiration pneumonia increases hospitalisation and mortality of older people in residential aged care. Objectives: determine potentially pathogenic microorganisms in oral specimens of older people with aspiration pneumonia and the effect of professional oral care in reducing aspiration pneumonia risk. Data sources: PUBMED/MEDLINE,...

Abstract Objective: To describe the characteristics of hospital admissions for dental conditions, by Australian Statistical Geography Standard remoteness area for the 5 years 2010/2011 to 2014/2015. Design: Retrospective analysis of preventable hospital admissions due to dental conditions. Setting: National data set provided by the Australian Insti...

Objective: Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders are impacted by dementia at higher rates and at a younger age of onset than the broader Australia population. Public health strategies to support this population require a thorough understanding of how Aboriginal people perceive dementia and dementia care support needs. The aim of this study...

Background Over the past two decades, there has been a decrease in dental diseases in Australia; however, the number of preventable dental hospital admissions has not diminished. This review reports on the factors associated with preventable dental hospital admissions in Australia. Methods A search of five databases was conducted using Medical sub...

Aims To evaluate the nutritional status and needs of a person with dementia living in an aged care home, including identification of barriers to, and effective strategies for, the provision of person‐centred care. Background Nutrition and hydration care are integral to quality of life for adults with dementia, but there is little research on wheth...

The positive benefits of group singing for physical and mental health and perceived wellbeing in the general population are drawing increased attention from researchers (Stewart & Lonsdale 2016, Clift et al 2016). Investigations of the benefits of singing have revealed improvements in the immune system of people with cancer (Fancourt et al 2016) an...

Introducton: Oral health is fundamental to overall health. Poor oral health is largely preventable but unacceptable inequalities exist, particularly for people in rural areas. The issues are complex. Rural populations are characterised by lower rates of health insurance, higher rates of poverty, less water fluoridation, fewer dentists and oral hea...

Aims and objectives: To examine awareness of aged care home staff regarding daily food and fluid care needs of older people with dementia. Background: Older people in residential care frequently are malnourished, and many have dementia. Staff knowledge of the food and fluid needs of people with dementia is limited. Qualitative research on this t...

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are increasingly available in the area of health and medicine. These MOOCs are offered through various commercial and noncommercial online platforms. When offered through reputable institutions, they can provide valuable access to reliable information without the constraints of time, geographical location, or lev...

In line with the emerging focus on the need for interprofessional, evidence-based care for adults in residential communities, the Wicking Teaching Aged Care Facilities program provides a systematic and effective approach. As an example, in multiple, 3-day per week placements, 6 speech pathology, 48 nursing, 12 occupational therapy, 10 physiotherapy...

An important strategy to increase knowledge, skills, and confidence of the workforce providing a range of care to people with dementia is access to contemporary evidence-based education. This paper outlines the innovative, fully online Bachelor of Dementia Care degree offered by the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre at the University o...

Obesity is a recognized global epidemic. Obese individuals are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and both obesity and diabetes are known risk factors for dementia, another global public health issue. This paper reviews research on the link between obesity, and dementia, with an emphasis on visceral obesity. Some obese individua...

This report describes the outcomes of a five-day, protocol-based interprofessional education (IPE) initiative to prepare undergraduate medical, nursing, and paramedic students for collaborative work with adults with dementia. Clinical placements provided a structured and supervised IPE experience for 127 students in two Residential Aged Care Facili...

Neuroscience is an important component of STEM disciplines and fundamental to understanding dementia, a growing worldwide public health issue. Understanding the neuropathology and clinical manifestations of dementia is important for those who need to provide effective daily care for adults with dementia. Dementia care workers form a non-traditional...

Obese individuals are at risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Both obesity and diabetes are known risk factors for dementia, already a recognized global public health issue. Up to one-third of Alzheimer-type dementia may be attributed to potentially-modifiable risk factors such as the prevention of obesity and diabetes; physical exercis...

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Background The most important and contested element of nursing identity may be the patient-centredness of nursing, though this concept is not well-treated in the nursing identity literature. More conceptually-based mapping of nursing identity constructs are needed to help nurses shape their identity. The field of computational text analytics offers...

Background: No studies exist of the congruence of research in oral health to policy. This study aimed to examine the broad congruence of oral health research to policy, and implications for developing oral health research that is more policy relevant, particularly for the wider challenge of addressing unequal oral health outcomes, rather than speci...

This study analyzed students’ written reflections following their initial exposure to interprofessional teamwork in case-based problem-solving. A three-hour seminar featuring three sequenced scenarios was developed and offered 12-times over two semesters. A total of 305 students from a variety of healthcare programs worked together with standardize...

Students who aspire to a career in health care need to be educated in the practical requirements of effective health care. These requirements are premised on understanding the perspective of the patient, appreciating and respecting the contributions of the range of the professions involved in health care, and being able to work and communicate effe...

The sensory and gastrointestinal changes that occur with ageing affect older adults' food and liquid intake. Any decreased liquid intake increases the risk for dehydration. This increased dehydration risk is compounded in older adults with dysphagia. The availability of a non-invasive and easily administered way to document hydration levels in olde...

Interprofessional education (IPE) is recognized as a critical component in preparing students for effective interprofessional practice in health care. IPE is supported by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Associaiton and students' competence in interprofessional practice is expected by clinical supervisors for effective work in any setting, whet...

One treatment strategy to facilitate a safe swallow in adults with dysphagia is to thicken liquids. While helpful, thickening liquids can have an adverse effect on palatability and fluid intake. In this pilot, 15 female graduate students rated the taste, texture, and palatability of apple juice thickened with starch- and gum-based agents, using a 1...

Purpose: This case study illustrates the role speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can play in the treatment of older adults with diffuse esophageal spasm (DES), a rare motility disorder that compromises swallowing. The possible etiologies for DES vary, and adults with many of these underlying factors may be prescribed powerful medications. Effectiv...

Advocates of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) argue that teaching and learning must be student-centered, experiential, collaborative, and interprofessional. Researchers must collect data on the outcomes of such learning systematically and disseminate it. This careful approach to documenting student learning and effective teaching fac...

The health care needs of older adults can be complex and multifaceted. Safe, effective, equitable, and person-centered service provision relies on skilled interprofessional, team-based practice. Too often, students seeking a career specializing in gerontology are not exposed to such interprofessional, team-based learning and practice during their c...

Energy expenditure measured by indirect calorimetry requires a mask that covers the nose and mouth. To measure energy expenditure during eating, an alternative device that allows the individual to eat freely needs to be identified. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the concurrent validity of energy expenditure measured with the Sense...

Effective healthcare today is built on interprofessional, population-and evidence-based approaches to provide care that is safe, timely, equitable, patient-centered, and efficient. As a result, there is increasing recognition by faculty, administrators, and community professionals of the importance of providing students with ongoing opportunities t...

Many professionals work closely with physicians and nurses to provide healthcare that is safe, patient-centered, efficient, equitable, timely, and effective. These professionals represent many and varied allied health disciplines. Each allied health professional is ethically accountable for bringing a theoretically-sound and evidence-based approach...

As a result of the unexpected delays experienced in a study designed to investigate mother-infant interactions and infant cry patterns in the first 2 hours following delivery, the study was assessed to identify the barriers that the investigators had encountered in its planning and conduct. These barriers can be categorized as issues with (1) insti...

The effectiveness of teaching is expected by an increasingly skeptical public that wants those in higher education to contain costs, increase access, and teach in ways that make sure students learn. An integral and under-used component of documenting teaching effectiveness is peer review. A framework for best practice to ensure a systematic and com...

A national (USA) student‐led, case‐based CLinician/Administrator Relationship Improvement OrganizatioN (CLARION) competition focuses students in medical and related healthcare programs on the provision of healthcare that is safe, timely, equitable, patient‐centred, effective and efficient. Students work in four‐person, inter‐professional teams to r...

Methamphetamine (meth) exposure during fetal development has the potential to adversely affect the development of multiple organ systems. An interdisciplinary case study of a 4-year 11-month-old child born to a mother addicted to meth revealed significant cognitive and communicative delays. Possible meth-related consequences for these delays includ...

Methamphetamine (meth) exposure during fetal development may increase nutritional risk due to both congenital and developmental problems associated with exposure. In this case study, an interdisciplinary team assessed the health and nutrition status of a 5-year-old girl exposed to meth in utero. Significant nutrition-related findings included iron...

In today's increasingly multicultural society, students need to be prepared for the work world they will encounter. Well-developed critical thinking skills appear essential to needed cultural competence. With its focus on community involvement, deep reflection and civic engagement, the possibility that Service-Learning (SL) could improve students'...

Service-learning (SL) is a relatively new pedagogical approach to facilitate student learning at the university level. In SL, students enrolled in an academic course provide a needed service to a community partner. Through guided reflection, students link classroom-based, theoretical knowledge with clinical applications. Students' active engagement...

A 25-item survey was administered to 45 teachers to identify what they knew about Minimal Hearing Loss (MHL) and to verify or refute five possible misperceptions reported earlier by Goldberg and McCormick Richburg (2004). Results support the importance of an educational audiologist on the service delivery team to help teachers understand the ramifi...

This article addresses five commonly stated misperceptions concerning the effects of minimal hearing loss on the education of children. Helping educators and other professionals recognize these and other possible misperceptions is the first step in appropriately educating children with minimal hearing loss. Making educators and other professionals...

The landscape of service delivery is changing. By adopting an ordered, systematic approach to any change in service delivery, speech-language pathologists can facilitate needed changes, take leadership roles, and gain the necessary team and administrative support for collaborative and functional intervention under varied service-delivery models. Th...

This article identifies potential challenges facing professionals who work and who plan to work with speech-language pathology assistants, including job security, professional confidence, work efficiency, supervisory training, preservice training, the effect of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's policies, professional autonomy, and...