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Introduction: Biomarker testing for Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) brings new opportunities for nurses to foster shared decision-making by leading pre-test counseling (PTC) for patients and families., Methods: Audio-recordings of 18 nurse-led PTC sessions were analyzed to characterize questions posed by patient and family members dyads considering whether to pursue amyloid positron emission tomography., Results: Sessions lasted 20 to 75 minutes and generated rich discussion of the purpose and potential implications of amyloid imaging. Dyads posed questions regarding: basic neuroanatomy; the spectrum of normal cognitive aging to dementia; clinical phenotypes and pathological hallmarks of ADRD; secondary prevention of ADRD; and advance planning. In response, PTC facilitators provided disease-specific education, clarification of overt misconceptions, caregiver support, and emotion de-escalation., Conclusion: Nurses conducting PTC for AD biomarker testing should be equipped to answer questions about topics both directly and indirectly related to testing, and also provide emotional support., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The corresponding author, Dr. Lingler, has provided consultation to Genentech and Biogen, and received research support from Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly. None of the other co-authors have financial or personal conflicts of interest to declare at this time., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This secondary analysis examined health literacy among informal caregivers of community-dwelling older adults with memory loss and assessed correlates of caregiver health literacy using the Abilities, Skills and Knowledge Model. Caregiver health literacy (n = 91) was assessed by the Newest Vital Sign. Limited health literacy presented in 38.5% caregivers, with significantly low document literacy. Health literacy was associated bivariately with age, education, global cognitive function, executive function, and working memory (all ps < 0.001), as well as medication knowledge (p = 0.015). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that older age (p = 0.017), and lower global cognitive function (p < 0.001), working memory (p = 0.001), and academic skills (years of education) (p = 0.004), independently predicted lower health literacy (R 2  = 0.54). Medication knowledge, however, was not found to be an independent predictor in the model. Findings suggest limited health literacy is a potential issue among informal caregivers of adults with memory loss. Appropriate assessment and personalized support are needed for informal caregivers who are at high risk for poor health literacy., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Overseeing medication-taking is a critical aspect of dementia caregiving. This trial examined a tailored, problem-solving intervention designed to maximize medication management practices among caregivers of persons with memory loss. Eighty-three community-dwelling dyads (patient + informal caregiver) with a baseline average of 3 medication deficiencies participated. Home- and telephone-based sessions were delivered by nurse or social worker interventionists and addressed basics of managing medications, plus tailored problem solving for specific challenges. The outcome of medication management practices was assessed using the Medication Management Instrument for Deficiencies in the Elderly (MedMaIDE) and an investigator-developed Medication Deficiency Checklist (MDC). Linear mixed modeling showed both the intervention and usual care groups had fewer medication management problems as measured by the MedMaIDE (F = 6.91, p < .01) and MDC (F = 9.72, p < .01) at 2 months post-intervention. Reduced medication deficiencies in both groups suggests that when nurses or social workers merely raise awareness of the importance of medication adherence, there may be benefit., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)