Psychology

Dr. Eva-Luisa Schnabel - Psychologist, M. Sc.
Network Aging Research
Bergheimer Straße 20
D-69115 Heidelberg

Tel: +49 (0)6221 54 8125
schnabel(at)nar.uni-heidelberg.de

Fellows: Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl, Prof. Dr. Jürgen M. Bauer

Age Discrimination in Acute Care Hospital Settings? Focus on Verbal Care Interactions with Cognitively Impaired Older Patients

A growing amount of studies indicates that care and medical procedures in acute care hospital settings are not sufficiently adapted to the needs of acutely ill older patients, particularly in case of dementia. Negative age stereotyping has been identified as one crucial factor, which might contribute to suboptimal treatment procedures and over-accommodated speech patterns. For instance, empirical studies that were primarily conducted in long-term care settings revealed that older adults are strongly exposed to simplified, patronizing, and controlling speech patterns. This so-called “elderspeak” has been shown to have negative effects on older adults and has been described as patronizing by older adults. However, acute care settings have been neglected in this research area although the portion of acutely ill older patients is constantly increasing. To date, it remains unclear in which way “elderspeak” occurs in verbal interactions in the acute care hospital setting and whether patients with cognitive impairments are more exposed to this speech pattern.

Therefore, the aim of this dissertation project will be to investigate the potential occurrence of age discrimination in verbal care interactions within a general versus a geriatric acute care hospital. We assume that older patients with cognitive impairments are more exposed to “elderspeak” and that the context plays an important role.

Publications

• Schnabel, E.-L., Wahl, H.-W., Streib, C., & Schmidt, T. (2020). Elderspeak in acute hospitals? The role of context, cognitive and functional impairment. Research on Aging. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027520949090
• Schnabel, E.-L., Wahl, H.-W., Schönstein, A., Frey, L., & Draeger, L. (2020). Nurses’ emotional tone toward older inpatients: Do cognitive impairment and acute hospital setting matter? European Journal of Ageing, 17(3), 371-381. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-019-00531-z
• Schnabel, E.-L., Wahl, H.-W., Penger, S., & Haberstroh, J. (2019). Communication behavior of cognitively impaired older inpatients: A new setting for validating the CODEM instrument. Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie, 52(Suppl 4), S264-S272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-019-01623-2
• Wahl, H.-W., & Schnabel, E.-L. (2019). Geropsychology. In: D. Gu & M. E. Dupre (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_98-1
• Schnabel, E.-L., Wahl, H.-W., Streib, C., & Schmidt, T. (in press). Elderspeak in acute hospitals? The role of context, cognitive and functional impairment. Research on Aging.
• Horn-Hofmann, C., Kunz, M., Madden, M., Schnabel, E.-L., & Lautenbacher, S. (2018). Interactive Effects of Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) and Temporal Summation of Pain (TSP) - the Role of Stimulus Modality. Pain. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001376
• Jansen, C.-P., Diegelmann, M., Schilling, O. K., Werner, C., Schnabel, E.-L., Wahl, H.-W., & Hauer, K. (2018). Pushing the Boundaries: A Physical Activity Intervention Extends Sensor-Assessed Life-Space in Nursing Home Residents. The Gerontologist, 58(5), 979–988. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx136
• Diegelmann, M., Jansen, C.-P., Wahl, H.-W., Schilling, O. K., Schnabel, E.-L., & Hauer, K. (2018). Does a physical activity program in the nursing home impact on depressive symptoms? A generalized linear mixed-model approach. Aging & mental health, 22(6), 784-793. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2017.1310804
• Diegelmann, M., Wahl, H.-W., Schilling, O. K., Jansen, C.-P., Schnabel, E.-L., & Hauer, K. (2018). Understanding depressive symptoms in nursing home residents: The role of frequency and enjoyability of different expanded everyday activities relevant to the nursing home setting. European Journal of Ageing, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-017-0453-0
• Jansen, C.-P., Diegelmann, M., Schnabel, E.-L., Wahl, H.-W., & Hauer, K. (2017). Life-space and movement behavior in nursing home residents: results of a new sensor-based assessment and associated factors. BMC geriatrics, 17(1), 36. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0430-7
• Schnabel, E.-L., Jansen, C.-P., Diegelmann, M., Wahl, H.-W., & Hauer, K. (2016). Mobil und motiviert: Bewegungsprogramme in Pflegeheimen. ProAlter, 48(2), 56–59.
• Jansen, C.-P., Claßen, K., Schnabel, E.-L., Diegelmann, M., Hauer, K., & Wahl, H.-W. (2015). Long-term care in motion (LTCMo): A guidebook. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305403487_Long-Term_Care_in_Motion_LTCMo_A_Guidebook

Awards

• 2018 I Preis zur Förderung der interdisziplinären Altersforschung für den Kongressbeitrag „Altersdiskriminierung im Akutkrankenhaus?“, verliehen durch die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geriatrie (DGG)
• 2017 I Reisestipendium der European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), Training School der COST Action IS1402 (Ageism – a multi-national, interdisciplinary perspective), Norrköping
• 2016 I Forschungsstipendium der Robert Bosch Stiftung, Graduiertenkolleg „Menschen mit Demenz im Akutkrankenhaus“
• 2014 I Reisestipendium der European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), Training School der COST Action TD 1005 (Pain assessment in patients with impaired cognition, especially dementia), Amsterdam
   

Vita