• Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) Wants Your Feedback on the Standardized Version Dementia Observation System (DOS)
• New Tool to Assess Geriatric Addictions / Substance Use
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Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) Wants Your Feedback on the Standardized Version Dementia Observation System (DOS):

On February 27th, 2018 a webinar entitled 'Strengthening the Dementia Observation System (DOS): Seeking Your Contributions to the Standardized Version and Next Steps!' was held to provide an overview of revisions underway to the DOS; a tool used to determine the frequency, duration, risk and patterns of responsive behaviours.

In January 2017, BSO initiated an inter-professional collaboration to uncover innovations and address variations and inconsistencies in the multiple versions of the DOS currently used in Ontario. Members of the BSO DOS Working Group lead the webinar, describing the process through which they identified and combined the best features of over 40 versions collected into a single standardized version. An outline of implementation plans included discussion of a pilot project, an instruction manual and a technological adaptation.

If you use the DOS tool in your work, the DOS Working Group would like to give you an opportunity to provide important feedback and input into the finalized version of the standardized DOS.  Please view the webinar recording. Once you have viewed the recording, complete the survey in order to provide anonymous feedback regarding the drafted Standardized DOS. Please complete the survey (estimated to take 15-20 minutes) by end of day March 16th. 

Direct Link to Recording: http://ake.adobeconnect.com/pnhshidj2saa
Direct Link to Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PDX7TXH

Questions? Email: provincialBSO@nbrhc.on.ca

New Tool to Assess Geriatric Addictions / Substance Use

The Substance Use/Geriatric Addictions Collaborative with Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) and brainXchange are working together to promote access to and the use of the Canadian developed Senior Alcohol Misuse Indicator (SAMI). Dr. Bonnie Purcell, registered psychologist with the London-Middlesex BSO mobile team and the Geriatric Mental Health Program with London Health Science Centre, developed the tool while completing her Master’s at the University of Toronto and with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. 
 
Alcohol-related problems are often an unrecognized challenge in working with older adults.  Older adults can experience increased effects of alcohol due to age-related physiological changes and alcohol-drug interactions, and/or increased reliance on alcohol as a coping strategy with significant life changes.  The goal of the SAMI as a brief senior specific screening tool is to provide a gentle, non-confrontational approach to elicit information to determine if there are concerns related to alcohol use/misuse. The SAMI has a sensitivity of 78-84%, with a specificity of 55%, and outperformed the SMAST-G and the CAGE in identifying at-risk and problem drinkers.
 
In order to increase the accessibility of the SAMI tool, we are reaching out to leaders supporting complex older adults and requesting your consideration to add a link to the SAMI on your organization’s website. Both the SAMI tool and the archived webinar can be found on the Portico of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: https://www.porticonetwork.ca/tools/clinical-tools/sami-screening-tool.

If you are willing to have the link added to your website, we kindly ask that you confirm this with us. Additionally, should you have any questions or require additional support, please contact our Knowledge Broker, Jillian McConnell with brainXchange at jillian@brainXchange.ca