New Report By NRI Highlights Knowledge Gaps in Advanced Aging in Correctional Health

Current and projected shortages in healthcare staff impact the ability to hire psychological and neuropsychological professionals best suited to administer and interpret the findings of cognitive screeners within correctional health settings. NRI Research Associate, Lance Washington, recently published the journal article "Dementia and the Aging Population: Cognitive Screening Within Correctional Health" in the International Journal of Prisoner Health to highlight the knowledge gaps surrounding advanced aging in correctional health, cognitive screening, and the risk factors associated with dementia among older adults in jails and prisons across the world.

Some of the findings include 1) identifying correctional officers as useful candidates for additional health training on the use of cognitive screeners, 2) classifying adults with an age of 55 or older as older persons due to advanced aging stemming from correctional interpersonal and environmental stressors, and 3) promoting the use of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as a cognitive screener due to the assessment’s sensitivity to detecting acute pathological differences between dementias (i.e., Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, etc.). Read the report.