Glossary of Terms

Activities of Daily Living

The following activities that individuals perform as a part of daily living: eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, transferring in and out of a bed or chair, and walking.

Aging and Disability Resource Center

An entity established by the State as part of the state system of long-term care, serving as a highly visible and trusted source where people of all incomes and ages can obtain information on the full range of long-term support options, and as a single point of entry for access to public long-term support programs and benefits.

Alzheimer’s Disease

An irreversible, progressive brain disorder and the most common cause of dementia. Early symptoms include difficulty with memory and thinking. As the disease progresses, symptoms include impaired communication and judgment, confusion, behavior changes, and challenges with basic bodily functions. Symptoms usually progress over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. The brain changes of Alzheimer’s disease include the accumulation of the abnormal proteins beta-amyloid and phosphorylated tau, as well as the degeneration of neurons.

Brain health

A concept that involves making the most of the brain’s capacity and helping to reduce some risks that occur with aging. Brain health refers to the ability to draw on the strengths of the brain to remember, learn, play, concentrate, and maintain a clear, active mind.

Caregiver

A spouse, adult child, other relative, partner, or friend who has a personal relationship with and provides a broad range of unpaid assistance for an older adult having a chronic or disabling condition. (Used synonymously with Care Partner)

Chosen family

A person’s chosen family consists of people who play significant roles in each other’s lives although they may not necessarily be biologically or legally related to one another. These chosen family members often play a critical role in groups where biological family relationships are either strained or non-existent.

Chronic condition

Conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States.

Cognition

The mental functions involved in attention, thinking, understanding, learning, remembering, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is a fundamental aspect of an individual’s ability to engage in activities, accomplish goals, and successfully negotiate the world. It can be viewed along a continuum — from optimal functioning to mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

Community-clinical linkages

Connections between community and clinical sectors that aim to improve health within a community. They are an effective, evidence-based approach to preventing and managing chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

A rare, rapidly worsening brain disorder that causes unique changes in brain tissue and affects muscle coordination, thinking, and memory.

Dementia

An overall term for a particular group of symptoms. The characteristic symptoms of dementia are difficulties with memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking skills. Dementia has several causes.

Dementia capability

Dementia capability means being skilled in identifying people with possible dementia, working effectively with individuals and caregivers, knowing what kinds of services are needed, and referring to agencies and individuals able to provide such services.

Frontotemporal dementia

The result of damage to neurons in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Many possible symptoms can result, including unusual behaviors, emotional problems, trouble communicating, difficulty with work, or difficulty with walking.

Gerontology

The multidisciplinary scientific study of the biological, psychological, and social aspects of aging that takes a broader view than geriatrics, which focuses more specifically on the healthcare needs of older adults.

Geriatrician

Doctors who have additional specialized training in treating older patients, especially those with multiple health problems or complex conditions.

Geriatric Psychiatrist

A doctor that emphasizes the biological and psychological aspects of normal aging, the psychiatric effect of acute and chronic physical illness, and the biological and psychosocial aspects of the pathology of primary psychiatric disturbances of older age. Geriatric psychiatrists focus on prevention, evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders in the elderly and improvement of psychiatric care for healthy and ill elderly patients.

Health equity

Achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances. Health inequities are reflected in differences in length of life; quality of life; rates of disease, disability, and death; severity of disease; and access to treatment.

Huntington’s disease dementia

A progressive brain disorder caused by a single defective gene and causes abnormal involuntary movements, severe decline in thinking and reasoning skills and irritability, depression and other mood changes.

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

The following instrumental activities that individuals perform as a part of daily living: preparing meals,shopping for personal items, medication management, managing money, using the telephone, performing light housework, performing heavy housework, and making use of available transportation.

Lewy body disease

Dementia caused by Lewy bodies, abnormal aggregations (or clumps) of the protein alpha-synuclein in neurons…in a part of the brain called the cortex.

LGBTQIA2S+

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, (questioning), intersex, asexual, and (agender)

Pasifika diversity language broadly describes these fluid concepts in the following terms: Māhū (Tahiti and Hawai‘i), Vaka sa lewa (Fiji), Palopa (Papua New Guinea); Faʻafafine (Samoa and Tokelau), Akavaʻine (Cook Islands); Fakaleiti (Tonga), Fakafifine (Niue).

Mild Cognitive Impairment

A subtle but measurable decline in cognitive abilities that includes memory and thinking, but generally maintains the ability to independently perform most activities of daily living. A person with mild cognitive impairment is at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s or another dementia.

Mixed dementias

Dementia with brain changes associated with more than one cause. This is most common among people 85 years or older.

Neurologists

Specialists who treat diseases of the brain and spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and muscles. This includes stroke, Parkinson’s disease, uncontrolled headaches, memory loss, imbalance, numbness and pain, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis, among many others.

Neuropsychologists

Psychologists who specialize in understanding the relationship between the physical brain and behavior, and how the brain and systems relate to behavior and thinking. They look at what a person’s brain does and how the person acts in life, with regard to emotions, socially, physically, and more. They often work closely with other medical professionals.

Neuropsychiatrists

Psychiatrists that work with people with mental disorders that are related to brain malfunction. They diagnose and treat disorders connected to the nervous system – the brain, spinal cord, or nerves. It combines neurology and psychiatry.

Neurosurgeon

A doctor who diagnoses and surgically treats problems with the central and peripheral nervous systems. The nervous system is connected to the brain and spine and other parts of the body, such as the arms, hands, feet, legs, and sensory organs.

Parkinson’s disease dementia

A brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination, as well as changes in cognitive function, including problems with memory, attention, and the ability to plan and accomplish tasks.

Primary Care Physician

Doctors that specialize in internal or family medicine. They facilitate regular check-ups and the coordination of your care with specialists.

Subjective cognitive decline

An individual’s perception that their memory and other thinking skills are worsening, independent of cognitive testing, a physician’s diagnosis or anyone else noticing.

Traumatic brain injury

Results from an impact to the head that disrupts normal brain function.

Vascular dementia

Changes to memory, thinking, and behavior resulting from… different conditions that interrupt the flow of blood and oxygen supply to the brain and damage blood vessels in the brain, (e.g. strokes).

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

A memory disorder that results from vitamin B1 deficiency and is associated with alcoholism.