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Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2283
igaa057.2283
Abstracts
Session 5940 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Telehealth Psychological Interventions for Rural Caregivers: Improving Care to Persons With Dementia
Sussman Joleen  Banerjee Nikhil  Winslow James  
Veterans Affairs, Aurora, Colorado, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”661 661
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Geropsychologists are well-suited to assess dementia, assist caregivers in understand the disease and associated behavioral changes and ways to cope with their loved one’s disease. However, majority of these services are offered during in-person clinic appointments in urban settings. This study aims to describe the utilization and potential benefits of providing dementia education telehealth services to Veterans and their families residing in rural mountain and plain areas of Colorado. Psychological intervention was provided via telehealth from the primary VA hospital to small community clinics or to Veterans homes via video mobile application. The present study provides demographics of participants who elect this service and discusses how these challenge ageism and other biases relate to technology use. Further, we examined how engagement in this intervention may impact utilization of geriatric and extended care services as well as use of primary care, emergency room visits, and use of anti-psychotic medications.