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The ability of Juliet Blackwell's accidental sleuth, builder Mel Turner, to communicate with ghosts makes her an effective healer of historic homes and their past and present residents. Blackwell's series effectively combines elements of the mystery and supernatural genres to showcase Mel's ability to tell the stories and heal the trauma of both the living and the dead.

Five mysteries by Tana French take place in the woods near Knocknaree, Ireland. Through metonymic associations of the woods, as well as narrative techniques from hard- boiled and gothic traditions, French examines issues related to the mutability of memory, the lingering effects of the past on present lives, and the economic shifts affecting Irish identity and society.

Tana French uses the parallels between archaeology and detection as a framework for the working method of the detectives in her novels. Both disciplines follow the same general stages of surveying the scene, excavating information, and analyzing and interpreting results to shed light upon the effects of past events on the lives of contemporary people. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Abstract A major advance in family caregiving has been the development, testing, and community delivery of research-proven, evidence-based support programs for family or friend caregivers of persons living with dementia. This presentation showcases and demos Best Practice Caregiving (BPC), a new online resource with comprehensive profiles for 44 of the top evidence-based dementia caregiving programs that are ready for scaling in communities. For these 44 programs, BPC is a database that presents key research findings with links to all its published articles, comprehensive program descriptions including all implementation features, and survey data on program delivery experiences from 324 healthcare and community organizations that offered the program as a regular part of their service portfolio 2019. BPC enables professionals to make side-by-side comparisons of the 44 programs, with the goal of increasing implementations of these evidence-based programs by healthcare and community service organizations.

Abstract A key feature displayed in Best Practice Caregiving are the types of assistances. Data on 54 areas of care were collected for all 44 programs. These were analyzed through factor analysis and grouped into 19 types of assistance. Types were analyzed by the number of assistances provided, delivery method, and recipient of assistance. On average, programs delivered 11.8 types of assistances, with the most common types being Supporting CG/Individual-with-Dementia (IWD) Communication, Encouraging Positive CG-IWD Activities, and Assisting with Coping (93.2%), with the least common being Getting a Dementia Diagnosis (29.5%) and Monitoring Benefits of Services (20.5%). Assistance was delivered most often through information/referral delivery (M=11.07, SD=5.41) than direct (M=3.77, SD=4.54) or skills training (M= 7.50, SD=4.54). Results of the data show the breadth and characteristics of assistances programs provide to support caregivers of persons with dementia, along with gaps in types of assistances and future directions for programs.

Abstract Best Practice Caregiving surveyed 324 healthcare and community organizations that replicated one or more of the 44 evidence-based programs about delivery organization characteristics, delivery staff, caregivers and persons with dementia served, funding sources, delivery challenges, perceived impact, and satisfaction. 211 (65.1%) organizations completed surveys about 30 different evidence-based programs. The most common types of organizations that delivered programs were healthcare organizations (23.8%) and Area Agencies on Aging (23.8%). Results showed on average organizations delivered programs for 49 months and served 68 families/year. The most common program delivery challenges were marketing (69.8%) and engaging participants (66.3%). Organizations generally agreed that programs had positive impacts on caregivers (59.5% strongly agree) but were less positive about benefits for persons with dementia (25.1% strongly agree). Discussion provides insights into successes and challenges organizations face when adopting evidence-based dementia caregiving programs in their communities.

Abstract Although the Asian American community is one of the fastest growing racial groups in the US, members of this group continue to be underserved and understudied, especially when it comes to the needs of family caregivers. Therefore, through a national initiative to understand the lived experiences of diverse family and friend caregivers, survey data was collected from a variety of Asian American ethnic subgroups including Chinese (n=148), Korean (n=131), and Southeast Asian (i.e., Vietnamese, Hmong, Cambodian, Laotian; n=161). Surveys were distributed in-person and online, and also offered in the translated native languages of the abovementioned groups. Caregivers had to be 18 years and older and providing care to a person aged 55 and older who needed assistance because of ongoing health problems or disabilities. For the overall sample of Asian American caregivers (n=440), participants were on average 51.68 years of age (SD=15.98), identified as female (n=336), were not born in the US (n=348), lived with the care receiver (n=247), and reported less than $10,000 in income per year (n=199). As guided by the Stress Process Model and through a series of ANOVA tests, when compared on all major outcomes, Southeast Asian caregivers significantly reported: 1) more difficulty with care related tasks (e.g., financial/legal decisions), 2) a stronger cultural commitment to caregiving, 3) higher work strain, and 4) more depressive symptomology. Discussion will focus on opportunities for professionals to meet the needs of Asian American caregivers through the use of available trainings and programs aimed to support diverse caregivers.

Mystery fiction and gothic fiction are old friends. Since its initial appearance in Europe in the eighteenth century, gothic literature has become extremely popular, and its conventions have become increasingly familiar. The emphasis on melodrama and the use of gloomy, frightening, and even supernatural elements such as ominous houses, dank dungeons, menacing strangers, ghosts, and crimes of passion have made it difficult for some critics to take gothic fiction seriously, but many scholars have pointed out the serious social commentary that occurs in the genre, particularly in the US. Here, Schaffer examines Montana author Sandra West Prowell's Phoebe Siegel Mysteries.