Regular physical activity and exercise are beneficial for both physical and mental health. However, in the elderly, the level of physical activity they partake in is consistently inadequate. ...Recognizing the need to enhance the participation of the elderly in organized physical exercise and understanding the factors which influence their decision-making becomes pivotal. The purpose of this study was to develop a measurement instrument, specifically a scale, to identify these factors and evaluate its psychometric properties. First, the statements were formulated, which was followed by content assessment by a panel of experts. In the process of scale validation, its internal consistency, stability, correlations between the variables, and factor structure were also evaluated. The scale was tested on a sample of 1777 participants engaged in guided physical exercise at the School of Health Association (društvo Šola zdravja), all aged 60 years or more. The exploratory factor analysis yielded a four-factor model with 27 statements which explained 42.9% of variability. The results indicated weak, but statistically significant correlations between the factors and an acceptable level of internal consistency and stability of the entire scale. This scale, developed to establish the factors that influence the decision-making of the elderly to take part in organized physical exercise, represents a valid and reliable measurement instrument, which can be beneficial in the planning and promotion of organized physical exercise programs for the elderly.
Abstract
Purpose of the Study
Participatory design (PD) is widely used within gerontechnology but there is no common understanding about which methods are used for what purposes. This review aims to ...examine what different forms of PD exist in the field of gerontechnology and how these can be categorized.
Design and Methods
We conducted a systematic literature review covering several databases. The search strategy was based on 3 elements: (1) participatory methods and approaches with (2) older persons aiming at developing (3) technology for older people.
Results
Our final review included 26 studies representing a variety of technologies designed/developed and methods/instruments applied. According to the technologies, the publications reviewed can be categorized in 3 groups: Studies that (1) use already existing technology with the aim to find new ways of use; (2) aim at creating new devices; (3) test and/or modify prototypes. The implementation of PD depends on the questions: Why a participatory approach is applied, who is involved as future user(s), when those future users are involved, and how they are incorporated into the innovation process.
Implications
There are multiple ways, methods, and instruments to integrate users into the innovation process. Which methods should be applied, depends on the context. However, most studies do not evaluate if participatory approaches will lead to a better acceptance and/or use of the co-developed products. Therefore, participatory design should follow a comprehensive strategy, starting with the users’ needs and ending with an evaluation if the applied methods have led to better results.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the range of critiques of successful aging models and the suggestions for improvement as expressed in the social gerontology literature.
We conducted a ...systematic literature review using the following criteria: journal articles retrieved in the Abstracts in Social Gerontology, published 1987-2013, successful aging/ageing in the title or text (n = 453), a critique of successful aging models as a key component of the article. Sixty-seven articles met the criteria. Qualitative methods were used to identify key themes and inductively configure meanings across the range of critiques.
The critiques and remedies fell into 4 categories. The Add and Stir group suggested a multidimensional expansion of successful aging criteria and offered an array of additions. The Missing Voices group advocated for adding older adults' subjective meanings of successful aging to established objective measures. The Hard Hitting Critiques group called for more just and inclusive frameworks that embrace diversity, avoid stigma and discrimination, and intervene at structural contexts of aging. The New Frames and Names group presented alternative ideal models often grounded in Eastern philosophies.
The vast array of criteria that gerontologists collectively offered to expand Rowe and Kahn's original successful model is symptomatic of the problem that a normative model is by definition exclusionary. Greater reflexivity about gerontology's use of "successful aging" and other normative models is needed.
An Age-Old Problem Vines, John; Pritchard, Gary; Wright, Peter ...
ACM transactions on computer-human interaction,
03/2015, Letnik:
22, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Ageing has become a significant area of interest in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in recent years. In this article we provide a critical analysis of 30 years of ageing research published across ...the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) community. Discourse analysis of the content of 644 archival papers highlights how ageing is typically framed as a “problem” that can be managed by technology. We highlight how ageing is typically defined through an emphasis on the economic and societal impact of health and care needs of older people, concerns around socialisation as people age, and declines in abilities and associated reductions in performance when using technology. We draw from research within the fields of social and critical gerontology to highlight how these discourses in SIGCHI literature represent common stereotypes around old age that have also prevailed in the wider literature in gerontology. We conclude by proposing strategies for future research at the intersection of ageing and HCI.
Abstract
We introduce “community gerontology” as an area of research, policy, and practice that aims to advance understanding of communities as fundamental contexts for aging and its diversity, and ...to leverage this understanding for change. We present a foundational framework for community gerontology in three parts. First, we discuss the mesolevel as the unifying construct for community gerontology. Second, we describe community gerontology’s focus on pathways of mutual influence between the mesolevel with more micro and macro contexts over time. Third, we put forth community gerontology’s emphasis on gerontologists’ participation in community change processes to facilitate more optimal experiences of aging among diverse population subgroups. We conclude by describing the integrative nature of community gerontology and the ways that this framework can advance research on particular substantive areas, as well as gerontology as a whole.
This paper addresses the absence of the term ‘senescence’ in recent social science literature on ageing. The significance of this omission is considered in light of the emerging standpoint of ...gero-science, which argues that the central processes defining ageing are concerned with the rising probability of functional decline, development of degenerative disease and death. From this perspective, the separation of ageing and senescence sustains the myth that there exist forms of ageing that are exempt from senescence. The persistence of this myth underlies ageing studies, the sociology of later life and most social gerontology. While there have been undoubted benefits arising from this bracketing out of senescence, the argument of this paper is that the continuing advances associated with this standpoint are outweighed by the need to seriously engage with the consequences of contemporary societal ageing and the centrality of the processes of senescence in establishing an adequate understanding of ageing, its correlates and contingencies and its personal and social consequences.
•Senescence as a concept is missing from the social science literature on ageing•Separating ageing from senescence suggests that forms of ageing exist exempt from senescence•Gero-science sees ageing and senescence alike as processes underlying decline, disease and death•Recognising the social structuring of later life is important•Bracketing senescence out of social gerontology risks evacuating ageing of substantive meaning
Abstract
Background and Objectives
Informal caregiving to older adults is a key part of the U.S. long-term care system. Caregivers’ experiences consist of burden and benefits, but traditional ...analytic approaches typically consider dimensions independently, or cannot account for burden and benefit levels and combinations that co-occur. This study explores how benefits and burden simultaneously shape experiences of caregiving to older adults, and factors associated with experience types.
Research Design and Methods
2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) data were linked to obtain reports from caregivers and recipients. Latent class and regression analysis were conducted on a nationally representative sample of U.S. informal caregivers to older persons.
Results
Five distinguishable caregiving experiences types and their population prevalence were identified. Subjective burden and benefits level and combination uniquely characterize each group. Primary stressors (recipient depression, medical diagnoses), primary appraisal (activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, medical task assistance, hours caregiving), and background/contextual factors (caregiver age, race, relationship to recipient, mental health, coresidence, long-term caregiving) are associated with experience types.
Discussion and Implications
Findings highlight caregivers’ experience multiplicity and ambivalence, and identify groups that may benefit most from support services. In cases where it is not possible to reduce burden, assistance programs may focus on increasing the benefits perceptions.
This paper sought to investigate possible implications of population aging in the work process of multiprofessional residents who make-up the Family Health Strategy workforce in a Brazilian ...municipality. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out, adopting the mixed method of analysis, according to the nature and origin of the data. The paper exposes difficulties faced/reported by the professionals, as well as highlights perceptions that may, in a certain way, be influenced by subjectivities that illustrate points to be analyzed with caution, especially in future studies. It was found that the work attitudes adopted by the residents permeate a positive view of the care provided to the elderly, highlighting the importance of the bond, territorial recognition and the functioning of local healthcare networks. However, the results also showed a low degree of knowledge among the professionals about geriatric-gerontological instruments that guide healthcare for the elderly, which could affect the quality of the health care provided.
Population aging and international migration are two of the most critical social trends shaping the world today. As a result, scholars across the globe have begun to investigate how to better ...incorporate ethnicity into gerontological research. The integration of insights from life-course theory, post-colonial, and feminist theories have resulted in valuable attempts to tackle issues related to ethnicity and old age. Inspired by these bodies of research, this paper explores how decolonial perspectives can strengthen social gerontological research at the intersection of ethnicity and old age.
This theoretical paper advances four key insights drawn from decolonial perspectives that expose some current blind spots in gerontological research at the intersection of aging and ethnicity. Through a process of awareness and resistance decolonial perspectives reveal that: 1) colonial thinking is deeply embedded in research; 2) critical reflection about who is considered the “knower” in research is warranted; 3) alternative ways to generate, analyze, and publish knowledge exist; and 4) the places and systems of knowledge production are not neutral. To address these issues empirically, decolonial frameworks call us to actions that include decolonizing the conceptual underpinnings of the research enterprise, scholars themselves, research-in-action (through “epistemic disobedience”), and current knowledge systems and structures that reflect and reinforce colonialism. Potential applications of these insights are explored, but acknowledged as an essential first step on a nascent path.
This paper concludes by arguing that decolonial perspectives offer a more genuine gaze by demanding nuanced reflections of contemporary realities aging persons embodying the intersection of aging and ethnicity, like racialized older migrants and ethnic minorities, while simultaneously revealing how historically-rooted power hierarchies that are often invisible constrain their aging experiences.
•Research about the intersection of aging and ethnicity is oblivious to nuances.•Colonial thinking is deeply embedded in our thinking and research about this topic.•Decolonization of gerontological research is needed.•Four new insights about decolonization in gerontological research are proposed.•Decoloniality provides an open gaze to capture the complexity of this intersection.
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