Older adults who engage in sexual activities may benefit from increasing psychological and physical well-being, which may contribute to reduce a number of physical and mental health problems. The ...objectives of this study are the following: To analyse sexual well-being (SWB) in older adults' perspective and to examine the potential explanatory mechanisms of a SWB overall model, in an older cross-national sample.
Measures were completed, using a variety of appropriate methods, including demographics and interviews. Complete data were available for 326 older adults aged between 65 and 102 years. Data were subjected to content analysis. Representation of the associations and latent constructs were analysed by a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA).
The most prevalent response of the interviewed participants for SWB was "touching and caring" (18.0%). A three-dimension model formed by "care and well-being", "attractiveness, intimacy and touching", and "sexual intercourse and pleasure" was presented as a best-fit solution for English older adults. SWB for Portuguese older adults were explained by a three-factor model: "health and desire", "care, eroticism and affection" and "penetration sex".
The outcomes presented in this paper emphasised the need to explore the diversity of indicators of SWB among older adults and the cultural differences of a SWB model for older adults.
Significant demographic changes and a growing aging population increasingly emphasize the importance of assessing phenomena of violence against older adults, who constitute a vulnerable population. ...Therefore, bullying in old age is a poorly studied phenomena, but of growing importance. This study aims to analyze the perspectives of bullying in old age, using qualitative research at a cross-national level. We interviewed 173 older participants aged 65–91 years. Participants were Portuguese and English and lived in the community. Participants were subjected to semi-structured interviews. All the interviews went through a process of content analysis. Sample recruitment occurred through initial telephone contact, followed by a request to participate. Outcomes of content analysis produced seven themes, all of them associated with bullying experiences such as compromised learning capacity, loss of sense of agency and decision-making, asexuality, less attractive appearance, less social skills, gender discrimination, and less financial resources. Portuguese older adults felt mostly bullied for their loss of sense of agency and decision-making, less attractive appearance, less social skills, and less financial resources, while English participants mostly felt bullied for their compromised learning capacity, gender discrimination, and asexuality. The themes identified as being the most prominent in bullying are valuable guidelines for social policies and interventions toward bullying among older adults. Considering the scarcity of studies on bullying in older adults, this study is relevant for understanding the experience of older adults in relation to being bullied and for implementing psychosocial intervention programs including bullying situations that affect community-dwelling older adults.
Objectives
Build a structural model to explore whether socio-demographic, health and lifestyle-related variables are correlates of adjustment to aging (AtA) in a group of older lesbian, gay, and ...bisexual (LGB) adults.
Methods
The sample comprised 287 community-dwelling older LGB adults aged 75 years and older. Convenience sampling was used to gather questionnaire data. Measures encompassed the Adjustment to Aging Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, demographics (sex, age, professional and marital status, education, household, and family annual income), and lifestyle and health-related characteristics (self-reported spirituality, leisure, physical activity, perceived health, and medication). Structural equation modeling was used to explore a structural model of the self-reported AtA, comprising all the above variables.
Results
Outcomes revealed satisfactory goodness of fitness indices in both the measurement and structural model. The study variables contributed towards a high percentage of AtA variability. Perceived health and leisure were the strongest correlates of AtA.
Conclusions
The results of this study indicate that policy making and community interventions with older LGB adults may benefit from including variables such as perceived health and leisure, income, education, spirituality, sex, physical activity, satisfaction with life, and marital status.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the access of older adults to health services. The two objectives of this study are understanding the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults' access to ...health services and exploring how health service accessibility during the pandemic influenced older adults' mental health and self-reported changes in behavior. This study included 346 older adults. Content analysis produced five themes: (1) decreased physical accessibility to health care providers (78%); (2) increased use of online health services and other virtual health care (69%); (3) growth in the online prescription of medication (67%); (4) difficulty obtaining information and accessing non-communicable disease and mental health indicators (65%); and (5) postponement of medical specialist consultations (51%). Regarding mental health, three themes emerged: (1) increased symptoms of anxiety, distress, and depression (89%); (2) the experience of traumatic situations (61%); and (3) the augmented use of alcohol or drugs (56%). Finally, the following changes in behavior were indicated: (1) frustrated behavior (92%); (2) emotional explosions (79%); and (3) changes in sleeping and eating behaviors (43%). Access to health services may have influenced the mental health and behavior of older adults, hence interventions in a pandemic must address their interactions with health services, their needs, and their well-being.
This study aimed to explore the affective relationship of older adults with their pets during the COVID-19 pandemic; and to assess how this contributed to their mental health. This qualitative study ...included 351 participants aged 65-88 years from Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Spain. All interviews went through content analysis. Findings indicated five themes: (1) Enabling a meaningful affective relationship (86%); (2) Strengthening affective sharing with partner (68%); (3) Easing new affective relationships (61%); (4) Enhancing sensory stimuli and physical touch (55%); and; (5) Feeling physical pleasure (23%). Three main themes emerged from the content analysis regarding the second objective: (1) Fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms (73%); (2) Fewer feelings of loneliness (68%); and (3) Fewer mood swings (43%). The affective relationship between older adults and their pets was relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic since it solidified affective relationships with their partners and fostered the creation of new relationships. Additionally, it contributed to a deeper affective relationship with themselves, in terms of sensory stimuli, physical touch, and physical pleasure. Owning a pet improved mental health symptoms, namely those associated with depression, anxiety, and mood swings.
Objective
This study aims to analyze how older adults express themselves sexually. For this purpose, a qualitative research was carried out, which analyzes their perspectives at a cross-cultural ...level.
Methods
Four hundred ninety-five older participants, aged 65 to 98 years, were interviewed. Participants were of three different nationalities and lived in the community. All the interviews went through the process of verbatim transcription and subsequent content analysis.
Results
A content analysis produced nine themes: tenderness and care (
k
= .91,
p
< .01); altruism and gratitude (
k
= .81,
p
< .01); attractiveness (
k
= 94,
p
< .01); positive communication (
k
= .89,
p
< .01); sexual activity (
k
= .88,
p
< .01); good health and physical condition (
k
= .96,
p
< .01); supportive relationship (
k
= .84,
p
< .01); eroticism (
k
= .94,
p
< .01); and feeling active and alive (
k
= .92,
p
< .01).
Conclusions
This study stressed different ways on expressing sexuality in old age and underlined the importance of tenderness and care and eroticism for older adults who are sexually active.
Background
Throughout the COVID‐19 pandemic, older Canadians were the most at risk of severe physical harm, including death, and their return to post‐COVID life was expected to be especially ...anxiety‐provoking. A study was conducted to obtain nationally representative evidence of older Canadians' self‐perceived anxiety levels and their strategies to manage or mitigate it as public health restrictions were lifting.
Materials and Methods
This study had a cross‐sectional descriptive design. An e‐survey was used to collect data from 1327 Canadians aged 60+ stratified by age, sex, and education to resemble the larger general population. Participants completed the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS‐10) and indicated which of the 16 Centre for Addictions and Mental Health's (2022) Coping with Stress and Anxiety strategies they were using to manage or mitigate their anxiety when social distancing was lifting. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis were used to explore the data.
Results
While, on average, older Canadians were mildly anxious, nearly one‐quarter of responders rated their anxiety as severe. Age, sex, perceived health, were statistically significant correlates of anxiety. Six coping strategies were associated with significantly lower anxiety scores. Moreover, accepting some fear and anxiety as normal, challenging worries and anxious thoughts, and practising relaxation/meditation appeared to increase anxiety.
Conclusion
Older Canadians used multiple strategies to manage or mitigate their anxiety, and seemingly, with more successful than detrimental tries. Practitioners have much to learn and understand about older people's mental health promotion efforts after social distancing, now and for future pandemics.
The present study intends to analyze older adult perspectives on what determines sexual satisfaction in old age. Four hundred and twenty-one non-institutionalized older parti- 10 cipants from three ...different nationalities aged 65 to 97 years were interviewed. All narratives were submitted to content analysis. This study's outcome originated five themes: positive communication (k =.94, p <.01); supportive partner (k =.82, p <.01); feeling attractive (k = 81, p <.01); good sexual activity (k =.97, p <.01); and eroticism (k =.98, p <.01). 15 This study highlighted different determinants of sexual satisfaction in old age and emphasized the importance of positive communication and a supportive partner for older adults.
At the beginning of July 2022, when public health restrictions were lifted, we deployed a country-wide e-survey about how older people were managing now after COVID-19 pandemic-related anxiety. Our ...responder sample was stratified by age, sex, and education to approximate the Canadian population. E-survey responders were asked to share open-text messages about what contemporaries could do to live less socially isolated lives at this tenuous turning point following the pandemic as the COVID-19 virus still lingered. Contracting COVID-19 enhanced older Canadians’ risk for being hospitalized and/or mortality risk. Messages were shared by 1189 of our 1327 e-survey responders. Content analysis revealed the following four calls to action: (1) cultivating community; (2) making room for what is good; (3) not letting your guard down; and (4) voicing out challenges. Responders with no chronic illnesses were more likely to endorse making room for what is good. Those with no diploma, degree, or certificate least frequently instructed others to not let their guard down. While COVID-19 is no longer a major public health risk, a worrisome proportion of older people across the globe are still living socially isolated. We encourage health and social care practitioners and older people to share messages identified in this study with more isolated persons.
Adjustment to aging (AtA) is a multifactor adjustment process with implications on aging well among older adults. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale to assess the factors that ...older adults recognized as indicators of their AtA, with a cross-national comparative perspective towards aging well. Convenience sampling was used to gather questionnaire data, including demographics and the proposed scale. Complete data was available for 1,291 older community-dwelling adults, aged between 75 and 102 years (M = 83.9; SD = 6.68), who represented four different nationalities. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed for dimension reduction and exploration of the factorial structure. Data gathered with the 22-items AtA five-factor scale showed overall good psychometric properties (in terms of distributional properties, statistical significant factor weights, factorial, convergent, discriminant criterion and external-related validities, as well as reliability). Five factors were selected for the Adjustment to Aging Scale: (a) sense of purpose and ambitions (b) zest and spirituality; (c) body and health; (d) aging in place and stability; and (e) social support. We present a 22-item scale with five factors for AtA estimation in a cross-national elderly population which produced valid and reliable data for elder persons from four different nationalities. Results showed that this scale is an adequate cross-cultural instrument for research, clinical practice and program development in the health care context. These may benefit from clearly understanding AtA as an important component for reducing health disparities and for aging well, across nationalities.
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