Finnish Seniors’ Move to a Senior House: Examining the Push and Pull Factors

The purpose of this article is to explore the factors influencing residential decisions of Finnish seniors. Analysis draws on qualitative data gathered from in-depth interviews and open-ended survey questions completed by 37 seniors living in three independent living facilities in Finland. Content analysis was used to identify key factors pushing residents out of their former living situations and pulling them into their respective independent living facility. Analysis indicates that different senior houses attract different types of residents. Nevertheless, as a group, they reported similar motivational factors relating to community, physical, and social environments and to their personal circumstances.     

Chapter 3. Housing Older Canadians

ABSTRACT

Reflecting a world-wide trend toward avoidance of institutionahzation and the fostering of aging in place in the community, a range of housing alternatives has been developed for older persons in Canada. This paper examines: (1) current patterns of housing and living arrangements of older Canadians; (2) philosophies that have dominated policy and production of housing for seniors for the last 30 years; and (3) seniors' preferences and utilization rates of various options. Data sources include the 1991 census and two cross-Canada studies, one urban and one rural, in which seniors were asked about their housing and related support service needs, usage patterns and preferences. The paper concludes with a discussion of emerging trends blending shelter and services and of policy gaps that need to be addressed in meeting the future housing needs of older Canadians.     

Senior centers in the era of the “Third Age:” Country clubs, community centers, or something else?

This study explored how senior center employees conceptualize their work and organizational mission. Unstructured interviews with multiple service providers (N = 32) and participant observation in one center reveal a growing emphasis on selling individualized lifestyles to young, healthy, and active seniors, as opposed to a more communal, intergenerational approach. In interviews, service providers talked about “community” in vague and ambiguous terms. At the same time, the philosophy of some providers was informed by a well-developed discourse of individual choice. In discussing needed resources and future goals, service providers spoke to the difficulty of appealing to different cohorts of seniors, but focused primarily on the needs of young seniors and expressed a desire to combat the “image problem” of senior centers. These trends have potentially negative implications for intergenerational community and the developmental passages of seniors. Nevertheless, centers offer many opportunities for seniors to forge connections and bridge differences, and the study concludes with some suggestions for building on these existing resources.     

Women with disabilities in the North West province of Cameroon: resilient and deserving of greater attention

Cameroonian women living with disabilities face three‐fold discrimination as a result of their sex, perceived inability and low socio‐economic status. A needs assessment using focus groups (two focus groups, n = 24) and key participant interviews (n = 12) was conducted to explore the experiences of women with disabilities in the North West province in both urban and rural areas. The findings show that women faced both physical and attitudinal barriers, lived in poverty and felt that they lacked opportunities for gaining an education, finding employment and forming meaningful social ties. There was significant complexity of relationships, marriage and children in their lives. Participants generated ideas on changes that needed to be made for the betterment of their lives. Aspirations included increasing empowerment and education, gaining support from family and friends, increasing public awareness, adapting the physical environment and finding allies.     

Collaboration for community-based wildlife management

Perhaps as remarkable as the general upsurge in public interest in wildlife over the last 30 years is the trend toward greater community-based wildlife management since the late 1980s. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities at the local, community scale of collaboration for wildlife management. We explain how collaborative activity between the professional wildlife manager and community stakeholders can lead to improved identification of human-wildlife interactions and better understanding of wildlife-related impacts that are of primary management concern in the community. Community-based collaborative decision making can also effectively result in the specification of management actions that are acceptable to a community. Furthermore, agency-community collaboration can lead to co-management that goes beyond stakeholder input or involvement in decision making about management objectives and actions, and includes appropriate sharing of responsibility for implementation and evaluation. A growing role for the wildlife agency in such situations is facilitating the development of local capacity by filling information and process needs so that individuals and groups in a community can participate effectively in collaborative efforts appropriate to the necessary level of agency-community engagement. This opportunity for the wildlife profession promises to be rewarding and have lasting positive influence on communities for the benefit of wildlife management. However, most agencies cannot address every issue at a community level. Public wildlife managers need guidelines for judgment about when to engage in community-based wildlife management. They need to assess various risks associated with not engaging in a particular issue and to prioritize the potential situations where various degrees of community engagement may be desirable. This paper highlights these intriguing challenges and opportunities associated with community-based wildlife management. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Caring for orphans and vulnerable children in a context of poverty and cultural Transition: A case study of a group foster homes program in Burkina Faso

This paper analyses the functional dynamic of a group foster homes-based program in Burkina Faso and its potential to meet the developmental needs of children. Data were collected through field observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Findings suggest that this community-based program combines institutional care and extended family networks. Orphaned, abandoned, and vulnerable children were brought together in foster homes, each headed by a non-relative woman and supported by the program operator. The program guaranteed the basic needs of children as specified by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The nutritional status that is indicative of the overall well-being in emergency seems to be better than the average children of Burkina Faso, suggesting that basic vital needs of children were met. Familial ties are also developed between each family member. Children have the opportunity to interact with community, therefore preparing them for social life. Despite some limitations, mainly due to the lack of psychological support, the program achieves its objectives of caring for children and provides a familial environment for orphans. Therefore, many organizations caring for orphans in Africa through institutional settings might learn from this experience in terms of management style, parenting, and connections with relatives and community.     

Linking Elderly to Holistic Care Services through Integrated Communication Technology: The Personal Emergency Link Service Rendered by the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association in Hong Kong

Through a Personal Emergency Link system, the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association has rendered 24-hour care to more than 111,000 service users in Hong Kong who are mostly vulnerable seniors and chronic invalids living alone or living with their elderly spouses/caregivers only. This article will describe how the Personal Emergency Link system is used to link seniors living in the community. Measures taken to prevent failure of the system will be described. With the use of different technology applications, many human touches and warm caregiving are rendered to the elderly and needy.     

The Wisdom of Non-Heterosexually Based Senior Housing and Related Services

Abstract

Understanding the housing needs of non-heterosexual seniors will improve the delivery of social services to more than 3 million gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors in the United States and aid in the development of new service-enriched housing models for the benefit of all service dependent populations. The feasibility and demand for non-heterosexually based senior housing and related services, however, has received negligible attention. This study is a first step and San Francisco is an ideal place to begin because of the community of non-heterosexual seniors, the City's housing market, the social service resources available to seniors, in general, and the social service delivery technology evolving in response to the AIDS crisis.     

Quality of life of older people in Israel: a comparison between older people living at home who are members of a ‘supportive community’ and nursing home residents

The supportive community is a program that was developed in Israel for older people who live at home. The program provides its members with a service package that includes medical and social services, emergency call-button, cultural activities, and a ‘community parent’ who is responsible for the members. Using quantitative method, this study compared the level of quality of life between 55 older people living in their homes who are members of a supportive community (average age = 74.7) and 60 elderly people living in nursing homes (average age = 75.8). As expected, results indicate that quality of life among the older people living at their homes who are members of a supportive community was higher than among the older people living in a nursing home. In addition, the quality of life of married, educated, functionally independent older people in good health and with a good economic situation was higher. Predictor variables of quality of life were: the place of residence, health status, and age. In light of increased life expectancy and the growing need to care for the older population, the practical application of the study focused on a recommendation for the social services to continue the support community development program.     

The accommodation and support needs of people with a mental illness: A process and framework for action

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a consumer-focused assessment of the accommodation and support needs of people with a mental illness living in a regional city. The study utilises a 'pathway to stability' approach to assess the phase-contingent accommodation and support needs of mental health consumers through interviews and focus groups with consumers, carers and service providers. The study identifies five broad phases of the life course impacted by mental illness—beginnings, long-term needs become clearer, instability as needs evolve, finding stability and ongoing. Five key issues—information, self-competence, comorbidity, coordination and flexibility were expanded upon in focus groups. Principles for planning future service delivery are identified. The implications of the findings and research methodology for social work practice and research are discussed.     

Distance as a barrier to using a fitness-program benefit for managed Medicare enrollees

This study evaluated the effect of distance on the likelihood of initiating and maintaining regular use of a fitness-program benefit in a population of managed Medicare seniors. We studied 8,162 participants and nonparticipants in a managed-care fitness-program benefit: a structured group exercise program or an unstructured health-club membership. Participants in both programs lived significantly closer to facilities than nonparticipants did (structured, p < .001; unstructured, p = .017). Participants living closer to unstructured-program sites attended more frequently than those farther away (p = .008). Distance was not correlated with frequency of use in the structured program (p = .49). Collectively, these analyses demonstrate that distance is related to uptake and, in some cases, continued use of a fitness-program benefit. Health systems providing fitness-program benefits as a way to increase physical activity levels of their plan members should consider location of program facilities in relation to members' home addresses to maximize use of the benefit.     

Parent–Child Coresidence: Who Moves in With Whom and for Whose Needs?

Using administrative data on all adult children living in The Netherlands age 30–40 and their parents (N = 1,999,700), we investigated the extent to which situations and events associated with the support needs and privacy needs of either generation determine intergenerational coresidence and the transition to coresidence. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that both generations' support needs increased the likelihood of coresidence and of a move of the generation in need into the other's home. Turning to privacy needs, we found that coresidence and the transition to coresidence was less likely when a partner or stepparent was present and more likely when the adult child was a never‐married single parent.     

Editorial

Immigrants from Asian countries who are living in Canada are more likely to live with extended families than Canadian-born seniors. This article focuses on the living arrangements of 161 South Asian immigrant seniors in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and examines the relative importance of various factors that influence living arrangements. Demographic characteristics were associated with living arrangements; seniors who immigrated when they were young and were married were the most likely to live independently. Logistic regression analyses suggest that economic and cultural factors were more important than health and availability of kin factors in explaining living arrangements, after controlling for demographic and immigration variables.     

Implementing Multidisciplinary Wellness Programs in Subsidized Housing: University–Community Partnerships

University–community partnerships (UCPs) are an important avenue for providing wellness services to seniors in subsidized housing, but there is sparse literature on this topic. The goals of this article are to (a) describe our UCP, which was unique in involving ethnically diverse older adults, and (b) discuss findings of an integrative literature review of UCP examples in subsidized housing. Results showed that UCPs typically received funding for program development and implementation; used multidisciplinary approaches to needs assessment and programming; and reported positive outcomes such as improvement in self-rated health or participant endorsements. This article provides insights and guidance for future UCPs that are much needed in subsidized housing.     

Geographic Migration Among Residents in Seniors Housing and Care Communities: Evidence From the Residents Financial Survey

ABSTRACT

Although the elderly as a while show relatively little geographic migration in the U.S., we were interested in the geographic migration patterns among a specific subset of elderly that we know have moved out of the traditional family home—those living in assisted living and independent living communities. We analyze data from the Residents Financial Survey, a survey of 2,617 residents in assisted living and independent living communities that asked about their previous living arrangement, where they lived before moving to their current community, and how their care needs were previously met. We find there is substantial migration among respondents. Using self-reported and community-reported location and zip code information, we calculated whether people moved across state lines and we computed the distance people moved between their previous location and their current community. While the median distance moved is less than 10 miles, 20% moved across state lines and 21% of the sample moved more than 100 miles, with the average distance moved among the sample being 165 to 190 miles. The evolution of living arrangements shows that there are strong correlations among respondents' current living arrangements, previous living arrangements, and their plan to move in the future.     

Narratives of risk communication: Nudging community residents to shelter-in-place

Community emergency response has received researcher’s attention within the academic and professional risk management and communication community. Such studies help residents to be as safe as sound science, professional emergency management (including risk migration), and public communication can accomplish. Once designed and implemented, emergency response campaigns are monitored to determine what strategies work best to inform, alert and motivate vulnerable populations to make wise preventive (precrisis) emergency responses. Framed as such, this study reports data from a quasi-longitudinal analysis of community emergency management communication in one of the USA communities most at risk for chemical release/exposure. It probes the protective action decision-making motivational efficacy of a spokes-character named Wally Wise Guy. Previous research has demonstrated that knowledge of Wally and its protective response (including shelter-in-place) messaging is a strong predictor of community members’ preferred protective action and willingness to engage in such action once alerted to do so. This current study uses narrative theory, augmented by nudge theory, to further examine why Wally’s advice is useful in community emergency response. In specific, it asks whether Wally, a turtle spokes-character, nudges citizens to know and comply with emergency management advisories to shelter-in-place as notified.     

Low skeletal muscle mass index is associated with function and nutritional status in residents in a Turkish nursing home

Introduction: To determine the prevalence of low muscle mass (LMM) and the relationship between LMM with functional and nutritional status as defined using the LMM evaluation method of European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) criteria among male residents in a nursing home.

Methods: Male residents aged?>60 years of a nursing home located in Turkey were included in our study. Their body mass index (BMI) kg/m², skeletal muscle mass (SMM-kg) and skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI-kg/m²) were calculated. The participants were regarded as having low SMMI if they had SMMI?<9.2?kg/m² according to our population specific cut-off point. Functional status was evaluated with Katz activities of daily living (ADL) and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). Nutritional assessment was performed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). The number of drugs taken and chronic diseases were recorded.

Results: One hundred fifty-seven male residents were enrolled into the study. Their mean age was 73.1?±?6.7 years with mean ADL score of 8.9?±?2.0 and IADL score of 8.7?±?4.6. One hundred twelve (71%) residents were aged?>70 years. Thirty-five men (23%) had low SMMI in group aged?>60 years, and twenty-eight subjects (25%) in the group aged?>70 years. MNA scores were significantly lower in residents with low SMMI compared with having normal SMMI (17.1?±?3.4 versus 19.6?±?2.5, p?=?0.005). BMI was significantly lower in the residents with low SMMI compared with normal SMMI (19.6?±?2.7 versus 27.1?±?4.1, p70 years (8.1?±?2.6 versus 9.1?±?1.6, p?=?0.014). In regression analyses, the only factor associated with better functional status was the lower age (p?=?0.04) while the only factor associated with better nutrition was higher SMMI (p?=?0.01).

Conclusions: Low SMMI detected by LMM evaluation method of EWGSOP criteria is prevalent among male nursing home residents. There is association of low SMMI with nutritional status and probably with functional status within the nursing home setting using the EWGSOP criteria with Turkish normative reference cut-off value.     

Association Fellows' Luncheon Address: Maintaining Purpose in a Changing Environment

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the motivational factors and the barriers to physical activity (PA) in traditional college students (TS) and nontraditional college students (NTS) and determine if differences exist between these 2 groups. Participants: A total of 746 college students; 628 were TS (19.1 ± 1.2 years), and 118 were NTS (31.2 ± 8.6 years). Methods: In fall 2010, students voluntarily completed a demographic questionnaire, Barriers to Being Active Quiz, and Exercise Motivations Inventory–2 (EMI-2). Results: EMI-2 revealed that TS and NTS differed on 8 of the 14 motivational factors for exercise. There was a significant difference between TS and NTS for the following barriers: fear of injury (p = .001), lack of resources (p = .017), and lack of skill (p = .003). Conclusion: Based on these findings, interventions can be developed for the varied needs of a diverse student population as it pertains to PA participation.     

The Multisurface Obstacle Test for Older Adults (MSOT): development and reliability of a novel test for older adults

Locomotion is an essential component of independence and well-being at old age. Performance deficits in the gait of older adults most often become evident on multisurface and varying terrains. Research results substantiate that falls occur in everyday movement situations that are characterized by instability. A test track, the Multisurface Obstacle Test for Older Adults (MSOT), was developed to diagnose individual performance. The 10-m track consists of different obstacles and varying surfaces, which represent everyday movement situations in a compact way. Twenty-nine untrained, healthy older adults (11 men, 18 women) were tested on three different days at 1-week intervals in a test–retest design by the same conductor. Mean age of the participants was 68.8?±?5.3 years with a mean body mass index of 24.4?±?2.5 kg/m². The measured outcome variable was the required time (seconds) on the MSOT. The feasibility for the tested sample of untrained older adults was very good. The MSOT was undertaken safely by the participants, and no falls occurred. The range of the mean for time was between 8.12?±?1.53 s and 9.00?±?1.62 s. Regarding intertrial reliability, mean differences (MD) of ?3.39 to ?5.52 % and coefficients of variation (CV) of 2.72 to 4.19 % between the first and second trials and MD of ?0.69 to ?0.85 % and CV of 2.57 to 4.54 % over the three test sessions were observed. The correlation coefficients between the sessions were .92–.98. There were significant differences (p?<?.05) between the first and second trials of each session and between the first and second sessions. The smallest detectable differences (SDD) revealed that a small improvement is enough to detect changes in performance in the MSOT. Selecting tasks from real-life situations of older adults contributes to substantiate practical usability of the MSOT. The measured time on the MSOT showed high relative and absolute reliability in the target group of older adults between 60 and 80 years.