Sensory Loss

Hearing and vision losses are among the most corn- rnon chronic conditions affecting elderly people. Individually, each loss can be a major threat to independence and the quality of life; the combined loss of both hearing and vision creates a whole new world-muffled, blurred, and disorienting. Traditionally, social work- ers have left issues of sensory loss lo the rehabilitation specialists. Yet sensory loss is a psychosocial problem, and social workers have a great deal to offer. This paper describes a demonstration project in which a social worker coordinated the work of specialists in two agencies, provided direct service, and identified some ways in which social workers in a variety of settings might address Ihe service needs of this large and growing population.     

Conducting longitudinal research with older widows: Exploring personal communities through multiple methods

This article reports on the process of undertaking a longitudinal multiple methods study with older women experiencing the transition of later-life widowhood. Three qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 26 older widows in North Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Interviews included the use of personal community diagrams to identify the structure of personal communities and Christmas and Christmas cards to further explore social relationships and practices during transition. Examples of cases are given to illustrate the findings derived from the methods employed. The cases demonstrate the diverse and often paradoxical nature of social relationships within similar networks.     

Narratives and self-identity in later life: Two rural American older women

Older adults often draw on memories to construct stories about themselves that help them to retain and validate their self-identities, doing this within the cultural contexts that have shaped their lives. In this paper, we examine the life history narratives of two working class, rural American older women and the ways in which those narratives are similar despite one major difference: one has dementia. In both cases, major themes that are consistent with gender-based, working class, rural American cultural values are dominant, including closeness of family, hard work, ties to the land, and religious faith. In the first case, she reconstructs memories of her life in accordance with dominant cultural and personal values, downplaying the ways in which her experiences were “out of step” with these values. In the second case, her sense of identity remains and is expressed through her co-constructed memories although she is experiencing cognitive loss.     

昆山市未婚青年生殖健康同伴教育干预研究

依托昆山市计划生育服务网络,采用准实验研究设计方案,在未婚青年高度集中的外资企业进行了为期8个月的生殖健康同伴教育干预,把避孕和性病/艾滋病预防知识传播到未婚青年中去。结果显示,在干预活动之后,干预组未婚青年的相关知识显著增加,相关态度也有明显的正向变化,在有性行为的未婚青年当中,使用安全套的比例也显著增加。而对照组没有发生明显的变化。研究证明,在未婚青年中进行生殖健康同伴教育,是中国基层计划生育服务网络进一步向现代企业延伸,促进未婚青年生殖健康的有效服务方式。     

Elders' attitudes toward extending the healthy life span

Despite continuing debate between anti-aging researchers seeking major life span extension and concerned gerontologists and bioethicists, elders' views have received little research attention. Study aimed to relate elders' attitudes toward strong life span extension to psychosocial and background factors. Participants were 109 American elders (65% women) aged 60-99 (M = 77.08, SD = 9.05). Measures included attitudes toward living long and living forever, Desired Age, Death Acceptance, Goal Seeking, Internality, and background variables (age, gender, marital status, education, religion, health). Attitudes were more positive toward an extended life span than living forever (p < .01). In regression analyses, more positive attitudes were related to greater Desired Age, less Death Acceptance, greater Goal Seeking, and greater Internality, and to lower age and non-Christian religious affiliation. Qualitative analyses explored goals for various periods of additional life. Elders' positive attitudes toward extended life need consideration by experts debating this issue.     

How students evaluate university programmes for older people: A comparison between two models in Spain

This study examines how older students evaluate the University Programme for Older People (UPOP) they participate in, and how such evaluation might vary depending on the type of UPOP. The sample was made up of 257 older students (mean age = 67.6 years) and was gathered from two UPOP models, one structured as Older People Classrooms (134 participants) and the second one as University of Experience (123 participants). Participants completed a questionnaire evaluating different dimensions of the programme and two incomplete sentences to identify its weak and strong points. Overall, results suggest that older students are very satisfied with the educational experience. Apart from attracting a different profile of student (younger and more involved), University of Experience students seem to give more importance to methodological issues when compared to Older People Classroom counterparts. These results are discussed in the context of new strategies to improve university courses aimed at older people.     

The subjective dimension of social isolation: A qualitative investigation of older adults' experiences in small social support networks

In the aging literature, social isolation has been primarily defined in terms of reduced support network size and low frequency of social contacts. Having a small social support network is associated with social isolation and an increased risk of physical and emotional vulnerability. However, this conceptualization ignores the contributions of a host of other factors, including life experiences, family dynamics, and long-term patterns of socialization. This paper argues that alongside quantitative assessments of support systems, the application of a life course perspective is needed to understand small social networks as lived experience. We report on findings from 28 in-depth interviews with older adults identified as being at risk of social isolation on the basis of the self-reported size of their social networks. We discuss these participants' experiences in the context of significant life course transitions such as marriage and widowhood.     

To Retire or Not to Retire: Is There an Option for Older Workers in Hong Kong?

Over the next thirty years, Hong Kong will have a rapidly ageing population. One possible consequence of this will be a labour shortage, which means that it will be essential to strike a proper balance between the amount of time spent in work and the amount spent in retirement in old age. The balance is determined by the interaction between the aspiration of workers, employers’ attitudes to older workers, as well as the productivity of the labour force. In this article, we examine the issue based on life‐course theory and we argue that the compartmentalization of education, work and retirement must be broken by changes in social policy. We identify three groups of future older adults in the coming three decades: those who may be forced to retire early in their fifties, those who plan to retire in their sixties, and those who will continue to work until they can no longer work. The current situations of these groups are described, and social policies that are related to retirement pension scheme, age discrimination, life‐long education, and flexible work arrangements are suggested to weaken the age structuring of education and employment institutions. Our ultimate objective is to create a societal environment in which older workers have a real option either to work or to retire in the coming decades.     

Individual- and Contextual-Level Factors Affecting the Use of Social Support Services among Older Adults

ABSTRACT

By 2060, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to more than double, while the number of Americans aged 85 and older is expected to nearly triple. As the nation's aging population grows, older adults will need to rely on social support services, such as transportation and housing services, in order to remain active and lead independent lives. In this study we use data collected from the elderly supplement of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey (SPHHS) (n = 3,042) to explore the relationship between the availability of elderly specific social service providers and utilization of social support services among older adults. We find that while the number of elderly specific social service providers can increase use of social support services among older adults, its impact is relatively minimal. We find that individual factors, instead, are stronger predictors of service use. This is a finding that should be particularly encouraging for elder care providers who may not have the resources needed to undertake large structural changes (like building new facilities). Still, future research should explore how the availability of a broader range of elderly specific social services (than explored in this study) impacts use.     

Choice,Competition and Care – Developments in English Social Care and the Impacts on Providers and Older Users of Home Care Services

This article critically examines recent changes in markets for home (domiciliary) care services in England. During the 1990s, the introduction of competition between private (for‐profit and charitable) organizations and local authority providers of long‐term care services aimed to create a ‘mixed economy’ of supply. More recently, care markets have undergone further reforms through the introduction of direct payments and personal budgets. Underpinned by discourses of user choice, these mechanisms aim to offer older people increased control over the public resources for their care, thereby introducing further competitive pressures within local care markets. The article presents early evidence of these changes on:

• The commissioning and contracting of home care services by local authorities and individual older people.
• The experiences and outcomes for individual older people using home care services.

Drawing on evidence from two recent empirical studies, the article describes how the new emphasis on choice and competition is being operationalized within six local care markets. There are suggestions of small increases in user agency and in opportunities for older people to receive more personalized home care, in which the quality of care‐giving relationships can also be optimized. However, the article also presents early evidence of increases in risk and costs associated with the expansion of competition and choice, both for organizations providing home care services and for individual older service users.