Healthy ageing and home: The perspectives of very old people in five European countries

This paper reports on in-depth research, using a grounded theory approach, to examine the ways in which very old people perceive healthy ageing in the context of living alone at home within urban settings in five European countries. This qualitative study was part of a cross-national project entitled ENABLE-AGE which examined the relationship between home and healthy ageing. Interviews explored the notion of healthy ageing, the meaning and importance of home, conceptualisations of independence and autonomy and links between healthy ageing and home. Data analysis identified five ways in which older people constructed healthy ageing: home and keeping active; managing lifestyles, health and illness; balancing social life; and balancing material and financial circumstances. Older people reflected on their everyday lives at home in terms of being engaged in purposeful, meaningful action and evaluated healthy ageing in relation to the symbolic and practical affordances of the home, contextualised within constructions of their national context. The research suggests that older people perceive healthy ageing as an active achievement, created through individual, personal effort and supported through social ties despite the health, financial and social decline associated with growing older. The physicality and spatiality of home provided the context for establishing and evaluating the notion of healthy ageing, whilst the experienced relationship between home, life history and identity created a meaningful space within which healthy ageing was negotiated

'Working our way to health': Final Evaluation Report

This summary presents the findings of an independent evaluation of the ‘Working our Way to Health’ programme. This programme was delivered by Sefton PCT, funded through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, and was aimed at improving the health of men in three of the most deprived wards in its locality. It aimed to encourage men to be health aware and increase access to health and leisure services in order to improve key lifestyle behaviours and advance gender equity. The programme included: • Community agency and health staff training • Peer mentoring programme • Healthy lifestyle programme It aimed to promote community partnerships to assist the expansion of health advice and services into a new community arena and engage a previously unattainable section of the male population in healthier lifestyle interventions

Social support for South Asian Muslim parents with life-limiting illness living in Scotland:a multiperspective qualitative study

Objective: To explore experiences of social support needs among South Asian Muslim patients with life-limiting illness, living in Scotland, who are parents of young children. Design: Secondary analysis of data from a multiperspective, longitudinal Scottish study involving in-depth semistructured interviews with patients, their nominated carers and healthcare professionals. Data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Setting: Edinburgh, Scotland. Participants: South-Asian Muslim patients with life-limiting illness with children under the age of 18 (n=8), their carer (n=6) and their healthcare professional. Main outcome measures Access and provision of social support in palliative care. Results: Open-ended qualitative interviews identified four main themes: (1) parental sadness over being unable to provide tangible support; (2) parental desire to continue to provide emotional support; (3) limited availability of informal social support networks; and (4) differing perspectives between healthcare professionals and patients on patient access to social support sources, with a subtheme being the capacity of male carers to provide social support. South-Asian parents at the end of life had limited access to extended-network support. Gender roles appeared as challenging for healthcare providers who at times overestimated the amount of support a female carer could provide and underestimated the amount of support male carers provided. Implications for practice include the need for greater awareness by healthcare providers of the social support needs of ethnic minority and migrant parents with life-limiting illnesses and especially an awareness of the importance of the role of male and female carers. Further research is needed to explore how the timing of migration impacts the need for and availability of tangible and emotional informal social support among ethnic minority parents with life-limiting illness

Promoting Men's Health: Addressing Barriers to Healthy Lifestyle and Preventive Health Care

The workshop upon which this report is based drew prominent behavioral and social researchers in men's health and related fields together to develop a consensus about men's health care needs and the ways society and our culture create barriers to the development of healthy lifestyles. It examines the sources of denial and how it and related attitudes can be changed, and develops recommendations to address clinical practice, intervention, communications, and policy issues related to men's health. Identifies gender as a significant factor influencing public health

'A boy would be friends with boys... and a girl... with girls' : gender norms in early adolescent friendships in Egypt and Belgium

Purpose: A gender analysis was conducted to illuminate the key elements of friendships highlighted by early adolescent girls and boys in two sites for the purpose of better understanding the impact of gender norms on adolescent friendships in different contexts. Methods: Narrative interviews with early adolescents were conducted in two sites: Assiut, Egypt (n = 37) and Ghent, Belgium (n = 30). The interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated into English, and coded using Atlas.ti for analysis. Results: In both Assiut and Ghent, early adolescents reported some similarities in defining key characteristics of their same-sex friends as well as in the activities they share. However, differences were noticed among boys and girls within each site. In addition, the scope of shared activity was broader in Ghent than in Assiut. In both sites, few opposite-sex friendships were reported. Gender norms influenced choice of friends as well as the type and place of shared activities. Conclusions: Building on knowledge that adolescent friendships guide and reinforce attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that impact immediate and long-term health, our findings indicate that gender norms inform early adolescent friendships, which may impact healthy development

Neural Dedifferentiation in Relation to Risk for Alzheimer\u27s Disease

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research indicates that as an individual\u27s age increases, the task-related spatial extent of neural activation increases. This decrease in neural specificity, or dedifferentiation, is often demonstrated by older adults during challenging cognitive tasks. Cognitively intact individuals at-risk for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD), as deemed by having an apolipoprotein-E ε4 allele or a family history of AD, demonstrate increased fMRI activation as compared to individuals at lower risk. Using a low effort, high accuracy event-related semantic memory task involving the presentation of famous and non-famous names, we examined spatial neural specificity through a measure of dedifferentiation using fMRI. In particular, the goal was to look at degree of dedifferentiation between older healthy subjects with or without risk factors for AD. Our results indicated that while there was not a significant difference between the two groups on the total amount of neural dedifferentiation, there was a significant interaction between stimulus type and risk group. Individuals at-risk for AD displayed greater dedifferentiation for non-famous names yet greater differentiation (i.e., less dedifferentiation) for famous names as compared to the low-risk group. These findings may reflect disturbances in memory formation for individuals at-risk for AD

Changing cultural pathways through gender role and sexual development: A theoretical framework

Greenfield's theory linking sociodemographic change to dynamic cultural values for family interdependence versus individual independence is applied to sexual and gender role socialization and development. The theory explains how cultural pathways for sexual and gender-role development transform in concert with sociodemographic changes: urbanization, formal schooling, capitalism, and communication technologies. As environments become more urban, commercial, and technological, with more opportunities for formal education, sexual development moves away from the ideals of procreation and family responsibility and toward the ideals of personal pleasure and personal responsibility. At the same time, gender-role development moves away from the ideals of complementary and ascribed gender roles and toward chosen and equal gender roles. We present psychological, anthropological, and sociological evidence for these trends in a variety of communities undergoing social and ecological change. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association

Well-Being Throughout the Senior Years: An Issues Paper on Key Events and Transitions in Later Life

Social Development Canada’s mission is “to strengthen Canada’s social foundations by supporting the well-being of individuals, families and communities and their participation through citizen focused policies, programs and services” (Social Development Canada 2005a). Well-being is a concept that goes beyond good health to encompass physical and mental fitness as well as social fitness (being able to perform one’s social roles and the demands of everyday living adequately). As people age, they experience a number of transitions in their lives. They may retire, change residence, loose a spouse, become a caregiver, and/or develop a health problem or disability. These transitions, especially when they occur around the same time, may impact on their well-being and independence and prevent them from being contributing members of society. This paper summarizes the research on what we currently know about the key events and transitions experienced by seniors, their impacts, and the resources seniors have or need to successfully cope with these events throughout the senior years. It will also review what we know about opportunities, gaps or barriers in accessing social support programs and service delivery designed to assist seniors in coping successfully with adverse events and life transitions. Issues to be considered include availability, access and costs of community support and home health care services. Finally, the paper will attempt to provide potential policy research directions to address current knowledge gaps. This is an extensive literature, and we have limited the scope by focusing on the last 10 years of Canadian research published in Journals and by Statistics Canada. We have favored research based on national studies in this review, though there are many excellent case studies and qualitative studies that add texture to our knowledge. Recognizing that the senior population is a very heterogeneous group, this review will examine (where the research permits) differences by senior life-course stages, and other target groups such as women, the disabled, visible minority, immigrants, Aboriginal peoples, sub-regions, low income, and persons living alone. This review of the literature has shown that while we have basic information about many of the transitions in seniors’ lives, there is very little information about the various life course stages or about various sub groups of society.health and well-being, retirement, marital transitions, care-giving, homecare

Well-Being Throughout the Senior Years: An Issues Paper on Key Events and Transitions in Later Life

Social Development Canada’s mission is “to strengthen Canada’s social foundations by supporting the well-being of individuals, families and communities and their participation through citizen focused policies, programs and services” (Social Development Canada 2005a). Well-being is a concept that goes beyond good health to encompass physical and mental fitness as well as social fitness (being able to perform one’s social roles and the demands of everyday living adequately). As people age, they experience a number of transitions in their lives. They may retire, change residence, loose a spouse, become a caregiver, and/or develop a health problem or disability. These transitions, especially when they occur around the same time, may impact on their well-being and independence and prevent them from being contributing members of society. This paper summarizes the research on what we currently know about the key events and transitions experienced by seniors, their impacts, and the resources seniors have or need to successfully cope with these events throughout the senior years. It will also review what we know about opportunities, gaps or barriers in accessing social support programs and service delivery designed to assist seniors in coping successfully with adverse events and life transitions. Issues to be considered include availability, access and costs of community support and home health care services. Finally, the paper will attempt to provide potential policy research directions to address current knowledge gaps. This is an extensive literature, and we have limited the scope by focusing on the last 10 years of Canadian research published in Journals and by Statistics Canada. We have favored research based on national studies in this review, though there are many excellent case studies and qualitative studies that add texture to our knowledge. Recognizing that the senior population is a very heterogeneous group, this review will examine (where the research permits) differences by senior life-course stages, and other target groups such as women, the disabled, visible minority, immigrants, Aboriginal peoples, sub-regions, low income, and persons living alone. This review of the literature has shown that while we have basic information about many of the transitions in seniors’ lives, there is very little information about the various life course stages or about various sub groups of society.health and well-being, retirement, marital transitions, care-giving, homecare