Ageism in the third age

In the developed world, later life has brought more opportunities to contribute to society and pursue personal goals outside the role of paid work, combined with less stigma and greater recognition of the worth of older people. These values do not necessarily extend to the “oldest old” where some people in the fourth age (people 80 years old and over) continue to face increasing stigma and societal stereotypes from those in the third age (people 60–79 years old). Ageism between these two cohorts is rarely discussed in the literature. Potential ageism involves stereotypical perceptions of the oldest old and may prove detrimental to those transitioning from the third to the fourth age if a resultant resistance to maintain their engagement and independence into older age occurs. This chapter explores the subtleties of these inter-cohort ageist discourses particularly from a health and social care perspective and considers the implications for transitions of older people between the third and fourth age. It addresses the challenges and adjustments needed to ensure continuing and inclusive engagement in society, in order to support independence to grow old without the fear of discrimination

Q methodology: quantitative aspects of data analysis in a study of student nurse perceptions of dignity in care. [Case study]

The purpose of this case is to introduce you to quantitative aspects of analysing Q methodology data; a process I found complex and challenging as a novice Q-researcher. The case is illustrated by reference to a Q methodology doctoral study, exploring student nurses' perceptions of preserving dignity in care. I benefited greatly from the generosity of those in the Q methodology community who shared the practical lessons they had learned from analysing their own data. This case is intended in that same spirit of generosity, for those at the beginning of their own journey into Q methodology data analysis. This paper focuses on the analysis of the data derived from the Q-sorts of its twenty-one participants, rather than the research design and findings

Calcitriol in the Management of Secondary Hyperparathyroidism of Renal Failure

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90092/1/j.1875-9114.1996.tb03644.x.pd

Straight to the heart of the matter:towards effective means of combatting romance fraud

Romance fraud has rapidly increased over the past decade and has become one of the most devastating forms of fraud around. By impersonating a victim's 'true love’, scammers can exploit victims’ trust and money, leaving victims emotionally and financially ruined. This devious and exploitative cybercrime merits a strong response to prevent the risk of, and damage resulting from, romance fraud. Consequently, many approaches have been taken to deter and disrupt the effectiveness of scammers, ranging from easily distributable awareness campaigns to bespoke victim support groups. Such approaches demonstrate promising results in some areas; however, they are not without their limitations. Awareness campaigns can only be effective if users retain the message. Meanwhile, victim support groups can only attempt to lessen the emotional impact for victims and prevent them from being further defrauded. Existing approaches overlook a key area in the romance fraud timeline: the dating platforms themselves. Dating platforms offer an opportunity to examine interactions between scammers and potential victims, thus potentially providing interventions when scammer behaviour is identified rather than after the fact; allowing context dependent advice in this setting helps keep users one step ahead of the scammers

Straight to the heart of the matter:towards effective means of combatting romance fraud

Romance fraud has rapidly increased over the past decade and has become one of the most devastating forms of fraud around. By impersonating a victim's 'true love’, scammers can exploit victims’ trust and money, leaving victims emotionally and financially ruined. This devious and exploitative cybercrime merits a strong response to prevent the risk of, and damage resulting from, romance fraud. Consequently, many approaches have been taken to deter and disrupt the effectiveness of scammers, ranging from easily distributable awareness campaigns to bespoke victim support groups. Such approaches demonstrate promising results in some areas; however, they are not without their limitations. Awareness campaigns can only be effective if users retain the message. Meanwhile, victim support groups can only attempt to lessen the emotional impact for victims and prevent them from being further defrauded. Existing approaches overlook a key area in the romance fraud timeline: the dating platforms themselves. Dating platforms offer an opportunity to examine interactions between scammers and potential victims, thus potentially providing interventions when scammer behaviour is identified rather than after the fact; allowing context dependent advice in this setting helps keep users one step ahead of the scammers

A Synthesis of Human-related Avian Mortality in Canada

Many human activities in Canada kill wild birds, yet the relative magnitude of mortality from different sources and the consequent effects on bird populations have not been systematically evaluated. We synthesize recent estimates of avian mortality in Canada from a range of industrial and other human activities, to provide context for the estimates from individual sources presented in this special feature. We assessed the geographic, seasonal, and taxonomic variation in the magnitude of national-scale mortality and in population-level effects on species or groups across Canada, by combining these estimates into a stochastic model of stage-specific mortality. The range of estimates of avian mortality from each source covers several orders of magnitude, and, numerically, landbirds were the most affected group. In total, we estimate that approximately 269 million birds and 2 million nests are destroyed annually in Canada, the equivalent of over 186 million breeding individuals. Combined, cat predation and collisions with windows, vehicles, and transmission lines caused > 95% of all mortality; the highest industrial causes of mortality were the electrical power and agriculture sectors. Other mortality sources such as fisheries bycatch can have important local or species-specific impacts, but are relatively small at a national scale. Mortality rates differed across species and families within major bird groups, highlighting that mortality is not simply proportional to abundance. We also found that mortality is not evenly spread across the country; the largest mortality sources are coincident with human population distribution, while industrial sources are concentrated in southern Ontario, Alberta, and southwestern British Columbia. Many species are therefore likely to be vulnerable to cumulative effects of multiple human-related impacts. This assessment also confirms the high uncertainty in estimating human-related avian mortality in terms of species involved, potential for population-level effects, and the cumulative effects of mortality across the landscape. Effort is still required to improve these estimates, and to guide conservation efforts to minimize direct mortality caused by human activities on Canada's wild bird populations. As avian mortality represents only a portion of the overall impact to avifauna, indirect effects such as habitat fragmentation and alteration, site avoidance, disturbance, and related issues must also be carefully considered

The Paradox of Misaligned Profiling: Theory and Experimental Evidence

This paper implements an experimental test of a game-theoretic model of equilibrium profiling. Attackers choose a demographic “type” from which to recruit, and defenders choose which demographic types to search. Some types are more reliable than others in the sense of having a higher probability of carrying out a successful attack if they get past the security checkpoint. In a Nash equilibrium, defenders tend to profile by searching the more reliable attacker types more frequently, whereas the attackers tend to send less reliable types. Data from laboratory experiments with financially motivated human subjects are consistent with the qualitative patterns predicted by theory. However, we also find several interesting behavioral deviations from the theory

Exploring the impact of a complex intervention for women with depression in contexts of adversity: A pilot feasibility study of COURRAGE-plus in South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a leading cause of disease burden worldwide but is often undertreated in low- and middle-income countries. Reasons behind the treatment gap vary, but many highlight a lack of interventions which speak to the socio-economic and structural realties that are associated to mental health problems in many settings, including South Africa. The COURRAGE-PLUS intervention responds to this gap, by combining a collective narrative therapy (9 weeks) intervention, with a social intervention promoting group-led practical action against structural determinants of poor mental health (4 weeks), for a total of 13 sessions. The overall aim is to promote mental health, while empowering communities to acknowledge, and respond in locally meaningful ways to social adversity linked to development of mental distress. AIM: To pilot and evaluate the effectiveness of a complex intervention - COURRAGE-PLUS on symptoms of depression as assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) among a sample of women facing contexts of adversity in Gauteng, South Africa. METHODS: PHQ-9 scores were assessed at baseline, post collective narrative therapy (midline), and post social intervention (endline). Median scores and corresponding interquartile ranges were computed for all time points. Differences in scores between time points were tested with a non-parametric Friedman test. The impact across symptom severities was compared descriptively to identify potential differences in impact across categories of symptom severity within our sample. RESULTS: Participants' (n = 47) median depression score at baseline was 11 (IQR = 7) and reduced to 4 at midline (IQR = 7) to 0 at endline (IQR = 2.5). The Friedman test showed a statistically significant difference between depression scores across time points, χ 2 (2) = 49.29, p < .001. Median depression scores were reduced to 0 or 1 Post-Intervention across all four severity groups. CONCLUSIONS: COURRAGE-PLUS was highly effective at reducing symptoms of depression across the spectrum of severities in this sample of women facing adversity, in Gauteng, South Africa. Findings supports the need for larger trials to investigate collective narrative storytelling and social interventions as community-based interventions for populations experiencing adversity and mental distress

Listening to patients with cancer: using a literary based research method to understand patient-focussed care

Objective In spite of considerable attention, patients diagnosed with cancer continue to report poor experiences of care. The root causes of this remain unclear. This exploratory study aimed to investigate new ways of understanding the experience of patients with cancer, using a literary-based research approach. Design Interviews were undertaken with four patients diagnosed with high grade brain cancers at least six months from diagnosis and with people (n = 5) identified by the patients as important in their care pathway. Interview transcripts were analysed by humanities academics as pieces of literature, where each patient’s story was told from more than one person’s perspective. The academics then came together in a facilitated workshop to agree major themes within the patient experiences. The themes were presented at a patient and carer event involving 70 participants to test the validity of the insights. Results Insights into the key issues for patients with cancer could be grouped into six themes: accountability; identity; life context; time; language; rigour and emotion. Patients often held a different perspective to the traditionally held medical views of what constitutes good care. For example, patients did not see any conflict between a doctor having scientific rigour and portraying emotion. Conclusions One key feature of the approach was its comparative nature: Patients often held different views from those traditionally held by physicians of what constitutes health and good outcomes. This revealed aspects that may be considered by health care professionals when designing improvements. Proposals for further testing are discussed, with a particular emphasis on the need for sensitivity to individual differences in experiences