Social Support, Social Participation, and Life Accomplishment of Older Adult Residents of Assisted Living Facilities and Their Adjoining Communities

Objectives: To assess and compare levels of social support (SS), social participation (SP) and life accomplishment (LA) among older adults in some assisted-living facilities (ALFs) and their community-dwelling (CD) peers. Methods: One hundred twenty older adults (54 ALF, 66 CD) from a Nigerian population participated in this cross-sectional survey. The Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support, the Participation Scale and the Life Habit Questionnaires were used to evaluate levels of SS, SP, and LA, respectively. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman rank order correlation, at .05 alpha level. Results: Participation restriction (PR) was significantly more prevalent among the ALF group compared to the CD group (χ 2  = 12.74; p  = .01) but the two groups enjoyed comparable level of SS. LA was significantly better for the CD group in the overall score. LA had significant correlation with PR in both the ALFs ( r  = −.44; p  < .05) and CD ( r  = −.62; p  < .05) group. Conclusions: Older adults in ALFs received moderate SS, had LA, and a high PR, while CD older adults received a high SS and LA but had no PR. The findings implicate that social participation and enhancing community support for older adults may be important for a sustainable community

An increase in temperature under the shared socioeconomic scenarios in the Volta River Basin, West Africa: implications for economic development

This study examined the temperature variations in West Africa's Volta River Basin (VRB) from 2021 to 2050 in comparison to the historical period (1985–2014) under two Shared Socioeconomic Pathway Scenarios (SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5). Datasets from three Global Climate Models (GCMs) of the sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) were used. The GCMs and their ensemble were evaluated on a monthly scale. The study used the ensemble mean to analyse the changes in annual and monthly temperature over the Sahel, Savannah, Guinea Coast, and the entire Volta basin. The results demonstrate the individual GCMs reproduced the observed temperature pattern at the VRB, though with some overestimations, but the ensemble mean indicated a better representation of the observed temperature. A warming trend in the basin is projected under both climate scenarios, with higher temperatures projected under SSP5-8.5 compared to SSP2-4.5 in all three zones. The mean annual temperature is projected to increase by 0.8 and 1.0 °C, with a statistically increasing trend under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, respectively. Without a doubt, high temperatures, if unchecked, can erupt into resource conflict among the competing interest groups, thereby affecting the achievement of economic development at the VRB. HIGHLIGHTS The study contributes to understanding climate change impacts on economic development.; Temperature in VRB to rise up to 1 °C by 2050.; Temperature rise will lead to water shortages, extinction of fish species, and livelihood loss.; Temperature rise could lead to droughts, pest invasion, reduced crop yields, food security, and economic growth.; VRB is home to large hydropower dams, which could be affected by temperature rise.