The diversity and welfare of older migrants in Europe

This paper sets the scene and provides a conceptual framework for the articles in this special issue. They present the findings of research on European residents who have reached or are on the threshold of old age and whose current circumstances have been strongly influenced by a migration across an international border. Such ‘older migrants’ are scattered throughout Europe and they have especially diverse characteristics. They include some of the most deprived and socially excluded, and some of the most affluent and accomplished, but all to a greater or lesser extent are disadvantaged through an interaction between social policies and their ‘otherness’ by living in a foreign country. Some claim attention through the severity of their unmet health and welfare needs and poor capacity to access advice and treatment, while the affluent groups are of great interest to social gerontology because of their enterprising, developmental and positive approaches to old age. They include among the most innovative of the latest generation of older people, who pursue new combinations of family responsibilities, leisure pursuits and income generation. The paper proposes that the concept ‘human capital’ summarises variations in preparedness for old age, that is, the resources by which people cope with demands for income, roles, treatment, care and support. A typology of the ‘welfare position’ of international migrants in contemporary Europe is presented

Blowing in the wind? Identity, materiality, and the destinations of human ashes

This article asks whether the recent UK‐based practice of removing ashes from crematoria has led to entirely new, innovative rituals of disposal, or whether contemporary practice is an appropriation of late nineteenth‐century Romantic values and beliefs. Drawing on findings from a major empirical study among both professionals and lay people involved in the removal of ashes, it explores the potentiality of ash remains as a mobile material residue of the corpse, and considers whether they enable disposal strategies which no longer reflect concerns with space and place – particularly those associated with traditional burial grounds

La crémation et le devenir des cendres

Dans nos sociétés laïques, de plus en plus de personnes choisissent de se charger de toute une série de décisions concernant les cendres de leurs défunts. Actuellement au Royaume-Uni où la législation est très permissive, près de 250 000 urnes sont retirées des crématoriums chaque année. À partir d'une enquête menee auprès de particuliers et de professionnels, les auteurs interrogent l'apparition de ces nouveaux processus rituels dans quatre villes d'Angleterre et d'Ècosse. En réinventant des sites de dispersion des cendres, lors de ce qui pourrait bien être un « rite optionnel », les survivants créent des « espaces vécus » qui transcendent les conceptions officielles sur les lieux réservés aux morts. La perspective matérialiste l'emportant, le désir de ces derniers serait d'établir des liens avec les restes du défunt, afin de créer, par le biais d'une expérience vécue, des espaces de mémoire. A quarter of a million sets of cremated ashes are now removed annually from crematoria in the UK, involving survivors of the deceased in a series of decision-making processes for these remains. This change in practice has escalated over the past decade within a legislative regime that places few, if any, restrictions on the movement and placement of ashes. Issues concerning new ritual practice in a secular society have been the focus of ethnographic research among professionals and bereaved individuals and families, in four regional UK locations. Consideration is given here to what may be « optional rites » marking the emergence of new ritual processes. We argue that in imaginatively re-inventing the sites of ash disposal, survivors have sought to establish « lived spaces » which transcend institutional conceptions of spatial allocations for the dead. The emergence of individual — often private — practices around ashes suggests materially-engaged desires to connect with these remains and to transform institutional conceptions of spaces and places for the dead into « lived » spaces that can engender environments for memorialisation. In unseren Laiengesellschaften wählen immer mehr Leute, sich um das Werden der Asche ihrer Verstorbenen zu kümmern. In dem Vereinigten Königreich, wo die Gesetzgebung sehr permissiv ist, werden jedes Jahr beinahe 250 000 Aschenurnen aus den Krematorien herausgenommen. Auf der Basis einer Umfrage, die bei Privatpersonen und Professionellen gemacht wurde, studieren die Autoren die Erscheinung dieser neuen Rituale in vier Städten Englands und Schottlands. Beim Inventieren neue Orte für die Zertreuung der Asche bei diesen « Wahlritualen » schaffen die Hinterblieb enden « gelebte Räume », welche die institutionellen Auffassungen der für die Toten bestimmten Orte transzendieren. Die Entwicklung solcher individueller Praktiken bezüglich der Asche, weisen auf den Wunsch hin, mit den Totenresten in Verbindung zu treten, um Gedächtnisräume mittels einer gelebten Erfahrung zu schaffen

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

'They're just who they've always been': The intersections of dementia, community and selfhood in Scottish care homes

© Cambridge University Press 2017. Issues stemming from differences and similarities in cultural identities affect residents and workforces in care homes in Scotland, as they do across the United Kingdom. Theoretical guidance and policy drivers emphasise the importance of considering cultural diversity when planning or enacting person-centred care processes, regardless of where health or social care takes place. Nevertheless, there is a recognised worldwide dearth of research concerning the intersections of culture, dementia and long-term care. This being so, a recent research study found that inadequate understandings of issues stemming from cultural diversity could be seen to constrain person-centred care in some Scottish care homes. In addition, the study uncovered little-recognised socio-cultural phenomena which were observed to positively enhance person-centre care. This article will focus on that, and will lay out findings from the study which lead to the following broad assertion: there is a broad lack of understanding of the power, and potential utility, of shared identity and community as a bulwark against the erosion of personhood which is often associated with dementia. This article describes these findings in some detail, thereby providing fresh insights into how shared cultural identity, and the sense of community it may bring, bears upon the interactions between workers and residents with dementia in Scottish care homes. It then suggests how the school of 'person-centred care' may be developed through further research into these phenomena

Triangulating data

This accessible introduction to key concepts, methods and issues in social gerontological research presents a unique view of the research process by focusing on the relationships between conceptual definition and research methodology and between research, policy and practice. At a theoretical level, the text draws on the core gerontological concepts of age, dependency, social support and quality of life to illustrate their complexity, and the difficulties of measurement. On a practical level, the contributors present a number of methodological approaches which have been particularly useful in social gerontological research. Finally, they consider three critical issues: whether old people require special ethical consideration; the prospects for funding; and the importance of disseminating research effectively. Researching Social Gerontology has been specially commissioned by the British Society for Gerontology to outline current thinking in conceptual and methodological development, and the context in which gerontological research is being carried out. As such it will prove stimulating and useful for researchers at all levels, practitioners, policy-makers and those with a more general interest in the ageing proces

Making space for identity

This chapter outlines and brings together some key debates and theories about the place attachments that older people make at national, regional and local level. Based on a study of older people living in a range of locations and accommodation, the authors extend existing theories and describe place identity as a component of self identity. In particular, they position home as crucial to older people in terms of meaning, attachment and interaction. Their theory of re-engagement demonstrates how people constantly work on connections to environment

Environment and identity in later life: a cross-setting study

Objectives: The paper describes on-going empirical research on the significance of home and neighbourhood in supporting senses of identity as people age. Design: The study has involved both group discussions and individual interviews with older people living in a range of domestic and institutional environments, in three areas (city, town, and village). Methods: Initial discussions with ten groups of people (male, female, and mixed; ethnically selective and mixed) produced key issues for discussion with individuals. Individual interviews allowed the interviewer/interviewee to address these issues using a specific discussion ‘wheel’ designed for the study. Interviews also included biographical elements, geographic work, NEO inventory, and semi-structured questioning. Results: The paper will present the work at the analysis stage (fieldwork having been completed). Conclusions: The paper will present some methodological findings about the use of the group work to refine the interview schedules, and the use of a ‘open’ interview technique, in this case the ‘wheel’. It will also present initial findings from the analysis of both the group discussions and the interviews. These will include elements relating to: self-identity – in terms of embeddedness and the identification which a person has with their homespace; identity in relation to others – those living with you, around you, apart from you; the social environment which allows most people to locate themselves relative to other people; group identities – identifications with particular locales and neighbourhoods; being of a particular age, gender, culture