A sociological approach to ageing, technology and health

This special monograph issue builds on sociology of health and illness scholarship and expands the analytical lens to examine how old people, healthcare professionals, and technology designers create, use, and modify science and technology to negotiate and define health and illness. Far from passive consumers, elders are technogenarians, creatively utilising and adapting technological artefacts such as walking aids and medications to fit their needs. This publication adds theoretical and empirical depth to our understanding of the multiple and overlapping socio-historical contexts surrounding ageing bodies and ageing enterprises, including the biomedicalisation of ageing that includes the rise of anti-ageing or longevity medicine; and the rise of gerontechnology industries and professions -- fields that largely accept the ageing body as a given. This collection sociologically investigates how and where these two trends overlap and diverge in relation to a global context of ageing and ageism, and calls for further scholarship in this area. Combining science and technology studies and sociology of health and illness frameworks together provides an empirical basis from which to analyse technogenarians in action, as well as the stakeholders and institutions involved in the ageing, health, and technology matrix

From Nursing Home to Green House: Changing Contexts of Elder Care in the United States

This article tracks the changing roles of certified nursing assistants (CNAs) as they transition from a traditional nursing home setting to a “deinstitutionalized” care setting called the Green House. The Green House concept, developed by William Thomas, MD and based on the Eden Alternative paradigm, emphasizes autonomy, dignity, privacy, and reciprocal relationships between residents and staff. This qualitative work focuses on how CNAs (called “shabazim” in the Green House) negotiated the transition from traditional nursing home to the Green House model. Interview, focus group, and participant observation data before and after the transition to the Green Houses reveal that in the traditional nursing home environment, informants report that resident-CNA interactions tend to be rushed, detached, and adversarial, whereas in the Green House care environment, interdependency and stronger ties are promoted. Shabazim report diminished guilt and enhanced sense of empowerment in their new role