The Economic Legacy of Divorced and Separated Women in Old Age

Although progress has been made over the last 20 years, the burden of a low income in old age is still carried by unattached women. Few researchers, however, have examined exactly where the burden of poverty falls within the category of unattached older women or the nature of this poverty. Like any other group of older Canadians, unattached women are not a homogenous population. The category of "unattached" includes the separated, divorced, widowed and ever single, all of whom face different circumstances in old age because of differences over the life course. Using SLID data we examine income and sources of income from 1993 to 1999 to identify differences among these groups. The findings indicate that the separated and divorced are the poorest of all older unattached women in Canada. A key source of the difference is the growth in private pension incomes.low income; old age; unattached women; SLID

The Economic Legacy of Divorced and Separated Women in Old Age

Although progress has been made over the last 20 years, the burden of a low income in old age is still carried by unattached women. Few researchers, however, have examined exactly where the burden of poverty falls within the category of unattached older women or the nature of this poverty. Like any other group of older Canadians, unattached women are not a homogenous population. The category of 'unattached' includes the separated, divorced, widowed and ever single, all of whom face different circumstances in old age because of differences over the life course. Using SLID data we examine income and sources of income from 1993 to 1999 to identify differences among these groups. The findings indicate that the separated and divorced are the poorest of all older unattached women in Canada. A key source of the difference is the growth in private pension incomes.low income; old age; unattached women; SLID

The Economic Casualties of Retiring Because of Unemployment

This research reports on one aspect of a multimethod study which investigated the effect of involuntary retirement on retirement income. Using the Survey on Ageing and Independence 1991, a secondary data analysis was carried out which examined the economic effects of retiring because of unemployment. This analysis was followed by interviews with 33 men and women whose retirement was induced by unemployment. In the secondary analysis, when the respondents who retired for reasons of unemployment were compared to those who retired for other reasons, there was little doubt that the unemployment retirees were disadvantaged on human capital variables, in terms of their work history, and ultimately, in their retirement income, whether personal or household. Returning to work part-time after retirement did not appear to raise their incomes which were lower than the incomes of those who retired for other reasons. Furthermore, they were more likely to receive government transfer payments such as disability benefits or social assistance. When the factors that significantly contributed to their income in retirement were considered they were a function of personal wealth such as investments and a private pension. The public pension system did not have a significant influence on their retirement income. In the convenience sample, all respondents reported that unemployment lead to a drop in retirement income. For those most severely hit by unemployment, the transition period was extremely stressful with people reporting high levels of anger, depression, and sadness and constant worry about their straitened circumstances. People coped with their drop in income by changing their lifestyle, giving up valued assets like their homes and dipping into their savings and RRSPs. These strategies, in turn, depleted their resources for retirement and caused considerable consternation about what they saw as an uncontrollable and unforeseeable future. People also relied heavily on social assistance and disability benefits to survive until the age where they were eligible to draw down their retirement benefits. When they had to draw down their retirement pensions earlier than expected, they were frustrated because they had to accept lower pensions, a feeling that was compounded when they discovered that, if they were lucky enough to secure part-time work, this resulted in further reductions in their pensions. The incongruity of government retirement policy threats of cutbacks to pensions or raising the age of retirement -- did not escape most retirees in our sample and served to create more uncertainty and stress for an already economically distressed group of Canadians.retirement income; SAI; unemployment

The Economic Casualties of Retiring Because of Poor Health

This multimethod study investigated the effect of involuntary retirement on retirement income. Using the General Social Survey 1994, a secondary data analysis was carried out which examined the economic effects of retiring because of poor health. When the men and women who retired for reasons of poor health were compared to those who retired for other reasons, there was little doubt that the health retirees were disadvantaged on human capital variables, in terms of their work history, and ultimately, in their retirement income, whether personal or household. The men who retired because of ill health did not appear to benefit from government transfer payments and were less likely to receive income from a private pension or from interest and dividends. The women retirees suffered from the same disadvantages as the men, however, when they reached retirement they were more likely to rely on government transfer payments as a major source of income. Like the men, they were more likely to believe that their retirement income had gotten worse since the day they retired, and, over two-thirds believed that their financial situation had become much worse. In the multivariate analyses, however, any effect that poor health might have had on household income was offset by the benefits associated with marriage, and their own sociodemographic characteristics. This is further confirmed when personal income is considered, since marriage has the strong and negative influence on personal income. The interviews with the retirees indicated that retiring for reasons of poor health was seen by most people as a somewhat unpleasant transition that had long lasting and negative effects on retirement income.GSS; poor health; retirement

The Role of Coping Humour in the Physical and Mental Health of Older Adults

Objectives - This study examined the associations among coping humor, other personal/social factors, and the health status of community-dwelling older adults. Method - Survey questionnaires were completed with 73 community dwelling older adults. Included were measures of coping humor, spirituality, self-efficacy, social support and physical and mental health status. Results - Correlations across all variables showed coping humor to be significantly associated with social support, self-efficacy, depression, and anxiety. Forward stepwise regression analyses showed that coping humor and self-efficacy contributed to outcome variance in measures of mental health status. Contrary to expectation, neither social support nor spirituality contributed to the total outcome variance on any of the dependant measures. Conclusion - The importance of spirituality, self-efficacy and social support in determining the quality of life of older adults is well supported in the literature. Coping humor as a mechanism for managing the inevitable health stresses of aging has received less attention. This study shows that coping humor and self efficacy are important factors for explaining health status in older adults. Correlations among coping humor, self efficacy, and social support suggest that a sense of humor may play an important role in reinforcing self-efficacious approaches to the management of health issues.coping humor, aging, health status

Evidence-based practice project to increase hospital-based cervical cancer screening compliance among registration staff

Background: High-quality Papanicolaou testing was developed in the 1940s, and when used for early detection of cervical cancer, has been shown to significantly reduce cervical cancer related deaths world-wide. Legislation, passed by many states in the United States, aims to maximize cervical cancer screening. One academic medical center (AMC) in Maryland initiated a cervical cancer screening program in 1977. A pilot, developed to assess cervical cancer screening compliance, found the screening rate at this AMC to be 51%. Objective: This project aimed to improve the knowledge of the patient service coordinators in order to increase cervical cancer screening compliance.Population: Patient service coordinator conducts registration and screening when a patient is admitted to the AMCMethods: Effectiveness of the education was measured by three assessments: 1) A pre and post knowledge survey of the patient service coordinator measuring facts about cervical cancer, the screening process, and the State of Maryland cervical cancer screening mandate; 2) a calculation of screening rates comparing the number of women screened to the number of women admitted; and 3) an assessment of the completeness of each screening form.Results: A two-tailed paired samples t-test revealed that the PSCs scored higher on the post-survey (m-7.68, s- 2.52) compared to the pre-survey (m-3.68, s-1.77), t (32) = 8.949, p ≤ .0.5. A chi- square test was used to compare categorical variables. During the four weeks before the educational intervention, 34% (543 of 1602) of women were screened; 51% (279/543) screening forms were completed. For the four weeks after the educational intervention, 54% (N=735 of 1,373) of eligible women were screened; 89% (656/735) forms were completed. Both tests were found to be significant p <0.000.Interpretation: There was a significant improvement of the PSC’s knowledge, 20% increase in the number of women screened, and completeness of the form increased by 38%.Conclusion: These findings suggest that an educational intervention for registration staff can increase cervical cancer screening compliance, and positively impact staff ability to screen inpatient women

Integrating Asset Management to Achieve Infrastructure Sustainability and Resiliency in Stormwater Systems

As the world faces climate and resource pressures, there is an ever-growing demand for sustainable products and processes throughout the whole life cycle. Sustainable infrastructure has become one of the leading research topics in civil engineering. It refers to mitigating, decreasing, and even eliminating the social, economic and ecological impacts during the lifecycle of an infrastructure project, which includes its design, construction and operation. However, achieving sustainability is challenging and requires an interdisciplinary approach because of the many variables that need to be understood and assessed. One field of expertise long practiced by municipal management but not necessarily by engineers is asset management. Asset management focuses on reducing risk while increasing the level of service. From an engineering perspective, physical characteristics dominate what should be assessed to improve infrastructure. What can be often missing is the perspective on how to effectively manage assets to best meet the community’s needs, especially in situations where systems have been engineered to be as effective as realistically possible. Actively incorporating asset management approaches into sustainability assessment should significantly improve our understanding, analysis, and decision-making on how to engineer, maintain, modify, and even demolish infrastructure to meet our future challenges. This research project will use a risk management framework to improve how a current stormwater system can be effectively managed. The framework will examine different mitigation factors. Using these factors, the framework will predict if a certain area is at a high or low risk. A case study will be undertaken using a mid-sized city to demonstrate the viability of the framework. The framework will assist in answering the question: will using an asset management approach improve infrastructure sustainability in stormwater systems

Demos Kratos: New Expressions of People Power across the Globe

This paper explores the trend of people power by which ordinary citizens are using peaceful means to bring about social, economic and political change, focusing specifically on occurrences in Nepal, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Hong Kong and Georgia from the 1990s to the present. The authors analyze the shared causes and characteristics of the case studies presented from the role undertaken by the military, IMTD and the international community. The paper explains that governments must contend with the “new reality” molded by people power in a principled, fair manner and truly listen to the needs of their constituencies. As was the case in Nepal, Indonesia and the other countries addressed, the people will simply leave behind leaders who will not do so