Developing Dementia-Friendly Tourism Destinations: An Exploratory Analysis

Dementia is emerging as a global issue. Increases in life expectancy create an older population structure with accompanying health needs but also high lifestyle expectations. For example existing generations have come to expect to be able to participate in leisure and tourism activities in later life, which can be constrained by the onset of dementia. Leading healthy lifestyles and engaging in tourism activities are viewed as fundamental to remaining active and contributing to slowing the progress of dementia. This study is the first to examine the challenges and implications of the growing scale of dementia and the business opportunities this may create for destinations wishing to achieve dementia-friendly status. The paper reports results from an initial scoping study with tourism businesses in a coastal resort in the United Kingdom with such ambitions to assess the nature of the issues that arose from a series of face-to-face interviews

A gender perspective on factors that influence outdoor recreational physical activity among the elderly

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Physical activity (PA) is part of a healthy lifestyle and prevents many chronic health problems, in addition to promoting mental health. PA performed outdoors has been found particularly good for promoting one's well-being. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which outdoor recreational PA was carried out during 1 year, and the factors influencing such activities from a gender perspective among persons ≥ 60 years of age.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study included 999 individuals 60-96 years of age living in the south eastern part of Sweden. Data collection was carried out during the years of 2001-2003. We measured the amount of regular light and/or intense outdoor recreational PA performed during the last year and determined the probability of performing PA as a function of 10 variables covering individual and socioeconomic factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results suggest that being independent physically and healthy enough to manage one's personal hygiene and having access to areas for country walks were the most important factors associated with the probability of engaging in outdoor recreational PA for both men and women. Despite the level of performance being almost equal for the sexes as two-thirds of both had performed outdoor recreational PA during the preceding year more factors, i.e., living alone, being unable to cover an unexpected cost, fear of being violated, and fear of falling, were associated with the possibilities of engaging in outdoor recreational PA among women. Also increasing age seems to affect activities among women negatively to a higher extent than men.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Men and women seem to have different opportunities and needs with respect to performing PA. These considerations do not seem to be sufficiently taken into account today and improvements could be made concerning e.g., health-promoting activities suggested to the elderly by healthcare personnel and spatial planning within society. Promoting outdoor recreational PA that has restorative effects on well-being needs to focus on activities which are attractive and affordable for the majority of both men and women.</p

Determinantes individuales y sociales del estado de salud subjetivo y bienestar de la población de la tercera edad de Portugal

This article aims to identify the main determinants of self-rated health and well-being in the elderly Portuguese population, using a set of dimensions including demographic and socioeconomic indicators, characteristics of interpersonal networks and social activities, health, sexual activity, representations of aging, and feeling of happiness. Taking socioeconomic, behavioral, and attitudinal predictors into account to analyze the explanatory value of the interrelated dimensions and weights for each factor, the author argues that social capital, activities associated with active aging, and greater optimism towards aging can contribute greatly to better self-rated health and wellbeing among the elderly, partially offsetting the effect of socioeconomic factors and illness associated with age.Neste artigo pretende-se identificar os principais determinantes da autoavaliação do estado de saúde e do bem-estar da população sênior, tendo em conta um conjunto de dimensões que reúnem indicadores demográficos e socioeconômicos, características das redes interpessoais e atividades sociais praticadas, de saúde, atividade sexual, de representações sobre o envelhecimento e sentimento de felicidade. A equação em simultâneo de preditores socioeconômicos e de caráter comportamental e atitudinal dessas várias vertentes, com o intuito de analisar o valor explicativo de cada uma das dimensões inter-relacionadas e o peso de cada um dos fatores, permite concluir que o social capital, a prática de atividades associadas ao envelhecimento ativo e um maior otimismo em relação ao envelhecimento podem contribuir em grande medida para uma melhor autoavaliação do estado de saúde e do bemestar dos mais velhos, compensando, em parte, o efeito de fatores socioeconômicos e de doença associados à idade

The future public health workforce in a changing world : A conceptual framework for a european–israeli knowledge transfer project

Health services quality and sustainability rely mainly on a qualified workforce. Adequately trained public health personnel protect and promote health, avert health disparities, and allow rapid response to health emergencies. Evaluations of the healthcare workforce typically focus on physicians and nurses in curative medical venues. Few have evaluated public health workforce capacity building or sought to identify gaps between the academic training of public health employees and the needs of the healthcare organizations in which they are employed. This project report describes the conceptual framework of “Sharing European Educational Experience in Public Health for Israel (SEEEPHI): harmonization, employability, leadership, and outreach”—a multinational Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education funded project. By sharing European educational experience and knowledge, the project aims to enhance professionalism and strengthen leadership aspects of the public health workforce in Israel to meet the needs of employers and the country. The project’s work packages, each jointly led by an Israeli and European institution, include field qualification analysis, mapping public health academic training programs, workforce adaptation, and building leadership capacity. In the era of global health changes, it is crucial to assess the capacity building of a well-qualified and competent workforce that enables providing good health services, reaching out to minorities, preventing health inequalities, and confronting emerging health challenges. We anticipate that the methods developed and the lessons learned within the Israeli context will be adaptable and adoptable by other countries through local and cultural adjustments

Evolution of weathering patterns in the Indo-Burman Ranges over the last 280 kyr: Effects of sediment provenance on Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios tracer

A high-resolution study of mineralogy and major element geochemistry combined with Sr and Nd isotopes has been conducted on high sedimentation rate cores collected off the Irrawaddy River mouth in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to reconstruct the erosional and weathering history of the Irrawaddy River basin. In both cores, epsilon Nd(0) values imply that both glacial and interglacial sediments share a common crustal source: the Irrawaddy River. Strong glacial/interglacial cycles are recorded by Sr-87/Sr-86: interglacial periods yield values between 0.713 and 0.717, whereas glacial periods show higher values between 0.717 and 0.719. Variations of the pedogenic clays (smectite and kaolinite) to primary mineral (feldspar, quartz, illite, and chlorite) ratios show strong precessional cycles, suggesting a control by past changes in the summer monsoon intensity. Each increase in pedogenic clays content is also associated with a net loss of labile elements (Na, K, and Ca) from the detrital minerals under chemical weathering. Wet periods of summer monsoon reinforcement correspond to an increase in weathering of the Irrawaddy plain soils and a decrease of Sr-87/Sr-86 ratio. Plotting Sr-87/Sr-86 versus Rb-87/Sr-86 gives a pseudoisochrons interpreted as a mixing line representing the strength of chemical weathering. During glacial stages, enhanced physical erosion induced by glacier scour and frost action in the highland of the Irrawaddy River basins produced high volumes of unaltered, Rb-rich minerals. The low sea level of glacial times constricted the river to the main channel in the lower reaches and permitted an efficient transport of unaltered Rb-rich minerals with high radiogenic Sr composition from the high relief of the Indo-Burman Ranges and the Tibetan plateau to the Indian Ocean