Pathways to Sustainable Intergenerational Programs: Lessons Learned from Portugal

Despite the fundamental role given to the sustainability of intergenerational programming regarding their demonstrated impact on an aging society, only a few studies have undertaken an exploration of the qualitative core dimensions of sustainable intergenerational programs. This article addresses how the sustainability of educational intergenerational programs relates to why and how intergenerational program managers in the Portuguese area of Porto may have developed different attitudes and beliefs around adequate implementation of the programs. Drawing on qualitative interview data of a four-case fieldwork study conducted in Porto, Portugal, the study examines autonomy, empowerment, and intergenerational relationships as dimensions other than time duration behind program sustainability. Attention to the managers’ narratives on how intergenerational programs are implemented can help to explain why some dimensions are more highlighted than others. A qualitative analysis of intergenerational program sustainability, it is argued, offers considerable findings which provide opportunities to its implementation and intersection with managers’ beliefs. Findings suggest a need to de-emphasize both time duration and managers’ persona as the key for sustainability. We recommend intergenerational program sustainability as an area for future theorizing through providing a conceptualizing framework that might go beyond the normative focus on its duration and into the relational nature of these programs

Recensions

Obra ressenyada: Michael W. APPLE, Política cultural y educación. Madrid: Editorial Morata, 1996

Intergenerational contact and solidarity, inside and outside the family: patterns in Spain

Translation into English of the original Spanish manuscript of this paper was funded by the Department of Sociology (University of Granada).Analysis of intergenerational contact and solidarity patterns has generally focused on the family. However, the unprecedented co-existence of a high number of different generations raises the challenge to delve into how such patterns may develop inside and outside the family. To understand better intrafamilial and extrafamilial intergenerational contact and solidarity in Spain, three national surveys were initially studied using cross-tabulation tables and measures of association. Then, factor analysis and logistic regression of most recent data focused on explanatory variables behind two dimensions of intergenerational solidarity. Regarding intergenerational co-residence, the results point to a highly relevant difference between intrafamilial and extrafamilial habits. As regards regular, but non-residential, contact between the generations, two gaps have been identified. The first gap appears between family practices and non-family practices, with a significant and progressive reduction of the latter being detected. According to the second gap, while intergenerational contact drops outside the family, levels of intragenerational contact are comparable in both settings. In this context, patterns of associational and functional intergenerational solidarity towards older relatives and non-relatives have been identified, with age, distance, civil status and especially gender being the key explanatory variables. The paper argues that there is good reason to pay combined attention to both intrafamilial and extrafamilial forms of intergenerational contact and solidarity, something that has been done very little to date.Department of Sociology (University of Granada

La comunicación de masas y las otras comunicaciones : paradojas y análisis

La investigación de la comunicación se ha organizado tradicionalmente según unos ciertos niveles de análisis. En virtud de esto, podemos tener la impresión de que educar en el uso de los medios es una tarea que sólo se circunscribe al ámbito de uno de esos niveles, el de la comunicación de masas. En contra de ello, trataremos de argumentar a favor de considerar a la comunicación humana, en todos sus niveles, como marco más adecuado para la educación en medios de comunicación.The study of the communication has been traditionally organized according to some levels of analysis. By virtue of this, we can have the impression that educating in the use of the media is a task that is only circumscribed to the field of one of those levels, to the level of the mass communication. In opposition to this, we will try to argue in favor of considering the human communication, in all its levels, as an adequate frame for the education in the media

Influencia de las variables peso, gap y material en el comportamiento de la placa DCP en fracturas de fémur.

Peer Reviewe

Present and future of school intergenerational programmes: A study from Spain

Background: International research suggests the value of school Intergenerational Programmes (IPs) and intergenerational schools. However, there is a scarcity of studies at country level exploring the process of expanding from the introduction of intergenerational activities to adopting an intergenerational school model. Purpose: This study sought to further the understanding of the ways in which IPs are being incorporated into schools in Spain. Method: Primary and secondary schools in Spain that were carrying out intergenerational activities with educational purposes were identified. A sample of 25 schools was examined and key personnel were interviewed. Data from seven schools which had incorporated intergenerational work in the format of a programme were selected for further analysis. Qualitative thematic analysis of the seven selected cases ensued, in order to describe IP features including programme content and integration of the IP in the school curriculum. Findings: The analysis of the data from key personnel interviews found that intergenerational programmes were only partially integrated in the everyday life and academic activity of sampled schools. However, it was evident that key personnel also considered that the children who were participating felt affection for the older people involved and appeared to enjoy an authentic relationship with them; older participants also registered some apparent benefits. Key personnel concluded that these programmes did achieve their goals and bring about a high level of satisfaction. However, the study also indicated that the school IPs that were analysed were the fruit of individual rather than institutional interests, suggesting limited stakeholder involvement on the part of public authorities. Conclusions: Our study suggests that schools in Spain have not yet developed sufficiently to implement intergenerational education projects in line with international intergenerational schools elsewhere. Further analysis would be necessary to better comprehend the reasons for what seems to limit the integration and embedding of IPs into the curriculum. The study highlights a need to understand further how to infuse an intergenerational component in current formal pedagogical and educational school practices, with the aim of utilising the benefits of IPs for the improvement of compulsory education

Modelización y análisis de la placa DCP en fracturas B2 de femur por el método de elementos finitos

Peer Reviewe

El rechazo de las mujeres mayores viudas a volverse a emparejar: cuestión de género y cambio social

The aim of this paper is delving into the attitudes by widowed older people in Spain around the possibility of repartnering, whether it is through marriage or mere cohabitation. A qualitative methodology with a sociological lens, in the way of discussion groups, has been implemented. Main research findings show that widowed older persons –particularly women, are scarcely interested in initiating a relationship with a new partner. There are diverse reasons for this lack of interest. In some cases, older widows are just bounded to traditional moral rules such as not allowing anyone to seize the place of their first husband, or a fear of familial and social criticism. However, there are more powerful reasons: unwillingness to partner with someone who is older, a wish to preserve their own freedom and independency, or a determination to safeguard their autonomy. These reasons allow us to glimpse an important change in terms of how older women understand bothold age and relationships between genders.El objetivo de este artículo es indagar sobre las actitudes personas mayores viudas en España respecto a la posibilidad de formar otra pareja, sea celebrando otro matrimonio o conviviendo con alguien sin llegar a casarse. Lo hacemos desde una óptica sociológica, aplicando metodología cualitativa y, en concreto, la técnica del grupo de discusión. De los resultados cabe destacar que iniciar una relación de pareja despierta un interés muy escaso, particularmente entre las mujeres, por diversas razones. Aunque en algunas de ellas influyen valores tradicionales (como, por ejemplo, el no querer poner a nadie en el lugar de su primer marido o el temor a recibir la crítica familiar y social), cuenta tanto o más otra serie de motivaciones (como el renunciar a emparejarse con alguien mayor que ellas, el mantener su libertad y su independencia, la defensa de su autonomía) que permiten entrever la existencia de un importante cambio en el modo en que las mujeres mayores conciben la vejez y las relaciones entre los géneros

Melanoma of the oral mucosa with cerebral metastasis: a clinical case

SummaryOral melanoma (OM) is an infrequent neoplasia making up less than 1% of all melanomas, and which exhibits a much more aggressive behaviour than those found on the skin. We present a case of OM located on the hard palate, vestibular alveolar gingiva of the maxilla, and upper lip in a 75-year-old patient who developed a distant metastasis on the left parietal lobe. The advanced stage of the disease contraindicated any surgical intervention and it was decided to carry out palliative radiotherapy, but the patient died before treatment

Intergenerational programs and intergenerational contact zones: Aligning notions of ‘good quality

This chapter focuses on the following question: How may we enhance good quality in Intergenerational Programs (IP) through the application of Intergenerational Contact Zones (ICZ) as programming tool? In this context, it is argued that it makes sense to align the introduction of good quality planning and implementation of IP with efforts to set up efficient ICZ. Consequently, the chapter exemplifies how this alignment may be made starting from two international models to incorporate quality features for IP: the Together Old and Young for Quality Program and the International Certificate in Intergenerational Learning Quality Standards. After careful analysis and combination of these models, four domains of IP quality are presented, and quality guidelines and indicators for both IP and ICZ as programming tool are listed accordingly. Despite some limitations, the chapter contributes to the development of ICZ through specifying 23 indicators for efficient ICZ as supportive settings for good quality IP