13 research outputs found
Lay Concept of Aging Well According to Age: A ReAnalysis
Thus, as the document Futurage (2011), published as a Research Road Map in Europe, stated: “there is an urgent need to explore through multi-disciplinary and multi-country studies, involving qualitative and quantitative components, how older people themselves define healthy aging, including the oldest old.”Peer Reviewe
Mortality and refusal in the longitudinal 90+project
Attrition is one of the most important threats for longitudinal studies on aging mainly due to refusal and mortality. This study deals with those individuals who were assessed in the base line of 90+ project but died, dropped out or were examined in the follow-up. Participants of the 90+ project baseline consist of a sample of 188 older than 90 years, independent individuals (mean age = 92.9; 67 men and 121 women) living in the community (n = 76) or in residences (n = 112). They were assessed through the European Survey on Aging Protocol (ESAP) by collecting anthropometric, health and life styles, bio-behavioral, psychological and social data. After 6-14 months from the baseline, 55% individuals were re-assessed, 11% died and 34% dropped out for several reasons. Comparisons between the individuals deceased, interviewed and those who dropped out yielded significant differences mainly due to contextual variables. The mortality rate of participants living in residences is three times greater than those of participants living in the community. Trying to determine the differences between these three groups due to bio-psycho-social variables, we found that regular physical activity, mental status, leisure activities, fitness, perceived control and openness assessed at the baseline differentiate our three groups. Finally, 90% of those individuals who died were identified at the baseline as >non successful agers>, while more than a half of those who participated and a third of the non-participants were identified as >successful agers>. It can be concluded that among those independent but very old people, mortality is less important than willing to participate and contextual, behavioral and psychological factors are relevant for distinguishing mortality, survival and participation.Peer Reviewe
Family and community support among older Chilean adults: the importance of heterogeneous social support sources for quality of life.
Family and community social networks act as social resources that promote well-being at advanced ages. In this study, we analyze the association between social support received from personal social networks (social support from various family members and friends) and community social networks (social support from neighbors and the neighborhood, age, ethnic, or religious group peers and formal social support networks) and quality of life (QoL) for a sample of older Chilean persons (n = 777). The results confirm that social support from family (partner, children, and extended family) and friends, integration in the community (neighbors) and social support from informal systems (social groups) are associated with QoL. Moreover, the model including both types of support explains 25.8% of variance in QoL. The results and their possible implications are discussed.pre-print209 K
Handbook of Active Ageing and Quality of Life: From Concepts to Applications
La edición de este libro estuvo a cargo de Fermina Rojo-Pérez y Gloria Fernández-Mayoralas.El documento adjunto contiene la cubierta, portada e índice del libro.This handbook presents an overview of studies on the relationship of active ageing and quality of life. It addresses the new challenges of ageing from the paradigm of positive ageing (active, healthy and successful) for a better quality of life. It provides theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, including scientific knowledge as well as practical experiences about the good ageing and the quality of later life around the world, in order to respond to the challenges of an aged population. The handbook is structured in 4 sections covering theoretical and conceptual perspectives, social policy issues and research agenda, methods, measurement instrument-scales and evaluations, and lastly application studies including domains and geographical contexts.Peer reviewe
Promoting active aging through University Programs for older adults: An evaluation study.
Throughout history, formal education has been “age-based,” in the sense that primary, secondary, further, and higher education have been planned and implemented with the main objective of preparing citizens for working life. However, gerontological research on cognitive plasticity in the latter half of the 20th century provided evidence of learning potential throughout the lifespan and into old age. The II International Plan of Action on Aging recognizes the importance of older adults in contributing to social and economic development, remaining active and having the right to benefit from lifelong learning (LLL) policies. Consequently, universities have been opened up to older adults, and university programs for older adults have been developed. Our general hypothesis is that those older adults who follow a university program will improve the core of active aging, which involves cognitive, emotional, and social factors. The quasiexperimental group was 82 older adults who followed the University Program for Older Adults at the Autonomous University of Madrid from 2007 to 2010. These were then compared with a control group (N = 76) over the same period. Pre/post comparisons show that participants obtain significant benefits, attributable to the program, in that they maintain their cognitive performance evaluated through the Digit-Symbol Test, their health (assessed through the number of illnesses reported), and their level of activity (information-seeking and social activities), increase their level of positive affect. At the end of the Program, significantly more of those who enrolled on it were classified as “active agers,” compared to the control group.Peer Reviewe
Cognitive plasticity in normal and pathological aging
The main goal of the present study is to examine to what extent age and cognitive impairment contribute to learning performance (cognitive plasticity, cognitive modifiability, or learning potential). To address this question, participants coming from four studies (Longitudinal Study of Active Aging, age range, 55–75 years, N = 458; Longitudinal Study in the very old [90+], age range, 90–102, N = 188, and Cognitive Plasticity within the Course of Cognitive Impairment, 97 “Normal”, 57 mild cognitive impairment [MCI], and 98 Alzheimer’s disease [AD] patients) were examined through a measure of verbal learning (developed from Rey). The results show that all age, MCI, and AD groups learned across the five learning trials of that test, but significant differences were found due to age, pathology, and education. The effects of pathology (MCI and AD) can be expressed in a metric of “years of normal decline by age”; specifically, being MCI means suffering an impairment in performance that is equivalent to the decline of a normal individual during 15 years, whereas the impact of AD is equivalent to 22.7 years. Likewise, the improvement associated with about 5 years of education is equivalent to about 1 year less of normal aging. Also, the two pathological groups significantly differed from “normal” groups in the delayed trial of the test. The most dramatic difference is that between the “normal” group and the AD patients, which shows relatively poorer performance for the AD group in the delayed trial than in the first learning trial. The potential role of this unique effect for quick detection purposes of AD is assessed (in the 75–89 years age range, sensitivity and specificity equal 0.813 and 0.917, respectively).Peer Reviewe
Productivity in old age
It is commonly assumed that older adults are “unproductive” as soon as they retire and begin receiving a pension from the social security system, as occurs in most European countries. This article deals with the concept of unpaid work and social productivity, on the basis of data collected in the base line of the Estudio Longitudinal sobre Envejecimiento Activo (ELEA; Longitudinal Study of Active Aging), exploring the extent to which Spanish older adults (aged 55 to 75) report being involved in productive activities. First, the data are examined by age, gender, and working status; and second, under moderate- cost assumptions, the unpaid contribution to society of older people is calculated, in terms of Euros. The results are discussed in the context of other general studies about unpaid productive activities in old age; it is concluded that our sample is characterized by a focus on productive activity related to care for other adults and children and their estimated contribution in unpaid activities expresses the importance of older persons as social capital.Peer Reviewe
Envejecimiento con éxito: criterios y predictores
En la literatura científi ca anglosajona, envejecimiento con éxito es un término que ha ido consolidándose
en los últimos años, al mismo tiempo que ha ido adoptando distintas denominaciones: «envejecimiento
activo», «productivo», «saludable», «óptimo» o «positivo». A pesar de que estos conceptos han sido
descritos mediante factores bio-psicosociales, la investigación empírica los ha reducido a variables
funcionales y salud física y, aunque los autores consideran que los determinantes de este tipo de
envejecimiento son también multi-dominio, su búsqueda e investigación ha sido también reducida a los
estilos de vida. Lógicamente, la prevalencia de este tipo de envejecimiento hallada empíricamente es poco
consistente y la investigación de sus determinantes o predictores se refi ere a condiciones biomédicas.
En este trabajo hemos analizado los resultados de 458 personas (170 varones y 288 mujeres, media de
edad: 66,47, rango: 55-75) participantes en el estudio ELEA (Estudio Longitudinal de Envejecimiento
Activo). Los resultados ponen de manifi esto (en dependencia de las defi niciones operacionales simples
o multidimensionales utilizadas) una amplia disparidad en la proporción de personas que envejecen con
éxito, así como un amplio número de predictores multidominio de envejecimiento con éxito, entre los
cuales se encuentran variables psicológicas intelectuales, de la personalidad y motivacionalesEsta investigación ha sido fi nanciada por el Instituto de Mayores
y Servicios Sociales [ELEA 035-2006].Peer reviewe
Family and community support among older Chilean adults: the importance of heterogeneous social support sources for quality of life
Family and community social networks act as social resources that promote well-being at advanced ages. In this study, we analyze the association between social support received from personal social networks (social support from various family members and friends) and community social networks (social support from neighbors and the neighborhood, age, ethnic, or religious group peers and formal social support networks) and quality of life (QoL) for a sample of older Chilean persons (n = 777). The results confirm that social support from family (partner, children, and extended family) and friends, integration in the community (neighbors) and social support from informal systems (social groups) are associated with QoL. Moreover, the model including both types of support explains 25.8% of variance in QoL. The results and their possible implications are discussed.Depto. de Trabajo Social y Servicios SocialesFac. de Trabajo SocialTRUEpu