Hitzebelastung und Hitzewahrnehmung im Wohn- und Arbeitsumfeld der Generation 50plus in Aachen

Im Zusammenhang mit dem Klimawandel wird erwartet, dass Hitzeereignisse in den kommenden Jahrzehnten deutlich häufiger auftreten, höhere Temperaturen erreichen und länger andauern werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht vor diesem Hintergrund am Beispiel der Stadt Aachen, inwieweit eine ältere städtische Bevölkerung bereits heute Hitzephasen in ihrem Alltag als Belastung empfindet und welche Strategien im Umgang mit Hitzephasen bereits bestehen. Dabei liegt das Augenmerk auf der Wohnsituation und dem Wohnumfeld der Bewohner sowie auf der Hitzewahrnehmung bei der Arbeit bzw. im Arbeitsumfeld. Die Ergebnisse der Studie machen deutlich, dass nur wenige Befragte sommerliche Hitze als starke oder sehr starke Belastung empfinden. Diese Beurteilung variiert jedoch nach bestimmten Personengruppen. Das Empfinden von Hitzephasen als Belastung wirkt sich allerdings nicht auf ein an Hitze angepassten Verhalten aus. Dies kann auf ein großes Informationsdefizit selbst bei den vulnerablen Bevölkerungsgruppen zurückgeführt werden. Eine Analyse der Hitzewahrnehmung in ausgewählten Aachener Stadtteilen legt zwar gewisse Unterschiede der Belastungsempfindung offen, jedoch spiegeln sich klimatische Unterschiede darin nicht wider, denn sommerliche Hitzephasen werden in den verschiedenen Stadtteilen in nahezu gleichem Ausmaß als Belastung empfunden. Mehr als im häuslichen Umfeld wirkt sich sommerliche Hitze am Arbeitsplatz belastend aus. Dabei lassen sich signifikante Unterschiede zwischen einzelnen Berufsgruppen feststellen. Selbstständige verfügen über die flexibelsten Arbeitsbedingungen und haben die meisten Möglichkeiten sich Hitzephasen anzupassen. Die Notwendigkeit von Anpassungsmaßnahmen an ein künftig häufigeres Auftreten von Hitzeperioden ist daher weniger auf der Ebene der Gesamtstadt und für die städtische Gesellschaft als Ganze zu sehen. Vielmehr müssen besonders belastende Wohn‐ und Arbeitssituationen sowie vulnerable Bevölkerungsgruppen identifiziert werden und verstärkt Beachtung erhalten.In connection with climate change, it is likely that there will be much more frequent heat events in the coming decades reaching higher temperatures and continuing for longer periods of time. Given this situation, this article uses the example of the City of Aachen to investigate the extent to which an older urban population is already experiencing phases of heat as discomfort in their everyday life and what strategies they have to deal with phases of heat. This will focus on the housing situation and residential environment of the inhabitants of the city and how they perceive heat at work and in their working environment. The study's findings indicate that only a few of the persons questioned experienced summer heat as major or very major discomfort. However, this judgment varies according to specific groups of persons and experiencing phases of heat as discomfort did not have an impact on their behavior. That can be attributed to a major information deficit even among the vulnerable groups in the population. Of course, an analysis of the perception of heat in selected boroughs of the City of Aachen does expose certain differences in the way they experience discomfort. However, this does not reflect climatic differences since each of the boroughs experience phases of summer heat as discomfort to almost the same extent. Beyond this, summer heat is more discomforting at the workplace than in the domestic environment where we can make out significant differences between each of the professional groups. For example, self-employed persons have the most flexible conditions of work and therefore the widest range of options for adapting themselves to phases of heat. Therefore, we can say that it is less necessary to adapt to any future more frequent occurrence of periods of heat on the level of the city as a whole and for urban society as a whole. Instead, it is necessary to identify residential and working situations especially exposed to discomfort as well as vulnerable groups in the population in order to pay them greater attention

Validation of the Polish version of the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS)

Background. In 2008, the Movement Disorders Society (MDS) published a new Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) as the official benchmark scale for Parkinson’s Disease (PD). We have translated and validated the Polish version of the MDS-UPDRS, explored its dimensionality, and compared it to the original English one. Methods. The MDS-UPDRS was translated into Polish by a team of Polish investigators led by JS and GO. The back-translation was completed by colleagues fluent in both languages (Polish and English) who were not involved in the original translation, and was reviewed by members of the MDS Rating Scales Programme. Then the translated version of the MDS-UPDRS underwent cognitive pretesting, and the translation was modified based on the results. The final translation was approved as the Official Working Document of the MDS-UPDRS Polish version, and was tested on 355 Polish PD patients recruited at movement disorders centres all over Poland (at Katowice, Gdańsk, Łódź, Warsaw, Wrocław, and Kraków). Confirmatory and explanatory factor analyses were applied to determine whether the factor structure of the English version could be confirmed in the Polish version. Results. The Polish version of the MDS-UPDRS showed satisfactory clinimetric properties. The internal consistency of the Polish version was satisfactory. In the confirmatory factor analysis, all four parts had greater than 0.90 comparative fit index (CFI) compared to the original English MDS-UPDRS. Explanatory factor analysis suggested that the Polish version differed from the English version only within an acceptable range. Conclusions and clinical implications. The Polish version of the MDS-UPDRS meets the requirements to be designated as the Official Polish Version of the MDS-UPDRS, and is available on the MDS web page. We strongly recommend using the MDS-UPDRS instead of the UPDRS for research purposes and in everyday clinical practice.

Film on Demand - webinar recording

Film on Demand is a webinar delivered in collaboration with Prof. Piotr Siuda from Kazimierz Wielki University in Poland. In this presentation, we discuss the questions of movie therapy, videos on demand and the evolution of reception practices, industry adjustments (in the face of the pandemic), including the new status quo, future possibilities, including the renaissance of the drive-in cinema, and finally the reasons why it's difficult to give up on the magic of silver screen

Anpassung durch Akzeptanz : der Umgang lokaler Akteure mit sommerlicher Hitze

How does an average, aging society deal with the challenges of climatic and demographic change? In reality, the effects vary regionally. This paper explores how an urban society responds to the challenge of increasing summer temperatures using the example of Aachen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The research started with the perception of heat in the working and living environment of older and thus particularly vulnerable residents. As actors of urban development actively influence living and working conditions, their projected need for action is compared to the results of a survey of the residents. It clearly showed that demographic, socio-cultural, spatial, and construction factors affected the perceptions of the residents. Climate change awareness and possible adaptation measures usually exist, but, in general, initiatives are only taken if the effect is noticed by an individual. Although not all residents and stakeholders of Aachen perceived heat waves as a problem, a variety of adaptation strategies could be established. They ranged from aspired lifestyle over individual and short-term behavioral changes to urban planning, architectural and technical measures. These measures can be used to raise awareness of climate issues and implement adaptation strategies. Thereby, all stakeholders and residents, employers and employees, homeowners and tenants, planners, architects and developers, investors and users, etc., are asked to take responsibility within their field