Enacting agency: exploring how older adults shape their neighbourhoods

Within research on ageing in neighbourhoods, older adults are often positioned as impacted by neighbourhood features; their impact on neighbourhoods is less often considered. Drawing on a study exploring how person and place transact to shape older adults’ social connectedness, inclusion and engagement in neighbourhoods, this paper explores how older adults take action in efforts to create neighbourhoods that meet individual and collective needs and wants. We drew on ethnographic and community-based participatory approaches and employed qualitative and geospatial methods with 14 older adults in two neighbourhoods. Analysis identified three themes that described the ways that older adults enact agency at the neighbourhood level: being present and inviting casual social interaction, helping others and taking community action. The participants appeared to contribute to a collective sense of connectedness and creation of social spaces doing everyday neighbourhood activities and interacting with others. Shared territories in which others were present seemed to support such interactions. Participants also helped others in a variety of ways, often relating to gaps in services and support, becoming neighbourhood-based supports for other seniors. Finally, participants contributed to change at the community level, such as engaging politically, patronising local businesses and making improvements in public places. Study findings suggest the potential benefits of collaborating with older adults to create and maintain liveable neighbourhoods

Toward Understanding Person–Place Transactions in Neighborhoods: A Qualitative-Participatory Geospatial Approach

Background and Objectives Emerging research regarding aging in neighborhoods emphasizes the importance of this context for well-being; however, in-depth information about the nature of person–place relationships is lacking. The interwoven and complex nature of person and place points to methods that can examine these relationships in situ and explore meanings attached to places. Participatory geospatial methods can capture situated details about place that are not verbalized during interviews or otherwise discerned, and qualitative methods can explore interpretations, both helping to generate deep understandings of the relationships between person and place. This article describes a combined qualitative-geospatial approach for studying of older adults in neighborhoods and investigates the qualitative-geospatial approach developed, including its utility and feasibility in exploring person–place transactions in neighborhoods. Research Design and Methods We developed and implemented a qualitative-geospatial approach to explore how neighborhood and person transact to shape sense of social connectedness in older adults. Methods included narrative interviews, go-along interviews, and global positioning system tracking with activity/travel diary completion followed by map-based interviews. We used a variety of data analysis methods with attention to fully utilizing diverse forms of data and integrating data during analysis. We reflected on and examined the utility and feasibility of the approach through a variety of methods. Results Findings indicate the unique understandings that each method contributes, the strengths of the overall approach, and the feasibility of implementing the approach. Discussion and Implications The developed approach has strong potential to generate knowledge about person–place transactions that can inform practice, planning, policy, and research to promote older adults’ well-being

An occupational perspective on immigrant integration: critically exploring the renegotiation of daily life

Background Immigration, settlement and integration are complex phenomena involving a range of transitions in relation to physical, economic, political, social and cultural aspects of occupation (Huot, Laliberte Rudman, Dodson, & Magalhães, 2013; Nayar & Sterling, 2013). These transitions are shaped by the socio-historic and political contexts within which immigrants’ journeys are embedded (Huot & Laliberte Rudman, 2010). Purpose To critically explore how social integration is mediated through occupation, a comparative international study of the experiences of a group of multi-national migrants in Auckland, New Zealand and London, Ontario, Canada was undertaken. This research considers migrants’ changes in everyday occupations and the influences of structural and systemic barriers and enablers upon their negotiation of transitions and integration. Methods A critical ethnography with two stages of data collection was utilised. First, policy documents from Canada and New Zealand were reviewed to understand the socio-political context governing immigration within each country. Second, authors engaged in qualitative interviews with immigrants in London and Auckland. Participants Nineteen participants (9 males and 10 females) were purposefully selected; 10 in London and 9 in Auckland. London participants immigrated from Benin, Brazil, Burundi, Columbia, France, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Auckland participants immigrated from Fiji, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, UK, US, and Zimbabwe. Data collection Interviews began by eliciting narratives pertaining to international migration, settlement and integration. A semi-structured interview guide was then used to obtain additional information such as engagement in occupations within the host community, and changes to occupations following migration. Next, participants created an ‘occupational map’ (Huot et al., 2013), describing the places they go and the things they do in their host communities. Follow-up interviews were undertaken as required to clarify information and seek additional experiences. Data analysis In total, 29 interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Analysis is ongoing, using a two-stage coding approach. In the first open-coding stage, transcripts are read line-by-line and codes reflect participants’ words. The second stage will entail a theoretical coding approach guided by concepts from Bourdieu’s theory of practice and Nayar’s (2009) theory of Navigating Cultural Spaces. Results Presentation of findings will address how immigrants’ experiences are shaped within the host societies’ broader contexts. For instance, New Zealand’s Biculturalism and Canada’s Multiculturalism and Bilingualism provide particular approaches to dealing with immigrant integration. We will discuss how this is negotiated at the local scale by individual immigrants who mediate their integration through engagement in occupation. As such, we will focus upon how occupations are affected by the transitions resulting from international migration, and how possibilities to engage in occupations, or not, shape immigrants’ integration into receiving communities. Contribution to occupational science Immigrants’ abilities to engage in occupations are central to their integration into a new society (Nayar, Hocking & Wilson, 2007), yet many migration theories fail to explicitly acknowledge the centrality of occupation. Given that occupations are culturally mediated, this research will inform occupational science education by providing a deeper understanding of how people migrating between diverse cultural contexts experience transitions to occupations. Learning objectives: Following this presentation, audience members will better understand: The structural and systemic factors shaping immigrant integration; How international mobility can alter the occupations engaged in by migrants; and How transitions resulting from migration are mediated through occupation

When Self-Presentation Trumps Access: Why Older Adults with Low Vision Go without Low Vision Services

Reasons were sought for low-vision service nonuse in a group of Canadian seniors with self-reported low vision. Audio-recorded semistructured interviews were completed with 34 seniors with low vision: age range (70 to 94 years; mean: 82 years); 16 urban dwellers (12 women); 18 rural dwellers (14 women). Qualitative content analysis and template analytic techniques were applied to transcriptions. Informant nonuse of low-vision services involved: insufficient knowledge, managing for now, and practitioner behavior (inadequate rehabilitation education and management). Underlying seniors’ attitudes that shaped their self-presentation and service nonuse included a strong need for independence, a contextualization of vision loss relative to other losses, and an acceptance of vision loss in life. Service delivery strategies should consider not only knowledge access and healthcare practitioner behavior but also senior self-presentation strategies (e.g., viewing aids as counterproductive to independence). Subtle rural-urban attitudinal differences may further delay access for rural seniors; further research is advised

Centering the Complexity of Long-Term Unemployment: Lessons Learned from a Critical Occupational Science Inquiry

Inquiries that rely on temporal framings to demarcate long-term unemployment risk generating partial understandings and grounding unrealistic policy solutions. In contrast, this four-phase two-context study aimed to generate complex understandings of post-recession long-term unemployment in North America. Grounded in a critical occupational perspective, this collaborative ethnographic study also drew on street-level bureaucracy and governmentality perspectives to understand how social policies and discursive constructions shaped people’s everyday ‘doing’ within the arena of long-term unemployment. Across three phases, study methods included interviews with 15 organizational stakeholders who oversaw employment support services; interviews, participant observations, and focus groups with 18 people who provided front-line employment support services; and interviews, participant observations, time diaries, and occupational mapping with 23 people who self-identified as being long-term unemployed. We draw on selected interviews and mapping data to illustrate how participants’ definitions and experiences of long-term unemployment reflected and moved beyond dominant temporally based framings. These findings reinforce the need to expand the dominant conceptualizations of long-term unemployment that shape scholarly inquiries and policy responses. Reflections on the benefits and challenges of this study’s design also reinforce the need to use multiple, flexible methods to center the complexity of long-term unemployment as it is experienced in everyday life.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCOccupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Department ofReviewedFacult

Struggling to Maintain Occupation While Dealing With Risk: The Experiences of Older Adults With Low Vision

The primary aim of this descriptive phenomenological study was to describe the core aspects of living with low vision in later life among older adults (aged 70 years and older) who had not accessed rehabilitation services for low vision. Thirty-four older adults from urban and rural areas participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview and a telephone follow-up. Drawing on an occupational science perspective and using Giorgi and Giorgi’s (2003) method of analysis, the essence of the experience of living with low vision was identified as struggling to maintain valued and necessary occupations while dealing with risk. Additional themes included enhanced sense of risk, striving for independence, and shrinking physical and social life spaces. Findings are interpreted in relation to occupational adaptation and environmental influences on occupation, and implications for the role of occupational therapists are discussed

Fall Applications of Ethephon Modulates Gene Networks Controlling Bud Development during Dormancy in Peach (Prunus Persica)

Ethephon (ET) is an ethylene-releasing plant growth regulator (PGR) that can delay the bloom time in Prunus, thus reducing the risk of spring frost, which is exacerbated by global climate change. However, the adoption of ET is hindered by its detrimental effects on tree health. Little knowledge is available regarding the mechanism of how ET shifts dormancy and flowering phenology in peach. This study aimed to further characterize the dormancy regulation network at the transcriptional level by profiling the gene expression of dormant peach buds from ET-treated and untreated trees using RNA-Seq data. The results revealed that ET triggered stress responses during endodormancy, delaying biological processes related to cell division and intercellular transportation, which are essential for the floral organ development. During ecodormancy, ET mainly impeded pathways related to antioxidants and cell wall formation, both of which are closely associated with dormancy release and budburst. In contrast, the expression of dormancy-associated MADS (DAM) genes remained relatively unaffected by ET, suggesting their conserved nature. The findings of this study signify the importance of floral organogenesis during dormancy and shed light on several key processes that are subject to the influence of ET, therefore opening up new avenues for the development of effective strategies to mitigate frost risks

A photovoice study of school belongingness among high school students in Norway

Although high school graduation is important for living conditions and health throughoutlife, many students do not complete. In Norway’s northern most county, Finnmark, up to 45% of students do not complete high school. Contrary to prior research that has primarilyfocused on causes for dropout, this study’s aim was to deepen understanding of factors thatsupport high school attendance. A strengths-based participatory approach using photovoiceaddressed attendance factors as perceived by seven participating students from one highschool in Finnmark. Qualitative content analysis of data generated through group dialogueabout participant-generated photos and individual interviews identified six factors importantfor students’ school attendance: a supportive school environment, a good learningenvironment, recuperation and recreation, family and friends, goals and ambitions, andplace attachment. Related aspects of a supportive environment and belongingness, where school staff made important contributions to promoting a positive environment, were essential

Bridging occupation science and public health perspectives in an international educational exchange

Intent: We will describe a partnership between three universities, two in Norway and one in Canada, in order to illustrate how the integration of occupational science and public health perspectives on diverse health determinants contributed to interdisciplinary graduate education through a collaborative international exchange. Two specific initiatives will be addressed: the development of integrated occupational science and public health curriculum materials, and the participation of students from each country in courses at the institutions overseas. Argument: The conditions of everyday life and the occupations these conditions enable are well recognized as key determinants of health and well-being within occupational science, occupational therapy and public health. Within occupational science in particular, there is growing recognition that full realization of the vision of health promotion through occupation requires expanding beyond individual-level approaches in order to address socio-political conditions that contribute to occupational inequities and injustices. It is also clear that public health initiatives need to take into account the circumstances in which people live and work, as well as occupational opportunities across various realms in order to enhance health equity. As such, educational initiatives that bring together occupational science, occupational therapy and public health provide a useful approach in addressing the complexity of factors that shape life circumstances and occupational possibilities as a means to promote health. Promoting interdisciplinary graduate education through international exchange also contributes a useful experiential learning approach. Importance to Occupational Science: A key outcome of this educational exchange has been its translation into interdisciplinary research conducted by graduate students that was co-supervised by public health and occupational scholars from both countries. International and interdisciplinary collaboration in education and research can expand the reach and potential impacts of occupation-based knowledge by informing health promotion work. Exposure to the various aspects of this partnership has contributed to new knowledge that can better prepare future researchers and practitioners for working in diverse settings, and may, as suggested by Zemke (2016), inspire students to link across disciplines to address social issues of relevance to occupation, health and well-being. Conclusion: In travelling abroad and working as part of internationally collaborative teams to study occupational science, occupational therapy, and public health, students and faculty participating in the interdisciplinary educational exchange program have had diverse opportunities to broaden their focus to ‘the social’ and expand their own disciplinary location. Discussion questions: How can international educational opportunities also contribute to students’ understanding of occupation as a culturally-informed and situated construct? How could similar partnerships with other relevant disciplines be forged and what novel contributions could be made by occupational scientists to interdisciplinary education and research? What challenges threaten the sustainability of such international institutional partnerships and what strategies can be used to ensure their continued success? Key words: education, international exchange, social determinants of healt