Aging in France: Population Trends, Policy Issues, and Research Institutions

Like in other advanced industrial countries, in France, demographic aging has become a widely debated research and policy topic. This article offers a brief overview of major aging-related trends in France. The article describes France’s demographics of aging, explores key policy matters, maps the insti-tutional field of French social gerontology research, and, finally, points to several emerging issues about aging. In France, these issues include active and healthy aging, the improvement of knowledge on specific vulnerable segments of the elderly popula-tion, and the adaptation of the urban landscape and infrastructure to an aging population. At the broadest level, one of the key points formulated in this article is that in France, aging research is domi-nated by the state, yet it is scattered and compart-mentalized, posing a crucial challenge in an era dominated by European and other international net-works and coordination efforts in aging policy and knowledge

International and European policy on work and retirement: Reinventing critical perspectives on active ageing and mature subjectivity

In this article, the authors critically examine themes that have become associated with work and retirement in the context of demographic change. Two discourses are looked at in detail, those of ‘active’ and ‘productive’ ageing, with a focus upon International and European social policy. Drawing on the work of Foucault and others, the emergence of a dominant discourse and its effects on policy-based understandings of ageing are examined. A new orthodoxy of ageing subjectivity is identified, restricting the social contribution of older adults to work and work-like activities. A subtext refers to the co-option of liberal gerontological priorities into new and socially rigid forms of identity that legitimize particular ways of growing old. The authors conclude that a radical re-positioning, inspired by mature identity, is required to rely less upon economically determined roles and more upon alternative grounding in existential life tasks and experience to give space for a ‘mature subjectivity’ and a desirable ‘mature subject’

Operative definition of active and healthy ageing (AHA): Meeting report. Montpellier October 20-21, 2014

The broad concept of Active and Healthy Ageing was proposed by WHO as the process of optimizing opportunities for health to enhance quality of life as people age. It applies to both individuals and population groups. A universal active and healthy ageing definition is not available and may differ depending on the purpose of the definition and/or the questions raised. The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) has had a major impact but a definition of Active and Healthy Ageing is urgently needed. A meeting was organised in Montpellier October 20-21, 2014 as the annual conference of the EIP on AHA Reference Site MACVIA-LR (contre les MAladies Chroniques pour un VIeillissement Actif en Languedoc Roussillon). The goal of the meeting was to propose an operational definition of Active and Healthy Ageing as well as tools that may be used for this definition. The current paper provides a summary of the plenary presentations that were given during the meeting

Operative definition of active and healthy ageing (AHA): Meeting report. Montpellier October 20-21, 2014

The broad concept of Active and Healthy Ageing was proposed by WHO as the process of optimizing opportunities for health to enhance quality of life as people age. It applies to both individuals and population groups. A universal active and healthy ageing definition is not available and may differ depending on the purpose of the definition and/or the questions raised. The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) has had a major impact but a definition of Active and Healthy Ageing is urgently needed. A meeting was organised in Montpellier October 20-21, 2014 as the annual conference of the EIP on AHA Reference Site MACVIA-LR (contre les MAladies Chroniques pour un VIeillissement Actif en Languedoc Roussillon). The goal of the meeting was to propose an operational definition of Active and Healthy Ageing as well as tools that may be used for this definition. The current paper provides a summary of the plenary presentations that were given during the meeting

Operative definition of active and healthy ageing (AHA): Meeting report. Montpellier October 20–21, 2014

International audienceThe broad concept of Active and Healthy Ageing was proposed by WHO as the process of optimizing opportunities for health to enhance quality of life as people age. It applies to both individuals and population groups. A universal active and healthy ageing definition is not available and may differ depending on the purpose of the definition and/or the questions raised. The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) has had a major impact but a definition of Active and Healthy Ageing is urgently needed. A meeting was organised in Montpellier October 20-21, 2014 as the annual conference of the EIP on AHA Reference Site MACVIA-LR (contre les MAladies Chroniques pour un VIeillissement Actif en Languedoc Roussillon). The goal of the meeting was to propose an operational definition of Active and Healthy Ageing as well as tools that may be used for this definition. The current paper provides a summary of the plenary presentations that were given during the meeting

Operational definition of Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA): A conceptual framework

International audienceHealth is a multi-dimensional concept, capturing how people feel and function. The broad concept of Active and Healthy Ageing was proposed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the process of optimizing opportunities for health to enhance quality of life as people age. It applies to both individuals and population groups. A universal Active and Healthy Ageing definition is not available and it may differ depending on the purpose of the definition and/or the questions raised. While the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) has had a major impact, a definition of Active and Healthy Ageing is urgently needed. A meeting was organised in Montpellier, France, October 20-21, 2014 as the annual conference of the EIP on AHA Reference Site MACVIA-LR (Contre les Maladies Chroniques pour un Vieillissement Actif en Languedoc Roussillon) to propose an operational definition of Active and Healthy Ageing including tools that may be used for this. The current paper describes the rationale and the process by which the aims of the meeting will be reached

Operational Definition of Active and Healthy Aging (AHA): The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on AHA Reference Site Questionnaire: Montpellier October 20-21, 2014, Lisbon July 2, 2015

A core operational definition of active and healthy aging (AHA) is needed to conduct comparisons. A conceptual AHA framework proposed by the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing Reference Site Network includes several items such as functioning (individual capability and underlying body systems), well-being, activities and participation, and diseases (including noncommunicable diseases, frailty, mental and oral health disorders). The instruments proposed to assess the conceptual framework of AHA have common applicability and availability attributes. The approach includes core and optional domains/instruments depending on the needs and the questions. A major common domain is function, as measured by the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). WHODAS 2.0 can be used across all diseases and healthy individuals. It covers many of the AHA dimensions proposed by the Reference Site network. However, WHODAS 2.0 does not include all dimensions proposed for AHA assessment. The second common domain is health-related quality of life (HRQoL). A report of the AHA questionnaire in the form of a spider net has been proposed to facilitate usual comparisons across individuals and groups of interest