Place (in)securities: older adults’ perceptions across urban environments in the United Kingdom ((In)seguridades de lugar. Percepciones de las personas mayores en distintos entornos urbanos del Reino Unido)

This paper explores empirical accounts of perceived insecurities and accompanying issues that make urban place problematic and can impact older adults’ well-being and overall quality of life. Findings reported derive from the project ‘Place-Making with Older People: Towards Age-Friendly Communities’ which investigates both barriers and facilitators to developing age-friendly cities. Drawing on interviews with older adults in three cities in the United Kingdom (UK), the analysis demonstrates that physical and social vulnerabilities, along with the characteristics of the built and social environment, play a role in influencing older adults’ behaviours, routines and habits in the community. The results are discussed with a view of influencing practice and policy priorities relating to age-friendly cities

Healthy ageing and home: The perspectives of very old people in five European countries

This paper reports on in-depth research, using a grounded theory approach, to examine the ways in which very old people perceive healthy ageing in the context of living alone at home within urban settings in five European countries. This qualitative study was part of a cross-national project entitled ENABLE-AGE which examined the relationship between home and healthy ageing. Interviews explored the notion of healthy ageing, the meaning and importance of home, conceptualisations of independence and autonomy and links between healthy ageing and home. Data analysis identified five ways in which older people constructed healthy ageing: home and keeping active; managing lifestyles, health and illness; balancing social life; and balancing material and financial circumstances. Older people reflected on their everyday lives at home in terms of being engaged in purposeful, meaningful action and evaluated healthy ageing in relation to the symbolic and practical affordances of the home, contextualised within constructions of their national context. The research suggests that older people perceive healthy ageing as an active achievement, created through individual, personal effort and supported through social ties despite the health, financial and social decline associated with growing older. The physicality and spatiality of home provided the context for establishing and evaluating the notion of healthy ageing, whilst the experienced relationship between home, life history and identity created a meaningful space within which healthy ageing was negotiated

New Pharmacological Agents to Aid Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Harm Reduction: What has been Investigated and What is in the Pipeline?

A wide range of support is available to help smokers to quit and aid attempts at harm reduction, including three first-line smoking cessation medications: nicotine replacement therapy, varenicline and bupropion. Despite the efficacy of these, there is a continual need to diversify the range of medications so that the needs of tobacco users are met. This paper compares the first-line smoking cessation medications to: 1) two variants of these existing products: new galenic formulations of varenicline and novel nicotine delivery devices; and 2) twenty-four alternative products: cytisine (novel outside of central and eastern Europe), nortriptyline, other tricyclic antidepressants, electronic cigarettes, clonidine (an anxiolytic), other anxiolytics (e.g. buspirone), selective 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors, supplements (e.g. St John’s wort), silver acetate, nicobrevin, modafinil, venlafaxine, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI), opioid antagonist, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) antagonists, glucose tablets, selective cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonists, nicotine vaccines, drugs that affect gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transmission, drugs that affect N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA), dopamine agonists (e.g. levodopa), pioglitazone (Actos; OMS405), noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors, and the weight management drug lorcaserin. Six criteria are used: relative efficacy, relative safety, relative cost, relative use (overall impact of effective medication use), relative scope (ability to serve new groups of patients), and relative ease of use (ESCUSE). Many of these products are in the early stages of clinical trials, however, cytisine looks most promising in having established efficacy and safety and being of low cost. Electronic cigarettes have become very popular, appear to be efficacious and are safer than smoking, but issues of continued dependence and possible harms need to be considered

Gambling and debt pathfinder study

The Gambling and Debt pathfinder study was funded by GamCare and the Money Advice Trust, and supported by the Salvation Army. This study critically examines the nature of the relationship between gambling and debt. This has been achieved by investigating the wider social issues associated with gambling-related debt in order to understand the strategies used by individuals and families coping with gambling-related debt and exploring the help-seeking strategies employed by problem gamblers and debtors. The report contains research findings and analysis plus recommendations for future action and research

Toward integrated services for dementia: a formal carer perspective

Purpose - Policy has identified the need for integrated dementia services for older people. However, the role of the formal carer within an integrated framework of service delivery has not been well articulated in practice. The aim of this paper is to understand the experiences of formal carers working with the context of an integrated dementia service by exploring findings from a research-based evaluation. Design/methodology/approach - The evaluation captured the experiences of formal carers working within the service via observations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Findings - Working with an integrated service brings about individual, social and organisational challenges to the role of the formal carer, in terms of: delivering flexibility and responsiveness, providing continuity of care, ensuring cross-organisational working and acquiring skills, knowledge and expertise. Originality/value - To facilitate the successful delivery of integrated care, the emerging role of the formal carer needs to be more clearly articulated and supported within a service context

Humanising dementia care: the case of CareConcepts

This presentation describes the evaluation of a new model of flexible, integrated care for people with dementia and their carers. The CareConcepts service was designed to improve health and well-being, and enable extended independence for people with dementia to live at home for as long as possible. Three domains of care (domiciliary, daycare and respite) were offered as a single personalized, responsive service based on the concepts of familiarity and continuity of care

Mobilising community participation and engagement: the perspective of regeneration professionals

Literature suggests that the successful transformation of inner city areas is dependent upon regeneration professionals closely involving local residents, within a spirit of genuine partnership working. Yet urban regeneration programmes have been largely criticised for the way resident engagement and participation have been conducted, leading to debate on the requisite skill set of the regeneration professional. Undertaking semi-structured interviews with regeneration professionals in an area of the north-west of England with an established urban regeneration company, this paper examines the challenges that professionals encountered facilitating community involvement. The findings identified professional, institutional and organisational barriers that prevented regeneration professionals from mobilising the necessary tools, expertise and knowledge to practise effective engagement, including the absence formal training, limited opportunity for peer-to-peer reflection and the lack of role freedom. Addressing these barriers is fundamental to ensuring that regeneration professionals can share and negotiate meaningful forms of community participation and engagemen