Toward Healthy Aging
Actively Aging: A Paradigm Shift for Social Work Practice with Older Adults
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jill Chonody, Barbra Teater
Global aging has implications for health and social services with an increased need for services and providers to meet the growing demand. However, it is equally important to develop theoretical and practical frameworks to guide practice. This paper presents “Actively Aging,” a theoretical framework for social work practice based on the World Health Organization’s active aging policy framework, research on the meaning of active aging from the perspectives of older adults, and social work values. Actively Aging was specifically developed to challenge the “decline and loss” or medicalized approaches to aging that focus on what older adults can no longer do versus what they can do. It was also developed as a backlash to the discriminatory and non-inclusive approaches to aging, such as healthy, productive, or successful aging, which are geared towards “healthy” older adults and holds them to unrealistic middle-age standards. These one-dimensional and individualistic ideologies are incompatible with social work values, and a paradigm shift is needed. Actively Aging applies humanistic approaches to social work practice with older adults and considers the interplay between individuals’ experiences, their meanings of aging, and their sociocultural context. The background and rationale for the development and implementation of Actively Aging are presented.
Measuring Dimensions and Predictors of Healthy Ageing: A Case Study of India and China
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Antczak Radosław
Healthy ageing is defined by WHO as the “process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age.” Yet this concept is still being developed. This paper addresses this aspect by utilizing data from the first wave of WHO SAGE surveys for China and India. This paper assesses the multidimensionality of health in older ages and examines which attributes of older people predict particular (or all) dimensions of health. The paper follows a three-step reflective approach, including exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to find the best model of healthy ageing for Chinese and Indian older population. Further modelling, using the ordinary least squares regression method, allows us to identify its predictors. The empirical results confirm the multidimensionality of healthy ageing, which hitherto is described by a single theoretical construct. We identify seven dimensions of healthy ageing in China (self-care, interpersonal relationships, mobility, pain, sleep, affect, and vision) and an additional eighth dimension in India (getting out of the home and overall health). Furthermore, age, education, employment, and income are found to be the strongest predictors of healthy ageing in both these two countries. We also identify that physical activity, social participation, and satisfaction with healthcare positively influence healthy ageing, whereas smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol has no influence. Despite great similarities between India and China, important differences include the stronger effect of income and place of living in China and material deprivation in India.
Longevity Secrets of Hulda Crooks, AKA Grandma Fuji: A Case Study of the Oldest Woman and Oldest American to Climb Mt. Fuji
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session William C Andress
In 2012, at the Aging and Society Conference in Vancouver, Canada, I presented a paper on the health secrets of Hulda Crooks, the oldest person to climb Mt. Whitney, highest peak in the continental US. This study is similar in nature, but considering this year's conference venue, it will emphasize her exploits on Mt. Fuji, where, in 1987, she became the oldest American and oldest woman to summit Japan's tallest peak at the age of 91; a record which still stands 31 years later. Along with her "Prescription for Health," (given to all in attendance), video footage of that climb will be shared. Unlike previous presentations, this one will follow a case study format and will address life challenges she confronted such as childhood obesity, being thrown out of a dysfunctional home at the age of 18 with only a 6th grade education, overcoming physical debilitating diseases in her 20's and 30's, sudden widowhood in mid-life, and the loss of her only son to a drug overdose. The discussion will be motivational in nature with the goal of demonstrating that one's history does not determine one's destiny.
