Healthy Approaches
An Evaluation of Perceived or Actual Activity Barriers Among United States National Senior Athletes Versus the General Older Adult Population
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ellen Driber-Hassall, John Bishop
To enhance human services practice for older adults, it remains incumbent upon professionals to acknowledge the presence of and act upon activity barriers encountered along the aging continuum. American older adults (OA) shouldering activity barriers may face serious quality of life issues resulting in minimal health equity opportunity. Compounding this predicament are socio-environment issues which accompany aging and are associated with the current OA 88% inactivity rate. This research investigated what OA activity barriers were present in two segments of that population: national-level senior athletes versus non-athletes who attended health promotion workshops. Given the estimate of 200m OA (65 years of age and older) by the year 2060, spanning three distinct generations, each possessing unique generational profiles, the questions of access, availability, and affordability of human services are exigent. The methodology piloted a cross-sectional data collection approach with national-level senior athletes who anonymously and voluntarily completed a demographic questionnaire and the “Barriers to Being Active Survey”. Results from these athletes were compared to results obtained with the general non-athlete population. The results indicate a distinct difference in the identification of and the reporting of activity barriers in the general older adult population sample as compared to a national-level senior athlete sample. This research corroborates both the need for proactive planning and complete understanding of these barriers’ impacts on society by decision makers and those working with older adults.
Inspired Creativity: When Group Singing Meets Parkinson’s
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Donald E Stewart
Australian research, using the ‘Sing to Beat Parkinsons®’ approach, provides evidence showing that group singing has a substantial beneficial impact on health such as enhanced quality of life, reduced emotional burden, and enhanced communication. The project also explored participants’ experience of singing and perceived health benefits. A mixed methods study design focused on people living with Parkinson’s (PWP) and their carers in SE Queensland. They attended one hour weekly group singing sessions over twenty-four weeks. Pre‐/post‐intervention assessments were made using PDQ 39, PDQ Carer, and DASS21. In‐depth interviews were also conducted. Seventy-eight participants completed the project (56PWP/22 carers) aged 51-94 years, 54% male 46% female, mean time since diagnosis of 7.41 years (range 0-25 years). Results indicated a statistically significant (P value <.01) improvement: mobility (36.6-35.2 p = .007), activities of daily living (32.8-30 p = .006), emotional wellbeing (26-24.6 p = .005), stigma 18.4-14.7 p = .001), social support (15.5-14.4 p = .002). The single index, plus cognitive impairment, communication, and bodily discomfort were not statistically significant. Measurements of depression, anxiety, and stress showed a statistically significant reduction: depression (8.54-7.15 p = .001), anxiety (3.47-3.22 p = .000), stress (8.61-8.37 p = .000). These results support emerging interest in non-medical determinants of health and new approaches to improving health, wellbeing, and quality of life, particularly for those with long term chronic degenerative conditions. They also support the vision of empowering individuals to actively participate in their wellbeing through community engagement and non-traditional tools of healing.
Aging with Resilience, Joy and Friendship Amid Health Challenges: Fostering Neuroplasticity in an Interdisciplinary, Inter-generational Learning Center
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cynthia FitzGerald
As global aging and health challenges mount, this study brings hope and evidence of best practices affirmed by the U.S. Congress as a model learning community on a college campus for fostering resilience and neuroplasticity following a spectrum of adult onset diagnosis including: Stroke, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, Traumatic Brain Injury, Aphasia, Orthopedic/Neurological diagnosis. In its forty-fifth year, the Cabrillo College Stroke and Disability Learning Center is a uniquely successful active, engaging learning environment, which incorporates a spectrum of creative classes for adults in conjunction with a learning lab for allied health students. Participants become college students, rather than patients, in this affirming, engaging environment, as skills, friendships and learning help them to find new community amid major life changes. The additional benefit of ongoing inter-generational teaching between participants and students learning to become health care providers provides an additional layer of inspiration and affirmation as those involved constantly learn new skills and develop their capabilities to live more fully amid health and social changes.
The Relationship Between Language and Memory in Senescence and Senility
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marcus V. B. Oliveira, Rosana Novaes Pinto
Considering the influence of historical-cultural aspects of higher psychological functions (Vygotsky, 1934/1984), we assume that language can not be reduced to the strict rules of the formal system, just like memory cannot be understood as a technical skill. Both activities were developed along the human history and are inter-constitutive (Oliveira, 2017). This work aims to publicize and discuss some of the results obtained in a qualitative and microgenetic longitudinal postdoctoral study that relates language and memory in the context of "normal" aging and in pathologies (aphasia and dementia). We have analyzed some clippings of video-recorded speech-language pathology sessions that took place at the State Reference Center for Elderly Health Care (CREASI), in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The units of analysis consist of utterances effectively produced in dialogical situations, which considered the singular history of the individuals as well as their social practices. The same principles also guide the linguistic-cognitive rehabilitation, in order to help the subjects to reorganize aspects of language and memory functioning. The clinical work is based on the so called “ethical-responsible dimension” (Bakhtin, 2010), which inserts researches in the process, as the “parter of real communication”. This mutual collaboration is a powerful therapeutical tool to minimize the effects of aging processes, especially on the pathological condition, which affects positively the individual's quality of life. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee and research under opinion number 2.547.410.
