Posters I
Poster sessions present preliminary results of works in progress or projects that lend themselves to visual displays and representations. These sessions allow for engagement in informal discussions about the work with interested delegates.
Economic Challenges and Associated Health Challenges Among the Aging Population
Poster Session Paulchris Okpala
The world’s aging population (65 years or older) is projected to reach 16% of the global population by 2050, which raises concerns over the possible increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. This study seeks to understand the economic impact of the prevalence of the non-communicable diseases among the aging. This analysis facilitates stakeholders' ability to plan ahead to ensure sustained economic stability. Through a quantitative analysis of the secondary data (n =12) that were electronic databases, it was noted that the increased burden of non-communicable diseases among the aging negatively impact on economic growth. The economic costs include a significant increase in government and household expenditures towards the management of the non-communicable diseases. It was also observed that the increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases leads to diminished labor force participation resulting in significant reduction in the personal savings and strain on pensions. The step by the governments to finance the cost of care among the old was noted to lead to increased health care spending, which results in a significant burden to the economy. It is recommended that governments should strategize on how to enhance behavioral change towards increased savings, and labor force participation. There is also a need to adopt health system reforms that address the health of the aging population with the aim of reducing their cost of care and the risk of disease.
Conceptualization of a Lifestyle after Retirement Transition: How Recent Retirees Cope
Poster Session Viera Bacova, Peter Halama
The retirement literature has uncovered four distinct lifestyle attitudes toward retirement transition. Retirement can be seen as: an opportunity to make a new start, a continuation of pre-retirement lifestyle, an unwelcome, imposed disruption, and a transition to old age. This research proposes to examine the lifestyle postures and determine their connections with indicators of retirement adjustment. A sample of 173 recent retirees completed the questionnaires. To assess the preferred lifestyle attitude, a new scale was constructed with sixteen previously used items and sixteen newly formulated items. As expected, factor analysis confirmed the existence of four factors. Although several qualitative and quantitative studies have presented retirement lifestyle attitudes as mutually incompatible, in this research, significant relationships among them were found. This indicates that recent retirees can conceptualize the seemingly distinct lifestyles synchronously. Based on the conceptualization of lifestyles, cluster analysis identified three types of retirees in the sample. On the basis of prevailing scores of particular lifestyles, the first type of retirees (N=90) was called “New beginning and continuation”, the second type (N=44) “Imposed disruption without hope”, and the third one (N=39) “Accepted disruption and ending”. Analysis of variance showed that these three types differ significantly in the level of satisfaction in retirement, subjective happiness and life meaningfulness, where the highest level was found in the first retirees’ type and the lowest level in the second retirees’ type. The findings suggest that post-retirement lifestyle posture may impact psychological well‐being in retirement. The implications for retirement counseling are discussed.
Understanding Elder Abuse in Toronto’s Tamil Community: Emerging Findings of a Mixed-methods Study
Poster Session Souraya Sidani, Sepali Guruge, Diane Pirner, Parvathy Kanthasamy
The Tamil community in Toronto is one of the city’s largest immigrant communities. There is no research about elder abuse in the Tamil community in Canada. This poster is based on a mixed methods study that aimed to identify key risk factors that contribute to elder abuse in the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Toronto, Canada. A total of forty-three older Tamil immigrants living in the Greater Toronto Area participated in the study. Participants attended group interviews during which they rated the frequency of occurrence and the importance of risk factors contributing to elder abuse in their community, and then discussed these factors. Participants’ ratings of the importance of key risk factors were analyzed descriptively, and qualitative responses were content analyzed. Participants rated lack of knowledge of English and physical dependence on others as the most important factors contributing to elder abuse. The qualitative data highlighted a range of risk factors at the individual, family, community, and societal levels, and how they intersect to create vulnerability to abuse. For example, social isolation at the micro level may result from individuals health issues, dependence on family for interpretation and transportation, family expectations for unpaid caregiving and household work, but also largely shaped by the neighbourhood physical and social context at the meso-level and ageist and racist immigration and social policies at the macro-level.The emerging strategies to prevent and address elder abuse in this community require a multi-level and multi-sector approach.
Optimizing the Participation of Seniors in the Social Fabric of Communities: Development of a Learning and Sharing Initiative for the Aging Population
Poster Session Marie-Michèle Lord, Catherine Briand
The aging process is related to several changes that can significantly affect life and health. Preventing the deterioration of seniors' health rather than acting only once the disorder has emerged is crucial. This requires adequate resources in the community. In addition, having the opportunity to learn new knowledge and to share experiential life skills are two cornerstones of aging well-being. In addition, enjoyable social relationships, as well as social participation are protective factors for the health of seniors. Despite some very interesting programs, few initiatives highlight the experiential knowledge of seniors or involve learning to promote their participation in the social fabric. In fact, it appears that a vast number of programs for older adults relate to participation in recreational activities. The objective of this poster is to present a project that led to co-develop, with seniors in Canada, a learning and sharing initiative based on the Recovery College model. This model originally comes from England and aims to empower a person, one's entourage and the community to engage in recovery-oriented practices. The model puts forward trainings that are co-constructed and co-facilitated by people with experiential knowledge and people with theoretical or clinical knowledge (duos of trainers). Several empirical studies show that Recovery College has positive effects on many levels, including personal recovery, social inclusion, hope and well-being.
Participatory Action Research of the Community on Sufficiency Health and Quality of Life in the Eastern Region of Thailand
Poster Session Wethaka Klinwichit, Pisit Piriyapun
Participatory Action Research methods for developing community sufficiency health and Quality of Life (QOL) in elderly model had three study phases; 1) Survey elderly health and QOL situation 2) Develop model and 3) Evaluate model. 384 samples (50 elders: 334 caregivers) from 9,722 elders and 64,125 caregivers population in three provinces in eastern of Thailand. Instruments were WHOQOL–BREF and self-care assessment in elderly, self-perception of elderly health status, health problems and assessment ability to elderly care in caregivers. Statistics were employed frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. It revealed that; the elder’s QOL was at moderate level (44%), physical health, psychological and social relationships domain were moderate at 54%, 56% and 54%. Environment domain was good (76%). Self-care potential of the elderly was quite good, but nutrition and exercise behavior still was not appropriate. Caregivers’ perception of elderly health status was in moderate level. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and rheumatoid arthritis were present in the elderly. Assessment ability to elderly care in caregivers was in moderate level. Development of QOL sufficiency model for elderly used the idea of "home", as the gable of home is the knowledge and moral merit. The elderly living in a home composed of the body, mind, and spirit surrounded of good society and friendly environment. The elderly and caregivers had the highest level opinion of using the QOL sufficiency model. To summarize, QOL in elderly should be a concern for a warm home to create an aging society with love, care, and sharing.
Nutritional Status of Older Adults’ Living in Long Term Care Center in Riyadh/Saudi Arabia
Poster Session Maha Al Turki
Older adults are more vulnerable to malnutrition due to several age-related physiological and functional changes. This study assesses the nutritional status of institutionalized elderly females and explores the association between their nutritional statuses and other determinants. Cross-sectional study of 38 females aged 60 years and over who were resident at the Social Welfare Home for Elderly Females in Riyadh. Anthropocentric/biochemical data, medications, and length of residency were retrieved form their medical records. Nutritional status was assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment tool. More than 94% of the residents were malnourished or at risk of developing malnutrition. Twenty-one percent of the resident were underweight (BMI below 18.5 kg/m2) and 60% of them were categorized as overweight/obese (BMI above 25 kg/m2). Twenty-one subjects had albumin status below the reference range. Total protein and hemoglobin were below the desirable values in 29% and 34% subjects respectively. Significantly greater percentage of malnourished residents were dependent for mobility (p<0.001) or require assistant during feeding (p=0.023). Physical dependencies was an independent predictor of the nutritional status among our sample (β=2.375; SE 0.800; p=0.006). According to several nutritional assessment methods, the majority of institutionalized elderly females at the Social Welfare Home for Elderly Females in Riyadh were malnourished or at risk of developing malnutrition. This study underlines the association between nutritional status and physical dependencies among this age group. Strategies for effective nutritional care should be implemented for institutionalized older adults to treat and prevent the malnutrition and to improve their quality of life.
The Role of Evidence-based Design in Shaping Future Housing with Care
Poster Session Suyee Jung
‘Housing with care’ has developed as an alternative to being in ‘my own home’, and is very different from a care home. This form of care offers a living setting with care provision wherein older people reside when moving away from mainstream housing. Having a sense of independence is important to older residents’ who have moved from their own home to a new residential environment. In terms of establishing a sense of place attachment and place identity, it is crucial for their sense of wellbeing. Having a sense of independence is important to older residents’ who have moved from their own home to a new residential environment. In terms of establishing a sense of place attachment and place identity, it is crucial for their sense of wellbeing. Evidence-based design (EBD) is a recent design strategy which has focused on healthcare facilities and it integrates all available evidence, design expertise, practitioners, and decisions makers to achieve the design objectives. As there is no consensus available to support the design of housing with care and no systematic tool exists to assess the principles of the scheme. Herein, we propose assessing designs via abstract principles based on EBD processes.
