Staying Well (Asynchronous Session)
Featured Caring for the Aged: Revisiting Some Socio-cultural Practices in Nigeria View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Philip Egbule
Aging is a normal stage in life. It is a period in life after physical growth has ended. The aged deserves recognition and respect from all. This call is mainly on the immediate family members (children), secondly, the government considering the economic burden associated with old age in the global south. Recent happenings have emphatically demonstrated a growing vulnerability to the aged and its threats to human right and survival. For instance, delay in the payment of gratuity and pension by the Nigerian government is one of the serious challenges among the aged. In the pre-colonial era Nigerian societies, family support for the elderly was a necessity. However, change in cultural values has eroded these practices in Nigeria. Hence, this paper is a clarion call for the re-visitation and revival of those vital Nigerian cultural values, especially respect, care, love for elders and neighbourly interest. Most importantly, this study investigates the socio-cultural pathways to be taken in building conducive environments for the aged despite the high rate of corruption in Nigeria. To achieve these objectives, the study adopts the method of content analysis of relevant existing literature, materials, pictures, videos and news reports to draw up conclusion based on the workshop’s goals. The paper recommends the prioritization of social welfare policies and as indispensable antidote to curtail the effects of social change on man in general. In conclusion a climate of love and respect, interaction and togetherness should characterize the environment of the aged.
Aging in Unsettled Times: Managing the Present and Perceiving the Futures in Contemporary Croatia View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tihana Rubic
A steadily growing percentage of people now live longer, warning us of the numerous medical, health-related, economic, and political implications of that growth. In what ways do these dynamics reflect on the quality of family life, or rather, (how) do they form or transform contemporary familial and intergenerational practices and interaction with, for example, ninety-year-olds as members of familial communities? Do intensified feelings of insecurity and expectations of insecure (urban) futures in current pandemic, make difference in intergenerational social life of aging? Through socio-cultural research perspective on family life and aging, i.e. a consideration of aging as a socio-cultural challenge in the contemporary Croatian and European socio-economic and political context, I present findings and ethnographic data from ethnological and cultural-anthropological research on family and kinship, and aging and urban public space, from both pre-pandemic and pandemic times. The paper aims to initiate a discussion about contemporary socio-cultural aspects of growing old in the city, and potential applied possibilities of affirmation of old people as political, social, economic, and cultural (present and future) actors both in the context of crisis and in “times of peace.” The paper presents recent and contemporary narratives and practices of family life and aging in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Its theoretical basis lies in the fields of the anthropology of aging, the anthropology of the city, and the anthropology of the family, as well as the concepts of public space, active aging, family solidarity, intergenerational interaction, and conceptions of futures.
The Hidden Factor to Improve Health and Wellbeing of Older Adults: How Older Adults are Discovering Mental Health and Therapy View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Henry Venter
The growing proportion of people living longer has significant implications for the provision of health services, and for strategies to maintain health and well-being into old age. Historically there has been a predominant focus on medical services targeting physical health issues in the quest to improve wellbeing. Mental health services and psychotherapy has traditionally been focused on the needs of children, teenagers, and young adults with the needs of older adults underrepresented in public heath policies and funding for mental health services. Older adults now live longer and experience significant mental health issues, which if addressed in public health policies and funding, can make a significant contribution to their wellbeing. Among some of the cultural changes among older adults, they now form romantic relationships later in their lives, since many live longer. For instance, an increasing number of adults now seek therapy for relationship issues. Studies of how COVID affected older adults surprisingly found that it was reported that romantic life and dating was the most affected. In a further cultural change, during COVID older adults discovered online therapy and now make up a significant portion of clients using this modality. Understanding the mental issues of older adults can significantly impact the ways in which aging is viewed and managed from individual and societal perspectives. This presentation will provide a perspective on the frequency and ratio that older adults now access psychotherapy and explore the topics for which they access mental health services.
Challenges for Public Policy Interventions on Loneliness and Social Isolation View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elia R.G. Pusterla
This study addresses loneliness and social isolation among older adults as a public policy challenge. National and international political actors promote public policy interventions to cope with them. However, prospects of public policy-shaping against loneliness and social isolation raise challenges associated with a double uncertainty concerning (i) newness and (ii) scarcity of reference models. By modelling four intervention scenarios of public health policy, the paper proposes an evaluation model of interventions useful for further policy-shaping. A systematic search based on PubMed provides data from 172 studies between 2005 and 2022 on public health policy interventions’ effectiveness in reducing loneliness and social isolation among older adults is used. The independent variable distinguishes four intervention scenarios depending on the (i) origin (individual/societal) and (ii) scope (individual/societal) of cases of loneliness and social isolation addressed by public health policy interventions. The dependent dichotomous variable codifies the assessment of the effectiveness of the above interventions. Binomial logistic regression tests the hypothesis for which interventions’ scenarios affect the effectiveness of policy interventions. Different scenarios determine different challenges for policy-shaping. Implications Preliminary results suggest that the four scenarios (i. individual-individual; ii. individual-societal; iii. societal-individual; iv. societal-societal) determine different outcomes in the assessment of interventions’ effectiveness. Notably, the shift from i. to iv. shows an increase in the challenge for public policy-shaping against loneliness and social isolation among older adults. These accounts provide political actors with enhanced awareness of the challenges for further policy-shaping.
Social Wellbeing and Prolonged Survival in Older Age: Evidence from a Rare Longitudinal Study View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sarah Assaad
Despite some evidence showing an association between social factors, such as relationships and support, and reduced mortality risk, a consensus on a clinically relevant measure of social wellbeing in later older age remains elusive. The aim was to derive a longitudinal measure of social wellbeing using data from a rare cohort study of the older old, the Cambridge City over-75s Cohort (CC75C) and test its time-varying association with all-cause mortality. Social relationships, network, support, and participation scores were derived in addition to an overall index of wellbeing at each of the 10 waves of follow-up. Adjusted Cox regression models were used in time-to-event analysis. Missing data were handled using multiple imputation and longitudinal inverse probability weights. A higher score of social relationships, rather than network (i.e., quality vs quantity of contacts), and a higher level of social participation were associated with lower hazard ratios of all-cause mortality. A higher score of informal social support was associated with a higher hazard ratio, implying that the higher the need for support, the higher the risk of dying. The overall social wellbeing index score was significantly associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality. The findings provide further longitudinal evidence on the strong association between social wellbeing and mortality in the oldest old, with further associations with its component scores. Future research can derive a similar measure of wellbeing for benchmarking purposes, particularly for community-based interventions that need to capture social wellbeing constructs that relate to older people’s lives.
