Contemporary Shifts
Featured Overcoming Inequalities and Enhancing Sustainability among the Aged: Revisiting Biblical Perspectives View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Philip Egbule
The challenges of aging and how to cope with caring for the elderly are not peculiar to any particular society. The Bible clearly teaches that there should be reciprocal dependency between parents and children. While children depend on their parents in meeting their needs at early stage in life, children on the other hand, should care and support their parents when they are old. Unfortunately, there have been negligible attitude on the care and support the elderly receives from their immediate family members. The task which this research undertook was to explore a possible means of alleviating the plight of the elderly by pragmatically applying biblical teachings on family responsibilities and support from the church. Basically, the support provided by the church may include welfare packages such as feeding, clothing, housing and health care in the society. Hence, this study examined place of biblical teachings as well as involvement and assistance of the church in addressing inequality challenges and enhancing sustainability among the elderly in our contemporary times. Data for the study was gathered from Bible verses, oral interviews, relevant literature and news reports. Findings show that there is a paradigm shift in biblical principles. In conclusion, this paper, based on the cited Bible references, proved that adherence to biblical teachings will have positive effects on the well-being of older people in our societies. The paper argues strongly that to properly address the challenges of inequalities and enhancing sustainability among the aged, biblical teachings and practices are indispensable.
Visual Portrayals of Older Adults in Advertisements for Technology Products View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Loredana Ivan, Denisa Adriana Oprea
Using a systematic literature review of empirical studies conducted during the past 10 years (2011-2021), we explore visual portrayals of older adults in advertising strategies for technological products. The data reveals the stereotypical visual representations of older adults in advertisements for technology products and the peripheral roles adults are playing when they engage with technology products. We also reveal how visual portrayals differ on various technological products: older adults tend to be more associated with older technologies, for example, cars, and watches, than with digital devices- computers, smartphones, etc. Also, we found evidence of gender bias: while men tend to be associated with crafting and old technologies, women are visually represented and dis-entangled with technological products. Our data shows also how older people with cognitive impairment are visually represented in such advertisements: more like targets or technological products, associated with tracking devices and lacking any type of agency. The current presentation opens the discussion on visual ageism in the case of technology products and how ageist visual representation interacts with other forms of prejudices: about older men and older women and about older people with different disabilities. Also, the current investigation shed the light on the importance to consider some contextual variables in further investigations about visual ageism in advertisements for technology: for example the type of technology product and the history of that technology in a specific country.
The Digitalisation of Professional (Elderly) Care - Curse or Blessing? : Results of an Expert Screening from Germany View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gerd Naegele
The fact that there is no way around the digitisation of care, and that it is already in full swing in some areas, can be taken as a given for Germany. This paper is not about the relatively well known risks and problems, as they are sometimes presented, especially from the professional care scene, but about the innovative potentials of the new technical possibilities for the quality of life and care of those affected. The idea of finding socially acceptable solutions for all those actively involved in professional elderly care in the sense of creating win-win-win situations was the focus of an empirical field study recently completed in North Rhine-Westphalia(NRW)/Germany (funded by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of NRW). The project was empirically based on a mix of methods. The two poresenters were responsible for "in-depth" expert interviews with a total of 18 high-ranking representatives from the developer, provider, affected person and professional caregiver scenes in Germany. Their specific interests were conceptualised in a quadrangle in the expectation that common interests in socially acceptable solutions could be worked out and that these could be bundled into jointly supported recommendations for the future elder care policy in Germany. Despite the limitations of expert screenings, the study leads to relevant starting points for innovative ways of using digital instruments in different areas of care provision for an elderly population. The core message is: successful digitalised innovation processes are shaped by the designable interaction of organisational, situational and individual factors.
Access Strategies for Elderly Family Care in Mexico: An Analysis of Gender, Income and Relational Autonomy from 2001-2018 View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Odra A. Saucedo
In Mexico, families or market services typically provide care for elderly individuals at different stages of old age. The government's involvement in caring for this population group is limited, except for the universal support program for older adults. This program provides a pension to those aged 65 and over. Residential homes and daycare centres are mainly in Mexico City and other cities—the need for more infrastructure for institutionalized care nationally is relevant. As a result, family care models are suitable for meeting the needs of the population over 65. However, gender norms, income and dependency levels tend to regulate access to family care. This research analyses the impact of income conditions and loss of physical mobility on adaptive care strategies over time while clustering information by sex and age range. Using the National Survey on Health and Aging in Mexico (2001-2018), the study applies two econometric models: a factor analysis and a multiple linear regression. Results indicate that access to family care is mainly for basic daily tasks, and relational autonomy and income significantly influence adaptation to care in old age regardless of age and gender. However, men over 65 rely less on their self-perceived relational autonomy and marital status to access family support. The study concludes that while adaptive family care strategies are essential, comprehensive public policies, including monetary transfers, prevention, medical care, and everyday support, should be proposed to address the needs of the elderly population.
