Growing Concepts
Community Recreation Centers as Inclusive Spaces: Needs and Strategies of Older Adults with Mental Health Challenges View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ginette Aubin
Older adults living with mental health challenges (MHC) often experience social exclusion. A health promotion program, developed to support this group’s community participation, was identified as a relevant program to foster their inclusion in community recreation centres (RC). An action research project aimed to adapt and implement this program in RC. The first steps of this research were to explore 1) the needs of older adults with MHC, older adult members of RC and RC facilitators, and 2) their envisioned strategies for an inclusive implementation of the program in RC. A descriptive qualitative approach was followed. Focus groups were conducted with older adults with MHC, older RC members and RC facilitators. Thematic analysis of data was conducted. Main results indicate that older adults with MHC need to feel safe, be accompanied when needed and included without disclosure of their MHC. Older members of RC expressed a need to be informed of the presence of these older adults. Facilitators stated that they needed to know how to better support older adults with MHC. Strategies for inclusion in RC included providing accompaniment, raising awareness of older adults' different life experiences, offering relevant training for facilitators, and developing partnerships with community stakeholders. Disclosure of a MHC is sensitive and will have to be considered when implementing the program in order to avoid prejudices towards older adults with MHC. Partnership with other community resources is essential for the development of inclusive opportunities for participation for this group.
Technostress in Old Age: Understanding Socio-relational Factors in Türkiye View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Burcu Ozdemir Ocakli, Emine Özmete, Deniz Mat Artun, Alev özer Torgalöz, Betul Yalcin
Technostress, defined as technology-induced stress, experienced by many disadvantaged groups including older people. Despite being a quite common phenomenon, little research has been conducted addressing technostress in old age and Türkiye is no exception. In order to address this gap, this study aims to highlight the socio-relational factors that affect technostress levels among older people in Türkiye. The responses of a nationwide representative sample of 512 people, who are 55 and over, were withdrawn from the dataset of the project titled “Digital Inequalities and Technostress in Türkiye: Understanding the Socio-Demographic Factors (Project No: 122K021)”, funded by the Scientific and Technological Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK). Initially, exploratory data analysis was conducted, which was, later, followed by Chi-squared tests to explore the relationship between technostress and socio-relational variables. The results of the analysis showed that older people (55+) who are female, having lower educational attainment and experiencing disability/chronic illness have a higher likelihood of experiencing technostress. Relatively affluent households were also found to report higher technostress. In particular, having no access to a laptop/pc or a smartphone and having lower digital skills exacerbated technostress levels among older people, vice a versa. The evidence also suggests that access does not necessarily predict usage. In conclusion, technostress is an element of digital inequality among older people and new policies to strengthen the digital revolution should consider different fragmentations within the whole older population.
A Dynamic Multidimensional Analysis of Active Ageing: The Role of Regional Development of Education View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Valerio Intraligi, Marco Socci, Francesco Barbabella, Davide Lucantoni
Active ageing has been identified as a useful tool in order to face the multiple challenges linked to population ageing. A fundamental feature of the active ageing concept is multidimensionality, since it encompasses different spheres in which individuals may age actively. To operationalize this concept, researchers frequently make use of the Active Ageing Index (AAI) - i.e. a composite index summarizing different active ageing domains. By making use of ad-hoc Italian regional-level AAI data over the period 2007-2018, we investigate whether, and to what extent, active ageing achievements in Italian regions may be attributable to different active ageing domains. We document that, despite its multidimensional nature, changes in AAI scores in Italy are predominantly driven by changes in the employment domain. When accounting for the educational level, we find that the higher is older people’s educational attainment, the higher is the driving role of the employment domain. Finally, by investigating whether regional diversity may account for changes in the employment domain, we find that regional economic growth predicts increasing employment rates only in the case of older people that are low-educated. These results provide important indications for policy making in this field, by highlighting the need to more extensively promote active ageing in areas different than participation in the labour market, and identifying older people with low educational level as a specific target group within the employment domain.
Developing a Regional Center for Healthy Aging in Northern Canada: Identifying, Assessing and Responding to Frailty in Community View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tammy O Rourke, Anne H. Summach
Healthy aging has become somewhat of an elusive buzz word in the modern world at a time when it has never been more important for older adults to age in place. Frailty limits an older adult's ability to age at home and actively seek out supports for healthy aging. Medical practices have very little time to address frailty with the exception of medical interventions. Tools are needed to guide medical providers and community providers to identify, assess and respond to frailty using both clinical and social prescriptions. Our team developed a Regional Center for Health Aging in Northern Canada and tested two new tools, the Healthy Aging Asset Index (HAAI) and Virtual Frailty Screening (VFS) to support the work of frailty response in community. Preliminary results demonstrate that the VFS is an effective tool to screen for frailty and the HAAI is feasible and useful in community settings to support frailty assessment and response for older adults seeking healthy aging. The results of our study has implications for community based senior serving organizations seeking to increase their ability and expand their capacity to support healthy aging at home.
