Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
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Resilience in older age
- Author:
- CENTRE FOR POLICY ON AGEING
- Publisher:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 44
- Place of publication:
- London
A review of the literature on resilience in older age as the ability to stand up to adversity and to 'bounce back' or return to a state of equilibrium following individual adverse episodes. The review provides a definition of resilience, and focuses on its measurement, its promotion, and factors associated with resilience, including age, gender, health, social networks, personal characteristics and spirituality. (Edited publisher abstract)
Changing family structures and their impact on the care of older people
- Author:
- CENTRE FOR POLICY ON AGEING
- Publisher:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 63
- Place of publication:
- London
This brief review of the literature looks at how changing family structures will influence the supply and demand for formal and informal care by older people. Key findings include: most informal care for older people is provided by partners and adult children and changes in family structure may have an effect on the availability of care; the change factors often work against each other or appear to be having less effect than might be thought - while reduced family size reduces the number of children available to be carers, increasing male longevity, getting closer to that for women, increases the availability of spouses as carers; increased divorce rates, particularly among the over 60s, may help to increase the number of older people living alone and weaken relationships between parents and children, but a 2008 study found that, overall, partnership dissolution did not show the expected detrimental relationship with later life support. (Edited publisher abstract)
Using housing wealth and other assets to pay for care
- Author:
- CENTRE FOR POLICY ON AGEING
- Publisher:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 82
- Place of publication:
- London
A rapid review on using personal assets, including housing wealth, to pay for care. The literature reviewed covers: wealth overviews and the wealth lifecycle; wealth inequality; housing as wealth; releasing equity from housing wealth; attitudes to housing, wealth and the release of equity; inheritance; the relationship between health and wealth and the trade-off between home ownership and welfare provision; housing and wealth as contributors to the funding of long term care; and international and comparative studies. The review argues that older people would prefer not to use their hard won housing assets to pay for long term care but, given the unacceptability of a pooled system either from general taxation, a compulsory up-front 'insurance' premium on retirement or a 'death tax', a scheme to pay for long term care as the need arises becomes necessary. It concludes that the care cap and universal deferred payment scheme provisions of the Care Act 2014 may well be the most acceptable way forward. (Edited publisher abstract)
The care and support of older people: an international perspective
- Author:
- CENTRE FOR POLICY ON AGEING
- Publisher:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 88
- Place of publication:
- London
A rapid review of the literature on international models of care and support of older people. Key findings include: in most, if not all, countries the primary form of care and support for older people is family and informal care; in most, if not all, countries the majority of care and support of older people is carried out by women, but often, in oldest age, men are more likely than women to be a carer; changing family structures and work patterns have reduced the availability of women as carers; in several countries, the shortfall of carers has led to the use of cash payments to incentivise informal care; in Europe, although marriage bonds have weakened, the multi-generational structure of the family remains strong; although co-residence of older people with their adult children has decreased, geographical proximity and the potential for everyday support remains high; care and support for older people is a reciprocal process with many older people providing child care; multigenerational households and the number of siblings to provide care is in decline worldwide but increased longevity has meant multigenerational (beanpole) families are becoming more common; the only viable option for funding the care and support needs of the current generation of older people is from current taxation and/or insurance contributions (including those paid by more affluent older people themselves). (Edited publisher abstract)
The potential impact of new technologies
- Author:
- CENTRE FOR POLICY ON AGEING
- Publisher:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 74
- Place of publication:
- London
A rapid review considering the potential impact of technological developments for older people. Key findings include: health and social networking technologies with the greatest near-future impact for older people will be those developed to use generic, freely available platforms including the internet and smartphones and tablets running Windows 8.1, Android or iOS.; the near-future technological development with the greatest impact on telemedicine, telehealth, telecare and smarthome technology for older people will be the development of the 'internet of things', machine to machine (M2M) networks and associated standards for interoperability, that will provide improved resilience and communication between sensors and systems; in general, the technological developments with the greatest impact will be those that are 'needs and outcomes' rather than 'technology' led; far-future technologies, that are currently under development, with the greatest potential impact for older people, include wearable exoskeletons and driverless cars, while the use of care robots is currently showing less promise. (Edited publisher abstract)
Outcomes against which the success of prevention should be monitored
- Author:
- CENTRE FOR POLICY ON AGEING
- Publisher:
- Centre for Policy on Ageing
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 80
- Place of publication:
- London
A rapid review of the literature on measurement of the effectiveness of prevention, including selected epidemiological evidence on alcohol consumption, smoking and diet, lifelong learning, living alone, loneliness and social isolation, obesity, physical activity, walking cycling and dancing, social networks, volunteering, preventive medication, screening and vaccination, the use of technology, including telehealth and telecare. The outcomes of prevention often form a two stage process with first stage outcomes - 'intermediate determinants of health', for example better social networks, greater take-up of physical activity or improved diet, leading to second stage, longer term, health related outcomes, for example improved mortality, longer healthy life expectancy or better quality of life. The review identifies four key areas of measurement of the effectiveness of prevention, which are: measures of changes in the intermediate determinants of health; direct measures of health, wellbeing and quality of life outcomes, either in the short to medium or longer term; costs; and cost-effectiveness. It suggests that interested parties with different priorities will require different outcome measures. Older people and voluntary organisations may prioritise health and quality of life outcomes whereas service funders may be more interested in cost-effectiveness. (Edited publisher abstract)