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The social-political challenges behind the wish to die in older people who consider their lives to be completed and no longer worth living
- Authors:
- WIJNGAARDEN Els van, GOOSSENSEN Anne, LEGET Carlo
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of European Social Policy, 28(4), 2018, pp.419-429.
- Publisher:
- Sage
In the Netherlands, physician-assisted dying has been legalised since 2002. Currently, an increasing number of Dutch citizens are in favour of a more relaxed interpretation of the law. Based on an ethos of self-determination and autonomy, there is a strong political lobby for the legal right to assisted dying when life is considered to be completed and no longer worth living. Building on previous empirical research, this article provides a critical ethical reflection upon this social issue. In the first part, we discuss the following question: what is the lived experience of older people who consider their lives to be completed and no longer worth living? The authors describe the reported loss of a sense of autonomy, dignity and independence in the lives of these older people. In the second part, from an ethics of care stance, the authors analyse the emerging social and political challenges behind the wish to die. Empirically grounded, it is arugued that the debate on ‘completed life in old age’ should primarily focus not on the question of whether or not to legitimise a self-directed death but on how to build an inclusive society where people may feel less unneeded, useless and marginalized. (Edited publisher abstract)
The concept of 'ageing well' in ten Latin American countries
- Authors:
- FERNANDEZ-BALLESTEROS R., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 30(1), January 2010, pp.41-56.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
A review of several studies examining the lay concept of successful ageing and related concepts leads to the conclusion that older people from different cultures appear to agree on most of the components identified in the literature. From the research emerges a multidimensional conceptualisation of ‘successful ageing’ that is described on the basis of physical, emotional, cognitive and social domains, and which coincides with most theoretical and empirical definitions. The main goal of the present research is to study similarities and differences between concepts of ‘successful ageing’ in several Latin American and European countries and in two different age groups, and also to examine whether a similar structure of the lay concept can be found across both continents. The results show minor differences at item levels among countries, continents and age groups, and a similar internal structure across them.
Knowledge about aging and worry in older adults: testing the mediating role of intolerance of uncertainty
- Authors:
- NUEVO Roberto, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 13(1), January 2009, pp.135-141.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This Spanish study aims to explore the relationship between knowledge about aging and severity of worry in older adults, and to test the potential mediational role of intolerance of uncertainty. The sample was composed of 120 community-dwelling older adults, with a mean of age of 71.0 years. Mediational analyses and structural equation modelling were used to analyze and compare different models. Greater knowledge about aging was negatively related to both intolerance of uncertainty and worry, and its effect on worry was partially mediated by intolerance of uncertainty. The mediational model obtained an excellent fit to the data and clearly had a better fit than alternative models. These results suggest that a good knowledge of the aging process could help decrease aversive uncertainty and thus reduce the level of worry among older adults. Thus, educational programs to increase knowledge about aging could serve as one preventive strategy for anxiety in old age.
Enhancing later life: how older people perceive active ageing?
- Author:
- BOWLING Ann
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 12(3), May 2008, pp.293-301.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article aimed to identify older people's perceptions of active ageing, and to compare them with the literature, and with older people's perceptions of successful ageing and quality of life. Face-to-face interview survey with 337 people aged 65+ living at home in Britain. The most common perceptions of active ageing were having/maintaining physical health and functioning (43%), leisure and social activities (34%), mental functioning and activity (18%) and social relationships and contacts (15%). A third rated themselves as ageing 'Very actively', and almost half as 'Fairly actively'. Independent predictors of positive self-rated active ageing were optimum health and quality of life. Main sub-themes of active ageing included exercising the body and mind in order to maintain health and functioning. People's views focussed on basic definitions such as social, physical and mental health and activity, probably reflecting the novelty of the concept to them, thereby excluding frail older people from active ageing. Comparisons with definitions of successful ageing and quality of life showed overlap, but the latter were portrayed as 'states of being'. This is consistent with models which propose quality of life as the end-point of active ageing.
Hopes, fears and expectations about the future: what do older people's stories tell us about active ageing?
- Authors:
- CLARKE Amanda, WARREN Lorna
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 27(4), July 2007, pp.465-488.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
‘Active ageing’ is a key concept in current policy and research on ageing and yet is under-analysed or interpreted largely within an economic framework. This paper explores active ageing in the broader context of older people's lives. Drawing on a series of biographical interviews with 23 people aged 60–96 years, the discussion focuses on the theme of future hopes and concerns. Exhortations for ‘active ageing’ may be challenged by a lifelong unwillingness to look forward or plan ahead. Nevertheless, the findings show that fears for a future of limited resources, decline and dependency can exist alongside not only the desire to live longer but also the positive anticipation of forthcoming events and strong inter-generational relations. ‘Living for now’ and ‘taking a day at a time’ – and by extension the accomplishment of everyday activities rather than the activity-driven goals of earlier years – are common strategies for dealing with the unpredictability of later life. In this respect, even stopping paid work and entering residential care may be actively chosen and empowering even though they are steps towards disengagement and dependency. Similarly, planning for death, such as writing (living) wills and making funeral arrangements, may be positive and proactive responses to beliefs and concerns about dying. ‘Active ageing’ therefore needs to offer choices for life to be lived at all stages whilst recognising that much of the focus for older people is on ordinary needs, deeds and relationships.
Elderly people's attitudes and perceptions of aging and old age: the role of cognitive dissonance?
- Author:
- RON Pnina
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22(7), July 2007, pp.656-662.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The aim of the research was to examine if and, how the attitudes and perceptions were changing during the aging process. The research sample included three hundred and eighty-eight elderly people between the ages of 65-92 who were sampled for the purpose of analyzing and comparing their attitudes and perceptions of old age and aging, in the present, to their attitudes and perceptions of these two concepts in the past. The research tool was composed of two parts: (A) a short demographic questionnaire which examined the following variables: gender, age, origin, family status and subjective health definition. (B) the second part was essentially qualitative in which subjects were asked via an interviewer to reply to an identical question relating to two different periods in their lives: in their youth (when you were a young man/woman) and today. The data received from the questionnaires was processed in two main methods: quantitatively - statistically and qualitatively - content analysis. The subjects' attitudes were categorized into six different typologies which were identified on a continuum: elderly people whose attitude towards old age and aging was negative both in the present and in the past were positioned at one end of the continuum. Subjects with a positive attitude towards old age, both in their youth and in the present were positioned at the opposite end of the continuum. Negative attitudes were more prominently described by powerful adjectives than positive attitudes were described by the subjects. For instance: Fear, Disgust. In the description of the positive attitude only one powerful adjective was used Splendor and Glory. A significant correlation was found between subjects whose attitudes towards old age in the present were negative and those who subjectively defined their health as bad.
Starting with lives: supporting older people's strategies and ways of coping
- Author:
- TANNER Denise
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work, 7(1), April 2007, pp.7-30.
- Publisher:
- Sage
A recent summary of research findings concluded that social policy and practice should use older people's lives as the starting point to plan and evaluate services (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004). Based on the findings of a small-scale qualitative study and related research, this article explores the strategies and ways of coping used by older people to manage changes and difficulties that accompany ageing. It is suggested that older people's strategies and ways of coping can be understood as efforts to sustain a sense of self in later life and a model of some key processes involved is presented. The empirical findings of the study are related to theoretical models of ageing and identity management. Attention is directed to the interaction between structural resources and constraints, dominant cultural norms and values, and older people's individual capacities for reflexivity and interpretation. It is argued that this understanding has significant implications for the planning and delivery of social work and social care services that aim to promote the well-being of older people. In particular, practitioners need to understand the meaning and significance that difficulties and different approaches to managing them have for individuals. Interventions should be sensitive to, and seek to support, older people's cognitive ways of coping, as well as their practical strategies.
Journeying through old age and illness
- Author:
- MISSINNE Leo
- Publisher:
- Leveson Centre for the Study of Ageing, Spirituality and Social Policy
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 22p.
- Place of publication:
- Solihull
This paper opens with a meditative consideration of suffering in all its universality and diversity, and in its many styles and degrees. It considers the supposed virtues to be found in suffering, virtues which may indeed never surface in a particular life without the situation of suffering. This is put in the perspective of the Christian tradition and its views of ageing and old age itself; and finally to the attitudes necessary for the effective care of the elderly.
A multidimensional scale for the measurement of agreement with age stereotypes and the salience of age in social interaction
- Authors:
- KRUSE Andreas, SCHMITT Eric
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 26(3), May 2006, pp.393-411.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This paper presents a new scale for the assessment of the salience of age in social interaction and of levels of agreement with four age stereotypical assertions, about the characteristics of people in the ‘third age’ and the ‘fourth age’, about older people's social roles and social participation, and about the problems for society produced by population ageing. The scale was constructed by testing the agreement of a national sample of 804 German respondents aged 41–84 years with over 60 item-statements in two pilot studies. The final scale has 24 items, and was tested using a stratified sample of 1,275 subjects aged 40–75 years. Five postulated subscales were confirmed using principal components analysis: ‘age salience’ in social interaction, old age as a time of ‘developmental gains and potentials of development’, old age as a time of ‘developmental losses and risks of development’, ‘the social downgrading of older people’, and believing that ‘older people are a burden on society’. For age stereotypes and age salience, no significant sex differences were found, but those aged 58–64 years held more optimistic views about old age and population ageing than both the younger and the older age groups (with no differences between the latter). Moreover, age stereotypes and age salience varied by several social-economic variables, particularly occupational status, the rate of unemployment in the region of residence, and being resident in the eastern or western part of Germany. No significant interactions between age group and sex were found for any of the five subscales.
Myths and negative attitudes about sexuality in older people
- Author:
- POINTON Stephen
- Journal article citation:
- Generations Review, 7(4), December 1997, pp.6-8.
- Publisher:
- British Society of Gerontology
Discusses the reality and importance of sexuality among older people and how research has shown ageing itself eliminates neither the capacity nor the need for sexual activity.