Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 7 of 7
Older people's sense of coherence: relationships with education, former occupation and living arrangements
- Authors:
- CIAIRANO Silva, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 28(8), November 2008, pp.1075-1091.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Few studies have explored the combination of individual and contextual conditions that influence psychological health among older people. This study aimed to analyse the sense of coherence (SOC) in a sample of Italian senior citizens in relation to gender, educational level, living arrangements and former employment, when controlling for age. The short version of the SOC scale (Antonovsky 1987), which has items for the ‘comprehensibility’, ‘manageability’ and ‘meaningfulness’ components, was administered to a sample of 198 senior citizens of both genders and with an average age of 68.5 years. The findings showed that: (a) senior citizens with a higher level of education and who had retired from jobs with a high level of responsibility perceived reality as more controllable, manageable and meaningful; (b) with greater age, the perception that life's challenges are worth facing decreased; and (c) there was an interaction between living arrangements and education level, viz. those with higher education, and those with lower education living with a spouse or partner, perceived reality as more meaningful and their life challenges as worth facing. It is important to investigate further the activities that help maintain a high sense of coherence throughout the life span, and to design social policies that support senior citizens who live alone, because they appear psychologically weaker than others.
Ageing and employment policies: Italy
- Author:
- ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
- Publisher:
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 129p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Paris
In the face of rapid population ageing and the trend towards early retirement, there is a need to promote better employment opportunities for older people. Much has been said about the need for reform of old-age pensions and early retirement schemes but this may not be sufficient to raise employment rates for older people significantly or to reduce the future risk of labour shortages. Both governments and firms will need to take active measures to adapt wage-setting to ageing workforces, to address the extent to which other welfare schemes act as pathways to early retirement, to tackle age discrimination and to improve the job skills and working conditions of older workers. In addition, older workers will need to change their own attitudes towards working longer and acquiring new skills. Little is known about what countries have been doing or should be doing in these areas. This report on Italy is part of a series of around 20 OECD country reports that are intended to fill this gap. Each report contains a survey of the main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers and a set of policy recommendations for further action by the public authorities and social partners.
Growing older in Europe
- Editor:
- WALKER Alan
- Publisher:
- Open University Press
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 295p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Maidenhead
This book provides a European dimension, examining and comparing the quality of life as experienced by older people in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Case studies by European authors consider quality of life indicators such as income, housing, employment, physical and mental health, and family and social support. Examples of good practice are provided from each region, and recommendations are made for future priorities. A comparative introduction by the editor draws out key similarities and differences between the countries studied and sets the context for the case studies.
Family commitments under negotiation: dual carers in Finland and Italy
- Author:
- ZECHNER Minna
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 38(6), December 2004, pp.640-653.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper makes a comparison between Finnish and Italian working dual carers. Dual carers have responsibilities simultaneously at two different fronts. The selected Finnish and Italian samples of carers are doing similar care work in different settings. They negotiate care with a variety of actors and under differing circumstances. A care life story has been constructed for each participant. Then these care life stories have been compared with each other, especially at points where the need for negotiation has been evident, at life's various turning points. There are many individual similarities in negotiations performed in Finland and in Italy. However, their divergent contexts create considerable variation.
Caregiving in transition in Southern Europe: neither complete altruists nor free-riders
- Authors:
- SIMONI Simonetta, TRIFILETTI Rossana
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 38(6), December 2004, pp.678-705.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
In the framework of the SOCCARE Project, focusing on families dealing with a double front of care for children and frail elderly people, similarities can be found in Italy, France and Portugal beyond their different welfare regimes. The comparison of family histories and caregiving strategies, by the methodology of case-matching, gives an interesting overview of the relationship between the debate on social care and that on the intergenerational contract. The paper aims to understand which are the available combinations of family, informal and institutional resources making a heavy burden of care “acceptable and still normal”: this focuses both typical situations of each country and common features through the countries. The results show how changes in the representations of obligation and duty in the intergenerational pact produce different outcomes and demands in welfare systems. The analysis of shifting boundaries between the public and private spheres in care provides useful policy recommendations, aimed at improving choices and “sustainable” responsibilities of individuals, families and social networks. Sustainable policies seem to be more dependent on family and structural types and resources of networks than on different welfare and services support.
Older labour migrants' well being in Europe: the case of Switzerland
- Authors:
- BOLZMAN Claudio, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 24(3), May 2004, pp.411-429.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Examines several aspects of the social situation of the older immigrant population in Switzerland. Reviews their demographic history and characteristics and provides profiles of their health and well being, their material standard of life and access to social security and related benefits. It reports selected findings from an original survey of older Italian and Spanish citizens who are resident in the country, which show relatively high rates of disadvantage and poverty. The determination of a large proportion of the immigrant population to remain in Switzerland after they have ceased work demonstrates that the minorities who entered the country as labour migrants will become a permanent element of the Swiss population and its society. Neither the politicians nor the general public in Switzerland have yet accepted the reality of this new diversity. Concludes by discussing the social policy and attitudinal options that face the governments and the population of Switzerland and many other European countries.
Long term care policies in Italy, Australia and France: variations in cash-for-care schemes
- Author:
- Da ROIT Barbara
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 41(6), December 2007, pp.653-671.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Cash benefit provisions have been at the core of many recent reforms in the long-term care sector in Europe. The respective schemes, however, vary widely in terms of the definition of entitlements, the level of benefits, and the ways in which benefits can be used by recipients. This article investigates cash-for-care schemes in three European social insurance countries. It asks whether the diversity of these schemes indicates different paths or just differences in the pace with which the respective policies address the risk of dependency. A characterization of the three schemes and a discussion of the implications for care work arrangements lead to the conclusion that the context and timing of long-term care reform processes are in fact quite variegated. All three countries have histories of cash schemes and of applying the cash approach to support – and to some extent relieve – traditionally strong family obligations. Differences predominate in terms of linking cash to employment, although some convergence is apparent in the effects on qualifications, working conditions and wages in care work.