Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
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Engaging older adult volunteers in national service
- Authors:
- MCBRIDE Amanda Moore, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Research, 36(2), June 2012, pp.101-112.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Volunteering programmes are increasingly designed as interventions to affect the volunteers and the beneficiaries of the volunteers' activities. To achieve the intended impacts for both, programmes need to leverage the volunteers' engagement by meeting their expectations, retaining them, and maximising their perceptions of benefits. Programmatic features that may increase volunteer engagement include supervision, flexibility, assistance, training and recognition. Using longitudinal data from a study of 208 older adult volunteers in Experience Corps, this study tested the facilitative effects of these features on volunteer engagement. Findings indicated that positive perceptions of supervision and assistance predicted exceeded expectations, whereas supervision, flexibility, and recognition predicted retention and benefits. The authors concluded that volunteer management “basics” facilitate volunteer engagement among the sample of older adult volunteers. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Racial differences in volunteer engagement by older adults: an empowerment perspective
- Authors:
- TANG Fengyan, COPELAND Valire Carr, WEXLER Sandra
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Research, 36(2), June 2012, pp.89-100.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Volunteering is seen as an empowerment process whereby older adults actively participate in the community and improve their well-being and health. However, little is known about racial differences in volunteering, and even less in terms of perceived benefits from volunteering as a means of empowerment. This study investigated the differences in volunteer experience and perceived benefits from volunteering between older black people and white people. Convenience samples were drawn from the city of Pittsburgh and questionnaires were completed by 180 adults aged 60 and over. Analyses showed that black participants were less likely than their white counterparts to volunteer in formal organisations; however, once engaged, they committed more time and perceived more psychosocial benefits from volunteering. Also volunteering and self-reported health demonstrated a stronger relationship in the black sample than among the white sample. The study suggests that black older adults have more to gain from volunteer engagement through meaningful involvement in the community and improved quality of life.
Growing older with lifelong disability: What is “quality of life” in the middle years?
- Authors:
- TAIT Kathleen, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(3), 2020, pp.206-215.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Background: This study investigated perceived quality of life (QoL) of community‐dwelling middle‐aged adults (30–50 years) with an intellectual disability and/or developmental disability living in rural or urban areas in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. The specific aim of the current paper was to provide a descriptive evidence base of QoL and its specific domains by various key demographic characteristics of middle‐aged individuals. This cohort is likely to have either experienced or reached adulthood during and after large‐scale deinstitutionalisation in Australia. Methods and procedures: A cross‐sectional design was utilised, based on the QoL‐Q survey, testing domains of satisfaction; Competence/Productivity; Empowerment/Independence; and social belonging/community integration. The survey included demographic questions and was distributed to participants through disability support agencies across two states. The final sample included 291 respondents. Results: The overall QoL‐Q scores ranged from 3.0 to 29.5 (Mean = 20.4, SD, 4.1), with considerable variation in mean scores both across and within domains. The two demographic areas that showed greatest predictive value for QoL were work status and accommodation issues. The loss of agency and control in choice of co‐residents influenced perceived QoL for empowerment and independence domain of QoL‐Q. Conclusions: The findings highlight QoL issues associated with policy decisions and support programmes for middle‐aged adults. The two key recommendations arising from the project are that future planning for post‐retirement or reduced working hours needs to commence at a much younger age than currently expected, and more attention needs to focus on facilitating individual decision‐making and choice within shared accommodation options. (Edited publisher abstract)
Elderly and care personnel’s user experiences of a robotic shower
- Authors:
- BACCMAN Charlotte, BERGKVIST Linda, KRISTENSSON Per
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Enabling Technologies, 14(1), 2020, pp.1-13.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The purpose of this study is to explore the expectations and experiences regarding a robotic shower, from a dual user perspective.Design/methodology/approach: This was an explorative qualitative study in which elderly and personnel were interviewed before the robotic shower was installed and again after four or five months of usage.Findings: The elderly participants found the robotic shower empowering. The personnel’s experiences encompassed their own work conditions, as well as the user value for the elderly. A shared experience for both user groups was a more independent shower situation for the elderly. Research limitations/implications: Low user frequency among the elderly may have affected the results; more frequent use may lead to different user experiences. Understanding whether and to what extent long-term use affects user experience is important for future adoption and implementation. Practical implications: Implementation of digital assistive technology (DAT) should focus on the user value of the DAT for all possible user groups, as the different users may experience different values over time. In addition, approaching adoption and acceptance issues of DAT from a learned helplessness perspective may help users find value in the DAT and the independence these aim to provide, helping users maintain or increase quality of life. Originality/value: This study presents a dual user experience of a DAT in an intimate care situation and shows the importance of including both elderly and personnel to fully understand the value of DATs. (Publisher abstract)
Older people, well-being and participation
- Authors:
- BARNES Marian, WARD Lizzie, GAHAGAN Beatrice
- Journal article citation:
- Generations Review, 22(2), April 2012, Online only
- Publisher:
- British Society of Gerontology
The University of Brighton and Age Concern, Brighton, Hove and Portslade have been working on participatory research with older people since 2007. Their latest project investigates the experiences of older people in relation to well-being. They have also received ESRC Follow on Funding to apply learning from this project, and from their experiences of working with older people as co-researchers, to develop learning resources for older people's involvement. This article briefly describes what the researchers have learnt from their research into well-being and how the findings will be applied.
Quality of life, health and physiological status and change at older ages
- Authors:
- NETUVELI Gopalakrishnan, BLANE David, MONTGOMERY Scott M.
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 66(7), April 2008, pp.1579-1587.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
The relationship between self-reported health status and quality of life at older ages is well established. The present paper investigates this relationship further, using objective measures of health and their change over time in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, where positive quality of life at older ages was measured as CASP-19. Cross-sectionally, lung function and obesity, but not blood pressure, were associated with quality of life; these relationships in path analysis were transmitted primarily via functional limitation and more modestly, and only for lung function, via clinical depression. Longitudinally, the results suggest a stable and long-term influence on quality of life of lung function and, among women, body mass index, to which the influence of change may be cumulative; longer follow-up is required to clarify these processes. Overall, the results show that the relationship between health and quality of life is independent of potential psychological confounders, that functional limitation is the key dimension of health in its relationship with quality of life and that clinical depression may be an important mediator between functional limitation and quality of life.
Promoting older adults' well-being through Internet training and use
- Authors:
- SHAPIRA N., BARAK A., GAL I.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 11(5), September 2007, pp.477-484.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The purpose of the current research was to test the psychological impact of learning how to use computers and the Internet in old age, hypothesizing that such activities would contribute to seniors' well-being and personal sense of empowerment. Employing a quasi-experimental research design, a course in computer operation and Internet browsing was offered to 22 older adults (mean age of 80) who went to day-care centers for the elderly or resided in nursing homes. A comparison group of 26 participants (similar in all major respects) was engaged in other activities. Both groups were administered measures of physical functioning, life satisfaction, depression, loneliness and self-control at pre- and post-intervention four months later. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who finished the computer course. ANCOVA was employed for controlling the effects of control variables and pre-intervention differences on participants who completed the activities. Results showed a significant improvement among participants in the intervention group in all measures except physical functioning, whereas deterioration in all measures was detected in the comparison group. Computer and Internet use seems to contribute to older adults' well-being and sense of empowerment by affecting their interpersonal interactions, promoting their cognitive functioning and contributing to their experience of control and independence.
Working as a whole system
- Author:
- IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
- Publisher:
- Improvement and Development Agency
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Pagination:
- 36p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Whole systems working is a wide-ranging, cross-cutting and holistic approach to improving older people's quality of life. It means looking beyond the provision of health and social care services and embracing the wider spectrum of issues that impact on people's quality of life.
Engaging with older people
- Author:
- IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
- Publisher:
- Improvement and Development Agency
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Pagination:
- 32p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Improving the quality of life for older people was one of the priorities agreed between central government and the Local Government Association (LGA). About 50 local authorities and their partners participated in the shared priority work, through action learning sets. These tools and insights and can help in engaging and implementing the vision for modernising older people's services.’
Why bother?: improving the quality of life for older people
- Author:
- IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
- Publisher:
- Improvement and Development Agency
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Pagination:
- 16p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Argues that we need to embrace the contributions older people make to their communities and think in terms of inclusion, engagement and well-being, rather than illness and frailty and dependency.