Search results for ‘Subject term:"very old people"’ Sort:
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Psychological disposition and self-reported health among the ‘oldest-old’ in China
- Authors:
- WU Zheng, SCHIMMELE Christoph M.
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 26(1), January 2006, pp.135-151.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This study contributes to the understanding of the ageing process by investigating whether particular psychological dispositions among older people are associated with healthy ageing. The study's objective is to further our knowledge about what constitutes ‘health’ for the ‘oldest-old’ (people aged 80 or more years) in China. It is recognised that apart from the absence of disease, good health is a subjective experience, and it is posited that self-reported health is associated with psychological disposition, or in other words, that an individual's personal attitudes, motivations, and beliefs condition their perception of health and illness. Using data from China's Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (1998 and 2000 waves), the authors examine whether psychological disposition in 1998 had an independent effect on self-reported health in 2000. The study is based on a stratified random sample of 4,366 people aged 80 or more years. After introducing controls for health status and socio-demographic variables, the multivariate, longitudinal results demonstrate that a robust psychological disposition was indeed associated with good short-term, self-reported health. The findings also illustrate that the effect differed by age, for the relationship was significant for octogenarians and nonagenarians but insignificant for centenarians. Data limitations prevented an empirical investigation of the processes that underlie the relationship between psychological disposition and self-reported health.
What does it feel like to be 100? Socio-emotional aspects of well-being in the stories of 16 Centenarians living in the United Kingdom
- Authors:
- HUTNIK Nimmi, SMITH Pam, KOCH Tina
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 16(7), September 2012, pp.811-818.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study examined socio-emotional themes in the stories of 16 centenarians living in the United Kingdom. Sixteen Centenarians were invited to tell the story of their lives in line with the principles of participatory action research. Findings revealed six common experiences or themes: engagement in the world; happiness and describing a good life; stoicism; sources of support; sources of frustration; and talking about death. All participants reported their lives as having been good or happy. They were resilient in the face of stress. Their frustrations pertained to visual or mobility impairments. While they were accepting the death of spouses, siblings and significant others, they were silent about the proximity of their own. Overall, centenarians indicated that life had been worth living and that it felt good to be 100 years of age.
A prospective study of the relationship between feared consequences of falling and avoidance of activity in community-living older people
- Authors:
- YARDLEY Lucy, SMITH Helen
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 42(1), February 2002, pp.17-23.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This article aims to identify the most common beliefs concerning the negative consequences of falling and determine whether these motivate avoidance of activity. A questionnaire assessing feared consequences of falling was completed by 224 community-living people aged older than 75. Beliefs about the consequences of falling were related to demographic characteristics, falling history, and avoidance of activity. The questionnaires were completed again by 166 participants 6 months later. Commonly feared consequences of falling were loss of functional independence and damage to identity. These fears were correlated with avoidance of activity (after adjusting for age, sex, and recent falling history) and predicted avoidance in activity 6 months later (after adjusting for baseline levels of avoidance). Concerns about damage to social identity, as well as functional incapacity, are common and may motivate avoidance of activity.
Mental health and psychological well-being among the old and the very old living at home
- Authors:
- MORGAN K., et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, June 1987, pp.801-807.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Study of a sample using four brief assessment scales.
The importance of sources of meaning in life of community dwelling psychologically frail older people
- Authors:
- HOEYBERGHS Lieve Josee, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Working with Older People, 23(2), 2019, pp.65-76.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: Psychological frailty adds most to overall feelings of frailty, but is often neglected, although meaning in life is important for psychological well-being. The purpose of this paper is to explore the sources of meaning in life within psychologically frail older people. Design/methodology/approach: Data (n= 16,872) generated from the Belgian Ageing Studies were collected, using the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument and the Sources of Meaning Profile (SOMP-R) instrument. Psychometric properties of the SOMP-R were explored using factor and reliability analysis and one-way-ANOVA analysis were used to asses mean differences. Findings: Financial security, meeting basic needs and personal relations play an important role as sources of meaning in life. Moreover, the SOMP-R showed excellent psychometric properties. Research limitations/implications: Due to the cross-sectional design of this study, evolution in time and causal links could not be assessed. Practical implications: The findings of this study emphasize that sources of meaning in life are relevant and can be assessed using the SOMP-R upon which individually tailored care plans can be developed. The results show that, meaning in life as such plays an important role for psychologically frail older people. As a consequence, this offers insights to support these older people. Caregivers and policymakers might therefore take these results into account. Guarantee and/or follow up a frail individual’s financial security, assessing and enabling one’s personal relationships and meeting their basic needs are very important when taking care of psychologically frail older individuals. Social implications: Besides the practical implications, the social inclusion of psychologically frail older people seems to be relevant. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the association between meaning in life and psychological frailty in later life is not yet investigated. Further the findings of this study emphasize that sources of meaning in life are relevant and can be assessed using the SOMP-R upon which individually tailored care plans can be developed. (Edited publisher abstract)
Resilience in context: the special case of advanced age
- Authors:
- HAYMAN Karen J., KERSE Ngaire, CONSEDINE Nathan S.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 21(6), 2017, pp.577-585.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Objectives: Advanced age is a time shaped by the current experience of physical, social and psychological characteristics associated with living into an eighth decade and beyond and also by reflection upon past experiences. Understanding the specific factors that contribute to ageing well is increasingly important as greater numbers of older people remain living independently in the community and may require targeted and sustainable support to do so. This paper offers a conceptualisation of resilience for advanced age (age 85+), a life stage currently under-researched. Method: The authors utilise a developmental and socio-historical context to develop key arguments about adversity, resources and positive outcomes that affect the experience of resilient ageing. Results: Very late life is characterised by a unique balance between losses, associated with vulnerability and resource restrictions, and potential gains based upon wisdom, experience, autonomy and accumulated systems of support, providing a specific context for the expression of resilience. Post-adversity growth is possible, but maintenance of everyday abilities may be more relevant to resilience in advanced age. Conclusion: An increasing life-span globally necessitates creative and conscientious thought about wellbeing, and resilience research has the important aim to focus health and wellness on success and what is possible despite potential limitations. (Edited publisher abstract)
Sustaining the self in the “fourth age”: a case study
- Author:
- TANNER Denise
- Journal article citation:
- Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 17(3), 2016, pp.157-167.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illuminate from the perspective of an older person (Harriet) the factors that support and jeopardise mental well-being in the fourth age. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on unstructured narrative interviews with an older woman who was originally interviewed for a previous research study 15 years ago. At that time she was aged 82; she is now aged 97. This paper explores themes of change and continuity in her experience of ageing with a view to re-evaluating the model of sustaining the self-developed in the earlier study and comparing the findings with current conceptions of the fourth age. Findings: Harriet’s previous efforts to remain independent have been replaced by an acceptance of dependency and diminished social relationships and activity. However, she retains significant threads of continuity with her earlier life and employs cognitive strategies that enable contentment. Her experience of advanced old age fits conceptions of neither the third nor fourth age, indicating the need for more sophisticated and nuanced understandings. Originality/value: The paper is original in exploring the lived experience of someone in advanced age across a 15 year time period. Its value lies in rendering visible the factors that have promoted and/or undermined her mental well-being and in generating insights that can be applied more generally to experiences of advanced age. (Publisher abstract)
The predicament of time near the end of life: time perspective trajectories of life satisfaction among the old-old
- Authors:
- PALGI Yuval, SHMOTKIN Dov
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 14(5), July 2010, pp.577-586.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study investigated perspective over time in very old age as embodied in trajectories of life satisfaction ratings that individuals attribute to their past, present, and anticipated future. The authors hypothesised that these trajectories represent diverse strategies of coping with old age. Participants included 164 people, average age 92, who survived the third wave of a national longitudinal study in Israel. The findings indicated four groups; three with distinctive trajectories of life satisfaction: equilibrated; descending; no-future; and an unreported trajectory group. Findings showed that the equilibrated trajectory group exhibited the highest functioning on central markers of adaptation, indicating depressive symptoms, self-rated health, and physical performance. The descending and the no-future trajectories were found to be moderately effective strategies. The unreported trajectory presented the lowest level of functioning. The results revealed the adaptive roles of time-related perspective on life in very old people. This perspective reflects a variety of basic trajectories that constitute a time-based module of well-being along the continuum of one's life story. The study suggests that the diverse trajectories relate to essential domains of functioning. In conclusion, the authors suggest that practitioners and therapists may benefit from assessing the time perspective of the very old by directing it into more adaptive trajectories.
Correspondence of perceptions about centenarians’ mental health
- Authors:
- MACDONALD Maurice, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 13(6), November 2009, pp.827-837.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Often proxy and interviewer reports are obtained in studies of the oldest old people. This study aimed to uncover the criteria by which centenarians, proxies (usually caregivers) and interviewers rated centenarians’ mental health. Data were obtained from 137 mentally competent centenarians and near centenarians with an age range of 98 to 108. The dependent variables were based on alternative reports from the proxy, interviewer and the centenarian on the centenarians’ mental or emotional health. The results indicated similarity across the mental health ratings between the three sources. The authors note that caregivers tend to equate cognitive ability with mental health, but self-reported mental health ratings from the centenarians correlate with functional health and economic resources.
Valuation of life in old and very old age: the role of sociodemographic, social, and health resources for positive adaptation
- Authors:
- JOPP Daniela, ROTT Christoph, OSWALD Frank
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 48(5), October 2008, pp.646-658.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Valuation of life (VOL) represents a construct capturing active attachment to life. As old and very old individuals may differ in terms of endorsement and with respect to what makes a life worth living, the present study investigated whether mean levels and the explanatory value of sociodemographic, social, and health predictors for VOL differ between young-old and old-old individuals. A sample of 356 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 to 94 years in a district of Germany were presented with Lawton's Positive Valuation of Life Scale and established measures to assess predictors of VOL. Mean levels of VOL decreased from the third to the fourth age. Zero-order correlations showed significant relations between sociodemographic (i.e., age, gender, marital status, education), social (i.e., social contacts, phone calls, volunteering, contact with youth), and health (i.e., mobility, vision, hearing, activity restrictions, activity of daily living [ADL], instrumental ADL [IADL]) indicators. Regression analyses for the domain-specific predictors reduced the number of significant predictors to age, education, grandchildren, vision, and IADLs. When combining all sets of predictors, health explained twice as much variance in VOL compared to social indicators; sociodemographic indicators including age made no independent contribution. Separate analysis for young-old and old-old participants revealed age-differential prediction patterns. For the young-old, the role of health factors was especially strong, whereas specific social factors became more important in the old-old group. Age-differential predictive values of the resources seem to indicate positive adaptation to aging. Taking into account such prediction patterns may help to design specific interventions for young-old and old-old individuals.