Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology最新文献

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a randomized national U.S. telephone survey administered by state health departments. This study aimed to identify how Black/African Americans understand BRFSS caregiver and cognitive decline surveys and terminology to inform health messaging that centers the Black/African American experience. In focus groups, BRFSS surveys were administered to Black/African Americans (n = 30) aged ≥ 45 in Oregon. Participants were asked how they interpreted BRFSS terms 'memory loss' and 'confusion,' how these terms related to Alzheimer's and dementia, and about caregiving and cognitive decline experiences. The culturally responsive Africana Worldview guided interpretation, which centers the Black/African American experience and individuals within interdependent relationships and community identity when explaining behaviors of people from the African diaspora. BRFSS survey responses differed from focus group responses to the same questions. Two participants reported providing care in the past two years on the survey; in discussions, 21 participants reported providing care in the past two years. Interpretations of BRFSS terminology varied greatly. Differences between age-related cognitive changes, dementia and Alzheimer's disease were unclear. Cognitive decline was largely understood in terms of identity loss and relationship changes with the affected individual, and how that individual's relationship changed within community. Caution is advised when using BRFSS data to frame messaging because key cognitive health terms are not universally understood. Messaging that apply the Africana Worldview centralizes relationships and community rather than impact on individual's day-to-day activities, may be more effective for Black/African Americans and for other groups with different cultural and life experiences.

The sexuality of older people was understood as non-existent or as something outside the prevailing norm. In this sense, analysing people's sexual knowledge and attitudes towards older people is a challenge for theory and practice. The aim of this study is to translate and validate the Aging Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale (ASKAS) for the Portuguese population. A sample of 994 Portuguese adults (70.9% women, n = 705) completed the ASKAS-PT along with a series of self-report measures. Confirmatory factor analysis and the psychometric properties of the Portuguese (European) version of ASKAS-PT were investigated, particularly reliability, temporal stability, and convergent and critical validity. This study also examined the gender measurement invariance of the ASKAS-PT. After confirmatory factor analysis, a two-factor model fit the Portuguese version best. Reliability and validity results also showed good results, and the ASKAS-PT appears to be a gender-invariant measure. Overall, the Portuguese version of the ASKAS showed good psychometric properties and appears to be a valid and reliable measure for assessing knowledge and attitudes about aging.

Adult daycare centers (ADCs) enable older adults to socialize and enjoy planned group activities while receiving healthcare services. These centers also assist caregivers by empowering them to remain in the workforce. This study aims to explore the challenges in establishing ADCs in Saudi Arabia (SA) from the perspectives of healthcare professionals, healthcare policymakers, older adults, and caregivers. Additionally, this study's objective is to identify the barriers, facilitators, and applicability of ADCs in SA. A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured individual interviews. Inductive and deductive thematic analyses were employed to identify common themes regarding the barriers and facilitators to the applicability of ADCs in SA. Five researchers independently examined the transcripts using inductive analysis. Deductive analysis mapped the themes to Campinha-Bacote's cultural competence model. Data were collected from 46 participants, including caregivers, older adults, healthcare professionals, and healthcare policymakers. The findings highlight that the main facilitators to establishing ADCs in SA are the expected positive impact on the psychological and physical well-being of older adults and their caregivers. Conversely, cost and transportation, in addition to cultural considerations are possible barriers. This study identified the perceived benefits of ADCs for older adults and caregivers from a Saudi societal perspective. Thematic analysis showed that ADC's applicability in SA is possible, with some modifications to fit within the Saudi context. Additional efforts are necessary to promote the concepts and services that ADCs provide for older adults and to encourage support for these centers by non-profit organizations and the government.

This study examined the demographic, socioeconomic, health, and well-being of rural-dwelling older Cambodians and identified differentials based on age and gender. The goal is to understand disparities in wealth, health, well-being, and support systems among older adults within the context of Cambodia's history of civil unrest and socio-cultural norms. A regionally representative sample from three northwestern Cambodian provinces was used to evaluate household wealth, economic satisfaction, health, psychological well-being, social support, and a government welfare program. Analysis was conducted to document how these factors differed by age and gender. Significant gender differentials in demographics, well-being, and support systems were observed. Older women outnumbered men and reported lower levels of social support and psychological well-being, potentially influenced by high widowhood rates and gender-linked cultural norms. Education levels were generally low, possibly due to disruption from wars and conflicts. Relative to neighboring countries, the health status of older Cambodians was poor, though no significant gender-based health disparities were identified. There were differences in debt and wealth accumulation among age groups but no variation in welfare support by age or gender. These findings underline the significance of addressing gender disparities and socio-cultural factors affecting older Cambodians. They underscore the need for policy attention toward older women's psychological well-being and support systems, as well as health and social support interventions for the oldest age groups. Future research should investigate these observed patterns, accounting for regional variations and survivor selection bias.

Objective: Neuropsychological assessment among U.S. Arabic-speaking older adults is virtually non-existent due to lack of translated measures and normative data, as well as researchers' limited access to Middle Eastern/Arab Americans. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is the only validated, widely-used dementia screen with Arabic language norms/cutoffs, yet, Arabic MoCA translations vary across countries and studies. We examined utility of a modified translation among Arabic-speaking immigrants in metro-Detroit.

Methods: The Arabic MoCA was modified to reflect consistency with the original English version while remaining meaningful in the Arabic language. The MoCA was then administered to 32 Arabic-speaking adults age 65 + living in metro-Detroit. Eight (25%) had an Alzheimer's disease or related dementia (ADRD) diagnosis. Each item was standardized and Cronbach's alpha assessed reliability. Ordinary least squares models examined whether an ADRD diagnosis predicts the total MoCA score and each item, adjusting for demographics.

Results: The mean age of the sample was 73 years old. The alpha was acceptably high at 0.87. Bivariate analyses show those with ADRD diagnosis scored lower overall on the MoCA. However, probability of diagnosis and age were confounded in the sample such that in multivariate analyses ADRD diagnosis did not explain additional variation beyond what is explained by age. Orientation, cube-copy test and serial 7s best distinguished those with ADRD.

Conclusion: The modified Arabic language MoCA shows promise distinguishing those with an ADRD diagnosis. This translation provides a resource for neuropsychologists looking for translated tests when working with Arabic-speaking patients in the U.S.

This study aims to develop and validate the content and response processes of a questionnaire intended for caregivers to screen for dysphagia in Brazilian older adults with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and/or vascular dementia. The instrument items were developed in Brazilian Portuguese language based on the theoretical framework. A committee of speech-language-hearing therapists analyzed the relevance, objectivity, clarity, and understandability of the items with the Delphi method. The content validity index cutoff agreement score for experts' answers to validate each item in the questionnaire was 0.78; in the intraclass correlation coefficient, it was 0.75 for all items. For response process validity evidence, the questionnaire was applied to 30 caregivers of older adults with dementia, who judged the clarity and understandability of the items. Each item was validated when understood by at least 95% of participants. The first version of the instrument had 29 items. After two expert assessments, the last version had 24 items. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.85. Only one item needed semantic adjustments in the pre-test. The dysphagia screening instrument applied to caregivers of older adults with dementia was developed with adequate content and response process validity evidence, enabling adjustments in its construct. Future studies will analyze the remaining evidence of validity and reliability.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the growing importance of digital technologies for economic resilience, especially for vulnerable groups like older workers in the informal sector. However, barriers to access and digital literacy create challenges alongside potential opportunities, particularly in less developed countries such as Ghana. Using older adults over 50 years engaged in informal work in Kumasi's Central Business District in Ghana as a case, this paper explores older informal workers' use of digital technologies in Ghana during the pandemic. Findings suggest that older informal workers relied heavily on their mobile phones as the only critical technological tool to sustain their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the findings also reveal critical gaps in skills, training, and support, alongside resourcefulness in leveraging digital tools for business continuity. Key policy implications include expanding mobile-centric digital literacy programs, addressing infrastructure divides, and integrating capacity building into social protection. The paper contributes insights on strengthening lifelong learning and extending the working lives of older persons in the informal sector in the post-COVID era.

Leisure activities enjoyed by older married couples play an important part in creating more meaningful married lives. The study focuses on the prevalence of joint leisure activities by older couples, the factors influencing older adults' engagement in leisure activities together, and the relationship between joint participation in leisure activities and marital satisfaction of older couples. The quantitative sample included 414 married respondents aged 55 years and above from different parts of Vietnam. The leisure activities analyzed in the paper include vacation/travel, watching movies, music, karaoke singing outside the house, walking around the house, attending cultural events and festivals, watching TV, drinking tea, and doing exercise. The study results showed that the level of joint engagement in leisure activities in places near home with less cost was higher than those engaged in elsewhere. Couples with better living standards, higher education, better health, and who lived in urban areas more actively participated in leisure activities far from home. Vietnamese couples who engage in more leisure activities together had a higher level of overall satisfaction with their marriage, and greater satisfaction in several dimensions of their marital relationship than those who did not participate in leisure activities with their partners.

This paper explores how some older residents in B Town, a residential estate in northern Singapore, engage in community building through their 'serious leisure' and 'devotee work' participation in a resident landscaper program. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork conducted from February to November 2020 with participants aged from 60 to 81, I analyze how they built connections with each other, and the wider B Town community, through their participation. Particularly, I examine how the shared identity marker of being former farmers in now-evicted kampungs (villages) before the 1980s drew them together, and informed their continued involvement as resident landscapers. The 'kampung spirit' that they built up through the program enabled the construction of not only social connections, but also exclusionary mechanisms that prevented more older adults from engaging in the activities. These findings highlight participants' agency, and complicate static and/or monolithic conceptualizations of 'aging in place/the community' and 'active aging'.

This paper critically considers the concept of 'productive aging,' maintaining that although the term emerged as an effort to aid older people, it may be normative and potentially coercive. The paper illustrates this premise through an examination of Japan, through analysis of interviews conducted over decades, and, more fully, an analysis of advice books for Japanese seniors over the past twenty years. These advice books show how seniors in Japan are now increasingly urged to find contentment in old age as they themselves see fit, without concern over 'contributing to society.' In crucial respects, Japan has been moving from 'productive aging' to 'happy aging' as a guide for how to age. The paper then considers the judgment inherent in the term 'productive aging'-are some forms of aging better than other forms of aging?-by examining competing conceptions of happiness, advocating on the basis of this examination that the term 'productive aging' be replaced by 'happy aging.'