Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology最新文献

Background and objectives:  Refugees face unique migration challenges resulting from life threatening situations which compel them to migrate and often result in psychological distress experienced before, and during migration. Because of this, the experience of aging out-of-place may be particularly challenging for refugees and may compromise their ability to adapt to new countries. However, minimal research exists on the experiences of aging refugees who entered the country as adults. Little is known about predictors of quality of life among aging refugees. The present study investigates the direct associations between sociodemographic factors, social connection, and quality of life among aging refugees. Research Design and Methods. A total of 108 refugees ages 50 years and above from Bhutan, Burundi, and Somalia from an upper Midwestern region of the US completed an in-depth survey assessing well-being and social connection. Results. Hierarchical regression indicated that refugees from Africa (i.e., Burundi and Somalia), reported lower quality of life compared to refugees from Bhutan. Older individuals and females reported lower quality of life. However, quality of life was not associated with marital status and length of residence. In terms of social connection, greater social integration and lower loneliness were significantly associated with higher quality of life. Discussion and Implications. This study highlights unique findings for aging refugees, including cultural variations within refugee groups. Implications suggest distinct considerations for best supporting aging refugees' well-being.

Māori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) was initially developed in the UK, lacking in Māori cultural content and values. Cultural adaptation is needed to ensure Māori with dementia can benefit from this evidence-based treatment. This paper reports the outcome of a project aimed to adapt CST for Māori. We followed the five phases of international guidelines using the formative method for adapting CST to other cultures, including a critical cultural examination of the 18 CST principles. We piloted two CST-Māori programmes and collected pre- and post-outcome measures using the RUDAS and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Written qualitative feedback was sought from participants and their family at the end of the CST-Māori programme. A total of 15 Māori (female: 53.3%) participated in the two programmes. Their mean age was 75.9 years (SD = 6.6) and mean baseline RUDAS scores was 17.7 (SD = 2.3). There was a statistically significant improvement in cognition (RUDAS: pre = 17.7, post = 19.4, p = 0.003) and in the WHOQOL subscales of physical (pre = 75.9, post = 88.5, p = 0.003), psychological (pre = 72.7, post = 81.3, p = 0.024) and environment (pre-80.6, post = 88.0, p = 0.006). Written feedback confirmed the acceptability of this culturally adapted programme by Māori living with dementia and their whanau (families). CST was successfully adapted for Māori with dementia. It is a culturally acceptable cognitive intervention and preliminary data confirmed the effectiveness of CST-Māori in improving cognition and quality of life.

The convergence of population ageing with urbanisation is one of the key challenges to European societies. Italy is at the forefront of this trend, as 24.1% of its population is aged 65 or above, and nearly 72% of its total population lives in urban areas. Given Italy's demographic scenario, it is important to design age-friendly policies on the national and local levels. The paper contributes to the research of this topic through a technique for analysing citywide assessment data on age-friendliness. Our study presents the process of validation for the Italian older population of a standardised tool: the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire. The study was conducted in three Italian cities (n = 1,213) on a representative sample of older people who were asked to rate their life in the city, following the dimensions considered essential for a community's age-friendliness by the World Health Organization. Four typologies were differentiated in the analysis, resulting in different views of older adults on their experience of living in the city, showing that people's socioeconomic status and their health situation play a role in shaping their perceptions of age-friendliness. The results highlight the importance of standardised tools for effective social policies for age-friendly cities.

Leisure is essential to support quality of life following retirement. In India, there is limited research on the leisure participation of older adults. In collective cultures such as India, family members may also influence older adults' leisure participation. Therefore, the present study aimed to understand the experiences and perspectives of Indian older adults and their family members regarding leisure participation following retirement. The present study used an interpretative phenomenological approach with in-depth interviews. The participants were eight dyads of older adults and their family members residing in Mumbai, an Indian metropolis. The findings suggest that older adults described activities that gave them satisfaction as leisure, such as preretirement hobbies, work-related activities, volunteering, and activities for and with family, including household chores. The study also identified personal, familial, and contextual factors influencing older adults' leisure participation. The findings of this study can inform the provision of contextually relevant interventions to support meaningful leisure participation in older adults and healthy aging.

Ageism, a systematic process of discriminatory behavior toward older adults, can have negative consequences for patients. The aim of this study was to investigate ageism in providing nursing care and its attributed factors in hospitals of Kashan/Iran in 2023. A sample of 300 nurses were randomly recruited to this cross-sectional study, and completed the questionnaire of ageism in nursing care and its attributed factors. Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman's correlation and multivariate linear regression analysis statistical tests were used for data analysis. Participants had a mean age of 35.2 ± 8.47 years, with 218 (72.7%) being female. The mean ageism score was 41 ± 8.9 (range: 26-70), indicating relatively low age-based discrimination. However, 90 nurses (30%) expressed reluctance to care for older adult patients. Ageism scores showed significant relationships with gender, type of ward, interest in geriatric nursing, accompanying elderly relatives in the hospital, the relationship with grandparents, age, and work experience. Multivariate regression revealed that attributed factors could explain 12.3% of the variance in ageism scores, with only gender and type of ward having a significant relationship. Although the ageism score was low, a considerable percentage of nurses expressed discriminatory views toward older adult patients. Preventing ageism in nursing care remains a challenge for healthcare services.

Aims:  This study explored the lived experiences of older Singaporeans to inform a culturally relevant community-based program to promote successful aging. Methods. Focus groups were conducted to explore the lived experiences, beliefs and contextual influences of achieving a healthy lifestyle amongst older multi-ethnic Singaporeans aged ≥ 60 years, residing in a subsidised housing complex. Data were analysed using framework analysis. Results. The lived experiences of 97 participants were complex with shared and individual experiences. Four major themes were developed: (i) stories of pursuing healthy lifestyles in later life, 'Your health belongs to yourself'; (ii) realities of aging, 'Now that family is far from us…friends are our family'; (iii) stories of financial challenges, 'No money, no money' and (iv) stories of health literacy and health navigation behaviour. Barriers (personal, organisational, cultural factors) to adaptive behaviors resulted in different unmet needs in successful aging. Conclusions. Older Singaporeans residing in a subsidised housing complex experienced varying outcomes and multiple challenges to their successful aging. Recommendations for culturally responsive approaches to aging well are made. Clinical Implications. • A program supporting adaptive behaviors for successful aging need to incorporate relevant cultural health beliefs and values of participants. • A new community-based program informed by this qualitative study can be piloted to promote successful aging for older Singaporeans.

Japanese people make up a small proportion of the population in Canada, and there are limited resources to meet their specific needs. Thus, older Japanese Canadians were particularly affected by disrupted support and service systems when COVID-19 public health orders were implemented. The objective of this study was to explore how Japanese older immigrants cultivated resilience in overcoming challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and how a community service agency supported the process. In this qualitative study, seven community-dwelling Japanese older immigrants and five agency staff participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were thematically analyzed using a conceptual lens of resilience, which refers to the ability to survive and thrive in the face of adverse life experiences. Our analysis yielded three themes: (1) Challenges and concerns associated with digital literacy, English literacy, COVID-19, and the future; (2) Individual sources of physical, mental, and social resilience; and (3) Agency-supported sources of resilience that enable management of health, safety, and daily life, connection, and belonging. The findings advance our understanding of the ways in which older immigrants cultivate resilience in the face of adversity and how programs and services can help older immigrants cope with adversity to meet their needs. Implications for service provision include ensuring systems are in place to digitally connect older adults to programs, support home maintenance and housekeeping, and engage older adults in the development of new programs.

Older people's immigration to a different country can place them in a vulnerable situation. Research on the legal rights and access to justice for older immigrants and immigrants with dementia seeking care and support is scarce in Finland. This study addresses this gap in the research and employs semi-structured qualitative interviews with professionals offering services to this target group. Inductive and deductive qualitative content analysis approaches were used to analyze the data. The themes created from the data were analyzed from the perspective of an Elder Law theory, namely, Doron's Multidimensional Model of Elder Law. According to the findings of this study, the major challenges to accessing care and support include linguistic barriers, lack of digital skills, lack of information and knowledge, loneliness, and cultural differences. Some of the strategies that can be adopted to address these challenges include developing culturally sensitive services, dissemination of information about the available services in different languages and employing more bilingual staff.

Identify the association between multimorbidity and depressive symptoms (DS) with self-reported health (SRH) and life satisfaction in a national sample of Mexican ≥ 50 years older adults. Data are drawn from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), a cross-sectional study conducted in 2018 involving 14,230 older adults aged 50 years and older living in urban and rural areas of Mexico. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies depression scale (CES-D) and life satisfaction using the Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS), examined both as a categorical and continuous variable. Logistic and Poisson regression analyses were used to assess the association adjusting for confounders. The prevalence of multimorbidity was 25.8%. Age (≥ 65 years) was significantly associated with increased odds of fair/poor SRH [OR = 1.17 (95% CI 1.09-1.27)]. Older adults with multimorbidity and high DS were more likely to present fair/poor SRH [OR = 7.83 (95% CI 6.48-9.45)]. Older adults with multimorbidity and high DS were 37% [RR = 1.37 (95% CI 1.35-1.40)] more likely to present low life satisfaction than those that did not present multimorbidity. Multimorbidity and high DS were found to be associated with fair/poor SRH and low life satisfaction. The early identification of factors related to multimorbidity, DS, and low life satisfaction are important in order to reduce possible complications and improve quality of life.

Parkinson's Disease (PD), the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder globally, often carries stigma for those affected; however, stigma's impact on PD caregivers is not well understood. This study investigates PD stigma and its interplay with cultural values, as well as explores the role of depressive symptomatology in shaping help-seeking attitudes among individuals with PD and the provision of support by PD caregivers. Using cross-sectional data collected from people living with PD and their caregivers, this study examines how adherence to Asian values influences the link between self-stigma and help-seeking tendencies in PD patients, as well as how affiliate stigma is linked to caregivers' willingness to help. Further, the mediational role of depression was explored. Among Chinese Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients, stronger adherence to Asian values heightens the negative effect of self-stigma on help-seeking from both professional and non-professional sources, with this process mediated by levels of depression. Similarly, caregivers exhibit the influence of affiliate stigma on help provision, which is accentuated by a higher adherence to Asian values; however, depression was not found to be a significant mediator in this context. This study underscores the need for culturally sensitive interventions tailored to Asian PD-affected families, highlighting its significance in both patient and caregiver contexts.