Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology最新文献

The South-East Asia region has one of the fastest-growing aging populations, for which standardized dementia screening measures will be essential for geriatric care. The Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) is adopted for use in the Indonesian setting but lacks evidence of its cross-cultural transportability. This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of scores from the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) in the Indonesian setting. Indonesian older adults from a geriatric nursing center (N = 135; 52 males, 83 females; age range 60-82) completed the Indonesian translation of the RUDAS (RUDAS-Ina), following content adaptation study with community living older adults (N = 35), nine neurologists and two geriatric nurses. For face and content validity, we utilized a consensus-building procedure. Results following confirmatory factor analysis yielded a single-factor model. The reliability of scores from the RUDAS-Ina was marginally satisfactory for research purposes (Cronbach α = 0.61). Multi-level linear regression for examining the association of the RUDAS-Ina scores with gender and age indicated older age to be associated with lower RUDAS-Ina scores. In contrast, the association with gender was not significant. Findings suggest a need to develop and validate locally generated items with cultural sensitivity to the Indonesian setting, which may also be studied in other Southeast Asian countries.

Bangladesh has the third largest population of poor older adults in the world and 73% of them live in rural areas. Disparity in the country's health services is evident that creates a substantial pressure, especially on rural elderly women who live in a compromised socio-cultural atmosphere. This is true that we know about rural elderly women's self-reported health and service use barriers, but no studies captured the views of health staff. This study presents a qualitative exploration of the views held by rural health staff whose role is to provide care to local elderly women. We conducted 11 interviews with clinicians, pharmacists and public health assistants in Sylhet district, Bangladesh. A critical thematic discourse analysis, using the critical social constructs of Habermas and Honneth, of the data informed the women's inadequate healthcare access and associated barriers that were complex and overlapping but had explicit institutional, subjective and material consequences. Five major themes emerged including: unequal distribution of health services; marginalization in patient-staff relationships; living with poverty; social relegation; and mistrust of clinical treatment. Rural areas were viewed with inequitably distributed health services and traditionally a large proportion of elderly women living in poverty who lacked social support and demonstrated a mistrust towards healthcare system. No recognition of the women and power differences were underpinned by economic factors and cultural societal values. The findings suggest a need for health policy solutions and education of healthcare staff and elderly women regarding accessing healthcare.

The concept of "Aging in place" has not been fully validated among older immigrant groups living in diverse cultures. The study used a qualitative research approach and interviewed Chinese immigrant older adults across three Chinese enclave communities in New York City to identify whether Chinatowns are a place for Chinese immigrants to age and explore their experience of aging in Chinatowns. The findings showed that Chinese immigrants did consider Chinatown as the place, which conveyed practical, linguistic, social, emotional and cultural meaning. Aging in Chinatown, older adults sought independence, security, and autonomy through various social resources. However, older adults, especially newly arrived immigrants, have faced obstacles that undermine their aging experience. Older immigrants' unique aging experience has provided profound insight in understanding migration and AIP, which help develop proper policies and programs to support the AIP initiative.

The aim of this study was to understand how dementia caregivers in the township of Soweto, South Africa interpret their role in the context of caregiving through the personal constructs identified using the Self- Characterization technique. Thirty family caregivers were recruited via purposive sampling methods and completed a Self-Characterization Sketch during semi-structured interviews. Content analysis of construct pairs was thematically coded using the Classification System for Personal Constructs (CSPC) - a reliable method to analyse personal constructs that are generated by constructivist assessments. Findings revealed that caregivers' interpretations of themselves was characterized by moral, emotional and cognitive attributes. Specifically, a sense of mastery, self-efficacy, strength, selflessness and unconditional positive regard characterized the most meaningful constructs of care within caregiver narratives in response to their loved ones with dementia. These adaptive outcomes, despite the challenging, pervasive, complex nature of dementia and its manifestations, suggest psychological and emotional resilience, higher levels of adjustment and caregiver well-being. However, it is important to consider possible consequences such as physical fatigue and burnout despite adaptive outcomes. Therefore, it is recommended that approaches to psychoeducational initiatives, emotional and psychological interventions and awareness campaigns include teaching caregivers how to self-care encourage the importance of consistent exercise, rest, sleep, nutrition as well as reaching out for social support. Lastly, empowering caregivers to use their personal resources would prove valuable in support groups, and individual to facilitate self-awareness, sustained coping and mental health.

In diaspora and transnational studies little is known about the experiences of transnational carer-employees (TCEs). TCEs provide unpaid/informal care across international borders to an adult family member, friend, or relative with disability and/or age-related needs, while also working in paid employment in the country of resettlement. The primary focus of this systematic review was to examine how cultural and historical elements of transnational caregiving influence the economic, social, and health/well-being of TCEs. This systematic review draws on quantitative and qualitative peer-reviewed literature on TCEs' experiences from Canada, the USA, or Australia between 1997 and 2017. In all, 16 articles that fulfilled the search inclusion criteria were selected. The articles were analyzed using content and thematic analysis. The review highlighted that transnational caregiving is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. There is a reciprocal relationship between adult children providing care to their parents and parents helping their children resettle in their new home. The findings suggest that TCEs provide practical, financial, and emotional care to their families abroad. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive systematic review of the experiences of TCEs. Increasingly complex immigration experiences of transnational families require innovative policy responses from a transnational and intersectionality lens. Immigrants need support to maintain solid transnational networks and simultaneously adapt to the country of resettlement. Employers can use the findings to support TCEs in balancing unpaid care across vast geographical distances while sustaining their economic and social well-being.

The attitude toward older adults is developed from childhood. School textbooks are one of the most important sources of shaping attitude in children. So, the present study aimed to analyze the visual and textual content of the aging concept in elementary school textbooks after the Irans's Islamic Revolution (1979). The method of the present study was content analysis, and 112 textbooks were reviewed. The analysis unit included 118 images and 91 subset of texts pertaining to aging concept. The results showed that aging concepts are classified into two positive and negative stereotypes categories. The positive stereotype included social interaction, authority and respect, wisdom, spirituality, positive traits, and independence. Social interaction was the most frequent of them. Negative stereotypes included abuse, negative personality traits, illness, and disability, of which the negative personality traits were the most frequent. In addition, the results suggested that 87.7% of the concepts of aging in the textbooks were positive. Although the positive stereotypes were more frequent in textbooks, the active older adults were presented in low-status jobs, and the ethnic minorities and older women were less considered. Accordingly, policymaking through the textbooks and from childhood is necessary for developing successful aging and decreasing ageism in society.

Objectives: Little is known about loneliness in lower- and middle-income countries. This study investigates loneliness in the older population of Myanmar using a mixed-methods approach.

Methods: To identify predictors of loneliness, hierarchical regression models were used to analyze data from the Myanmar Aging Survey 2012 (N = 3,618, 57% women). In a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, quantitative data were integrated with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with older adults in Myanmar in 2019.

Results: The prevalence of loneliness varied by between-person characteristics. Health impairments, lower income, being widowed, not having children, and living with fewer household members were each associated with loneliness. Qualitative findings suggested that the physical presence of family members was especially protective against loneliness. Religion had mixed associations with loneliness, depending on the type of religious practice, demographic characteristics, health status, and community engagement.

Discussion: The findings contribute to a better understanding of individuals' experiences of loneliness and may inform the design of interventions to prevent loneliness in Myanmar and globally.

South Africa has experienced considerable international outward migration in the last half century, which has had a severe psychological impact on members of families affected by this phenomenon. Older parents who remain behind may experience feelings of loss and isolation. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are useful in maintaining relationships between family members separated by migration and increasingly allow migrant families to experience a virtual co-presence despite geographical separation. However, the process may be challenging, especially for older people with hearing difficulties. This article reports on a qualitative study exploring the perceptions of a group of older adults who have difficulty hearing and who live in a residential care home about using ICTs to communicate with family abroad. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Most of the participants used either a fixed line telephone or a mobile phone. They reported challenges in communicating with family members abroad arising from their deafness, as well as difficulties using technological devices together with their hearing aids. These challenges resulted in feelings of helplessness and frustration. Although the data collection took place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these findings may be of particular relevance to situations such as those during the pandemic when many older adults became more reliant on technology to communicate with family members because of restrictions on direct contact. Accordingly, suggestions are made to address challenges in communication between older adults and loved ones who are geographically separated.

Gender inequality that persists through much of their lives, from birth through adulthood, impacts women and their quality of life in their later years. With some variation this holds true in every nation in the global community. In older adults, the most apparent indication of gender inequality-and a linchpin-is the disproportionate impoverishment of older women compared to older men. We take stock of global policy directions toward equality for girls and women, focusing specifically on derived avenues for furthering and protecting the economic well-being of older women in the United States, cognizant that these directions can rebound with implications for nations worldwide.