Journal of Aging & Social Policy最新文献

With increasing age, it becomes more difficult for unemployed workers to find a new job. Due to age-related negative stereotypes, employers typically prefer younger applicants. This study analyzes a marketing campaign of a local employment agency in Germany that drew attention to the problem of negative age-related stereotypes and highlighted the high value of older workers. The goal of the campaign was to increase the hiring rate of older unemployed. Using comprehensive register data and applying a difference-in-differences approach, we find that the information conveyed through the campaign (via banners, interviews, job fairs, and informational brochures) did indeed change firms' hiring behavior. The intervention increased the employment rate of workers aged 50 to 59 with unemployment experience by approximately 3 percentage points. The positive employment effects of the campaign appear to be somewhat more pronounced for women than for men. We conclude that an information campaign to overcome age-related negative stereotypes might be an appropriate measure to highlight the value of older workers and increase their employment chances. In the context of the demographic change, therefore, an information campaign might help to fight against a shrinking workforce and an impending shortage of skilled labor.

Home and community-based services are key to an aging society and the aging in place strategies that are preferred by older adults as well as policymakers. But the provision of these kinds of services is often inadequate in territorial terms, raising the question of how to increase their reach and efficiency. This article analyzes the spatial coverage of home support services in the Aveiro Region of Portugal, considering the distribution of their target population and identifying network configurations which would provide these services more efficiently, through a location analysis that minimizes the distance to potential users of these services. This approach showed that, in the Aveiro Region, the spatial coverage of these services is highly uneven and insufficient, considering that the population with difficulties in performing daily tasks exceeds the population benefiting from these services and that the level of coverage differs greatly between territories. It also showed that significant efficiency and equity gains are possible by optimizing the service providers' location at the supra-municipal scale, decreasing the distances to be covered and reducing territorial inequalities.

Home- and community-based services (HCBS) may contribute to lowering mortality and enhancing quality of life among older adults. Limited research, however, has examined this relationship in the Chinese context. This study explored the longitudinal association between perceived availability of HCBS and all-cause mortality among Chinese older adults. This cohort study included 8,102 individuals aged 65 years and older from the 2011, 2014, and 2018 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. HCBS included daily life assistance, medical care services, emotional support and social services, and reconciliation and legal aid services. The association between perceived availability of HCBS and all-cause mortality was investigated using Cox proportional hazards models. Emotional support and social services were negatively associated with all-cause mortality (HR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.78 ~ 0.95, P = .004). Daily life assistance, medical care services, and reconciliation and legal aid services were not significantly associated with all-cause mortality. Providing community-level emotional support and social services may reduce the risk of death. Focusing on the mental health and social well-being of older adults is just as important as caring for their physical health.

A number of studies have identified a gender gap in social attitudes, but few have studied the phenomenon in the context of old age pension schemes. Using data from a 2019 Norwegian survey, we examined patterns of support for three distribution principles in pensions (anti-poverty, merit, and equality). Compared to men, women are more supportive of the anti-poverty and equality principles, and less supportive of the merit principle. The gender difference for the anti-poverty principle persists in multivariate analyses, but disappears for the merit and equality principles when we control for socioeconomic factors, particularly income. Analyzing men and women separately revealed that partnership status and health interact with gender. Income however appears to affect men and women equally; high-income women are as likely as high-income men to support the principle of merit and reject the principle of equality.

To extend working lives, the 2017 Finnish pension reform introduced a gradually rising statutory retirement age, from 63 to 65 years and over. We investigate how the intended retirement age has adjusted after the reform. Survey data from 2008 (N = 1,346) and 2018 (N = 1,386) include employees aged 50-62. The results indicate that, unlike in many countries, in Finland the intended retirement age has increased in tandem with the statutory retirement age. One explanation for this might be knowledge: due to the extensive information campaign, the Finns know about the reform and can make realistic retirement plans.

Medical aid in dying refers to policies that allow terminally ill patients to seek assistance from their medical providers to obtain medications to hasten death. In this paper, we used a 7-point policy analysis model to examine the diversity of medical aid in dying policies that exist in jurisdictions (states and territories) in the U.S. and the implications of these policies for suffering at end of life. As of this writing, these practices are available in 12 jurisdictions, including 11 states and the District of Columbia. Legalization has occurred via statutory approaches in 10 jurisdictions and permissive approaches in two jurisdictions. We discuss the structures of these laws, the requirements for participation, and the limitations created by having jurisdiction-specific policies on such broad, bioethical issues. Existing laws appear to relieve suffering in patients at end of life. Jurisdictional differences create barriers to comprehensive expansion but provide insights into practice in different contexts.

We argue that gerontologists are products of our ageist culture and that we both perpetuate ageism and suffer from internalized ageism ourselves. We make ageist comments, deny our own age, fail to teach students to recognize and confront ageism, and use language that otherizes and categorizes older people. Gerontologists are in ideal positions to confront ageism through our scholarly work, teaching, and community engagement. However, we suggest that, despite our deep gerontological knowledge, we do not have enough awareness, knowledge, and skills for taking anti-ageism actions in these arenas of our professional lives. We offer some suggestions for confronting ageism, including self-study, increasing content on ageism in the classroom and beyond, pointing out ageist language and behaviors to colleagues and students, working with diversity, equity and inclusion offices on campus, and giving careful consideration to our research approaches and academic writing. To go forward, we must increase awareness about ageism and gain skills in promoting anti-ageism.

This study investigated the factors associated with end-of-life health care use and spending in Korea. Chronically ill decedents, who were hospitalized for one of nine chronic conditions during the year before death, were identified from the National Health Insurance Database in 2017. For comparison, the end-of-life care spending for all decedents and the annual health care spending for the general population were analyzed. The inpatient and outpatient end-of-life care spending for the chronically ill decedents were sixteen and seven times the annual inpatient and outpatient spending for the general population respectively. The regional income level was positively associated with both inpatient and outpatient spending among the decedents with a stronger association in the chronically ill decedents, while a negative association was found in the general population. No significant association was found between the inpatient spending and the number of hospital beds for the chronically ill decedents, whereas the number of beds in small to medium-sized hospitals was positively associated with inpatient spending for the total decedents and the general population. The findings suggest that hospitalization for end-of-life care depends more on the income of the patients, while the inpatient spending for total decedents and the general population are more likely to be affected by the supply of beds.

The number of older adults living alone in China is rising sharply. This study aimed to explore the demand for home and community-based care services (HCBS) and related influencing factors of older adults living alone. The data were extracted from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Guided by the Andersen model, binary logistic regressions were used to analyze the influencing factors of HCBS demand from the aspect of predisposing, enabling and need variables. Results show that there were significant differences between urban and rural areas for provision of HCBS. HCBS demand of older adults living alone was influenced by distinct factors including age, residence, income source, economic status, availability of services, loneliness, physical function and number of chronic diseases. Implications for HCBS developments are discussed.

Two-thirds of people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) live in low- and middle-income countries, and this figure is expected to rise as these populations are rapidly aging. Since evidence demonstrates links between socioeconomic status and slower rates of cognitive decline, protecting older adults' cognitive function in resource-limited countries that lack the infrastructure to cope with ADRD is crucial to reduce the burden it places on these populations and their health systems. While cash transfers are a promising intervention to promote healthy cognitive aging, factors such as household wealth and level of education often confound the ability to make causal inferences on the impact of cash transfers and cognitive function. This study uses a quasi-experimental design, leveraging an exogenous expansion to the Old Age Pension for men in South Africa, to approximate causal associations with cognitive function. We found evidence that there is a potential benefit of cash transfers at an earlier age for older individuals. As such, transfers such as pensions or other forms of direct basic income transfers may hold promise as potential interventions to promote healthy cognitive aging.