European Journal of Ageing最新文献

We analysed whether care time, burden and range of caregiving tasks were associated with informal caregivers' subjective views of ageing (measured as attitudes towards own age (ATOA), subjective age (SA), and onset of old age (OOA)), and whether these associations differed as a function of the caregivers' age and gender. Adjusted cluster-robust fixed effects regression analyses were conducted with gender and age as moderators using data of informal caregivers (≥ 40 years) of the population-based German Ageing Survey (2014, 2017). All three aspect of care intensity were associated with changes in subjective views of ageing and this pattern was a function of the caregiver's age and gender. Care time was significantly associated with higher SA. Care tasks were significantly associated with more positive ATOA and earlier OOA. Age moderated the association between burden and ATOA, with older adults reporting more positive ATOA. Gender moderated the association between care time and ATOA; women reported less positive ATOA than men with increasing care time, but also felt subjectively younger than men with a broader range of care tasks. Age- and gender-stratified analysis indicated further differences. Our findings suggest to reduce care time, especially among older and female caregivers, to prevent a worsening of views of ageing, while being involved in a broad range of care tasks seems to (only) benefit female caregivers.

Using European Social Survey data, this article studies the prevalence of objective and subjective poverty among older women and men (60+ years) in 21 European countries. Objective poverty refers to whether one's disposable income falls below the poverty line, whereas subjective poverty relates to the capacity to make ends meet. It analyzes gender differences in these two dimensions of poverty and the role of gender as an explanation to these phenomena while controlling for other individual-level variables as well as the role of welfare state regimes. The results show that older women are more exposed to objective poverty than men, and that female gender remains strongly and positively correlated with this kind of poverty even when controlling for other variables. They also show that other individual-level variables, such as partnership, paid work and education curbs objective poverty, while the type of welfare regime does not matter. As to subjective poverty, on the other hand, there is no significant association with female gender, nor with the type of welfare regime, while individual-level variables such as subjective health, partnership and paid work are negatively correlated with this dimension of poverty. Subjective poverty is somewhat more influenced by contextual factors than objective poverty although the type of welfare state regime is not significantly associated with subjective or objective poverty.

Multimorbidity, the concurrence of several chronic conditions, is a rising concern that increases the years lived with disability and poses a burden on healthcare systems. Little is known on how it interacts with socioeconomic deprivation, previously associated with poor health-related outcomes. We aimed to characterize the association between multimorbidity and these outcomes and how this relationship may change with socioeconomic development of regions. 55,915 individuals interviewed in 2017 were drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, a population-based study. A Latent Class Analysis was conducted to fit multimorbidity patterns based on 16 self-reported conditions. Physical limitation, quality-of-life and healthcare utilization outcomes were regressed on those patterns adjusting for additional covariates. Those analyses were then extended to assess whether such associations varied with the region socioeconomic status. We identified six different patterns, labelled according to their more predominant chronic conditions. After the "healthy" class, the "metabolic" and the "osteoarticular" classes had the best outcomes involving limitations and the lowest healthcare utilization. The "neuro-affective-ulcer" and the "several conditions" classes yielded the highest probabilities of physical limitation, whereas the "cardiovascular" group had the highest probability of hospitalization. The association of multimorbidity over physical limitations appeared to be stronger when living in a deprived region, especially for metabolic and osteoarticular conditions, whereas no major effect differences were found for healthcare use. Multimorbidity groups do differentiate in terms of limitation and healthcare utilization. Such differences are exacerbated with socioeconomic inequities between regions even within Europe.

The COVID-19 pandemic entailed restrictions that hampered face-to-face interactions and social gatherings. In this paper, we examine whether loneliness increased to different extents among age groups due to these restrictions, and if these differences were mediated by specific life course conditions. Based on longitudinal data from the Swiss Household Panel, our results show that loneliness increased disproportionately among younger individuals during the pandemic. This finding aligns with the social convoy model and the socioemotional selectivity theory, which postulate a decline of social network size over the life course. It also corresponds to findings indicating a decrease in contact frequency with increasing age. Individuals aged 30 years and above experienced a lower increase in loneliness when they lived in shared households; however, this protective effect was not observed for younger individuals. Living together with a partner, being male, and not anticipating health complications in case of a COVID-19 infection moderated the increases of loneliness, but they were independent of age.

Age simulation suits are a promising tool to increase empathy and to promote positive attitudes toward older adults. However, studies have largely focused on (young) healthcare professionals, are probably biased by social desirability, and have not addressed participants' views of the aging process triggered by the simulation. The current work combines two studies addressing effects of aging suits on both general and personal views on aging among heterogeneous samples, and exploring spontaneous associations during the simulation. In study 1, N = 165 adults (M = 37.1 years, SD = 15.4, range 18-74 years) answered questionnaires containing general views regarding older adults ("old people are…") as well as personal perceptions ("aging means to me…") before and after wearing an aging suit. In study 2, young adults (N = 22; M = 24.8 years, SD = 4.3, range 20-38 years) and middle-aged adults (N = 41; M = 60.8 years, SD = 6.9, range 40-75 years) carried out established geriatric assessments with and without aging suit, and spontaneous impressions on the instant aging experience were recorded. Findings indicated negative shifts in both general and personal views on aging measures in both age groups (d = .30 to d = .44). Analyses of qualitative data resulted in seven main themes, e.g., "strain/coordination", "future me", "empathy/insight". Group comparisons revealed higher frequencies of future-self related thoughts among middle-aged adults, whereas younger adults mentioned predominantly physical effects of the suit. In conclusion, applying age simulation suits might evoke unintended negative views on aging. In comparison with young adults, middle-aged adults showed broader reflections including thoughts related to emotions, future-self, and potential struggles of older people.

We evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two psychoeducation programs on the burden and quality of life of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease: one of psychoeducation alone and the other integrated with yoga. Forty-nine participants were randomly allocated to two groups, 25 to the psychoeducation integrated with yoga group (G1) and 24 to the psychoeducation group (G2). The programs took place online through Google Meet and consisted of eight weekly meetings, lasting 30 min for psychoeducation and 30 min for yoga. Participants were evaluated by the Burden Interview Scale (BI-Zarit), Quality of Life Scale in Alzheimer's Disease-Caregiver Version (CQOL-AD), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Mindfulness and Awareness Scale (MAAS) and a satisfaction survey. Both groups showed reduced overload according to the BI-Zarit scale (F₍₁₎ = 4.435, p = 0.041, η²_p = 0.086) and improvement in the domains of physical health (F₍₁₎ = 4.881, p = 0.032, η²_p = 0.094), memory (F₍₁₎ = 4.192, p = 0.046, η²_p = 0.082) and money (F₍₁₎ = 4.862, p = 0.032, η²_p = 0.094) in the CQOL-AD. We detected a significantly higher improvement of G1 in memory (F₍₁₎ = 4.192, p = 0.046 η²_p = 0.082), money (F₍₁₎ = 7.147, p = 0.010, η²_p = 0.132) and friends (F₍₁₎ = 4.828, p = 0.033, η²_p = 0.093). The G1 when compared to the G2 did not demonstrate significant effects of the BI-Zarit, in the total scores CQOL-AD, MAAS and DASS-21. The study showed that both psychoeducation alone and integrated with yoga reduced the burden of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease, and that the integration of online yoga practice with psychoeducation potentiated the improvement only in some aspects of the quality of life and subjective perception of burden reduction.Clinical trial registration https://ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/ , identifier RBR-794593r, retrospectively registered.

Hand grip strength (HGS) is a key indicator of intrinsic capacity and has shown good predictive ability for morbidity and mortality. Reference values from normative populations are valuable, and such data from the Norwegian population are scarce. Normative values for the digital Jamar+ dynamometer are largely lacking.HGS was assessed in the Norwegian Tromsø study, survey 7 in 2015-2016 for 7824 participants (9324 invited) aged 40+ using a Jamar+ digital dynamometer, and three measurements for each hand were performed following the Southampton protocol. To account for non-response, full Tromsø population data, by age, education and sex, were collected from registry data from microdata.no, a service from Statistics Norway, and were then used as post-stratification weights, to provide standardized HGS values. HGS was higher in men than in women and inversely associated with age. Men and women with a history of non-communicable diseases had lower HGS than those without these conditions, while osteoarthritis was associated with lower HGS only among men. Lower height was associated with lower HGS, especially at younger ages in men. This article provides up-to-date references values for HGS in the community-dwelling population aged 40+ with or without osteoarthritis or non-communicable diseases, in Tromsø, Norway. These reference values will guide clinicians and researchers.

As societies age, the development of resources and strategies that foster healthy ageing from the beginning of life become increasingly important. Social and healthcare professionals are key agents in this process; therefore, their training needs to be in agreement with societal needs. We performed a scoping review on professional competences for social and health workers to adequately promote healthy ageing throughout life, using the framework described by Arksey and O'Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute Guidelines. A stakeholder consultation was held in each of the participating countries, in which 79 experts took part. Results show that current literature has been excessively focused on the older age and that more attention on how to work with younger population groups is needed. Likewise, not all disciplines have equally reflected on their role before this challenge and interprofessional approaches, despite showing promise, have not been sufficiently described. Based on our results, health and social professionals working to promote healthy ageing across the lifespan will need sound competences regarding person-centred communication, professional communication, technology applications, physiological and pathophysiological aspects of ageing, social and environmental aspects, cultural diversity, programs and policies, ethics, general and basic skills, context and self-management-related skills, health promotion and disease prevention skills, educational and research skills, leadership skills, technological skills and clinical reasoning. Further research should contribute to establishing which competences are more relevant to each discipline and at what level they should be taught, as well as how they can be best implemented to effectively transform health and social care systems.

Age discrimination is pervasive in most societies and bears far-reaching consequences for individuals' psychological well-being. Despite that, studies that examine cross-cultural differences in age discrimination are still lacking. Likewise, whether the detrimental association between age discrimination and psychological well-being varies across contexts remains an open question. In this study, therefore, we examined cross-cultural differences in perceived experiences of age discrimination and their detrimental association with a specific indicator of psychological well-being, which is life satisfaction. The sample was drawn from the Ageing as Future study and comprised 1653 older adults (60-90 years) from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the USA. Participants self-reported their experiences of age discrimination and their life satisfaction. Findings indicated that participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan reported experiences of perceived age discrimination more often than participants from the Czech Republic, Germany, and the USA. Furthermore, experiences of age discrimination were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Cultural context moderated this relation: We found a smaller detrimental association between perceived experiences of age discrimination and life satisfaction in Eastern cultures, that is, in contexts where such experiences were perceived to be more prevalent. These findings highlight the importance of examining age discrimination across cultures. Experiences of age discrimination are clearly undesirable in that they negatively affect psychological well-being. Our results indicate that a higher self-reported prevalence of perceived age discrimination in the samples studied weakens this negative association. We discuss these findings in terms of adaptation (versus sensitization) in response to discrimination.

There are several pathways through which religion can affect longevity. Previous research, predominately from North America, has shown decreased mortality risk for participants that attended religious services. This study aims to examine the association between religion and all-cause mortality in a large sample of older European adults, comparing religious affiliations, and using prayer frequency as well as frequency of participation in a religious organisation as measures of religiousness. To this end, a total of 16,062 participants from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe were employed for a survival analysis (median follow-up 11.3 years; 3790 recorded deaths). Following a religion was negatively associated with mortality regardless of demographic and socioeconomic factors (HR = 0.81; 95% CI 0.74-0.89). Large differences in the median survival of participants from different religious affiliations can be mostly attributed to demographic and socioeconomic factors. Both frequency of prayer and religious participation exhibited a significant positive dose-response relationship with survival despite adjustments, although the results for religious participation were more profound. Changes on the religiosity levels of the European population will require additional research on the subject in the future.