Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101384
Sabrina Lessard , Tamara Sussman
Attending to the discourses surrounding a crisis can offer important insights into who and what is valued in society. The COVID-19 pandemic offers just this opportunity as it represents a modern societal crisis.
Our former work, which examined media discourses surrounding life in LTC during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed a discourse that framed life in LTC as tragic. In this study, using a life story approach, we explore how, if at all, the tragedy discourse shifts when older persons in LTC (n = 15) are invited to share their experiences of COVID-19.
Our analysis revealed three interrelated categories that together highlight the myriad of factors impacting the value of life in LTC during the COVID-19 pandemic and which act as counter-narratives to the dominant discourse. These counter-narratives are captured in the categories: COVID-19 as a component of a larger life story; Resisting isolation despite restrictions; and Contrasting experiences of life in LTC before, during, and after COVID-19, and highlight how residents strove to retain a sense of belonging, care and connection during this time of crisis.
Introducing counter-narratives of residents who lived through COVID-19 in LTC provides an impetus for reconstructing this period of global unrest from that of a tragedy to that of an ordeal. It also reminds us of the valiant efforts people continue to make to ensure the value of their lives are seen and recognized even when dominant discourses are supporting their erasure.
{"title":"Tragedy or ordeal? How reshaping discourses can contribute to reimagining approaches to care and the value of life in times of crisis","authors":"Sabrina Lessard , Tamara Sussman","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101384","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101384","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Attending to the discourses surrounding a crisis can offer important insights into who and what is valued in society. The COVID-19 pandemic offers just this opportunity as it represents a modern societal crisis.</div><div>Our former work, which examined media discourses surrounding life in LTC during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed a discourse that framed life in LTC as tragic. In this study, using a life story approach, we explore how, if at all, the tragedy discourse shifts when older persons in LTC (<em>n</em> = 15) are invited to share their experiences of COVID-19.</div><div>Our analysis revealed three interrelated categories that together highlight the myriad of factors impacting the value of life in LTC during the COVID-19 pandemic and which act as counter-narratives to the dominant discourse. These counter-narratives are captured in the categories: COVID-19 as a component of a larger life story; Resisting isolation despite restrictions; and Contrasting experiences of life in LTC before, during, and after COVID-19, and highlight how residents strove to retain a sense of belonging, care and connection during this time of crisis.</div><div>Introducing counter-narratives of residents who lived through COVID-19 in LTC provides an impetus for reconstructing this period of global unrest from that of a tragedy to that of an ordeal. It also reminds us of the valiant efforts people continue to make to ensure the value of their lives are seen and recognized even when dominant discourses are supporting their erasure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101384"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145614586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101383
Jo-Anne Rayner, Deirdre Fetherstonhaugh, Linda McAuliffe
High-quality care is a right and an expectation of older people living in nursing homes; however, recent Australian evidence suggests that the care provided is sub-standard. To understand what older Australians living in nursing homes and their family members expect of high-quality aged care, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with older people (n = 51) and family members (n = 29) in 15 nursing homes. Transcripts were thematically analysed. Findings suggest that older peoples' and family members' expectations of high-quality care differ. Overwhelmingly, older people spoke about meals and the interpersonal aspects of care, including the importance of relationships with others, being treated respectfully as individuals with kindness, being given choice and involvement in care decisions, and staff responding to their care needs promptly. For families, high-quality care was about having a clean physical environment, more staff to provide individualised care, better communication with families, and keeping their relatives active and busy. Older people also spoke about the need for more staff, but their concern related to staff workload rather than the quality of their care. This research found that the care priorities of older people in nursing homes differ from those of their families. Staff must not assume that the expectations of older people and families regarding high-quality care are the same; they should provide person-centred care to older people and improve communication with families.
{"title":"‘Kindness, respect and consultation’ versus ‘being kept active and busy’: The differences between residents' and families' expectations of high-quality care in nursing homes","authors":"Jo-Anne Rayner, Deirdre Fetherstonhaugh, Linda McAuliffe","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101383","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101383","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-quality care is a right and an expectation of older people living in nursing homes; however, recent Australian evidence suggests that the care provided is sub-standard. To understand what older Australians living in nursing homes and their family members expect of high-quality aged care, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with older people (<em>n</em> = 51) and family members (<em>n</em> = 29) in 15 nursing homes. Transcripts were thematically analysed. Findings suggest that older peoples' and family members' expectations of high-quality care differ. Overwhelmingly, older people spoke about meals and the interpersonal aspects of care, including the importance of relationships with others, being treated respectfully as individuals with kindness, being given choice and involvement in care decisions, and staff responding to their care needs promptly. For families, high-quality care was about having a clean physical environment, more staff to provide individualised care, better communication with families, and keeping their relatives active and busy. Older people also spoke about the need for more staff, but their concern related to staff workload rather than the quality of their care. This research found that the care priorities of older people in nursing homes differ from those of their families. Staff must not assume that the expectations of older people and families regarding high-quality care are the same; they should provide person-centred care to older people and improve communication with families.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101383"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145614585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-08-07DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101352
Chloé Bradwell
This article considers how artists can help highlight the value of negative emotions for care home residents living with dementia. It continues the discussion on arts and health in dementia care by looking at wellbeing beyond mere individual happiness and considering sadness as an integral part of it. This study focuses on Entelechy Arts, a participatory arts company creating cultural programmes for isolated older adults and those in care environments. Focusing on a specific interaction from their Walking Through Walls programme, this article offers a thick description and theoretical analysis of how the creative practitioners fostered solidarity among artists, residents, and staff by validating a resident's feelings of sadness and anger through kinaesthetic attunement. The study argues that by attuning to negative emotions, artists can challenge notions of utopian happiness. This counters the idea that negative emotions must be suppressed to promote wellbeing and enact solidarity as a collective and activist act of care. This is critical in the context of care home residents living with dementia, for whom negative feelings are often interpreted as challenging behaviours that can lead to medication and isolation. Instead, this paper suggests that artists can help re-frame such behaviours as important relational acts that challenge the normalisation of oppressive institutional systems.
{"title":"(not) lovely: Enacting solidarity in dementia care through participatory Arts.","authors":"Chloé Bradwell","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101352","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101352","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article considers how artists can help highlight the value of negative emotions for care home residents living with dementia. It continues the discussion on arts and health in dementia care by looking at wellbeing beyond mere individual happiness and considering sadness as an integral part of it. This study focuses on Entelechy Arts, a participatory arts company creating cultural programmes for isolated older adults and those in care environments. Focusing on a specific interaction from their Walking Through Walls programme, this article offers a thick description and theoretical analysis of how the creative practitioners fostered solidarity among artists, residents, and staff by validating a resident's feelings of sadness and anger through kinaesthetic attunement. The study argues that by attuning to negative emotions, artists can challenge notions of utopian happiness. This counters the idea that negative emotions must be suppressed to promote wellbeing and enact solidarity as a collective and activist act of care. This is critical in the context of care home residents living with dementia, for whom negative feelings are often interpreted as challenging behaviours that can lead to medication and isolation. Instead, this paper suggests that artists can help re-frame such behaviours as important relational acts that challenge the normalisation of oppressive institutional systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"101352"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145696461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101358
Barbara Pieta , Cristina Douglas , Matthew Lariviere , Maria D. Vesperi
{"title":"Editorial for special issue Ethical concerns: Envisioning ethnographic fieldwork with cognitively impaired older adults","authors":"Barbara Pieta , Cristina Douglas , Matthew Lariviere , Maria D. Vesperi","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101358","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101358","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101358"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145683847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-08-07DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101350
Riya Chawla, Preeti Bhatt
The most poignant challenges experienced by South Asian Hijras (the culturally marginalized transgender community in India that is associated with various rituals, roles, and responsibilities) are related to the lack of family support and discrimination due to their gender identity. Family support for the Hijras is usually withdrawn at a very early age, and it becomes even more devastating as they age, leading to their social isolation and causing them emotional distress. Predominant literature on the trans community in India focuses on the young queer body and the triumphant coming of age of trans individuals as young queer adults. In contrast, the representation of older queer individuals in literature is strikingly absent. This paper attempts to demystify the aging experiences of transgender individuals in India through a critical analysis of the landmark photobook of Dayanita Singh's Myself Mona Ahmed (2001) to gain insight about how they cultivate solidarity in the community to imagine a collective trans future. Dayanita Singh documents Mona Ahmed's journey of loneliness when her adopted daughter Ayesha is forcibly taken away; later, she has a falling out with her community, leading her to become an "outcast of an outcast." The cultural significance associated with conventional family structure and inter-generational bonds makes the estrangement from one's family even more devastating for the trans community. Through this paper, we will delve into the story of Mona Ahmed, an upper-class Muslim trans woman who is seen to be constantly oscillating between her identities and repeatedly trying to recreate a family as an aging transgender person.
{"title":"Aging into (in)visibility: Tracing Hijra life narratives in Dayanita Singh's Myself Mona Ahmed.","authors":"Riya Chawla, Preeti Bhatt","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101350","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The most poignant challenges experienced by South Asian Hijras (the culturally marginalized transgender community in India that is associated with various rituals, roles, and responsibilities) are related to the lack of family support and discrimination due to their gender identity. Family support for the Hijras is usually withdrawn at a very early age, and it becomes even more devastating as they age, leading to their social isolation and causing them emotional distress. Predominant literature on the trans community in India focuses on the young queer body and the triumphant coming of age of trans individuals as young queer adults. In contrast, the representation of older queer individuals in literature is strikingly absent. This paper attempts to demystify the aging experiences of transgender individuals in India through a critical analysis of the landmark photobook of Dayanita Singh's Myself Mona Ahmed (2001) to gain insight about how they cultivate solidarity in the community to imagine a collective trans future. Dayanita Singh documents Mona Ahmed's journey of loneliness when her adopted daughter Ayesha is forcibly taken away; later, she has a falling out with her community, leading her to become an \"outcast of an outcast.\" The cultural significance associated with conventional family structure and inter-generational bonds makes the estrangement from one's family even more devastating for the trans community. Through this paper, we will delve into the story of Mona Ahmed, an upper-class Muslim trans woman who is seen to be constantly oscillating between her identities and repeatedly trying to recreate a family as an aging transgender person.</p>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"101350"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145696473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101385
Håkan Jönson, Tove Harnett
Older adults are often portrayed as unwilling or unable to address quality issues in the formal care they receive. This study explores a methodology that captures the everyday reactions of older care users to quality problems, offering a nuanced understanding of their voice and agency when dissatisfied with care services. Using a telephone diary method, eight care users were contacted twice a week over three weeks to discuss the services they had received in recent days. The data, comprising 45 interviews, were analyzed using Hirschman's exit, voice, loyalty framework to identify strategies employed by care users. Four strategies were identified: (1) everyday voice, involving reminders and complaints to staff and managers; (2) temporary exits, where users avoided unpleasant situations, sometimes as a signal to the organization; (3) renegotiation of needs, involving communication with needs assessors to revise service decisions; and (4) silence, motivated by loyalty, resignation, or fear of being labeled a “problematic” care user. The findings highlight that care users employ various strategies to improve service quality, many of which might not surface during single-occasion interviews. Recognizing these strategies, care providers should enhance communication channels to address concerns. Addressing the fear of being labeled as problematic is essential, as it risks silencing crucial feedback. This study advocates for reinterpreting expressions of dissatisfaction as efforts to uphold older adults' human rights as rights-holders, reframing voice activities as a pathway to quality improvements.
{"title":"Exit, voice and loyalty in everyday home care practice for older adults: Using a telephone diary method","authors":"Håkan Jönson, Tove Harnett","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101385","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101385","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Older adults are often portrayed as unwilling or unable to address quality issues in the formal care they receive. This study explores a methodology that captures the everyday reactions of older care users to quality problems, offering a nuanced understanding of their voice and agency when dissatisfied with care services. Using a telephone diary method, eight care users were contacted twice a week over three weeks to discuss the services they had received in recent days. The data, comprising 45 interviews, were analyzed using Hirschman's exit, voice, loyalty framework to identify strategies employed by care users. Four strategies were identified: (1) everyday voice, involving reminders and complaints to staff and managers; (2) temporary exits, where users avoided unpleasant situations, sometimes as a signal to the organization; (3) renegotiation of needs, involving communication with needs assessors to revise service decisions; and (4) silence, motivated by loyalty, resignation, or fear of being labeled a “problematic” care user. The findings highlight that care users employ various strategies to improve service quality, many of which might not surface during single-occasion interviews. Recognizing these strategies, care providers should enhance communication channels to address concerns. Addressing the fear of being labeled as problematic is essential, as it risks silencing crucial feedback. This study advocates for reinterpreting expressions of dissatisfaction as efforts to uphold older adults' human rights as rights-holders, reframing voice activities as a pathway to quality improvements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101385"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145614584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-14DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101382
Ting Song , Amy Tapsell , Lorna Moxham , Mark Jones , David Hailey , Bo Du , Rod Young , Ping Yu
With the unprecedented growth of the ageing population and increasing urbanisation, age-friendly community (AFC) initiatives have gained significant global momentum. However, existing AFC research has largely prioritised the perspectives of implementers in metropolitan or rural contexts, leaving a critical gap in understanding how community members, particularly those in regional areas, conceptualise age-friendliness and express their needs and priorities. Guided by environmental gerontology, which emphasises the dynamic interaction between individuals and their environments, and geographical gerontology, which focuses on the role of place and spatial context, this qualitative study explores perceptions of AFCs among middle-aged and older adults (≥45 years) living in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 participants, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. From participants' perspectives, we developed the FACE framework, comprising four interconnected dimensions: Facilitators, Ambitions, Conditions, and Engagement. Facilitators represent the drivers of AFC development, including government, non-government organisations, and individuals who raise awareness and provide support. Ambitions capture older adults' aspirations for independence, continuity of lifestyle, and emotional security. Conditions include intrinsic factors (e.g., mobility, health, emotional well-being) and extrinsic factors (e.g., housing, transport, health care, recreational infrastructure) that shape the fulfilment of the ambitions. Engagement reflects older adults' participation in community life, shaped by the availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of relevant services and resources. The FACE framework offers a structured, community-informed, and theoretically grounded approach to guide the development and evaluation of AFCs, particularly in regional settings, with potential adaptability to diverse communities across Australia and internationally. By centring the lived experiences and perspectives of middle-aged and older residents, this study contributes to a more comprehensive and place-sensitive understanding of AFCs.
{"title":"Introducing the FACE framework: Rethinking age-friendly communities through lived experiences in regional Australia","authors":"Ting Song , Amy Tapsell , Lorna Moxham , Mark Jones , David Hailey , Bo Du , Rod Young , Ping Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101382","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101382","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the unprecedented growth of the ageing population and increasing urbanisation, age-friendly community (AFC) initiatives have gained significant global momentum. However, existing AFC research has largely prioritised the perspectives of implementers in metropolitan or rural contexts, leaving a critical gap in understanding how community members, particularly those in regional areas, conceptualise age-friendliness and express their needs and priorities. Guided by environmental gerontology, which emphasises the dynamic interaction between individuals and their environments, and geographical gerontology, which focuses on the role of place and spatial context, this qualitative study explores perceptions of AFCs among middle-aged and older adults (≥45 years) living in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 participants, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. From participants' perspectives, we developed the FACE framework, comprising four interconnected dimensions: Facilitators, Ambitions, Conditions, and Engagement. Facilitators represent the drivers of AFC development, including government, non-government organisations, and individuals who raise awareness and provide support. Ambitions capture older adults' aspirations for independence, continuity of lifestyle, and emotional security. Conditions include intrinsic factors (e.g., mobility, health, emotional well-being) and extrinsic factors (e.g., housing, transport, health care, recreational infrastructure) that shape the fulfilment of the ambitions. Engagement reflects older adults' participation in community life, shaped by the availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of relevant services and resources. The FACE framework offers a structured, community-informed, and theoretically grounded approach to guide the development and evaluation of AFCs, particularly in regional settings, with potential adaptability to diverse communities across Australia and internationally. By centring the lived experiences and perspectives of middle-aged and older residents, this study contributes to a more comprehensive and place-sensitive understanding of AFCs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101382"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145519086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-05DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101381
Mavis Dako-Gyeke , Kwamina Abekah-Carter , Richard Baffo Kodom , F. Akosua Agyemang , Vyda Mamley Hervie
The meanings older persons ascribe to aging, death, and dying vary across cultures; hence, the need to engage them to share their perspectives on these concepts. Drawing on the life course theoretical perspective, this study explored the beliefs of older persons about aging, death, and dying at Akropong and Adukrom in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Utilizing the qualitative research design, data were gathered from 34 older persons through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The data were transcribed and analyzed thematically, and the findings showed that aging is a life process that entails changes in a person's physical and mental capacities, as well as social roles. Additionally, participants shared their notions about aging well and the benefits of aging. Regarding death and dying, the participants indicated that these were inevitable phases of life and further made distinctions between good death and bad death. Moreover, they described uncertainties surrounding the dying process and the preparations they had made towards dying. The findings provide insights that could inform government policy, social work, and social welfare systems to support and enhance the well-being and self-worth of older persons in Ghana and beyond. This can be achieved through the provision of culturally grounded and contextually relevant care and interventions.
{"title":"Aging, death, and dying: Perspectives of older persons in the eastern region of Ghana","authors":"Mavis Dako-Gyeke , Kwamina Abekah-Carter , Richard Baffo Kodom , F. Akosua Agyemang , Vyda Mamley Hervie","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101381","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101381","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The meanings older persons ascribe to aging, death, and dying vary across cultures; hence, the need to engage them to share their perspectives on these concepts. Drawing on the life course theoretical perspective, this study explored the beliefs of older persons about aging, death, and dying at Akropong and Adukrom in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Utilizing the qualitative research design, data were gathered from 34 older persons through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The data were transcribed and analyzed thematically, and the findings showed that aging is a life process that entails changes in a person's physical and mental capacities, as well as social roles. Additionally, participants shared their notions about aging well and the benefits of aging. Regarding death and dying, the participants indicated that these were inevitable phases of life and further made distinctions between good death and bad death. Moreover, they described uncertainties surrounding the dying process and the preparations they had made towards dying. The findings provide insights that could inform government policy, social work, and social welfare systems to support and enhance the well-being and self-worth of older persons in Ghana and beyond. This can be achieved through the provision of culturally grounded and contextually relevant care and interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101381"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145465333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101380
Anning Hu , Ye Yuan
Objectives
Given the rapidly aging population in China, the health of older individuals is increasingly reliant on support from their adult children. This study aims to investigate how imbalances in this support, referred to as imbalance in upstream transfer, impact the reported health status of older adults.
Methods
We employed the generalized propensity score weighting regression and causal mediation analysis to reveal the impact of imbalance in upstream transfer on older individuals' self-reported health, illustrating both transactional and norm-based mediation mechanisms.
Results
Imbalance in upstream transfer is predominantly evident in daily caregiving tasks, such as household chores assistance, while financial support for elders is more evenly distributed among adult children. Irrespective of the type of support provided, imbalance in upstream transfer demonstrates a significantly negative impact on the self-reported health status of older parents. This finding remains robust across various empirical measures and modeling strategies. The Causal mediation analysis reveals that imbalance in upstream transfer increases the average level of support provided to older parents, indirectly mitigating its direct adverse effects on their reported health. However, imbalance in upstream transfer is also associated with discrepancies in older parents' perceived sufficiency of caregiving from adult children, which in sequence detrimentally affects their health status.
Discussion
The “global” characteristics jointly manifested by supports provided by all caregivers significantly impact the wellbeing of older individuals, highlighting the importance of addressing a special kind of “domestic” resource disparities in societies with a collectivist culture like China.
{"title":"Fear scarcity but also inequality: Imbalanced upstream support and older parents' self-reported health in China","authors":"Anning Hu , Ye Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101380","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101380","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Given the rapidly aging population in China, the health of older individuals is increasingly reliant on support from their adult children. This study aims to investigate how imbalances in this support, referred to as imbalance in upstream transfer, impact the reported health status of older adults.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We employed the generalized propensity score weighting regression and causal mediation analysis to reveal the impact of imbalance in upstream transfer on older individuals' self-reported health, illustrating both transactional and norm-based mediation mechanisms.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Imbalance in upstream transfer is predominantly evident in daily caregiving tasks, such as household chores assistance, while financial support for elders is more evenly distributed among adult children. Irrespective of the type of support provided, imbalance in upstream transfer demonstrates a significantly negative impact on the self-reported health status of older parents. This finding remains robust across various empirical measures and modeling strategies. The Causal mediation analysis reveals that imbalance in upstream transfer increases the average level of support provided to older parents, indirectly mitigating its direct adverse effects on their reported health. However, imbalance in upstream transfer is also associated with discrepancies in older parents' perceived sufficiency of caregiving from adult children, which in sequence detrimentally affects their health status.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>The “global” characteristics jointly manifested by supports provided by all caregivers significantly impact the wellbeing of older individuals, highlighting the importance of addressing a special kind of “domestic” resource disparities in societies with a collectivist culture like China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101380"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145415431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-28DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101333
Alejandro Juárez-Carrejo , Angel Collazo , Renée L. Beard
Centering a first-person narrative of discovering one was intersex at 56 years of age, this paper examines how assumptions that gender is binary and that male is superior to female led to a childhood of reproductive injustices, family secrets, and psychosocial pain. Placed in the context of identity destruction, the narrative engages nonbinary experiences of aging, including vis a vis gender, sexuality and chronological age, that generated a unique bodily lived experience and social reality of being in limbo or “betwixt and between” for over half a century. Drawing on Sandberg & Marshall's, 2017 call for “queering ageing futures” to disrupt normative notions that celebrate some bodies and subjectivities while silencing others, this narrative begins to answer the call for sociocultural gerontology's “revisioning ageing futures” (Jones et al., 2022) that is attuned to a spectrum of aging experiences. The path to realizing more diverse and inclusive understandings of aging within our social imaginations is far overdue and starts one story at a time. Andrea's testimonial, one such story, is followed by a question and answer between the first and third authors. Insofar as aging begins the day we are born, this is as much a story about aging as it is further support for reframing gender as a continuum and a reminder of the potential complicity in mistreating intersex people that we must all fight to resist.
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