Gerontologist最新文献

As society rapidly digitizes, successful aging necessitates using technology for health and social care and social engagement. Technologies aimed to support older adults (e.g., smart homes, assistive robots, wheelchairs) are increasingly applying artificial intelligence (AI), and thereby creating ethical challenges to technology development and use. The international debate on AI ethics focuses on implications to society (e.g., bias, equity) and to individuals (e.g., privacy, consent). The relational nature of care, however, warrants a humanistic lens to examine how "AI AgeTech" will shape, and be shaped by, social networks or care ecosystems in terms of their care actors (i.e., older adults, care partners, service providers); inter-actor relations (e.g., care decision making) and relationships (e.g., social, professional); and evolving care arrangements. For instance, if an older adult's reduced functioning leads actors to renegotiate their risk tolerances and care routines, smart homes or robots become more than tools that actors configure; they become semiautonomous actors, in themselves, with the potential to influence functioning and interpersonal relationships. As an experientially diverse, transdisciplinary working group of older adults, care partners, researchers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs, we co-constructed intersectional care experiences, to guide technology research, development, and use. Our synthesis contributes a preliminary guiding model for AI AgeTech innovation that delineates humanistic attributes, values, and design orientations, and captures the ethical, sociological, and technological nuances of dynamic care ecosystems. Our visual probes and recommended tools and techniques offer researchers, developers/innovators, and care actors concrete ways of using this model to promote successful aging in AI-enabled futures.

Background and objectives: Although the model of successful aging is already well discussed and has received considerable critical responses, its intersection with the growing enthusiasm for creative engagement among older adults needs further exploration. This article contributes to the growing literature on later-life creativity by examining its relationship with the discourse of successful aging.

Research design and methods: The study employs critical humanities-based perspectives and the literature on later life to address creativity in older age within contemporary neoliberal imperatives.

Results: Although successful aging is an antithesis to the narrative of decline, it often fails to capture alternative meanings of aging and the creative engagement in later life. The commercialization and commodification of creativity often function to discipline individuals toward a culture of productivity, optimization, and innovation. However, many older individuals challenge these notions as they create their own models of aging well and authentically that do not align with the ideals of successful aging.

Discussion and implications: Reductionist, individualistic, and capital-driven understandings of later-life creativity can be broadened by employing critical interdisciplinary approaches, which also help rethink the current meanings of old age and aging. The article will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, artists, and practitioners in gerontological scholarship and the humanities.

Background and objectives: Since the early 2000s, a global age-friendly communities (AFC) movement has called for improving the built, social, and service environments of localities for aging. Yet research on the outcomes of AFC initiatives, as programmatic efforts toward AFC progress, remains in its nascence. Drawing on "The Water of Systems Change" framework, our study aimed to address this gap by exploring the extent to which accomplishments of AFC initiatives are indicative of altering six conditions for systems change: policies, organizational practices, resource allocations, power dynamics, relationships, and mental models.

Research design and methods: We analyzed qualitative data from 26 key informant interviews across eight mature AFC initiatives in the northeastern United States (U.S.). We engaged in iterative phases of thematic analysis to explore how the initiatives' accomplishments, as described by the participants, align with each of six focal conditions for systems change.

Results: We found especially robust and consistent evidence for outcomes in terms of enhanced organizational practices on aging; resource flows; connections within and across communities; and mental models about older adults. Evidence for outcomes concerning changes in power dynamics and policy was more limited.

Discussion and implications: Conceptualizing AFC initiatives as systems-change interventions can bolster research, evaluation, and program development as the movement proliferates and diversifies into the 21st century. Insights can help to advance praxis that empowers AFC leaders as changemakers for "successful aging" at the level of society.

Background and objectives: Literature regarding successful aging reflects a wide variety of fields and perspectives. Given the range of definitions and approaches found in published literature, it is important to investigate clusters of topics studied over time. This study aimed to show the change of topic clusters within successful aging studies.

Research design and methods: The study used topic modeling methodology to analyze vast amounts of abstract data. Among publications collected from Scopus (4,458) and Web of Science (5,187), 5,610 publications were analyzed. Topic clusters were analyzed in 2 ways: by (a) division of time (1960s-1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s) and (b) all years combined.

Results: In the 1960s-1990s, 11 topic clusters ranging from health to emotional well-being emerged without any dominant domain. In the 2000s, 2 clusters related to social support and health appeared as major clusters. In the 2010s, 1 topic cluster that included words related to health and social participation was the biggest. In the 2020s, emotional health and social participation appeared again as one of the major clusters and health-related topics started to diverge into subgroups like physical health and mental health. In all years of publications combined, the major cluster involved words that are related to either health or social domains.

Discussion and implications: Results revealed that successful aging has been studied in many fields using multidimensional perspectives. The dominant categories were health and social domains. These findings suggest interprofessional practice, an interdisciplinary approach in research, and multisector involvement in policy.

Background and objectives: Critiques of the concept of successful aging (SA) include attention to its foundation on an individualized western medical approach that emphasizes personal choice, agency, and lifestyle. This paper aims to examine how individual notions of SA can be linked to, and co-constituted by, relational and intergenerational notions of personhood within the broader socioeconomic, familial, and cultural contexts of migration.

Research design and methods: Qualitative research was conducted in Australia (2020-2021) with 42 Vietnamese migrants using ethnographic interviews and participant observation. Data analysis applied inductive reasoning and intersectional analysis to investigate the notion of SA from the perspectives of research participants.

Results: Vietnamese migrants identified 3 dimensions of SA as significant: family fulfillment, individual achievements, and social engagement and protection. Family fulfilment is the most important; other dimensions are rendered meaningless without it. We found out that different generations interpreted SA in varying ways. Adult children prioritize personal success, self-independence, and longevity whereas grandparents place greater emphasis on the success of their adult children and maintenance of intergenerational relationships.

Discussion and implications: Migrant understandings of SA are deeply influenced by the sociocultural contexts of both their homeland and current residence. The emphasis on family in shaping SA reflects a social-relational understanding that contrasts with dominant individualistic models of SA. Given the social-relational dimension of SA, further research should investigate how distinct migrant experiences of SA shape access to wellbeing in later life.

Background and objectives: The aging experiences of military veterans provide critical insights into what successful aging is and means for later life contexts constrained by distinct health and social needs. Can veterans "successfully" age when they are exposed to so many stressors with serious health and social consequences for later life? Veterans can offer valuable lessons for developing comprehensive approaches to refining successful aging, ensuring inclusivity of different older populations. Building on Rowe and Kahn's idea of successful aging, we utilize the complementary concept of "active aging" to explore if there are unique factors, characteristics, and interventions that support active aging in veterans, compared with nonveteran populations.

Research design and methods: A rapid review and evidence synthesis was conducted across 9 databases in medicine, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and public health to search for peer-reviewed articles and research reports.

Results: Findings suggest that programs linking health and social dimensions can support the active aging of veterans, namely interventions promoting active physical and cognitive lifestyle as well as social connectedness and engagement. Such programs and interventions help prevent and combat mental and physical health decline and increase quality of life and well-being.

Discussion and implications: Findings have implications for veteran and nonveteran populations more broadly, as people can actively age even when they have unique health and social needs.

Background and objectives: Thus far, successful aging has been conceptualized and operationalized as a relatively static construct. Investigating daily successful aging provides a dynamic approach highlighting how successful aging can be achieved through everyday actions, giving older adults a stronger sense of control over their lives.

Research design and methods: We used 8-day diary data from Midlife in the United States 2's U.S. national sample of older adults (N = 716, Mage[standard deviation, SD] = 68.80[6.45]). Participants reported daily physical symptoms, functioning, and engagement in life (collectively, successful aging indicators), alongside daily stressors and positive events. We also correlated the personal mean and standard deviation of the indicators with 1-time measures of health and well-being.

Results: Intraclass correlation revealed substantial within-person variability in successful aging indicators. These indicators were associated with daily stressors and positive events. One-time health and well-being indicators were positively associated with personal mean levels of successful aging, although their correlations with personal SDs were less consistent.

Discussion and implications: Intraindividual variations in successful aging as everyday symptoms, functioning, and engagement with life are observable among a national sample of older adults, challenging the static view of successful aging and, instead, emphasizing the need to understand "micro-level" contributors of successful aging.

Background and objectives: Although prior research has identified racial/ethnic and gender differences in successful aging (SA), heterogeneity within groups has been little examined. We consequently explore the variety of aging experiences among older Black women.

Research design and methods: We used the 2010/2012 U.S. Health and Retirement Study, limiting analyses to Black women who completed the Psychosocial Leave-Behind Questionnaire (N = 1,186). We conducted latent class analysis using indicators of physical health, psychological well-being, social support/strain, and social engagement.

Results: Six SA latent classes were identified and labeled according to their distinctive characteristics: infirm, isolated, taxed, independent, vivacious, and robust. The infirm class had uniformly poor health, whereas the isolated class was in poor physical health but also lacked social relations. Although both had average physical health and psychological well-being, the taxed class experienced high levels of social support and social strain compared to the high support (and unpartnered) independent class. The vivacious and robust classes exhibited high physical health and psychological well-being, high social support/low social strain, and high social engagement, but vivacious women (23% of respondents) were unpartnered and robust women (16% of respondents) were partnered. The robust class had the highest physical and psychological well-being, and best social relations across all classes.

Discussion and implications: Using nationally representative data, we reveal significant heterogeneity in Black women's aging experiences. Although many face difficult aging experiences, 39% of older Black women fit the SA framework well. Future work should recognize that Black women's aging experiences are not homogenous.

Background and objectives: For the first time in human history, older adults will outnumber children and a substantial and growing proportion will live alone and lack one or more nuclear family ties. Such unprecedented shifts require a reevaluation of existing models of "successful aging," particularly in terms of long-term care policies.

Research design and methods: This paper draws on country-level data from multiple publicly available sources (e.g., World Bank, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Our World in Data, and the World Values Survey) to examine cross-national patterns of development, health, demography, resources and policies, and cultural values in low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

Results: Although there exists substantial heterogeneity across countries, country-level patterns illustrate the economic privilege of living alone and the dominance of "successful aging" opportunities in high-income countries. Cultural values about family reflect standard patterns of economic development, yet friendship emerges as a particularly consistent global value. At the country-level, living alone and health are associated with higher-income countries with lower within-country inequality.

Discussion and implications: Aging "alone" is a risk factor in some contexts, yet a marker of privilege in others. Models of "successful aging" are largely unobtainable in lower-income countries or high-inequality countries, and therefore require a thorough incorporation of global realities or final abandonment in favor of more nuanced structural perspectives. Long-term care policies that assume the presence of family will yield increasing risk over time across all global contexts and represent a key vulnerability in the future of healthy aging policy.

Since the term "successful ageing" was coined, diverse models and theories conceptualizing what it means to age successfully have been proposed. The current article outlines evidence suggesting that the use of "success" in conjunction with "ageing" is contentious, and thus, "ageing well" is recommended as an alternative term. This article also highlights the lack of consistency in approaches to successful ageing and argues for a more inclusive conceptualization of ageing well. To achieve this, the current article summarizes the fundamental characteristics of several popular models of ageing successfully, demonstrating the unique contributions of each and highlighting recurring themes. The most common themes in existing models of successful ageing include the importance of engaging in social relationships, good cognitive and physical functioning, the avoidance of disease and disability, and resilience. Although commonalities exist, a consensus regarding an accepted definition of successful ageing is yet to be reached. To illustrate the need for consensus, policy approaches to support ageing populations by several governments are compared, highlighting the need for researchers to provide clearer guidance to policy-makers. In addition, not all existing models are sensitive to the diversity of the ageing population, further emphasizing the need to reconsider what it means to age well. The development of a consensus understanding of ageing well will improve the ability of researchers, as well as policy-makers and client-facing workers, to effectively target areas that contribute to, and improve, individuals' ability to age well.