Gerontology Commons^™

Images Of Older Persons In Hong Kong Popular Films, Nga Man Wong

Theses & Dissertations

Film watching is a popular leisure activity in modern society. Films, as a medium, provide powerful tools to deliver social messages and to create images of particular social groups. The cinematic images portrayed by films toward a particular social group may consequently shape our social perceptions and expectations of that social group. The ways that cinematic images portray older persons are, therefore, a potentially major source for detecting social values and views about them.

As some cinematic images tend to reflect social attitudes and behaviours, the present research aimed at investigating how popular films portray the images of older persons. …

Explaining Volunteering In Old Age : A Social Reinforcement Perspective, Tsz Wai Lau

Theses & Dissertations

Volunteering has been widely accepted as potentially a very good means to engage older persons and to maximize their contribution to society. There is a need to understand the entire process of volunteering, the reasons that motivate older persons to participate in volunteer services and activities and to appreciate why committed elderly volunteers continue to involve themselves in volunteering. The present study attempts to explore the possible motivational and sustainable aspects in the process of volunteering guided by a social reinforcement perspective. It further aims to propose an explanatory model for the initiation and sustainability of volunteering involving older persons …

Generational Equity, Generational Interdependence, And The Framing Of The Debate Over Social Security Reform, John B. Williamson, Tay K. Mcnamara, Stephanie A. Howling

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article analyzes the differences between the generational equity and generational interdependence conceptual packages used to frame arguments in the debate over policies such as Social Security reform. It begins with a history of the generational equity debate. This is followed by an analysis of the assumptions, values, and beliefs that inform each of these two ideological frames. It presents an analysis of why the generational equity frame has dominated the debate and highlights some of the limitations of this perspective.

Review Of Ageism: Stereotyping And Prejudice Against Older Persons. Todd Nelson (Ed.). Reviewed By Nancy R. Hooyman., Nancy R. Hooyman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Todd Nelson (Ed). Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002. $45.95 hardcover.

Long-Term Care: Informed By Research, Francis G. Caro

Gerontology Institute Publications

Health services research has contributed to health policy and service developments that have led to major improvements in the quality of long-term care in the United States. This policy brief highlights a few areas in which publicly and privately funded research has informed the long-term care field.

“Growing Pains And Challenges”: Grandfamilies House Four-Year Follow-Up Evaluation, Alison S. Gottlieb, Nina M. Silverstein

Gerontology Institute Publications

During the past decade, there has been increased awareness of issues facing grandparent caregiver families on the part of policymakers and service providers. This awareness has prompted efforts to document the numbers of children being raised by grandparents, to identify challenges faced by grandparents raising grandchildren, and to provide services to meet the needs of these families. National estimates suggest that the numbers of grandparent caregiver families are increasing. Recent estimates suggest that 1.4 million (2%) of all children under 18 live in “skipped generation” families in the United States; similarly, 29,000 (nearly 2%) of all children in Massachusetts live …

Providing Health Care For Older Persons In Singapore, Peggy Teo, Angelique Chan, Paulin Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Health care social policy in Singapore has passed the burden of care to the individual and the family on the rationale that it would enable the state to contain the costs of long-term care by channelling some of its funds to community services and to providing essential health services to all Singaporeans and not just the older group. While a wide array of services has come into existence, there is a lack of integration between the available resources and needs of the individual/family and what has been availed at the community and state levels. Part of the problem lies in …

Seniors In Public Housing, Jan Mutchler, Francis G. Caro

Gerontology Institute Publications

In recent years, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) discovered that nearly 40% of the seniors (residents aged 62 and over) living in their public housing developments were living in family housing developments rather than in senior/disabled housing developments. Administrators at the BHA were aware that some seniors lived in family developments, but they were committed to learning more systematically about this population and their needs. They turned to the Gerontology Institute at the University at Massachusetts Boston as a partner in this effort. With funding from the Boston Foundation, the collaboration resulted in a research and policy development effort on …

Silverwire Newsletter, Lenard W. Kaye

Maine Center on Aging Education and Training

The Silverwire Newsletter is a triannual publication that highlights the work of the UMaine Center on Aging. The topics covered in this edition of the Silverwire Newsletter include the Center on Aging's work with the Relatives as Parents Program, the Center on Agings work in the Bangor Community, and the Center on Aging's recent research publications.

Life Span Extension Of Drosophila Melanogaster: Genetic And Population Studies, Lawrence G. Harshman

Lawrence G. Harshman Publications

During the past two decades, genetic studies of model organisms have been the most important tool underlying advances in understanding the biological basis of aging and longevity. Drosophila melanogaster, the geneticist's "fruit fly," is a model organism because it has been the focus of genetic studies for more than 90 years. This review argues that studies on D. melanogaster will make an especially important contribution to the field of aging and longevity at the intersection of research on genetics, complex traits, and fly populations.

Five approaches have been used to study the genetics of longevity of D. melanogaster: …

Silverwire Newsletter, Lenard W. Kaye

Maine Center on Aging Education and Training

The Silverwire Newsletter is a triannual publication that highlights the work of the UMaine Center on Aging. The topics covered in this edition of the Silverwire Newsletter include successful aging for LGBT adults, research on local elder housing needs, and new Center on Aging staff.

An Exploratory Study Of Older Persons' Computer And Internet Usage In Hong Kong, Cheung Ming, Alfred Chan, David Rosser Phillips, Meng Soi, Florence Fong

APIAS Monograph 專題論文

Computer usage and internet access for older persons have been increasingly emphasized in Hong Kong, particularly as a live access tool for keeping frequent contacts with the outside world and the applicability in online medical consultation for those who are frail and isolated. But how are these computer communication technologies being used among the older persons? The question has not been much explored. Hence, this study aims, as a first step, to find out the profiles of older persons using computer aided communications including internet and e-mails. The objectives of the present study are to:

1. measure the proportion of older …

University-School Link Partnership Projects (Uslp) For Promotion Of Intergeneration Communication, Cheung Ming, Alfred Chan, David Rosser Phillips, Meng Soi, Florence Fong

APIAS Monograph 專題論文

Started as a pilot experiment, the University-School Link Partnership (USLP) was designed to encourage interactions between young and old people. It was first initiated in 2000 and implemented from September 2001 to September 2002. Co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies (APIAS), Lingnan University and the Church of Christ in China Ming Kei College, the USLP involved four schools and ten social welfare organizations with a total of 288 students, 265 older persons and 106 volunteers participating in the project.

The aims of the project were to enhance the intergenerational relationship between the young and the older participants through …

The Meaning Of Care For Older Chinese Caregivers : An Exploratory Model Of Positive Caring, Cheung Ming, Alfred Chan, K. M., Carmen Ng, C. K., Liliane Chan, David Rosser Phillips

APIAS Working Paper 工作論文

Caring is often a highly personalized and individual activity. Through in-depth and searching interviews with two older care-givers, this study explored the determinants that help to sustain cares in their long-term care role and proposes an explanatory model for sustaining care. Attempts were made to uncover those meanings held by Chinese care-givers in interpreting their roles in a positive way despite the enormous demands placed on them by care-giving or, if they interpreted their care giving negatively, the attitudes that sustained their giving of care. Narrative accounts were obtained through separate interviews (conducted by two experienced social workers) asking open-ended …

「仁濟老友記行動」計劃成效調查報告, Asia-Pacific Institute Of Ageing Studies, Lingnan University 嶺南大學亞太老年學研究中心, 仁濟醫院社會服務部

APIAS Monograph 專題論文

計劃理念

仁濟醫院董事局在一九九七年八月開始推展「仁濟老友記行動」計劃，以結 集社會人士的力量籌募善款，將所得以定額形式免費贊助該院轄下各長者中 心的綜援受助人或經濟貧乏的長者會員免費參加中心舉辦的活動，以鼓勵他 們積極參與有益身心的社群活動，保持心境開朗，避免長者因經濟困難而失 去參與社交活動的機會及與社群疏離。截至二零零二年十二月為止，該計劃 已踏進第六個年頭。

計劃簡介

每年參與「仁濟老友記行動」的長者均可獲定額贊助，以免費參與各長者中心舉辦的活動。計劃中每位長者的全年定額贊助金額因應每年的善款所得而在不同年度作出修訂。於97/98 年度至 99/00 年度贊助額為每人每年$500， 在99/00 年度開始修訂為每人每年$300，至02/03 年度開始設立「老友記助學金」，當中是以$100 資助知識、資訊和學習性質的個別活動、課程或班組； 而另外定額贊助的$200 供長者用作自由選擇參與中心舉辦的任何活動用途。 事實上，發給長者的贊助金額並非以現金形式由長者去支取，而是以記帳扣數形式進行。即每位長者名下有一筆定額數目的贊助費，當他們報名參加活動時，活動費用便於該長者名下的贊助費賬目中自動扣除。而贊助額賬目也 不能「多除少補」，即活動收費大於賬目所餘金額數目時，長者不可自行補貼差額以動用贊助。此外，$100 的「助學金」和 $200 的「自由選擇」贊助金兩者餘款是不能合併使用。

調查目的

是次仁濟醫院董事局社會服務部委任嶺南大學亞太老年學研究中心對「仁濟老友記行動」計劃進行詳細評估及分析，以了解該項計劃對參與長者的成效，並對此計劃的未來發展方向作出建議。

A Report On An Evaluation Of The Hope, Worldwide Seniors Day 2003, Cheung Ming, Alfred Chan, Meng Soi, Florence Fong, Siu Ping, Ella Ng

APIAS Monograph 專題論文

The HOPE worldwide 1 (HWW) in Hong Kong has been chartered as a charity organization since 1993 with its focus on organizing service programmes in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Amongst these, the Hope for Seniors Day is one of the many attempts initiated by the HWW to meet the urgent needs of the growing ageing population in Hong Kong. Starting from 1996, volunteers from corporations and social organizations have been recruited for the Hope for Seniors Day on an annual basis. The programme aims at giving practical assistance to elderly people who are living alone in public housing estates, …

The Effects Of Quality Of Social Networks On Psychological Well-Being In The Visually Impaired Elderly, Marsha Dee Cole

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between several theory based strategies for adaptive coping and well-being in a community of visually impaired elderly.

Perceptions Of The Transition To Assisted Living As A Function Of Psychological Well-Being, Instrumental Activities Of Daily Living, And Coping: A Prospective Study, Brooke Evangeline Crabb

Theses Digitization Project

This study examined the influence of three predictor variables on perceptions of assisted living: psychological well-being, functional status, and coping strategies. A multiple regression analysis was used to examine the influence of these factors on perceptions of the transition to assisted living.

How Indicators Of Socioeconomic Status Relate To Physical Functioning Of Older Adults In Three Asian Societies, Zachary Zimmer, Napaporn Chayovan, Hui-Sheng Lin, Josefina N. Natividad

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In developed countries, socioeconomic status has been identified as one of the most important demographic and social determinants of older adult health. The relationship has not been well studied or contrasted across much of the developing world. Yet, with population aging occurring rapidly in much of Asia, understanding the factors that distinguish between those in better and worse health becomes important. To this end, the current study has two main aims. It first examines the degree to which two measures commonly used to indicate socioeconomic status, education and income, relate to the physical functioning of older adults in three Asian …

"Active Living": Transforming The Organization Of Retirement And Housing In The U.S., Paul C. Luken, Suzanne Vaughan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

We examine the transformation of the social institutions of retirement and housing in the US in the latter part of the 20th century. Using institutional ethnography we explicate a woman's experience relocating to an age segregated community. Her relocation is predicated upon ideological practices that reconceptualize retirement as "active living" and the construction of a setting in which retirees engage in this new lifestyle. We demonstrate the textual mediation of this ideological and organizational reformation through an examination of an advertising campaign undertaken by the Del Webb Development Corporation in the marketing of Sun City, Arizona. The advertising texts provide …

Retirement And High Level Human Capital, Irving Gershenberg

Gerontology Institute Publications

Given that demographic trends in economically advanced industrial countries such as our own continue to shift toward increasingly older, formally retired populations, we need to find ways to keep more of this older retired population productive. Economists and others differ in their estimation regarding the ability and/or willingness on part of the retired to retain, let alone utilize the know-how, the human capital accumulated prior to retirement. This is as true for those who have spent their work life engaged in producing and communicating new ideas and synthesizing and diffusing what is known, those who have accumulated what I term …

Seniors Count Follow-Up Study, Nina M. Silverstein, Heather Connors, May Jawad

Gerontology Institute Publications

Seniors Count is an ongoing outreach initiative under the direction of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino with the leadership and support of Joyce Williams, Boston's Commissioner on Affairs of the Elderly. The program's purpose is to "identify and reach out to those members of the city's elderly population who live in private housing arrangements and help provide them with the information and services they [may] need" (Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly, 2002). Since the program's inception in 1999, it has reached over 5,500 community-dwelling elders in the City of Boston (Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly, 2002). …

Determinants Of Old-Age Mortality In Taiwan, Zachary Zimmer, Linda G. Martin, Hui-Sheng Lin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Relationships among socio-demographic characteristics, general assessments of health, and old-age mortality are well established in developed countries. There is also an increasing focus on the connection between early-life experiences and latelife health. This paper tests these and other associations using representative survey data from Taiwan on the population aged 60 and older in 1989, 1993, and 1996 that have been linked to data on deaths between 1989 and 1999 from a national death registry. The study also explores the possible influence of Taiwan’s Universal Health Insurance Program, instituted in 1995, and whether or not the survival of some groups of …