Models and Methods
Mapping Ageing in Place: Focused on Differently-mobile People Living in Various Contexts View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jeongmin Hyeong
In many nations, ageing in place is considered a standard practice for people to grow older in familiar environments without formal aid. The framework boasts many advantages both for people wishing to age in place, and for the state. However, the term can be vague and often embody different definitions depending on the context of use. Also, the extent of 'place' can look very different depending on an individual’s physical conditions and living arrangements. This study uses GIS mapping to effectively demonstrate and communicate the implications of ageing in place for differently-mobile individuals living in different geographical settings. Employing a mix of quantitative and qualitative GIS mapping and analysis, this paper uses synthesized profiles of people to analyze their potential mobility and activity range. The focus of this paper is on the neighborhood and surrounding environment rather than within the dwelling. The locations selected for analysis differ in rurality and public transit access, allowing for variations in the demonstration and visual comparison between locations. The results of this study suggest a notable contrast in the potential activity range depending on the neighborhood composition and surrounding geographical features. Parallel with such findings, this study suggests a methodological tool that could assist the evaluation of ageing in place adequacy for older people with mobility limitations. This can be useful for policy makers and potential aspirants of ageing in place in improving comprehension of the implications and plausible future risks entailing ageing in place in certain locations.
Who Cares for Informal Carers Filling the Gaps in Formal Eldercare in Denmark?: An Invisible Workforce in the Changing Welfare State
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anne Liveng, Karen Christensen
Despite the Nordic welfare states’ ambitions of providing comprehensive services for covering the needs of their ageing populations, informal carers including family members, friends and neighbours, mostly women, are actively involved, and their lives are affected by the ways the formal system functions. The paper is based on interviews with adult informal carers providing care for older people receiving eldercare services in Denmark. It addresses the problem of the current political pressure on informal carers’ participation in formal eldercare while simultaneously providing no systematic strategies for recognising their role as informal carers. Thereby, potentially, an invisible care workforce is created, with very few formal rights. Using Honneth’s recognition theory and Winnicott’s concept of holding environment, the paper points at two ways the invisibility leads to violations of informal carers. The first takes place through a lack of recognition and holding of the challenging psycho-social emotions, we find among the informal carers for older people in close relationships, who encounter increasing thresholds for getting eldercare services provided by the municipality. The second violation concerns the non-involvement of informal carers’ knowledge about the older people they care for, despite policy strategies of providing person-centred eldercare, taking account of individual needs and circumstances, and despite ambitions of co-operation with informal carers. The paper contributes to the wider discussion of how eldercare services are developed in ways that increasingly, but unnoticeably, have disrupting consequences for the lives and work carriers of informal carers, and for their relationships to the older people they care for.
Older Workers in SMEs: Practices, Policies, and Barriers in Denmark
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Per H Jensen, Sara Aaen Nielsen
As Denmark’s statutory pension age increases—projected to reach 70 by 2040—the question of how to retain older workers becomes increasingly relevant. Despite the current pension age of 67, more than half of employees aged 50+ report uncertainty about their ability to remain in work until retirement, due to physical and mental strain. Ensuring sustainable employment for older workers therefore requires proactive employer engagement and age-conscious workplace policies. While senior workforce practices have been studied in the public sector and large enterprises—often supported by formal HR departments—there is limited empirical knowledge about such practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which employ around 65% of Denmark’s private-sector workforce. This paper addresses this gap by examining how Danish SMEs manage and retain older employees. The study draws on qualitative data from 16 privately owned SMEs across different sectors and regions in Denmark, each with at least 15% senior employees. At each workplace, interviews were conducted with managers, employee representatives, senior employees, and younger staff, followed by a focus group with rank-and-file employees. Findings show that only a quarter of the workplaces have written senior policies—typically addressing reduced hours—but employees are generally unaware of them. Instead, an “open-door policy” dominates, leaving it to individuals to initiate adjustments. Even in workplaces with regular appraisals, senior arrangements remain informal and individually negotiated. Key barriers to retention include low job flexibility, perceptions that assistive tools are burdensome, and financial constraints among low-wage workers that limit their ability to reduce working hours.
