Community Contexts
Utilizing Geragogy Methods in Community-Based Education to Support Later-life Well-being and Retirement Security
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shamette Hepburn
Theoretically, critical researchers and practitioners have contextualized teaching and learning among older adults, also referred to as geragogy, within a framework that puts older adults in control of their learning, inclusive of content areas. This approach to community-based teaching and learning can support creative gerontological social work interventions aimed at collaboratively addressing various challenges that older adults may have such as social isolation, limited access to community-based social supports, and barriers to retirement income security. With a focus on a newly implemented community-based arts education programme based in Kingston, Jamaica, this paper presents findings of interviews from a grounded theory study that explored the experiences of five instructors and 30 retired older adults who are teaching and learning visual art forms such as painting, drawing, jewelry-making and crafting for purposes of recreation, skill-development or enhancement and income security. The study sought to 1) Explore experiences of older adults who participate in community-based arts education programming during their retirement; 2) Identify effective teaching and learning strategies among instructors and learners in community-based arts programming; 3) Increase understanding of how community-based arts programming can support later-life well-being. Findings highlight the challenges and opportunities to teaching and learning among older adults as well as the potential for community-based arts-based education and geragogy (theory and methods) to be utilized in gerontological social work to support later-life well-being.
The Impact of Social Networks and Social Interactions on the Health Status of Older Adults
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Michael Chletsos
Social networks promote social activity such as interaction, engagement, participation and volunteering based on their needs. Elderly who have limited social interactions have a higher prevalence of depression, reduction of cognitive function and morbidity. The main aim of the present chapter is to analyze the potential role of trust and social networks in explaining the health outcomes of the respondents. We carry out the analysis for the elderly. To do so, we exploit individual-level data from the European Social Survey. We use two self-assessed indicators as the dependent variable, namely perceived health and life satisfaction. We consider both individual as well as social trust (aggregate trust at the country-level) as the main independent variables of interest. Social interactions are captured by two variables indicating whether individuals meet with friends and relatives regularly, or whether they participate in social activities. We also include a set of further covariates to reduce endogeneity. Our full specifications suggest that a one-point higher trust increases the probability of an individual reporting good health (being happy) by about 1 (1.5) per cent. We have also considered the importance of community trust. According to our findings, social trust displays a much stronger correlation with the outcomes consider in this study. The analysis also reveals that sociable persons, defined as those who meet friends regularly, or those participating in social activities, have an increased probability to report good health or happiness. Interestingly, religiosity, income, and education appear also to be important determinants.
Design and Development of A Community-based Model for Promotion of Optimal Ageing
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mina Alipouri Niaz
As the percent of elders grows, the need elevates to apply physical and mental health promotion. Concepts of optimal aging beyond successful aging refers not to the absence of disease but to resilience against difficult conditions. This study is a participatory intervention to allow elders take part in control and improve their physical health and mental welfare and increase resilience against end-of-life events. This research is quasi-experimental method with two experimental and control groups. In order to control of effects of variables, groups were match together completely. The study takes place at elderly daily rehabilitation centers in Tabriz, Iran. Fifty women aged 60 to 65 who used of elderly daily rehabilitation centers participated. We compared of averages of optimal aging and four sub scales indicating the existence of a significant relationship and the effectiveness of the intervention on the research variables. Test results of four variables of general health, active aging, social participation and quality of life show an elevation in the post-test score of the experimental group. Also, the total score of optimal aging related to the experimental group compared to the control group increased in the post-test stage. Recent studies have recognized the important role of social participation in helping health at the end of life, and a new understanding of optimal aging has been formed by emphasizing the concepts of active aging, resilience, etc.The structural traits in the designed model demonstrate it is possible to organize participants activities and social interactions and improve quality of life.
