Seeking Success
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.
Assessing Generosity Towards the Elderly: A Comparative Study Across European Societies Examining Household Replacement Rates, Well-Being, and Economic Adequacy
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Aviad Tur-Sinai
Replacement rates have become accepted as a useful metric for assessing the conditions of retirees and households at point of retirement. We use data from the SHARE longitudinal database to investigate income dynamics within a comparative European context. Our analysis, centering on households as opposed to the individuals on whom international data commonly focus, reduces replacement rates to their components — pension, labor income, etc — and looks at the dynamics among household members in relation to work and pension income. Total replacement rates vary widely among the fourteen countries sampled: overall replacement rates of around the Bismarckian 70% across the entire sample, 80% in countries that have Social Democratic and Continental social-policy regimes, and 60% in countries that have East European and Middle Eastern regimes. Looking the pension and wage components, however, the latter accounts for about 30% of household income—an important fact for decision-makers to consider. Couples tend to retire together, especially if close in age, and labor income compensates amply for lower pension income. The Gini coefficients of our sample are compared before/after retirement to determine whether the social programs that underlie pensions mitigate income inequality after retirement. Post-retirement ability to move on the income ladder is another measure of equality. Finally, we examine the well-being and quality of life of retirees and their households. We find a positive correlation between replacement rate and indicators of retirees and their households’ quality of life, e.g.,satisfaction with life, ability to consume healthcare services, and ability to cover unforeseen expenses.
Featured Timeless Desires; Ageing Bodies: Intimacy among Older Adults View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ananya Mahadevan, Tanisha Agarwal
Older adult sexualities are a vital yet often overlooked aspect of the well-being of older adults in India. It is molded by complexities surrounding physical well-being, cultural taboos, norms, and identity evolution. Sexual intimacy among young adults is widely acknowledged. However, older adults are often viewed as asexual beings. The discourse surrounding their intimacy is stigmatised and neglected. Pre-existing research on older adult intimacies has predominantly focused on the Western context, leaving a notable gap in understanding this topic within the framework of Indian culture. This paper challenges the societal perception and stigma regarding sexual intimacy among older adults through the lens of Hindi films. Using discourse analysis as a methodological approach, we conduct a qualitative reading of the movie Thai Massage (2022) and the short film Khujli (2017), to explore the stigma, freedom, and taboos surrounding aging bodies in contemporary India within the larger sociological and cultural setting. This paper aims to understand the ideologies that marginalise the sexual identities of older adults and contribute to the discourse on aging, intimacy, and agency within society.
Diversity and Successful Ageing: Exploring the Role of Relationality in Supporting Wellbeing in Older People from Five Minority Ethnicities in the UK View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Susan Pickard
Concurring with the critiques of ‘successful ageing’ for focusing on values and abilities more attainable by white middle-class older people, this paper explores alternative discourses according to which older people from minoritized groups consider themselves to be ageing well including in the context of frailty. The paper draws on original empirical material derived from a research project funded by the UKRI and focused on five minority ethnic groups living in a city (and surrounding areas) of the UK known for its diverse population. It draws on both longitudinal interview and photovoice methods conducted with the participants and identifies several themes that give a sense of subjective health and wellbeing to older minoritized people. Of these the themes of belonging, connection with other generations and generativity, and feeling heard by others are key. These themes stress the importance of relationships, relationality and a societal emphasis not on age wars but on intergenerational solidarity. In so doing, they offer another way of viewing good care in deep old age beyond the increasing emphasis on technology. Further, the images and narratives presented here challenge the normative depictions of a good or successful old age constructed from the perspective of white and middle-class older adults. These diverse range of alternative depictions of ageing well will be helpful for all those concerned to support older people to flourish in conditions of health as well as frailty.
Aging, Occupation and Gendering Migration: The Case of Indian Migration to Europe View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sadananda Sahoo
The Global North has been undergoing a critical phase of demographic challenge which poses a different level of migration challenge to the Global North. The aging population in many parts of Europe has already exerted significant impacts on the social, political, and economic landscape. It is already impacting the labour markets, public debt and sustainability of welfare system that is prevalent in many European countries. This paper relates the aging with international migration, especially how it impacts the migration from India to UK, Netherlands and Germany which are three major destination countries for Indian emigrants, especially students and professionals. The median age of these three countries is above 40 and the aging process and its impact will be much more intensified in the future. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the policy challenges arising out of independent female migrants to Europe in general and UK, Netherlands and Germany in specific. This paper relies on secondary sources such as various official reports and studies. It posits that independent female migration from India is relatively a recent phenomenon which will further intensify as the aging in Europe become a real issue affecting socio-economic life. Though the Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM) was endorsed at the EU-India Summit in 2016, there are many more gender specific areas that need further attention with regards to reskilling to integration of return migrants for a better migration experience in the time of demographic challenges.
Balancing Demographic Changes and Carbon Mitigation in Aging Society: A Study of China’s Sustainable Environment Development View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Edmund Ntom Udemba
This study examines the implication of China’s demographic change on its sustainable environment development. The focus is on the environmental implication of aging population (population above 65). The aging population and other population structure in China have a disaggregated impact on its carbon mitigation goal. Hence, the need to investigate and explain the impact of different population structure on China’s carbon mitigation goal. China’s time series and secondary data for the period between 1979 and 2021 were used to test its environment performance under the interaction of carbon emissions with different composition of China’s population structures. In line with the China’s climate agenda, it is necessary to evaluate the drivers of its carbon emission on the basis of disaggregated pattern of its population structure, and draw a road map on how to improve its environment quality. The study selects and applied the following variables for empirical analysis of the topic; population above 65, urban population, income (GDP), renewable energy, and investment (FDI). To estimate the strength of connection amongst these factors, we employ the dynamic autoregrssive distributed lag (DARDL) methodology for the analysis of the short and long-run relationships. Additional tests (fully modified ordinary least square -FMOLS and causality methods) were applied as robustness tests to the main test. Results from both estimations revealed that population above 65 and renewable energy are reducing carbon emissions, while economic growth, urban population and FDI are increasing carbon emissions. China can achieve its carbon goal by framing its climate policy around renewable energy
