Bakgrund: Det är viktigt för äldres välbefinnande och hälsa att känna delaktighet i aktivitet. Delaktighet i aktivitet påverkas av individens egna förutsättningar och miljöns utformning. Hemmet är en viktig aktivitetsmiljö där många äldre spenderar mycket tid. Det är vanligt att äldre flyttar till ett särskilt boende när de är i behov av hjälp och stöd för att klara sin vardag. Syfte: Att studera hur miljön påverkar äldres delaktighet i aktivitet på särskilt boende. Metod: En kvalitativ studie innefattande sju intervjuer med äldre och observationer på tre olika särskilda boenden har genomförts. Resultat: I resultatet framkom de fem kategorierna bristande tillgänglighet i den fysiska miljön, tillgångar i den fysiska miljön, betydelsen av hjälpmedel, betydelsen av att interagera med andra människor samt personalens betydelse för de äldres delaktighet i aktivitet. Den fysiska miljöns utformning bidrog till att de äldre inte uppfattade det särskilda boendet som hemlikt då de inte fick plats med alla de personliga tillhörigheter de önskade. Det visade sig att många äldre kände sig ensamma och inte upplevde någon samhörighet med de medboende. Gemensamma aktiviteter var mycket uppskattat av de äldre bland annat eftersom det gav dem en möjlighet att interagera med andra. Konklusion: Den fysiska och den sociala miljön på ett särskilt boende kunde både främja och hindra äldres delaktighet i aktivitet.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T18:47:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Degani.pdf: 1266622 bytes, checksum: b4a474e566aacd63c201e44ca4c7e976 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-14 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study talks about the creative artistic creation by non professional elder artists who reached 90 years old. Those elders, only due to their advanced age, are generally put aside in reason of doubts about their lucidity and capacity of production. Thus, it is possible to affirm that the interviewed persons of this job resisted to the social conception of oldness, especially those who are over eighty years old. For the reflection of these persons and their work it was necessary to investigate the meaning of being old in the society of nowadays, the nature of the artistic production and the exercise of creation. The direct contact with the interviewed elderly and their work afforded to enter in their universe, their subjectiviness and the particular way they find to deal with the reality of oldness. This study proposes to show the individuality of well successful oldness based on creative activities / O tema do presente estudo aborda a criação artística praticada por idosos não profissionais que alcançaram e ultrapassaram os noventa anos de vida. Idosos nonagenários apenas em virtude da idade avançada que possuem, de forma geral são questionados em relação à sua lucidez e capacidade produtiva. Dessa maneira os entrevistados resistiram à visão social delegada ao idoso, especialmente àqueles que atingiram a quarta idade, que se inicia a partir dos oitenta anos. Para a reflexão desses sujeitos e o significado de suas produções foi necessário investigar o que representa ser idoso na sociedade atual, a natureza da produção artística e o exercício da criação. O contato direto com os entrevistados e suas obras proporcionaram o ingresso parcial no universo desses indivíduos, suas subjetividades e a forma particular que encontraram para lidar com as realidades da velhice. A proposta desse estudo é mostrar as individualidades de velhices bem sucedidas apoiadas na prática e no desenvolvimento de atividades criadoras

Background: Old-old age (80+ years) is associated with substantial cognitive decline. In this population, training-induced cognitive plasticity has rarely been studied. While earlier findings on strategy trainings suggested reduced training gains in old-old age, recent results of an extensive process-based working memory (WM) training have been more positive. Objective: Following up on previous research, the present study aimed at examining the effects of a short WM training in old-old adults and the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Methods: A training group (mean age: 86.8 years) and a matched control group (mean age: 87.1 years) participated in the study. The WM training consisted of five tasks that were trained in each of 10 sessions. To evaluate possible transfer effects, executive functions were assessed with two tests before and after training. The training group was divided via median split in high- and low-capacity individuals to determine the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Results: The training group improved in four of the trained tasks (medium-to-large effects). Training gains were significantly larger in the training group than in the control group in only two of those tasks. The training effects were mainly driven by the low-capacity individuals who improved in all trained tasks. No transfer effects were observed. Conclusions: These positive effects of a short WM training, particularly for low-capacity individuals, emphasize the potential for cognitive plasticity in old-old age. The absence of transfer effects may also point to its limits. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Background: Old-old age (80+ years) is associated with substantial cognitive decline. In this population, training-induced cognitive plasticity has rarely been studied. While earlier findings on strategy trainings suggested reduced training gains in old-old age, recent results of an extensive process-based working memory (WM) training have been more positive. Objective: Following up on previous research, the present study aimed at examining the effects of a short WM training in old-old adults and the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Methods: A training group (mean age: 86.8 years) and a matched control group (mean age: 87.1 years) participated in the study. The WM training consisted of five tasks that were trained in each of 10 sessions. To evaluate possible transfer effects, executive functions were assessed with two tests before and after training. The training group was divided via median split in high- and low-capacity individuals to determine the influence of baseline WM capacity on training gains. Results: The training group improved in four of the trained tasks (medium-to-large effects). Training gains were significantly larger in the training group than in the control group in only two of those tasks. The training effects were mainly driven by the low-capacity individuals who improved in all trained tasks. No transfer effects were observed. Conclusions: These positive effects of a short WM training, particularly for low-capacity individuals, emphasize the potential for cognitive plasticity in old-old age. The absence of transfer effects may also point to its limits. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

This work focuses on the themes of old age, ageing and dementia. It seeks to explore how people who are caring for a loved one with dementia construct their ideas about the illness and how their experience of caring translates into their ideas about old age and ageing. These themes are discussed against the background of the third age, active ageing and the social imagination of the fourth age as conceived by Gilleard and Higgs. The thesis shows how the respondents form their ideas about their own old age in the context of third age culture, what aspects of old age they consider most important, and conversely what constitutes for them an image of a bad old age. At the same time, this thesis captures the respondents' experience of caring for their parent and how they construct ideas about this illness on the basis of this experience. The specific aspects of the disease of dementia are discussed in the context of key elements of the social imaginary of the fourth age and its most debated concepts, including the concept of personhood. The problematic aspects of the disease are reflected in the experience of caring for a loved one with dementia, and reflected in the fear of the disease in terms of their impact on the relationship with the parent, the nature and need for care.

This thesis explores how the general public understands and responds to dementia. In the context of this study the word ‘understanding' is used to convey the complex co-construction of knowledge and establishing of beliefs that constitutes public understandings of dementia. The study also examines the responses of members of the public to dementia, in the context of their understanding. Data were collected over a 12 month period and included a module in the Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey, five focus groups and nine interviews with participants from the focus groups. The survey module included thirty measures examining levels of knowledge and attitudes towards dementia. 1200 participants were targeted and the survey was administered by the Northern Ireland Research & Statistics Agency with a response rate of 58%. The focus groups and interviews provided the mechanism to gather a more nuanced picture, exploring the beliefs behind the attitudes and the self-reported responses of participants to people with dementia. Findings indicate that the general public has a reasonable knowledge of the symptoms and pathway of dementia in line with a bio medical model. However the findings also indicate that the general public holds a mix of theoretical and empirical knowledge and that this is often contradictory. A complex mix of scientific or medical information, experience, anecdote and assumptions contribute to the discourse. This information is stored and conveyed in the form of stories and a consequence of this interplay is that individual experiences told in the form of stories are generalised to become building blocks in the construction of what the general public understands dementia to be. The current construction of dementia among the general public is found to be both nihilistic and ageist with clear evidence that dementia is stigmatised. I will argue that that the relationship between dementia and ageing in the minds of the general public is a symbiotic one. Dementia has become a cultural metaphor for unsuccessful ageing marking entry to the fourth age. The stigmatising response of the general public is the result of a complex interplay of multiple factors. I have expanded on previous ideas of multiple jeopardy and intersectionality, suggesting that the stigma associated with dementia is unique and driven as much by emotional responses as by the social location of the person with dementia. I have borrowed Brooker’s (2003) term “Dementia-ism’ to describe this stigma. This thesis argues for a more complex and sophisticated approach to changing public attitudes and reducing stigma. Dementia-ism must be addressed with the same strength of purpose currently applied to sexism, racism and ageism.