The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between media use and body image in senior citizens. This study specifically targeted older people who participate in regular physical activity. Seniors participating in the 2006 Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah were surveyed concerning current body image and total media use. The sample included 691 participants. Lower body image scores were recorded among seniors who watched greater amounts of television. Magazine readership and body image displayed no relationship among men or women. Total media use did not influence body image scores among seniors. Male participants exhibited a stronger relationship than female participants between television use and low body image scores. Results indicated that males were vulnerable to messages targeting body image in a similar way to that of females. The findings of this study suggest that individuals may still be influenced by ultra thin images prevalent in media well into their older years.

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<p>One of the more interesting changes observed over the Twentieth Century has been the development of industrialized nations such as Canada into "welfare states", wherein there is some degree of a redistribution of national wealth, in the interest of creating a social safety net. While the Canadian welfare system grew and matured during the early and mid 20th Century, the larter quarter has been a time of stagnation and in some cases, retrenchment. A key rationale for proposals to reduce seniors' benefits has been the accelerated rate of population aging, and how current programs cannot be sustained in light of the increasing numbers of the elderly who will draw on them.</p> <p>In response to these concerns, the Progressive Conservative government made a number of structural changes to Old Age Security and the tax system in the 1980's, in the form of partial de-indexation, which would effectively decrease the number of people eligible for Old Age Security, and reduce tax credits available to seniors each year.</p> <p>This thesis uses time series national data to show how benefits and tax credits have declined over the last decade. From a political economy perspective, this process can be viewed as a gradual and stealthy transformation of the welfare state. Government maintained income security is gradually being dismantled and placed back into the hands of the market place. The tax system is being redefined in such a way that tax cuts that middle and lower income Canadians rely on are slowly losing value.</p> <p>While RRSP contribution levels have been increased and some Canadians invest to both prepare for retirement and to gain the tax exemption for the invested income, only those with higher incomes can gain the most from this option. The effects ofthis process are discussed and the implications are considered in terms of distributional equity.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Digitalization of services in today’s society is moving rapidly forward and to be able to use digital services is usually expected, at least among younger and middle-aged population groups. The generation of people who grew up in a totally analog context are trying to get used to more and more services getting digitised. Some of the senior citizens are automatically getting excluded from the digital world when important services that they need are transforming into digital services. To reduce the digital exclusion and increase the digital literacy among seniors more research is needed connected to the age group and what they need to be able to use online services more easily. Nudging is a well-known theory in the behavioural economics field and a nudge can be described as a gentle push in the right direction. A nudge is supposed to help an individual to make the right decision. Nudging in a digital context is called digital nudging. By designing digital nudges in user interfaces, the choice environments in the digital world can be designed to help individuals make the right decisions in digital services or websites. This thesis explores if digital nudging could be a possible solution to increase seniors ability and motivation in online contexts. It aims to understand how digital nudges affect senior citizens' motivation and ability in online contexts. Empirical data was collected by using an online questionnaire. Twelve senior citizens in Sweden answered the online questionnaire. Three different digital nudges; social, friction and reminder were included in the research. The result shows that most respondents get affected by the digital nudges and so in different ways. Some get affected by the digital nudges in the way that the digital nudges are intended to affect the respondents, while others get affected in other ways, such as feeling sceptical and irritated. The predominant effect of the three digital nudges is overall that motivation and ability increases. A conclusion is that the effect of digital nudges on seniors is diverse and depending on many factors such as personal preferences and that it might be beneficial to use personalised and tailored digital nudges for this particular age group.

台灣年齡結構快速老化及子女供養的比例降低，政府對於老人經濟安全的保障逐漸成為重要的議題。然國民年金的推動卻一波三折，而敬老津貼政策成為了目前非軍公教族群老年經濟安全保障的制度，本研究欲從政策利害相關人回應性的角度去評估敬老津貼政策。 　　而本研究的研究焦點，為民國九十一年中央政府所開始發放的全國性的「敬老津貼」，並以領取敬老津貼人數最多的台北縣作為實證研究的範圍，利用了Dunn & Poister所提出的效能性、「效率性」、「公平性」、「適當性」、「回應性」及「充分性」六種政策評估指標去評估敬老津貼政策的現況，並透過對利害關係人深度訪談的分析，匯整及建構出敬老津貼政策評估指標下利害關係人的相關主張、關切與議題。 　　研究發現現行敬老津貼政策之利害關係人的議題產生多集中在公平性指標下，而且利害關係人對於敬老津貼增加金額的需求性主張及滿意度，深受國內其他老人津貼制度的影響。因此政府須重新評估一律排除公務體系退休者領取津貼、排富絛款設立及以職業為劃分的老人津貼政策的適當性；同時須注意國內及地方縣市的福利差異甚大的現象，才能符合照顧國民之公平性。其次，對於老人津貼制度金額不一的公平性爭議，應趕緊實行國民年金加以整合。另外則是雖然領取敬老津貼者對於申領敬老津貼的程序過程的便利性具有共識，然未接到敬老津貼申領津貼通知的老人，很有可能會影響老人請領津貼的時間點。而對於中低收入老人生活津貼的計算方式應考慮放寬未有奉養事實的子女資產部分，以及除了發放津貼的方式，也可規劃增加老人收入的老人福利選項。另外，領取敬老津貼者受訪者普遍對敬老津貼金額為中等的滿意度，而敬老津貼對於解決月可使用生活費9000元以下的老人經濟問題的效能性和充分性較高。 / The acceleration of population aging and diminishing financial support from offspring to senior citizens necessitate the establishment of a senior citizen’s social security system. Faced with the difficulties in implementing the citizen annuity, the government came up with an alternative plan in 2002: the Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance. This study shall take Taipei County, currently the administrative region with the largest number of Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance recipients in Taiwan, as an example. The six policy evaluation indicators suggested by Dunn& Poister, i.e. effectiveness, efficiency, equality, appropriateness, responsiveness, and adequacy are used to evaluate the current state of the Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance policy. The claims, concerns, and issues of the stakeholders of the Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance policy are concluded after holding in-depth interviews with the stakeholders. Research results found that stakeholders of the issues are mostly concerned about the equality of the policy. Demands of and satisfaction with the policy is determined by similar senior citizens’ allowance systems. Appropriateness regarding the distribution of allowances to participants of the public servant pension system is also of concern to the stakeholders. Inequality in the varying amount of the allowances between administrative regions is an issue, among many others, that can be addressed by the implementation of a citizen annuity system. In general stakeholders are moderately satisfied with the incumbent Senior Citizens Welfare Living Allowance policy. The policy is more effective and adequate for those with a monthly income of less than NTD$9,000.

This investigation is concerned with determining the extent of involvement by fifteen Texas municipal parks and recreation departments in providing programs for senior citizens, the mentally retarded, the physically handicapped, and the emotionally disturbed.

Ways in which educational structures can initiate and facilitate older learners' self-directed learning projects are described in this study. The research was guided by questions related to the ways that educational organizations can facilitate the learning process for older learners. This study involved two distinct phases of research. In the first phase, a survey was administered to approximately 100 older learners at four organizations for senior citizens; the four organizations were Hillcrest Center for 55+, Golden Learning Opportunities and Workshop, Tulsa Senior Services, and Retired Senior Volunteer Program. The survey enabled the researcher to identify the 10 most frequented sites for gathering information related to the learning projects of senior citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The survey respondents were volunteer participants from classes, social occasions, and other learning opportunities offered by the organizations. The survey produced three sites where older learners pursued learning activities. Phase two involved ethnographic techniques in order to identify and describe at each three sites specific educational structures that facilitated older learners' self-directed learning projects. The descriptions from each of the identified sites involved three data-collection techniques. The data-collection techniques used included interviews, observation, and artifact collection. The focus of this phase was to describe the educational structures that facilitated the development of learning projects endemic to each site as identified by the older learners. Notes taken during interviews and observations were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Interviews were also transcribed. The transcripts were transferred to a conceptually clustered matrix for each site. Analyses of the administrator interviews, participant interviews, educational opportunity observations, and artifact collection at each site revealed patterns and trends that represent the educational structures that appeal to older learners as they pursue learning projects. The findings indicate that four patterns or trends were common to each site. These four patterns included accessible materials, service-minded staff, entertainment, and teacher-directed learning style.

This ethnographic, descriptive case study is concerned with an analysis of the Elderhostel experience at one specific university. Questionnaires, evaluation documents, observations, phototographs, and interviews were used in this study to describe the 1988 Elderhostel experience at North Texas State University. Thirty-three persons were initially asked to participate in this study. Twenty-nine agreed and actually completed the questionnaires, and 26 completed the program evaluation. The study is organized and presented in the following manner: Chapter I introduces the study. Chapter II presents a review of related literature addressing those studies directly concerned with the Elderhostel experience, those addressing motivational reasons for participation in adult education, and those dealing with learning abilities, interests, and goals of the elderly in general. Chapter III includes the methods and procedures used to collect and analyze the data. Chapter IV presents the descriptive and statistical analysis of the data, and Chapter V includes the summary, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations that were derived from the analysis. Major findings of this study include a description of the organization and administration of the program, a description of the educational and co-curricular activities offered and how they were evaluated by the participants, and demographic and motivational data of the participants involved. The "average" participant can be described as white, married, female, retired, white-collar background, from an urban community, a mean age of 70, a mean educational level of 16.5 years, and an income in excess of $20,000 annually. The most frequent reason given for attending Elderhostel was "program content," and for attending North Texas State University, the "International Focus." On the basis of the findings of this study it can be concluded that the characteristics of older adults most likely to enroll in educational programs can be identified; the North Texas State University Elderhostel program is meeting the needs and interests of its participants; and the primary motivators for attending Elderhostel are instrumental in nature.

Digitization of data offers more opportunities for future health and medicine care due to the availability of information technology in our everyday lives. Several studies have provided us with insights in designing persuasive eHealth services, but only a few studies have investigated the design of a persuasive eHealth application by using presently available smartphones and while including the target group. By pursuing an iterative design process, three smartphone application prototypes were created and tested with senior citizens by using cognitive walkthroughs, use case scenarios and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the target group involvement had positive influences on the design of the prototypes, with user insights uncovering setbacks and opportunities in the design. Thus, the study presents a set of primary characteristics for designing a persuasive eHealth application to be usable with smartphones and how the iterative design process with the involvement of senior citizens shaped the design.