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The purpose of this study was to compare muscle strength and psychomotor performance measures in healthy (n = 18) and frail (n = 21) groups of elderly women utilizing movements requiring various amounts of strength and ballistic action. Subjects were community-dwelling females ranging in age from 66-92 years. Evaluations of functional assessment of motor skills and grip strength occurred. Psychomotor performance was measured through production of aiming movements on a Digitizing Tablet. RT, MT, and movement kinematics (e.g., peak velocity, deceleration, movement adjustments) were evaluated. Differences between groups were apparent in quantity and quality of movement. Healthy subjects were stronger and faster than frail subjects, producing smoother movements with fewer adjustments. Strength appears to differentially affect healthy and frail samples and merits further exploration.

Background: Approximately 1.4 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide annually. Most newly diagnosed women face multiple treatment decisions, and want information about their disease and its treatment when making these decisions. While prior research investigates the psychosocial impacts of breast cancer, little is known about those impacts on the experience of decision making or how age influences decision making. There is a need to conduct research exploring this experience. Purpose: To develop an understanding of the experience of decision making for women diagnosed with breast cancer across the lifespan. Specific objectives were to explore: 1) the meanings women assigned to decisions; 2) how psychosocial factors influenced the decision making experience, and; 3) similarities and differences in decision making across the lifespan. Method: The tenants of constructivist grounded theory were followed. Twenty-nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 women with invasive breast cancer. Women ranged in age from 32 to 80 years of age (average=55 years). Participant data was grouped by age: younger women, under 45 years (N=7), middle aged women, aged 45-64 years (N=9), and older women, aged 65 and older (N=6). Data was analyzed using the constant comparison method of data analysis. Findings: Women with breast cancer described the experience of treatment decision making soon after diagnosis, and described their needs regarding information about cancer and its treatment. Main findings include a model depicting the process of the ways of learning in breast cancer. Two ways of learning were described by women, “learning by trusting the healthcare system” and “learning by trusting a system of connections.” Women reported barriers to information support, including emotional distress, patient-provider communication, provider-provider communication, making it personal, and access to information. Similarities and differences between age groups are presented. Conclusion: Diagnosed women want information about cancer and its treatment regardless of their ages. Ways of learning in the context of breast cancer guide women as they worked to make treatment decisions, yet barriers to information support exist in breast cancer, occurring at the patient, provider, and health system levels. / May 2016

There has been a grassroots revival of craftivism leading up to, and following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This qualitative dissertation explores the experiences of women within three craftivist groups to facilitate a deeper understanding of their conceptions of craft, activism and feminism, the salience of older women within these communities, and how the affordances of new media are potentially reshaping craftivism. Drawing on interview data, as well as offline and online participant observation, this study found that craftivists have highly diverse personal trajectories and understandings of feminism and activism, that older women—many with a lifelong history of activism—play a significant role in craftivist groups, and that participation in craftivism, supported through extensive use of social media and online communication, provides a gateway to civic expression and engagement. Beyond deepening our understanding of craftivism in the current political climate, this research makes significant contributions to scholarship on participatory culture, activism, and civic engagement. While these bodies of research have traditionally been youth-centric, this dissertation adds value by shedding light on the participatory practices of older women in creative online sites.

Orientador: Gláucia Maria Ferreira da Silva Mazeto / Coorientador: Sergio Alberto Rupp de Paiva / Banca: Dirce Maria Lobo Marchioni / Banca: Renata Maria Galvão de Campos Cintra / Resumo: A nutrição compreende uma rede de processos que envolvem desde o recebimento e ingestão dos alimentos, com a utilização dos nutrientes, mantendo as funções do organismo, até a eliminação dos resíduos alimentares. Uma nutrição adequada está relacionada à qualidade e variedade dos alimentos da dieta e à qualidade de vida do indivíduo, apresentando uma associação inversa com o risco de desenvolvimento de doenças, particularmente as Doenças Crônicas Não Transmissíveis (DCNT). Dentre estas, destaca-se a osteoporose, que se constitui em uma das mais prevalentes DCNT e que desperta maior interesse. A osteoporose é definida como uma doença crônica metabólica, caracterizada por um defeito na remodelação óssea e pela perda de osso normalmente mineralizado, com deterioração micro-arquitetural. Como consequência, ocorre aumento da fragilidade óssea, o que leva às fraturas, as quais implicam em elevada morbimortalidade. A osteoporose apresenta estreita relação com a deprivação hormonal, que ocorre após a menopausa, e com o próprio processo de envelhecimento em si. Além disso, outros fatores podem estar relacionados à gênese da osteoporose. Dentre estes, destaca-se a nutrição, a qual se encontra intimamente relacionada com a saúde óssea. Vários estudos ressaltam a importância de minerais tais como cálcio (Ca), fósforo (P) e magnésio (Mg) para a manutenção da massa óssea. Recentemente, foi avaliado o papel das vitaminas lipossolúveis na fisiopatologia das doenças ósseas. O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar o perfil da ingestão de Ca, P e vitaminas A, D, E e K, a ingestão de porções por grupos de alimentos e a qualidade da dieta em mulheres com mais de 60 anos, atendidas no Programa Municipal de Atendimento ao Idoso (PROMAI) da cidade de Bauru. Para isto, foram avaliadas... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Nutrition involves a chain of process, which starts with food intake, utilization of its nutrients to keeps the organism functions, and finally residue elimination. An adequate nutrition is directly to the quality and variety of ones dietary intake, as well as the quality of life. Thus, it presents an inverse association with the development of diseases, particularly those Chronic Non Transmissible Disease (CNTD). Among them, osteoporosis is the most significant CNTD and raises more interest. Osteoporosis is defined as a metabolic disease, characterized by a defect in the bone transformation and by the loss of bone mass, generally mineralized, with micro arquitectural deterioration. As a consequence, it occurs an increase of bone fragility, e patients what leads to fracture and implicates in a elevated morbimortality. Osteoporosis has presented a straight relationship with hormone deprivation which occurs after menopause and the ageing process itself. Besides, others factors can be reated to the osteoporosis genesis. Among them, nutrition is highly related to bone health. Several studies have show the importance of mineral such as calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and magnesium (MG) to bone mass maintenance. Recently, it has been evaluated the role of fat soluble vitamins in bone diseases pathophysiology. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the intake of Ca, P, vitamins A, D, E and K, food group portions and the quality of the diet in women over 60 years old, monitored by the "Programa Municipal de Atendimento ao Idoso (PROMAI)" (a municipal program that monitors the elderly, from the city of Bauru). To do so, 118 women were evaluated and monitored by PROMAI medical service, through two 24 hours recall (R24H) with a 30 day break between each one. Social, economical, cultural and anthropometric data were collected as... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Ageing women have so often been represented in government policy rhetoric, gerontology literatures and journalistic discourse as the genderless, powerless and passive objects of welfare and services;, by and large, as a social problem that needs to be monitored and managed. Taking a cultural research approach, this thesis explores ageing women’s actual practices in Hong Kong social movements and aims to rerepresent ageing women as active social agents capable of generating multiple “tactical identities” enabling them to participate in and interact with an environment that poses concrete challenges to their participation. In filling the gap between research on social movements and in social gerontology, both massively studied areas but ones whose mutual interactions are rare, this thesis reviews the social participations of three women at their late 60s and early 70s, who have been actively involved around issues of involuntary removal in public housing, and in health care and rent issues. The research explores how ageing women have used the notions of “Old Hong Kong” and “Old residents” - a rhetoric long bound up with their life histories in Hong Kong—to create a ‘mask of ageing’ in negotiation and interaction with the authorities, with neighbours, their community and, most importantly, their children. On the other hand, by acting as mothers, as grandmothers and as the “po po” (older woman in Cantonese) living next door, ageing women in effect compose collectives and form networks in their community to support their independent mode of living. The thesis argues that a new politics of ageing which addresses the everyday realities of ageing women’s lives is essential if we are to offer an alternative interpretation of their ageing experiences.

The effects of maternal employment on the young child have been examined for over 50 years. This research focuses on perceived maternal employment effects at a later point in the family life cycle: when mother is older and children are grown. Thirty-two poverty level women aged 56-83 (M=66.4 years) and their adult sons (n=l 6) and daughters (n= 16) were independently interviewed. All of the older women were paid workers or "stipended volunteers" who were employed part time (20 hours a week) in child care, clerical, or other service jobs. They had a variety of work histories; all were widowed or divorced.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006. / "May, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-217). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Studies in young women show that rowing exercise is osteogenic at the spine. However, little is known regarding rowing exercise and spine bone mineral density in older women. The aim of this study was to examine differences in spine bone mineral density (BMD) and back strength between premenopausal and postmenopausal competitive female masters rowers (n=28, 45.5 ± 4.7 yrs, n=28, 56.1 ± 5.7 years, respectively) and age-matched non-rowers (n=30, 43.3 ± 4.2 yrs; n=26, 56.8 ± 4.8 years). Competitive rowers were recruited from nine rowing clubs in the local area and compared to controls recruited from the same region who were normally active but not participating in rowing activity. Participating rowers had been engaged in competitive rowing for a minimum of one year. The average years spent rowing for the premenopausal and postmenopausal groups was 7.5 ± 6.6 yrs and 5.9 ± 6.9 yrs, respectively. BMD (g/cm²) of the third lumbar vertebrae (L3) was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in both the anterior-posterior and lateral views. Back strength was assessed using a standing cable tensiometer. Subjects also completed questionnaires to assess diet, physical activity, medical history and rowing history. Differences in BMD and back strength between groups were determined by analysis of covariance, controlling for lean mass. Compared to controls, postmenopausal rowers had 3.2% higher BMD at the anterior-posterior spine (p=.02) and 4.4% higher lateral spine BMD (p=.04). Furthermore, isometric back strength was 22.6% greater in these rowers than controls (p=.01). In contrast, controls had higher lateral BMD than rowers, with no differences in AP spine BMD or back strength between the premenopausal rowers and controls. Back strength was a significant predictor of AP spine BMD in premenopasual rowers and controls (R²=0.137, p=0.004) and of lateral spine BMD in postmenopausal rowers only (R²=0.153, p=0.04). There were no differences in calcium intake, age, menopausal status, weight, or lean mass between rowers and controls in either the premenopausal or postmenopausal samples. Since both increased BMD and back strength are associated with reductions in vertebral fracture risk, our results suggest that rowing exercise may be an important strategy to promote bone health and reduce vertebral fracture risk in postmenopausal women. However, the forces applied in rowing may not be great enough to alter bone mass before the onset of menopause. Therefore more research is needed examining rowing exercise in these older populations. / Graduation date: 2005