Older adults of the 21st century have not grown up with information and communication technology and may not have used computers in their working lives. However, they have experienced the many technological changes of the 20th century. Some changes have fundamentally altered communication, entertainment, and the kinds of knowledge and skills that are sought and valued. These changes are difficult to ignore because of their pervasiveness. In order to actively participate in their lifeworlds older adults face an imperative to adapt and meet new challenges. The purpose of this research was to investigate and interpret the lived experience of laterlife computer learners in non-formal learning environments. The research focused on the interpretation and understanding of the learning experience from the perspective of participants. Hence there is an ontological thread that is grounded in the lifeworld of older adults in Sydney, Australia. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was considered suitable because of its emphasis on understanding the lived experience of humans. A qualitative method was used in this study because it enabled existential insights into the learning experience from the perspective of learners and privileged their voices. Fourteen older adults volunteered to participate and were interviewed. Participants identified themselves as laterlife beginning computer learners. Interviews were audio-taped and analysed using an interpretative case study approach. Other analytic tools used were grounded theory, thematic analysis and narrative inquiry. Existential themes were identified and interpreted within a framework of wellbeing. The research found that participants engaged in learning optimistically and that they believed in their abilities and also in the worth of the learning they were undertaking. The learners believed the outcomes from learning would lead to greater opportunity for participation in their lifeworld. Without computer skills and knowledge they believed they would be ignored and relegated to a peripheral position as observers in their lifeworld. By undertaking learning they believed they were taking control of their current and future lives, acting in defiance of developmental theories that suggested ageing was a stage of life and not a process. However, the sense of agency and purpose was not without its pressures and hurdles and learning was perceived to be difficult, dynamic, frustrating and immensely satisfying. Their purposes and expectations were situated in the changing nature of the world and a desire to continue to live their lives authentically, as participants and not spectators. Laterlife computer learners in this study were seen to be learning and growing their lives into a future of their making.

Whole body vibration (WBV) is a mode of exercise by which an individual stands on a vibration platform that may be oscillating and therefore creating vertical displacement which affects gravitational forces acting upon the whole body. Manipulations of platform amplitude or frequency can affect the rate of change of the WBV (i.e. acceleration) acting upon an individual. The specific influences of frequency or amplitude, however, are unknown. The aim of the study, therefore, was two fold; (1) to identify chronic WBV effects of neuromuscular performance within a community dwelling older adult sample, and; (2) to identify WBV methods that would elicit chronic neuromuscular performance changes within such a sample. The study incorporated a randomised controlled experimental design to examine the aim. Seventy-three community dwelling older adults freely consented to the requirements of the study (mean age = 72.0 years). Neuromuscular performance was quantified with the 5-Chair Stands test, the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and the Tinetti test. Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) was qualified with the SF-36 Health Survey. A six week WBV intervention significantly changed the quantifiers of neuromuscular performance in a community dwelling older adult sample. The WBV intervention significantly reduced time taken to complete the 5-Chair Stands test (p <.05) and the TUG test (p <.05). The six week WBV intervention significantly improved Tinetti test scores (p <.05). The six week WBV intervention significantly improved all components of HRQOL. For the 5-Chair Stands test, a three WBV sessions per week intervention elicited significantly larger (p <.05) neuromuscular performance gains than a two WBV sessions per week intervention in the target sample. For the TUG test, a three WBV sessions per week intervention elicited significantly larger (p <.05) neuromuscular performance gains than a zero and one WBV session per week intervention in the target sample. A significant difference (p <.05) was found between pre-test and post-test Tinetti test scores for all WBV intervention groups. There was an insignificant difference (p >.05) found within the control group of community dwelling older adults for the Tinetti test. Detraining effects were observed three weeks after the cessation of the six week WBV intervention for the three WBV sessions per week group. Neuromuscular performance reduced after the detraining period. Vibration platform dynamics (manipulated frequency and controlled amplitude) showed that gravitational forces created by the WBV were safe since no injuries were associated with the intervention and since participant compliance was 100% during the six week WBV intervention. The methods of this study showed a chronic WBV intervention to be a safe and easily administered exercise to improve neuromuscular performance and HRQOL of a community dwelling older adult sample. Specifically, WBV could be used as a safe and effective tool to improve aspects of normal daily function such as body balance and gait speed.

As the populations ages rapidly, injury in older people is increasingly becoming a major health problem. This thesis examines the epidemiology of common injuries in older people and how data linkage can improve injury surveillance as well as knowledge about the circumstances and outcomes of injury in older people. These issues are explored using data from New South Wales, Australia and the emphasis is on injuries resulting from falls and traffic crashes as the most common mechanisms of injury in older people. The epidemiology and trends of hospitalisations as a result of hip, pelvic and wrist fractures are examined using NSW hospitalisation data during the 1990's. Internal data linkage of the 2000-2001 NSW hospitalisation data is used to eliminate double counting of hospital admissions for injurious falls in older people and to assess the validity and estimate the effects of previously used approaches on the incidence of hospitalised falls. Probabilistic data linkage of hospital and police crash records for the same year is also used to examine data quality in both collections and to explore the relationship between the circumstances and outcomes of injury in older drivers injured in a traffic crash. The findings of the epidemiological profile of hip, pelvic and wrist fractures in older people indicate that they are likely to continue to impose a considerable burden on acute health care services. The internal linkage of hospital data shows that data linkage techniques allow the identification of incident cases of hospitalised falls and point to the low validity of previously used approaches to estimate the incidence of these cases. Record linkage of hospital and police records demonstrates the limitations of using the datasets separately to examine the burden of traffic injuries in older people and shows the importance of environmental factors, complex road intersections in particular, in high injury severity in older drivers. The thesis also discusses some of the challenges of using record linkage for injury research and highlights the importance of including the date of injury and a unique personal identifier to improve the surveillance and reporting of injuries, including those in older people.

This thesis examines the capacity and desire of older workers to provide discretionary effort and skilled contributions in what some researchers consider to be the predominant form of new career, the 'boundaryless career'. Features of the 'boundaryless career' include multiple employers, and the demise of the organisational loyalty that was embodied within the image of the 'company man'. The research is justified by the fall in Australia's fertility rates and the simultaneous ageing of Australia's population. In combination, these are predicted to produce significant shortfalls in skilled labour, which experts believe will require organisations to better manage and utilise its older workers. The case study and pattern matching methodology involved interviews with forty volunteer older workers who worked in the headquarters of Australia Post, which enjoys a formidable local and international reputation. 'Career plateau' was a term used by many to describe their perception of their current career position and prospects. Their descriptions of their work situation and their ambitions, at work and in retirement, were analysed for patterns which were then compared with literature on career plateaus, motivation and job design, and the 'boundaryless career'. This analysis was overlaid onto a foundation of contemporary management practice with regard to older workers, current business environments and issues, and views on the skill sets needed for the future. This foundation emerged from a review of academic literature, business and government reports and from an ongoing review of the Australian Financial Review over the six years of the study. Contributions to theory and practice are claimed in the parent theories of career plateau, and older worker motivation; together with the focus theory of boundaryless careers. Although there are legitimate organisational constraints on optimising the older worker contribution, older workers do not contribute to capacity, and organisations do little to optimise their contribution. Joint organisational and individual worker attention to skills maintenance and career management over an entire working life will likely be 'boundaryless' for both organisations and the older workforce.

The excitotoxin domoic acid (DOM) acts at both kainic acid (KA)- and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA)-sensitive glutamate receptors. Clinical reports suggest that elderly people are hypersensitive to the neurological effects of DOM intoxication. Young, but not aged hippocampal slices which have been preconditioned with low concentrations of DOM or KA exhibit an acute �tolerance� to subsequent high doses of DOM or KA; application of the selective AMPA agonist fluorowillardiine (FW) fails to induce tolerance to excitotoxins. The aim of this study was to further investigate the molecular mechanism of tolerance induction in vitro, and to examine the ability of compounds to cross-condition against excitotoxic insult. In addition, in vivo techniques were used to explore the age-related susceptibility to the neurological effects of DOM and acute in vivo tolerance induction. Here we show that low doses of �classical� ionotropic kainate receptor agonists and AMPA/kainate receptor antagonists act as net inverse agonists at G-protein coupled receptors, reducing constitutive GTPase activity by up to 73% in the young hippocampus. Further evidence that inverse agonist activity at G-protein coupled receptors is responsible for acute in vitro tolerance induction by kainate receptor agonists and antagonists was also identified because preconditioning with the AMPA receptor antagonist GYKI-52466 significantly inhibited KA-induced population spike suppression in in vitro hippocampal brain slices from both Sprague-Dawley and Wistar rats. The broad-spectrum protein kinase inhibitor H-7 partially blocked tolerance induction when preconditioning occurs in the presence of suggesting that protein kinases are one of the downstream effectors of this phenomenon. Tolerance-inducing compounds are also capable of cross-conditioning against the effects of other excitotoxins; with 250 nM FW suppressed population spike area by only 62.8 � 10.0% at 30 minutes following a 500 nM KA preconditioning dose, compared to almost complete spike suppression within twenty minutes in naive hippocampal brain slices. In vivo experiments indicated that despite aged animals exhibiting significantly higher cumulative behavioural scores in response to i.p. DOM (1 mg kg⁻�; young = 102 � 9, aged = 179 � 19; P < 0.01) in response to DOM after two hours), and that this age-related supersensitivity is due to impaired renal clearance (young serum DOM = 41.5 � 30.3 ng ml⁻�, aged = 813.3 � 804.4 ng ml⁻� following administration of 1 mg kg⁻� DOM after 2.5 hours earlier). Tolerance to high doses of DOM was induced within a matter of minutes following i.p. preconditioning by low dose DOM in vivo. This was evidenced by severe seizure manifestations being almost absent in both young and aged animals, despite occurring frequently in naive animals. Therefore, this study concludes that tolerance is induced by kainate receptor ligands in vitro and in vivo within a matter of minutes, and is the result of a reduction in the turnover of G-protein coupled receptors and protein kinase activation. In addition, the increased sensitivity of aged rats to in vivo DOM is a result of elevated serum DOM concentrations most likely resulting from impaired renal clearance.

The basis for sex differences in cognitive ability remains poorly defined and controversial both scientifically and politically. One of the biological hypotheses on sex differences, of particular relevance to this thesis, concerns the role of gonadal steroids, specifically testosterone (T) and oestrogen, and their relationship to individual differences in the performance of specific cognitive tasks. In addition, the role that age-related changes in these hormones play in relation to generalised and pathological cognitive ageing in males is studied. It is important to determine whether decreases in T levels that occur with ageing in males are associated with age-related decreases in cognitive performance because T levels can potentially be modified. Males have consistently been found to outperform females on measures of visuo-spatial function; performance on the Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotation Test (MRT) shows the largest and most robust of sex differences. Gonadal steroids have both organisational and activational effects which contribute to both withinsex variability and between-sex differences in visuo-spatial cognition. As males age, endogenous plasma T levels decline gradually yet variably between individuals. Studies in older males show improvement in visuo-spatial cognition following T supplementation; however, it remains to be resolved whether decreases in endogenous T levels with ageing are associated with poorer MRT performance. Some recent studies in older males have reported positive correlations between measures of plasma T levels and cognitive functioning, including processing speed and executive function measures. These data are inconsistent, however, and important questions remain concerning, for example: the age at which the effect is strongest; whether there are different effects at different ages; whether there is an optimal level at which T levels affect particular abilities; and which abilities show the strongest association with endogenous plasma T levels. Increased intra-individual variability in performance on Choice Reaction Time (RT) tasks has recently been shown to be a strong predictor of cognitive functioning in university students. Methodological advances in the analyses of RT distributions has allowed for the calculation of robust estimates of intra-individual RT variability. The association between these estimates and cognitive performance in middle and older aged males, however, remains to be determined. Further, the association between endogenous plasma T levels and intra-individual RT variability in aged males is unknown. The thesis addresses these issues; firstly, through cross-sectional analyses of the associations between different measures of plasma T levels, learning and memory, processing speed, and executive function performance in a large population based sample of 1046 men aged between 35 and 81 years. Secondly, further cross-sectional analyses are reported from a subsequent study in a healthy sub-sample of 96 of these men on the associations between endogenous plasma T levels, MRT performance, constituent abilities related to MRT performance, and performance on composite measures of both processing speed and executive function. In a third study, these data are re-analysed in relation to intra-individual variability in RT performance. In light of the results of these studies, the role that age-related declines in plasma T levels play in relation to generalised age-related cognitive decline in males is discussed. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1330807 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology and School of Medicine, 2008

This hermeneutical study interprets and describes the phenomena of ageing and living with disability. The lived experiences of 14 older men and the horizon of this researcher developed an understanding of what it is like for men to grow old and, for some, to live with the effects of a major disability. The study is grounded in the philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer and framed in the context of embodiment, masculinity, and narrative. I conducted multiple in-depth interviews with older men aged from 67 to 83 years of age. Seven of the participants had experienced a stroke and I was able to explore the phenomenon of disability with them. Through thematic and narrative analyses of the textual data interpretations were developed that identified common meanings and understandings of the phenomena of ageing and disability. These themes and narratives reveal that the men�s understandings are at odds with conventional negative views of ageing and disability. These older men are �alive and kicking�, they voice counternarratives to the dominant construction of ageing as decline and weakness, and have succeeded in remaking the lifeworld after stroke. Overall I have come to understand an overarching meaning of older men �working it out� as illustrative of a strong face of ageing and disability. Older men seek out opportunities to participate actively in community life and, despite the challenges of ageing and disability, lead significant and meaningful lives. These findings challenge and extend our limited understandings of men�s experiences of ageing and living with disability. This interpretation offers gendered directions for policy development, clinical practice, and future research.

This exploratory study investigated the strategies that eight older New Zealanders use to enable participation in day-to-day occupations that they need or want to do, in their homes and the community. The types of strategies older people use to overcome barriers to participation and manage limitations are not widely known or reported. Exploring strategies for participation employed by older people is important because the majority of older New Zealanders live in the community and their numbers are growing, and projected to reach 25% of the total population by the year 2051 (Ministry of Health, 2002). New Zealand’s Positive Ageing Strategy (Minister for Senior Citizens, 2001), advocates for a society where people can age positively, where they are highly valued and their participation encouraged. The literature relating to occupation, participation and health was explored, and provided some evidence that older people are developing strategies and, with some education, are able to manage their own health conditions. The assumption underpinning this study is that they are equally able to manage strategies for participation, particularly those devised by older people themselves. A qualitative descriptive methodology was used. The participants were selected following a presentation to a group of older adults and snowball recruitment. They were aged between 73 and 98 years old and were receiving assistance to live in community, which was taken to indicate they had experienced some limitation in, or barrier to their everyday activities, in response to which they might have discovered or developed coping strategies. Interviews were conducted in the participants’ homes, and analysed using a general inductive approach. Four main categories emerged; strategies for keeping me safe, strategies for recruiting and accepting help, strategies for meeting biological needs, and strategies for conserving resources. Overarching themes of managing and getting on with it, sprinkled with a sense of humour by some participants was present in the attitudes of many participants. The study revealed that this group of older people can and do use strategies to enable occupation in their everyday lives, which differ from those recommended by occupational therapists and other health professionals. This finding suggests that health professionals, policy makers and educators have much to learn from older people. The provision of help to older adults should take into consideration the importance of social interactions, not just the physical needs. There is a need for transport to be more readily available and affordable for older people to attend occupations that meet social needs. Health professionals complement the strategies developed by older people, and finding ways to combine the strategies should be developed. Listening to older adults’ current ways of managing and working with them to develop alternate, yet acceptable methods will provide a challenge. Health professionals should take a greater role in advocating for the social and transport needs of older adults. A self-management approach in education for older people, using peers and making use of existing education groups in the community and health system, is suggested. Education of those who engage with older people, such as carers, family, health professionals and community groups should include developing their skills in assisting older people to identify their strategies and developing strategies for the future.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-53). Also available via the Internet.

<p>Äldre yrkesverksamma är en ökande grupp på arbetsmarknaden. Det är inte ovanligt att stereotypa uppfattningar kring denna grupp resulterar i åldersdiskriminering. Det är även känt att människor förändras, både till det bättre och sämre, genom åren och att detta påverkar individens yrkesutövande. Sex grundskolelärare intervjuades med syftet att beskriva och förstå hur de ser på åldrandet, pensionen, hur de upplever att de utvecklats under åren samt hur de upplever att omgivningen ser på dem. Erfarenheter ansågs vara det mest positiva med att vara äldre medan distansen till eleverna var det negativa. Åldrandet ansågs medföra fysiska försämringar, men samtidigt upplevdes bättre människokännedom och ökad säkerhet i rollen som lärare. Pensionen lockade för vissa men arbetet upplevdes vara en viktig trygghet i livet.</p>