Societal structure has changed through the decades to reflect a contemporary interest in youth culture. The nuclear family, where generations lived under one roof no longer exists, leaving the elderly on the periphery of the family structure. Where once grandparents, parents and children all cohabitated, now the oldest family members are relegated to solitary retirement and aging alone. Studies have shown that "depression in the elderly is more likely to lead to suicide. Elderlywhite men are at greatest risk, with suicide rates in people ages 80 to 84 more than twice that of the general population. The National Institute of Mental Health considers depression in people age 65 and older to be a major public health problem." (http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/elderly.asp)Providing social activity for seniors can increase their well being and by extension their physicalhealth. The Grace Street Senior Center was designed to accommodate a variety of social activities for the center's members as well as house the center's administration. The member areas range in function from the public, for example, a multi-function area for dance and aerobic classes to the private such as the reading area and music room. All the spaces within the scope of this project are designed with the comfort and well being of the users paramount.

This content analysis examined 128 senior center brochures and newsletters to determine how older people (those 65 years and older) were portrayed. Findings indicated that portrayals of older people in this medium that targets older people and their caretakers exclusively were overwhelmingly positive. Older people were portrayed favorably in terms of health status, personality descriptors related to level of happiness, interaction with others, mental state, as well as body image and overall evaluation. In several other categories such as energy level and activity level they were portrayed neutrally, and not a single category was dominated by negative portrayals. In fact, any negative portrayals accounted for less than 0.1% of all portrayals for any given category. Older females in particular, were portrayed in a more positive way than females in other analyses of media and advertising, which found them to be under represented or portrayed as unmotivated, ugly, or helpless. Females made up 64% of the overall representation compared to 36% for males, which closely resembles figures for participation at senior centers throughout the U.S. Females were also portrayed as more physically active and in better health than males. Those using a physical aid, either male or female were extremely under represented when compared to disability statistics, showing an overly positive portrayal of overall health status. The data supports other studies that demonstrate a more positive portrayal in media specifically targeting older people, and an overall trend of improving portrayals of older people across all mediums. Positive portrayals like those exhibited in senior center brochures and newsletters can greatly improve the self-image and overall quality of life of older people as well as help to change negative stereotypes of older people held by the general population.

abstract: This dissertation explored how immigrants cope with and thrive in old age by utilizing social networks, and the hindrances which may prevent this. Through ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews at two senior centers in Phoenix, Arizona with a high concentration of an ethnic minority group - Asian and Latino, I describe what makes the Asian dominant center more resource abundant than its Latino counterpart given prevalent tight public funding. Both centers have a large number of seniors disenfranchised from mainstream institutions who bond together via similar experiences resulting from shared countries/regions of origin, language, and migration experience. The Asian center, however, is more successful in generating and circulating resources through "bonding" and "bridging" older immigrants who, therefore benefit more from their center affiliation than the Latinos at their center. The abundance of resources at the Asian center flowing to the social networks of seniors are attributed to three factors: work and volunteer engagement and history, the organization of the center, and individual activities. At both centers seniors bond with each other due to shared ethnicity, language, and migration experience and share information and companionship in the language in which they feel most comfortable. What differentiated the two centers were the presence of several people well connected to individuals, groups, and institutions beyond the affiliated center. The presence of these "bridges" were critical when the centers were faced with budgetary constraints and Arizona was experiencing the effect of ongoing immigration policies. These "bridges" tend to come from shared ethnicity, and better social positions due to cumulative factors which include but are not limited to higher education, professional occupation, and work and volunteer history. I have also presented cases of individuals who, although have developed expertise from past work experiences and individual activities, have limited contribution to the resource flow because of the differences in ethnicity. The study also explored a gendered life course and its impact on the social network for older Asian and Latino immigrants. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sociology 2014

The purpose of this study was to determine what recreational activities were of greatest interest and appeal to members of nine senior centers in Texas and according to their age and sex. The nine senior centers were randomly selected from the forty-two centers in Texas. A minimum of twenty-five members at the selected centers were asked to respond to a questionnaire concerning their recreational activity interest. A total of two hundred seventy-four respondents completed the questionnaire, of which seventy-nine were males and one hundred ninety-five were females. The questionnaire consisted of nine recreational activity categories. These categories were designed to cover a wide range of recreational interest. Table games were the activities indicated by the respondents (88 per cent) to be of greatest interest. The activity that was indicated to be of least interest was dancing (47 per cent). Activities that included social contact had the greatest interest to the respondents. A recommendation was made that senior centers should stress those activities of a social group nature. The centers should also provide more outdoor life activities.

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In my thesis, I deal with active ageing as a concept that is reflected in social policies. Active ageing presents activity as a key to satisfaction in older age and directs ageing population towards bigger independence and care about their health. I conducted my research in a chosen cultural and educational senior center in Prague. My main interest was how active ageing as an idea was transformed into social practice and how the activity was emphasized in the senior center and amongst its clients. The success of active ageing relates to culturally specific values as independence, activity, health, and self-realization (Lamb, 2020). Activity became a base for the hierarchization of activities, as well as people. The senior center which deals with the idea of active ageing is a safe space for its clients where activity represents a new social capital. However, this social capital has its limits as the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed. Keywords: active ageing, activity, social capital, vulnerability, senior center, neoliberalism

Under covid-19 pandemin tvingades fysiska mötesplatser för äldre personer att stänga. Som följd av detta startade digitala mötesplatser. Syfte: Genom intervju beskriva äldre personers uppfattning om vad som var betydelsefullt för deras upplevelse av delaktighet i sociala digitala mötesplatser, under covid-19 pandemin. Metod: Kvalitativ design. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med tio äldre personer som deltagit i en digital mötesplats under covid-19 pandemin. Vid rekrytering av informanter tillämpades det typiska urvalet. Materialet analyserades utifrån kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Informanternas uppfattning beskrevs i fyra kategorier: möjligheter och begränsningar i digitala mötesplatser, individens och gruppens engagemang i mötesplatsen, mötesplatsens innehåll samt mötesplatsens betydelse för informanter. De digitala mötesplatserna bidrog till sociala kontakter och meningsfullhet i vardagen. Slutsats: Detta examensarbete visade att digitala mötesplatser skulle kunna vara ett verktyg för att främja delaktighet bland äldre personer som är socialt distanserade eller isolerade. / During the covid-19 pandemic, physical meeting places for elderly people were forced to close. Due to this, digital meeting places started. Purpose: Through interview, describe elderly people’s comprehension of what is significant for their experience of participation in social digital meeting places during the covid-19 pandemic. Method: A qualitative design. Semi structured interviews were conducted with ten elderly people who participated in digital meeting places during the covid-19 pandemic. The typical case sample was applied to recruit informants. The material was analysed based on qualitative content analysis. Result: Informants’ perception was described in four categories: opportunities and limitations in digital meeting places, the individual’s and the group’s engagement in the meeting place, the content of the meeting place, and the meaning of the meeting place for informants. The digital meeting places contributed to social contacts and meaningfulness in everyday life. Conclusion: This student thesis showed that digital meeting places could be a tool to promote participation among elderly people who are social distanced or isolated.

Community-based care facilities have a positive effect in supporting older adults and people with dementia thus improving their well-beings. Despite authoring empirical studies focused on providing design interventions, researchers often remain unclear about whether and how exactly practitioners and architects should implement these interventions. This paper presents an on-going project of a senior center in a small municipality in Germany. It aims to explain how the municipality (the client) and the design team (the architect) cooperate to apply updated research-based interventions, and how trade-offs are made. It discusses several research-based interventions during the design process. They include: 1) the early engagement of architects into the planning process; 2) the use of small-scale care units as care concept; 3) offering easily accessible and visible communal areas within the building; 4) providing an area open to the neighborhood; and 5) taking into consideration of the local urban form and materials. The article enables the readers to gain an insider look of the design process of a care facility and become familiar with some of the common trade-offs in design practice. Sufficient access to research materials and efficient communication with the client from the beginning of a project are the key elements to successfully implement research-based design interventions.

Organisations of different type and legal status engage in senior education in the Czech Republic. Civil society organisations available online are not the dominant providers of educational courses and activities for seniors in the Czech Republic. Civil society organisations represent 17 % of all providers of educational courses available online. Six civil society organisations engaged in senior education were found in the region Vysočina. Participants of the educational courses consider all activities practised in these courses to be education because they learn new skills there. They appreciate these courses for the education itself, for meaningful free time spending and for the opportunity of active life even in the time of senescence. For nearly the most important point considered by the participants so as the organisators is connecting and broadening of social contacts of the participants and creating of social network. This can be considered for the most distinct manifestation of civil society concerning senior education.