Master thesis project presents Havířov, the city full of interesting things. It is the youngest city in the Czech Republic, built on a green meadow at Silesian Region. Architecture of Havířov is uniform and it was strongly influenced by Socialist realism. Town is located on the plane, surrounded by water tanks and White Carpathian Mountains. There are the cleanest air conditions from the whole surrounding area. The aim of the project was to find new idea and remedy the shortcomings of the city. The project addresses the issue of absence of typical picturesque square with stores in the city centre. Part of the objective is also dealing with the issue of rapidly aging city with a lot of inhabitants. This problem is based on the fact that in the 50s of the 20th century generation of young people at the same age were coming to Havířov due to possibility of work in the mines and ironworks.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Background and Objectives: High-cost health care users (HCU) represent a minority of patients who consume a large proportion of health care resources. Due to their high burden on the healthcare system and internal heterogeneity, a better understanding of various segments of the HCU population is needed. The general objective was to advance our understanding of incident senior HCUs in the Canadian context so that we can advise health policy makers on potential strategies to prevent seniors transitioning to HCU and to identify priorities for further investigation. Methods: A retrospective population-based matched cohort study was conducted using province-wide linked administrative data. The research employed a spectrum of advanced methods to accomplish the general objective, including the method of recycled predictions, random intercept two-part multi-level models, and stratified logistic regression. Results: Total costs attributable to incident senior HCU status accounted for almost one-tenth of the provincial healthcare budget, with prolonged hospitalizations making a major contribution. Unplanned first (index) hospitalizations (IHs) in the incident year were considerably more common among HCUs, with ten conditions accounting for one third of their total costs. A lower risk of IH among HCUs was associated with residence in long-term care (LTC), attachment to a primary care provider, and recent consultation by a geriatrician. Although there was little variation in costs incurred by Ontario seniors for healthcare services they receive, access to the healthcare services varied greatly. The traditional drivers of costs and mortality (e.g., age, sex, health status) played little role in driving the observed variation in HCUs’ outcomes. Conclusions: By answering research questions, this thesis advances our knowledge of the HCU population in Canada. Further exploration of the nature and quality of care that may be associated with HCU conversion and investigation of the regional variation in accessing specific healthcare services is warranted. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / A small group of patients that use the most of healthcare resources are called high-cost users (HCU). HCUs are often seniors. Policy makers need a better understanding of new senior HCUs to be able to prevent seniors from becoming HCU. This study used administrative data and advanced statistical methods. We found that almost one-tenth of the 2013 provincial healthcare budget was spent on new senior HCUs, mainly because of lengthy unplanned hospitalizations. Patients who lived in long-term care, had a primary care provider, or recently visited a geriatrician were less likely to have an unplanned hospitalization. Overall, healthcare costs were distributed equally to Ontario seniors, but access to healthcare services varied greatly. This variation could not be explained by differences in age, sex, or health status. This thesis advances our knowledge of HCUs in Canada. Additional research is needed into care associated with becoming HCU and provincial variation in accessing healthcare.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

Les enjeux économiques, sociaux et démographiques liés à l’emploi des seniors deviennent de plus en plus importants. Pourtant le taux d’emploi des seniors en France reste l’un des plus faibles en Europe. Face à la complexification et au durcissement de l’environnement économique, les structures organisationnelles ont été profondément modifiées, avec réduction des niveaux hiérarchiques, nouvelles formes de travail, de mobilités, offrant aux cadres de nouvelles formes de carrières, alternatives à la progression hiérarchique classique, verticale et intra organisationnelle. Lors des dernières décennies la population des cadres a connu des changements profonds. Dans leur dernière partie de carrière il apparait que les cadres seniors soient en situation d’attente bien souvent subie. Il semble alors intéressant de se pencher sur cette attente et d’en analyser les composantes. L’objet de cette recherche est de définir plus précisément cette notion d’attente professionnelle de fin de carrière et d’en analyser ses conséquences en termes de résilience individuelle. Le terme de résilience pourra surprendre à la première lecture. Il n’est pas encore véritablement diffusé en France dans le vocabulaire du management. De nombreux auteurs et praticiens (souvent psychiatres ou pédopsychiatres) ont contribué à faire connaître ce concept et à développer ses contours théoriques autant que le champ de ses applications pratiques. L’enjeu de cette recherche est de de comprendre l’attente de fin de carrière des cadres seniors et de confirmer la présence de la résilience individuelle positive et négative mais surtout l’existence ou non de la résilience individuelle calculée qui n’existe pas dans la littérature. / The economic, social and demographic challenges related to the employment of seniors are becoming more and more important. However the employment rate of seniors in France remains one of the lowest in Europe. Faced with the complexity and hardening of the economic environment, the organizational structures have been profoundly changed: flattening of hierarchies, new forms of work and of mobilities, providing executives with new forms of careers, alternatives to the traditional hierarchical progression that is vertical and intra organizational. In recent decades, executives have undergone profound changes. In their final game of career it seems that senior executives are in situation of expectation, most often undergone. It thus seems interesting to examine this expectation and to analyze its components. The purpose of this research is to define more precisely this notion of professional expectation at the end of career and to analyze its consequences in terms of individual resilience. The term resilience may surprise on the first reading. It is not yet fully released in France in the management vocabulary. Numerous authors and practitioners (often psychiatrists or child psychiatrists) have contributed to make this concept known and to develop its theoretical outlines as well as the scope of its practical applications. The aim of this research is to understand the expectation of the senior executives at the end of career and to confirm the presence of positive and negative individual resilience, and especially the existence or absence of the calculated individual resilience, which does not exist in the literature.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / A shifting of age patterns towards a larger number of older people in the population is creating a new frontier for social work in our American Society. Increasingly, group work agencies are being challenged to meet the needs of our senior citizens through day center and club programs. For most group work agencies programming for the older person is a relatively new development and one requiring constant experimentation and evaluation . While aged persons have much in common , just as other age groups do, there still remains a uniqueness of different individuals and groups. Therefore, in evaluating the effectiveness of a group work program for the aged, each group must be studied in light of the needs and characteristics of this particular group .The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the program of the Sixty Club of Union Settlement of Hartford in light of the following criteria. Does the program grow out of the needs and interests of the individuals who compose the group? Does the program take into account such factors as age of group members and economic and cultura l backgrounds? Is the program diversified enough to satisfy a variety of needs and interests?

Research on physical activity and exercise in the elderly is limited. This study used the Participation Motivation Questionnaire for Older Adults (PMQOA) to assess reasons for engaging in regular physical activity of participants at the 2007 Huntsman World Senior Games. The 259 subjects ranged from ages 50 to 85 years and were divided into tertiles based on frequency of exercise, determined by self reported weekly exercise time and days for further comparison. The most commonly reported reasons for exercise were to stay healthy, keep physically fit, and stay in shape. A previously conducted factor analysis on the PMAOQ revealed six underlying factors given for engaging in regular exercise: social, fitness, recognition, challenge/benefits, medical and involvement. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences in reasons for exercise between exercise tertiles and three factors; social, fitness, and challenge/benefits. There were also significant differences in reasons given for exercise between gender for the medical and social factors. Bivariate correlations indicated associations between both fitness perceptions and BMI with some PMQOA factors. Additionally, significant correlations were found between the six PMQOA factors, the strongest being between challenge/benefits and recognition, involvement, and social.

No description available.

Trust between individuals and groups has been identified as an important factor in determining organisational success, organisational stability and the well-being of employees. The present research contributes to the growing literature on trust by developing measures and models of how employees trust senior management. Drawing from the literature and the results of pilot studies, a six dimensional model of trust in senior management - consisting of dispositional, cognitive, affective, social and behavioural intent dimensions - was tested using confirmatory factor analysis (n = 416). The results clearly supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement model. For example, all model fit indices were above minimum recommended values and all items loaded at significant levels on their specified factor.The measures were successfully cross- validated in a sample from a different organization (n = 249). Next, models portraying alternative structural relations between the dimensions were examined, before deriving a model which successfully summarized the data in a theoretically plausible way. The model showed trust in senior management, defined in terms of behavioural intentions, to be directly influenced by affective reactions and perceived social norms. Cognitive assessments about the overall effectiveness of senior management were shown to have an indirect influence on trust. This structural model was successfully cross- validated on an independent sample. The attitudinal dimensions of the model were shown to hold, longitudinally, over a twelve month period (n = 257).In contrast to previous cross-sectional research, disposition did not influence trust in senior management over time. In terms of determining the organizational consequences of trust in senior management, the results showed that trust in senior management influenced cynicism toward change ++ / over a twelve month time period. Theoretical implications and the practical implications for the diagnosis and management of trust in senior management are discussed.

In parallel with the ageing of the European population, the number of senior workers (that is to say, workers aged 50 and more) is expected to increase in the decades to come. The necessity to maintain senior workers into the labor force (specially to support the sustainability of pensions system) combined with a general trend to delay the retirement age and with the current economical climate, makes the employment of senior workers a burning issue. Significant differences indeed exist between European countries. While Sweden has the highest senior employment rate, France has one of the lowest. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether these differences can be explained through differences in terms of employability. This multidimensional concept is here explored through the analysis of quantitative data collected by the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). These data provide an updated version of the situation of senior employees in France and in Sweden and more specifically of their employability. Some indicators of the latter can be thus defined and will be used to look at differences or similarities between French and Swedish senior workers generally speaking and from a gender perspective. The results have confirmed the role of initial education and long-life training which contribute respectively to the employability capital of workers and affect positively the employment rates. Such indicators are the first steps in the definition of the employability, which make way for further researches opening the definition to the other part of the active labor force (that is to say, the unemployed).