bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Income Maintenance for the Soviet Aged
Authors: Porket Joseph L. 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTHitherto, Western analysts of Soviet affairs have largely neglected Soviet persons beyond retirement age. These persons constitute a heterogeneous and expanding social category, and their lot has a number of dimensions. The present examination concentrates on their economic status and participation in social production, regarding both as an outcome of the Soviet régime's changing policies. It indicates a modest level of success in retaining the working involvement of retired people during the early post-retirement years. At the same time it uncovers many issues and situations which are familiar to gerontologists in Western countries.
Patient Turnover in a new Psychogeriatric Day Hospital: a Pluralistic Evaluation
Authors: Smith Gilbert , Cantley Caroline , Ritman Valerie 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTStudies designed to evaluate the services of a health or welfare institution face the major difficulty of selecting evaluative criteria to serve as measures of successful performance. This paper explores that difficulty in the context of a study of a new psychogeriatric day hospital. The study and its methods of data collection are described. ‘Patient turnover’ features prominently as a measure of success within the hospital. Consultants, nurses, general practitioners, social workers, staff of a related hospital and patients’ relatives interpret this measure in different ways and adopt different strategies to pursue ‘success’ in their own interests. These differences are described. The paper concludes that a ‘pluralistic evaluation’ has several advantages as compared to other approaches.
Later Life Satisfaction and Household Structure: Living with Others and Living Alone
Authors: Fengler Alfred P. , Danigelis Nicholas , Little Virginia C. 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTIn a survey of 1,400 older Americans over 65, two household structures, elders living with others and elders living alone, were compared with older married couples. Results indicated that elders living with others had a greater degree of incapacity and lower income than married couples, but on most indices there were few differences. Elders in three-generation families had somewhat lower general life satisfaction, but the greatest number of elderly people with low life satisfaction were widows who lived alone. Widows living alone were less likely than married couples to own their homes and more likely to perceive that their income was inadequate, that transportation needs were unmet and that no one would care for them in an emergency, all conditions strongly associated with low life satisfaction.
Assessing Self Esteem and its Sources in Elderly People
Authors: Coleman Peter G. 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTA new form of measure is presented for assessing not only self esteem but also subjectively perceived sources of self esteem in elderly people. Such instruments have been developed for use both in the Netherlands and in England, using seven categories of sources of self esteem. First results have demonstrated their validity and potential application. The Dutch studies carried out so far have highlighted changes in level of self esteem in Dutch old people moving into homes for the elderly and the importance of the homes themselves as sources of self esteem. The English studies have shown differences in sources of self esteem in elderly people living in ordinary housing, residential homes and special sheltered housing. It is concluded that such instruments could play an important role in studies of individual adaptation to ageing and in the evaluation of different types of welfare provision.
Religion in an Old Age Home: Symbolic Adaptation as a Survival Strategy
Authors: Kazan Haim 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTBased on an ethnographic study of an old age home in Israel, this essay presents an analysis of how religious activity is used as part of a survival strategy by elderly residents in an institution for the well-aged. The study describes the symbolic manipulation of religious symbols and the social meaning of religion in an old age home in terms of four behavioural levels: (a) the synagogue members and their study groups; (b) the rabbi's lack of identification with his congregants; (c) the relationship to the non-religious management of the home; and (d) the differentiation of categories of residents in terms of ‘proper functioning’. Religion in this context is thus seen as an important social resource used in interactions with the social structure of the institution.
The Family Costs of Looking After Handicapped Elderly Relatives
Authors: Nissel Muriel 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThis article is principally concerned with the measurement and evaluation of the cost of the time which families devote to the care of handicapped elderly relatives living with them. One way of measuring the contribution is by means of time diaries which document the amount of time given to caring activities throughout the 24 hours of the day. How this was done in a small pilot study, carried out in Oxfordshire, England, is described. It is preceded by a brief general discussion of some of the factors which determine time use and by a description of the empirical findings from a few of the existing surveys. Some broad estimates of the indirect financial costs involved are offered, including an estimate using a different approach based on the loss of opportunity suffered by women who are prevented from undertaking paid work.
Cognition and Elderly People
Authors: Pratt James D. , Wood Larry E. 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTAn overview of the experimental literature on ageing and cognition in the areas of sensation and perception, attention and performance, learning and memory, and intelligence and problem solving is provided. The review indicates definite deficits in most functions, and therefore provides a basis for understanding the origin of the stereotypes of the elderly as senile, obsolete, and useless. However, when viewed in a broad, integrated perspective, there seems to be grounds for a less pessimistic outlook than most people have. The most positive findings are some recent ones in the area of memory, which show that the elderly are able to make use of the knowledge they have accumulated over a lifetime to perform some tasks as good as or better than younger adults. Some researchers have begun to lay plans for the development of intervention programmes for the elderly, and we suggest some areas which may be profitable for further development. There are, however, some difficult motivational issues that need to be dealt with. It seems that many elderly persons claim to be functioning to their own satisfaction, from a cognitive perspective.
The Public Appeal of Sheltered Housing
Authors: Thompson Catherine , West Patrick 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTIn the light of the shortfall in provision of sheltered housing in the UK and recent cricticisms of this form of care, this paper examines its public appeal both in terms of its popularity relative to other care arrangements and the ideas and images associated with it. Using questionnaire data about preferred and projected care arrangements, idealised solutions are compared with actual arrangements made by a group of predominantly old and disabled persons. The contrast suggests that some of the features which characterize sheltered housing as an idealised solution may be achieved in other settings. The implications for the emphasis that sheltered housing should receive in planning for the frail elderly are discussed, particularly in the light of recent international trends to encourage a policy of ‘staying put’.
Care in the Community
Authors: Wenger G. Clare 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on a longitudinal study of old people over the age of sixty-five living in rural Wales. Particular attention is paid to those who were over eighty in 1983, compared with the 1979 over-eighties. Whilst the findings demonstrate increased inputs of statutory domiciliary support with increased dependency, such support is clearly supplementary to the role of informal services. The paper shows that despite increased levels of dependency amongst the old elderly, levels of domiciliary services have not kept pace. Rationing mechanisms appear to focus services on the over-eighty-fives so that levels of support to younger age groups are essentially reduced.
The State, the Voluntary Sector and New Developments in Provision for the Old of Minority Racial Groups
Authors: Blakemore Kenneth 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTIn many urban communities the fastest-growing groups of old people are those from the various minority racial and ethnic groups. This paper reviews the progress of a range of the new services, clubs and social centres which have been recently developed to meet the needs of the minorities. The services are examined in terms of their objectives, degree of specialisation (by ethnic group, gender and age) and adequacy of resources. As most of these projects have been initiated by voluntary groups and have experienced difficult development problems, the implications of this pattern of growth are assessed. In particular, reasons for the lack of sustained support from government and statutory organisations are discussed. Racial disadvantage affects all the minority groups, though different ethnic groups appear to be developing different strategies for the care of the old. However, prospects for either fully developed alternative services for the minorities or for multicultural services appear to be bleak in the forseeable future.
People Processing: Towards a Typology of Selected General Practitioner Referral and Admission Practices in Care of Elderly People
Authors: Cantley Caroline , Hunter David 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTService providers are able by virtue of the nature of their work to shape how services operate and to influence who receives them. Of the many occupational groups involved in delivering care to the elderly general practitioners perform a pivotal role. While the ‘gatekeeper’ function of GPs is widely acknowledged there is little understanding of how this is actually performed or of the criteria underpinning decisions in regard to referrals and admissions. Old people display a complex of presenting conditions both physical and social with which the GP has to contend. At the same time services do not operate in isolation but interact in many subtle and not so subtle ways. To illustrate these themes the paper identifies and explores a set of considerations that appear to influence a group of GPs' use of services when referring patients to the geriatric service and admitting them to local hospital beds under their control.
Family Relations of Aged Colonial Jews: A Testamentary Analysis
Authors: Kart Cary S. , Engler Carol 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTContent analysis of wills probated in New York State between 1704 and 1799 is used to reconstruct the family relations of aged colonial Jews. The modernisation theory of ageing provides a backdrop for this beginning effort to specify variations in family life in history. In general, regardless of marital status, aged Jewish colonial testators followed a familistic inheritance pattern. Individual wills contained articulated and vindictive bequests. It is suggested that while the Jewish family was an important mechanism for maintaining cultural cohesion and identity, it was also an important support structure in adapting to the realities of a Christian colonial America that was rapidly modernising. Future work in the history of the family relations of aged individuals will have to be comparative.
Tax Problems and the Elderly: Form Filling and Compliance Costs
Authors: James Simon , Lewis Alan , Maloney Julie 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to explore the difficulties elderly taxpayers experience when complying with the tax system operated in the United Kingdom. Some of these problems arise from particular characteristics of the UK system, which are difficult for taxpayers to understand. Results from the survey reported here point to disproportionately high compliance costs experienced by elderly and recently retired taxpayers. The policy implications of these findings are discussed in terms of such matters as the improved distribution of explanatory leaflets and the need for simplification and improved comprehensibility of tax and other bureaucratic literature. Throughout the paper comparisons are drawn particularly between Britain and the USA.
The Social Dynamics of Early Withdrawal from the Labour Force in France
Authors: Guillemard Anne-Marie 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTOut of a vast set of empirical research data about the making of old-age policy (retirement, jobs, way of life) in France since 1945, a sociological interpretation is proposed of the social dynamics that have underlain the exceptional development of programmes for the early withdrawal of elderly persons from the labour force. During a long initial phase, each of the major social actors (the state, the labour unions and the employers' national organisation) attempted to impose its own version of a policy of jobs for older workers. Thereafter (1975–1977), arguments and viewpoints began [gradually] converging. Under pressure from the economy and owing to the new line-up of political forces, all actors agreed, for various reasons, on a policy of literally ‘unemploying’ older workers. The rapid expansion of this policy has plunged French old-age policy not only into a financial crisis, as these so-called ‘pre-retirement’ schemes ate up more than half the unemployment fund in 1984, but also into a crisis of legitimacy and of motivation. As a consequence of this ‘unemployment’ policy, the life-span has been socially redefined and the very meanings of old age and of retirement have been confused.
Adjustment to Retirement: What We Know and What We Need to Know
Authors: Braithwaite V. A. , Gibson D. M. 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTDifficulty in adjusting to retirement has consistently emerged as a problem for approximately a third of retirees. A body of research has converged on a description of the poor adjuster as one in poor health, with inadequate income, a negative pre-retirement attitude, but with an increased likelihood of adaptation over time. Findings relating to other factors such as socio-economic status, occupation, activity, career fulfilment, job satisfaction and work commitment are far less conclusive, with interpretation hampered by a failure to control for the more well established correlates of retirement adjustment. This paper reviews the empirical work in this field, evaluates the goal hierarchy model and the political economy of old age literature as bases for explaining differences in retirement adjustment, and proposes a theoretical framework for future research which brings these two perspectives together.
The Elderly in Poland: An Overview of Selected Problems and Changes
Authors: Synak Brunon 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper draws on gerontological studies conducted in Poland over the last 20 years to outline a number of changes in the socio-economic circumstances of the elderly population. It begins by examining the impact of demographic factors, with particular emphasis on the post-Second World War migrations and the more recent move to the towns, and goes on to describe trends in health and functional status. It is shown that self-assessed health and even life expectancy have decreased over the last five years, and a number of explanations are suggested. The main part of the paper uses national surveys conducted in the 1960s and in the 1980s to identify changes in the family situation of the elderly. Despite an overall reduction in many forms of family support, it is shown that help from parents and children has increased particularly over the last five years. It is concluded that while various services need to be developed along Western lines, this development should be accompanied by a strengthening of various forms of family care.
The Household Structure of the Elderly Population in Britain
Authors: Dale Angela , Evandrou Maria , Arber Sara 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper uses nationally representative data from the General Household Survey for 1980 to investigate the household structure of the elderly in Britain. Household structure is analysed in terms of its relationship to the marital status, age, gender and physical disability of the elderly person. 79% of the elderly either live alone or with their spouse only. As many as 95% of all the elderly in non-institutional accommodation retain their own households – of the rest, the majority move to live with married children, most usually daughters.
Equity and Efficiency in Community Care: Supply and Financing in an Age of Fiscal Austerity
Authors: Davies Bleddyn 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTFrom the confrontation of fiscal austerity and growing needs in the United Kingdom has come a new ideology: ‘efficiency-focused mana-gerialism’. Common arguments and the adaptation of structures to reflect them can be seen in all areas of policy, but nowhere more clearly than in the long-term social care of the elderly, the subject of this paper. Perhaps the strand of policy analysis which most influences and epitomises the new managerialism is the work of the Audit Commission for Local Authorities in England and Wales, whose arguments and proposals have gained great and widespread influence. The commission's ‘three Es’ – economy, efficiency and effectiveness – have become among the most fashionable slogans of our time.
Culture and Consumption among the Elderly: Three Research Objectives in an Emerging Field
Authors: Mccracken Grant 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThe ‘person–object relations’ of the elderly has yet to be fully exploited as an opportunity for gerontological research and insight. We have yet to examine in any exhaustive way how elderly people treat consumer goods and consumption activities as sources of cultural meaning, and how they manipulate this meaning in order to accomplish certain kinds of social and cultural work in their lives. The object of the present paper is to review the emerging field of person–object studies and to note three of the research objectives that emerge from it for the study of people in later life. It will examine the way in which they use objects (1) for mnemonic (aide-mémoire) purposes, (2) to negotiate transitions in self and status definition, and (3) as instruments of cross-generational influence. Each of these questions will be discussed with illustrative material from an ethnographic research project now in progress. Practical implications of each question are noted.
Life-style of Older People: Improvement or Threat to their Health?
Authors: Mertens Frits , Wimmers Michel 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThe transition from independent living to a residential home or to sheltered housing challenges the resilience of all elderly people. This paper reports a study which used longitudinal design, within which 455 Dutch people were interviewed twice a year over a five-year period. Drawn from five different groups, the sample represented people at different stages of independence, ranging from those who needed no assistance through to a group of new residents in an elderly persons' home. The focus was on preparedness for and the adaptation experience of relocation to a dependent setting. A battery of psychological, social and medical measures was employed to produce serial data which were subjected to discriminant analysis. The dominant finding is that attitudes to dependency are central to the maintenance of self-esteem and well-being.
Elderly People in Sweden: Current Realities and Future Plans
Authors: Thorslund Mats , Johansson Lennarth 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThe Swedish population is one of the oldest in the world with the consequence that the country has a very high proportion of long-term institutional beds to meet the care needs of elderly people. Studies of the pathways to institutional care showed that alternative home care options had been given too little consideration and that a quarter of residents could have been satisfactorily supported in the community. The Sundsvall Intervention Programme was based upon a distribution of these research findings to institutions and practitioners, followed by a joint training programme on assessment and resource allocation. The first phase of the intervention yielded an unrealised potential for elderly people to remain at home; but it met continuing resistance from professionals and kin. The exercise indicates the need to combine service innovation with locally relevant systems which engage all of the interested parties – elderly people, their relatives, care providers, service managers and politicians.
Brain, Mind and Dementia: With Particular Reference to Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Kitwood Tom 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTA new theoretical framework for understanding and working with the dementing illnesses of old age is presented, and explicated with particular reference to senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. For several reasons the commonly accepted model, which assumes a simple linear causal relationship between neuropathology and dementia, is inadequate. A more comprehensive model, grounded in a monistic view of the mind-brain relationship, must take into account not only the psychological states that correspond to particular brain states, but also both developmental and pathological aspects of brain structure. Using this we can describe the dementing process, ‘normal’ psychological functioning in old age, pseudodementia and ‘benign senescent forgetfulness’. Further, the scope for some degree of ‘rementia’ is explored.
Mild Dementia: Perceptions and Problems
Authors: Pollitt P. A. , O'Connor D. W. , Anderson I. 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTThe focus of this paper is on the beginnings of dementia – on the grey area where normal and abnormal ageing seem to overlap, but where a diagnosis can be established. We look at a group of elderly people diagnosed as suffering from mild dementia and at the relatives most closely involved with them and whom we had assumed to be their carers. Our principal interest is in the relatives' perception of the deterioration in intellectual function, and in their awareness of and response to problems associated with it. Contrary to expectation, these relatives did not see themselves as carers, or the elderly person as demented. Spouses often saw their partner as no more disabled than themselves; and, more generally, the relationship between them often showed a high degree of reciprocity. Sons and daughters were usually aware of changes in their parents' behaviour but tended to explain them in terms of normal ageing. Improvement in the process of early identification and the creation of more appropriate services are generally seen as desirable. Questions are raised about the usefulness and justification for intervention in a situation which is not yet recognised by those involved as requiring it.
Population Ageing and its Impact Upon Health Resource Requirements at Government and Familial Levels in Japan
Authors: Ogawa Naohiro 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTRapid economic growth in post-war Japan, has been accompanied by unprecedented population ageing. In this paper the impact of Japan's ageing population is analysed in respect of (i) health-care services (ii) allocation of resources to health care and (iii) the manpower requirements to support health in old age. These projections are based upon macroeconomic modelling techniques.