Elderly Members Research Articles

Understanding climate-risk coping strategies among farm households: Evidence from five countries in Eastern and Southern Africa

Climate change is having a catastrophic impact on the livelihoods of farm households in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA). This study employs comprehensive data obtained in 2018 from 4351 farm households in five countries to appraise the key climate hazards experienced by farmers, the risk coping methods adopted, and factor influencing the use of these methods. Although droughts, floods, hailstorms, and crop pests/diseases are major climate-induced risks in ESA, droughts are predominant in all these countries. Farm households in ESA have adopted various strategies to address climate risk, which includes changing farming practices, reducing consumption, using savings and borrowing, and seeking new employment. Farming families headed by a female, married, or an elderly member opt to change farming methods and decrease consumption, whereas they are less inclined to look for alternate livelihood options. Farming families with higher livestock endowments commonly use savings or borrow and are unlikely to change farming methods, decrease consumption, and search for alternate employment. Better-off families tend to change farming methods but are unlikely to adopt other risk coping options. Farming families with non-farm livelihood options are unlikely to change farming methods, use savings/borrowings, or decrease consumption, whereas they tend to search for alternate employment. Training on agriculture and economic status are crucial for climate change adaptation in these regions. Findings exhibit substantial differences among the study countries regarding the adoption of coping strategies. Compared to farmers in Kenya, farmers in other countries change agricultural methods to cope with climate shocks. Ethiopian farmers, compared to their Kenyan counterparts, decrease consumption to deal with climate risks, whereas, farmers in Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique are less likely to use this option. Similarly, the likelihood of seeking alternative employment as a risk coping strategy is lower among Ethiopian farmers, while it is higher among the farmers in other countries.

Demographic, health, and economic transitions and the future care burden.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of infections and deaths worldwide, forced schools to suspend classes, workers to work from home, many to lose their livelihoods, and countless businesses to close. Throughout this crisis, families have had to protect, comfort and care for their children, their elderly and other members. While the pandemic has greatly intensified family care responsibilities for families, unpaid care work has been a primary activity of families even in normal times. This paper estimates the future global need for caregiving, and the burden of that need that typically falls on families, especially women. It takes into account projected demographic shifts, health transitions, and economic changes in order to obtain an aggregate picture of the care need relative to the potential supply of caregiving in low-, middle- and high-income countries. This extensive margin of the future care burden, however, does not capture the weight of that burden unless the quantity and quality of care time per caregiver are taken into account. Adjusting for care time given per caregiver, the paper incorporates data from time-use surveys, illustrating this intensive margin of the care burden in three countries that have very different family and economic contexts—Ghana, Mongolia, and South Korea. Time-use surveys typically do not provide time data for paid care services, so the estimates depend only on the time intensity of family care. With this caveat, the paper estimates that the care need in 2030 would require the equivalent of one-fifth to two-fifths of the paid labor force, assuming 40 weekly workhours. Using the projected 2030 mean wage for care and social service workers to estimate the hypothetical wage bill for these unpaid caregivers if they were paid, we obtain a value equivalent to 16 to 32 percent of GDP in the three countries.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Indonesian Version of Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale for Elderly in Surabaya

Falling is a major health problem and is also a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The more serious consequences of falling on the elderly are the increased risk of injury and fear of falling. Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale is one of the assessment instruments for fear of falling. This instrument is used to assess balance confidence in various ambulation activities. The purpose of this study was to carry out the process of adaptation of the cross cultural ABC English questionnaire to ABC Indonesian. This study was a cross sectional study with participants of five elderly members of the Posyandu Lansia who were in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The output is the correlation between the score of ABC English with ABC Indonesian and the score of ABC Indonesian with ABC English Back Translation which are tested at different times. All the question score in the ABC English questionnaire correlated with ABC Indonesian, as well as the Indonesian Language ABC correlated with ABC English back translation, have a significant correlation (r> 0.3). The conclusion of this study is that the ABC English has a close meaning with the ABC Indonesian and the ABC Indonesian has a close meaning with the ABC English back translation. The validity and reliability of the Indonesian version of ABC questionnaire is needed to obtain a valid and reliable questionnaire.

Care in practice: negotiations regarding care for the elderly in multigenerational Arab Muslim families in Denmark

Recent studies conclude that ethnic minority families in Denmark tend to be dismissive of senior housing and municipal homecare services for elderly family members. A large proportion of Muslim minority families in Denmark attach great importance to caring for the elderly as a tradition and prefer to take care of their own elderly family members at home. Nevertheless, the fact that morality, incentives, and obligations in relation to care for the elderly may be legitimized and/or contested with reference to cultural traditions and Islam has not received much attention in current research. In this article, drawing on material from ongoing ethnographic fieldwork among Arab Muslim families in Denmark, I discuss how cultural and religious backgrounds may determine and influence perceptions and behavior regarding care for the elderly. By observing and engaging in the everyday life of an Arab Muslim family, I explore how caring for elderly people with health problems at home raises specific questions about obligations and triggers negotiations across genders and generations. I argue that besides kinship and ethnicity, it is equally important to consider religiosity in an attempt to learn more about how Arab Muslims care for their elderly family members.

Psychological distress among Egyptian physicians during COVID-19 pandemic.

ObjectiveThe current study's main objective was to measure the prevalence of psychological distress and its associated factors among Egyptian physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceived stressors and coping strategies were also explored.MethodsA cross-sectional study on 714 physicians was carried out using an online administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included sociodemographic and occupational data, data related to the current pandemic, Kessler psychological distress scale, and the brief resilient coping scale. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify significant predictors.ResultsAbout 50% of physicians had severe psychological distress. Among studied physicians, the significant predictors were being female, having a pre-existing illness, having an elderly family member, and being in close contact with a case (AOR 1.6, 1.6, 1.4 and 1.7, respectively). Meanwhile, significant occupational predictors were less experienced and frontline physicians (AOR 2.0 and 1.8, respectively). The most distressful concern was fear for families and personal health and safety, while religious coping was the most effective coping strategy.ConclusionDuring the current pandemic, Egyptian physicians have a high prevalence of psychological distress. Frontline, low-experienced, female, previously ill physicians are more likely to have severe psychological distress. Therefore, psychological preparedness and psychological support services should be implemented and made easily accessible during pandemics.

Determinants of Anxiety And Depression Among Bangladeshi Adults During COVID-19 Lockdown

Background: Human health and well-being are adversely affected by the multidimensional effects of COVID-19. This study examined the prevalence of anxiety and depression, and their association with some less explored factors like perceived and relative health status, having elderly members in the family, fear for own and family future, and others from the Asian context.Methods: Using a cross-sectional online survey, data were collected from the population aged 18 and above years, on socio-demographic and economic attributes, and two separate twelve-item scales were used to assess the level of anxiety and depression. The score of anxiety (x=21.74 and s=8.20; α=0.897) and depression (x=24.38 and s =10.30; α=0.937) were ranges from 12 to 60. High scores of anxiety and depression scales indicate higher levels of anxiety and depression. Both descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed to report the level of anxiety and depression by socio-demographic and other attributes; multivariate linear regression (forwarded method) was used to analyze the effects of each predictor on the anxiety and depression scores.Results: The findings revealed that respondents' concern for their family's future has a significant positive effect on anxiety scores but has a significant negative effect on depression scores; On the other hand, having elderly family members has a significant association with lower anxiety scores but higher depression scores. Poor conditions of (1) perceived physical health status in comparison with others, (2) self-evaluated physical health status, and (3) perceived physical health status in comparison to before COVID-19 lead to significantly higher anxiety scores. Anxiety score remained the most critical factor among all the predictors in explaining depression score. Limitations: Anxiety and depression of all people are not reflected in the results as we used online platforms to collect data. Some misclassifications might occur for using self-reported outcome measures and socially desirable responses collected through the cross-sectional survey. Conclusions: The increased level of anxiety and depression during COVID-19 of adult people in Bangladesh are associated with several factors of which their greater concern about the future of their own and family members and health-related attributes are important. These findings may lead to developing interventions to reduce the psychological crisis during the pandemic in Bangladesh.Funding Information: None.Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.Ethics Approval Statement: The research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration as revised 1989. Informed consent.

Violence among community elderly and its relationship with the nutritional status and sociodemographic characteristics.

To verify the prevalence of violence among elderly community members and its relationship with nutritional status and sociodemographic characteristics. Cross-sectional and analytical study developed with 159 community elderly registered at a Family Health Unit in Recife/Pernambuco between March 2016 and March 2017. The Brazil Old Age Schedule, Conflict Tactics Scales and Mini Nutritional Assessment were used as data collection instruments. Data received descriptive and inferential statistical treatment. Among the elderly classified as with violence, there was a predominance of psychological violence (64.3%), and the majority were at risk for malnutrition (54.3%). There was an association between 'having a partner' and psychological (48.1%; p=0.02) and physical (48.1%; p=0.03) violence. Logistic regression demonstrated that being in a relationship or being malnourished increases the likelihood of suffering psychological violence (OR=2.63; OR=3.67), just as not being working increases the likelihood of physical violence (OR=5.61). Violence was negatively related to the nutritional status of elderly community members.

A study on the impact of psychological empowerment on motivation and satisfaction among the faculty working in the technical educational institutions in India based on age and work

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the impact of PE on motivation and satisfaction varies according to the faculty member's age and work experience. Data were collected from 402 faculty members employed at technical institutions across India. From the results of the study, it is evident that faculty members with above average age exhibited higher PE, motivation and satisfaction. Subsequently, faculty members with above average experience possessed higher level of PE and satisfaction. Further, the implication of these findings suggests that the proposed framework will act as a benchmarking tool to measure the psychological empowerment among the faculty members.

Income Assistance in British Columbia: Reforms Along Basic Income Lines

IA is the Government of British Columbia’s largest income assistance program, with an annual cost of just over $2B and reaching more than 8% of households. It is a program that is very complex to access and has complex eligibility rules and design features. It is also associated with a large amount of stigma and does not foster the financial stability and financial security of its clients. IA is also a poor tool to support those who engage in vital unpaid work (e.g., child care; caregiving for ill, disabled, or elderly family members; volunteering), not only because of the stigma associated with the program but also because the benefit levels are inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to put the IA program through the lens of BI principles to recommend reforms that would move IA closer to BI principles and away from being a “funder of last resort.” Taken together, reforms based on BI principles should make IA a more inclusive program that recognizes the worth of all people. These reforms will also help reduce income poverty rates and poverty depths, preventing poverty, and help those caught in or about to be caught in a poverty trap.

METAMORFOSIS IN THE LIVES OF ELDERLY PEOPLE CARING FOR DEPENDENT ELDERLY IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT Objective: to understand the phenomenon concerning the change in life and routine of elderly family caregivers who care for dependent elderly family members in Brazil. Method: qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, developed with 33 elderly family caregivers, from June to September 2019, in the cities of Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Araranguá, Manaus, Fortaleza and Teresina. Semi-structured interviews were conducted based on the theme of care, facilitating circumstances and difficulties. The analysis of the information was guided by the theoretical-methodological framework of hermeneutics-dialectics. Results: a comprehensive model of the experience of being an elderly caregiver of a dependent elderly family member. This process was part of two categories: "Assuming care" and "Unmet needs". The facilitating circumstances to assume care were positive emotions and bonds with the older person, acceptance of the disease, stable clinical status and support from health professionals, formal caregivers, domestic employees and family support. The difficulties were when the behavior of the dependent elderly becomes aggressive, experiencing loneliness, poor health, social isolation, financial restrictions and absence of social and health support. Conclusion: elderly caregivers are important agents in the exercise of care for the dependent elderly. When they have support, they can perform the care activities and have time to take care of themselves. However, for the most part, these people give up their lives, withdraw from the labor market, isolate themselves and suffer from the lack of material resources and support from health services.

“Tak vy zhivaya istoriya?”: sovetskiy chelovek na fone tikhoy arkhivnoy revolyutsii pozdnego sotsializma

The article focuses on the changes that occurred in archiving practices after Stalin. Based on the analysis of publications in professional journals for archivists and in popular press — as well as the personal archival collection of Perm activist and local historian Valentina Sokolova — we argue that, as a result of the democratic and humanistic turn in Soviet society after Stalin’s death, late socialism saw a shift in the understanding of who is worthy of having their documents preserved in an archive. Whereas previously only “remarkable” individuals had the right for a private archival collection, now some members of the archivist community began a campaign to collect documents of “ordinary” citizens. The archivists found allies not only among specialists but also among elderly members of the Soviet intelligentsia — participants in the building of socialism, who had no prior connection to historical studies. This shift that we call the “quiet archival revolution” became an integral part of the late Soviet commemorative turn. With the help of the archivists — enthusiasts of the “quiet archival revolution,” elderly activist came to realize their own historical significance and the value of their documents, some of which later made it to the state archival depositories.

Assessing depression, anxiety, stress and associated factors during COVID-19 lockdown among adult population in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

Background: Depression, anxiety, and stress are challenging constraints that can greatly affect mental well-being leading to social, occupational, and physical impairments. Lockdown and social distancing have come to be the norms for preventing and controlling COVID-19, however maintaining these preventive measures for months could add to the burden of mental health. This study aims to assess the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress during COVID-19 lockdown and to identify associated factors among adult individuals in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.Methods: The study utilized a quantitative descriptive design and data were gathered by means of online survey during the 10th week of lockdown. The survey contained demographic queries and other questions helping in identifying possible factors that may led to the three stressors along with DASS-21. A total of 1874 respondents participated in the study. Results: Results revealed the prevalence of depression was (55.2%), anxiety was (64.5%) and stress was (45%), with degrees ranging from mild to extremely severe. Age was noted to negatively correlate with depression, anxiety and stress. The prevalence of DAS is found to be positively correlated with having a family history of depression or anxiety. Additionally, having chronic illnesses has been noted to have a positive relationship with both anxiety and stress. Taking care of an elderly or sick family member have a positive correlation with anxiety.Conclusions: This study highlights the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on depression, anxiety and stress levels among adult population. The findings of this study revealed mild depression, moderate anxiety and mild stress. In more details, near to third of respondents were having moderate to extremely severe depression level. Participants with moderate to extremely severe anxiety comprised nearly half of the sample and one third of respondents were having moderate to extremely severe stress.

Unpaid family caregiving responsibilities, employee job tasks and work‐family conflict: A cross‐cultural study

AbstractEmployment is often undertaken simultaneous with providing unpaid care for an elderly or disabled family member. These dual responsibilities can create substantial inter‐role conflict. The current study considers how these roles affect work‐family conflict by examining: (i) the process which the gender of employees with caregiving responsibilities shapes work‐family conflict and (ii) whether this effect of employee gender is moderated by the societal level of gender egalitarianism. Data were collected from employees with caregiving responsibilities in 33 European countries. Findings suggest that the mediated relationship between gender and work‐family conflict is moderated by gender egalitarianism. As gender egalitarianism increases, women's commitment to caregiving is unchanged, while men, contrary to expectations, provide less caregiving. This gendered effect leads to an adjustment in an employee's job tasks, which in turn, reduces work‐family conflict. Overall, the findings suggest that gender, job tasks and cross‐cultural variables are important considerations at the interface of employment and caregiving.

Factors Associated with Non-Enrollment in National Health Insurance Scheme in Kaski District, Nepal

Health insurance poses a vital role in developing countries, to attain an equitable health outcome to all citizens by ensuring universal health coverage. This study aims to assess the factors associated with non-enrollment in National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in a setting of Nepal. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 492 households (246 non-enrolled and 246 enrolled) of Kaski district, Nepal from May to August 2020. Data were gathered from face-to-face interview. Data were entered in Epi data 3.1 and analysed by using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS16). Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to analyze the data. The household without elderly family members were 2.06 times less likely to enroll in the scheme (AOR=2.060, CI=1.141-3.721, p<0.01). Similarly, non-enrollment increases with the decreasing wealth quintile of the family (AOR=4.312, CI=1.881-9.880, p<0.001). Families who perceived their family health status as fair was more likely to join the scheme than those as a good health status. Households who had poor or average knowledge on the scheme were almost five times more likely to non-enrollment (AOR=4.641, CI=2.841-7.582, p <0.001). Factors that determine the non-enrolment in NHIS are households had without elderly family members, poor wealth quintile, self-perceived good health status and poor knowledge on NHIS. Effective coordination from different stakeholders need to increase the health insurance coverage and increase the health literacy through the wide coverage of health communication program.

Familial and socio-cultural barriers in maintaining tobacco-free homes in Bangladesh: a comparative cross-sectional study

ObjectivesChildren, pregnant women and the elderly at a global level are all being dangerously exposed to tobacco use in the household (HH). However, there is no understanding of the familial...

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Indonesian Version of Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale for Elderly in Surabaya

Falling is a major health problem and is also a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The more serious consequences of falling on the elderly are the increased risk of injury and fear of falling. Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale is one of the assessment instruments for fear of falling. This instrument is used to assess balance confidence in various ambulation activities. The purpose of this study was to carry out the process of adaptation of the cross cultural ABC English questionnaire to ABC Indonesian. This study was a cross sectional study with participants of five elderly members of the Posyandu Lansia who were in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The output is the correlation between the score of ABC English with ABC Indonesian and the score of ABC Indonesian with ABC English Back Translation which are tested at different times. All the question score in the ABC English questionnaire correlated with ABC Indonesian, as well as the Indonesian Language ABC correlated with ABC English back translation, have a significant correlation (r> 0.3). The conclusion of this study is that the ABC English has a close meaning with the ABC Indonesian and the ABC Indonesian has a close meaning with the ABC English back translation. The validity and reliability of the Indonesian version of ABC questionnaire is needed to obtain a valid and reliable questionnaire.

Distribuição espacial de idosos segundo acesso aos serviços de saúde em Uberaba - MG

O presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar a relação espacial do acesso com a distância dos serviços de saúde no município, considerando o número de morbidades e a renda. Trata-se de inquérito domiciliar transversal realizado com 680 idosos comunitários de Uberaba-MG. Foi construído um banco de dados eletrônico no programa Excel e utilizados: instrumento para caracterização sociodemográfica e morbidades; Miniexame do Estado Mental (MEEM); e acesso aos serviços de saúde. Procederam-se às análises descritivas por meio do programa Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), versão 21.0. A análise espacial foi feita no software ArcGIS 10.6. A busca pelo posto de saúde ocorre preferencialmente por homens (23,4%); idade de 60├70 anos (27,1%); e separados (38,4%); e a busca por consultório particular é predominante em mulheres (29,4%); idosos mais velhos (32,2%); e sem companheiro (36,2%). Não houve correlação espacial entre a distância e o número de morbidades e a renda de idosos. Conclui-se que há necessidade de repensar o acesso dessa população aos serviços de saúde públicos, considerando as áreas menos favorecidas dada a distância dos pontos de atenção à saúde e residência dos idosos.

Self-Directed Female Migration in Ghana: Health and Wellness of Elderly Family Caregivers Left Behind. An Ethnographic Study.

Driven by the global economic crisis, families are developing strategies for survival, including self-directed female migration. Female migration has negative and positive impacts on families in rural areas. The purpose of the project was to explore the health and wellness experiences of elderly family caregivers who have female family members who have migrated to improve the status of their families. In this focused ethnographic study, we interviewed elderly family members who had a female family member who migrated outside their community for employment. Participants were enrolled from northern Ghanaian communities known to be economically disadvantaged in comparison to their southern counterparts. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English. Data were analyzed based on thematic content. Majors themes that emerged were reasons for children leaving their families; physical, emotional, and spiritual health; and social and economic struggles. Challenges of family care work undertaken by the elderly in families with emigrated female kin strongly also emerged as a theme. New contextual knowledge was developed about the impact of self-directed female migration on the health and wellness of elderly family caregivers. The information is valuable for the development of culturally appropriate social support and health practices for female migrants and their families.

Service Quality for Sports and Active Aging in Japanese Community Sports Clubs.

(1) Background: This study aims to examine the association between service quality for sports and active aging and the impacts on different age cohorts; (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study used a convenience sample of 545 Japanese community sports club (CSC) members over 60 years old, recruited from across eight CSCs in Japan between 2012–2013. A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure the self-reported health status of the elderly, evaluations to CSCs, demographic characteristics, and information on sports programs; (3) Results: The results of multiple logistic regression showed that domains of general evaluation for sports (OR = 1.942 and 95% CI 1.336~2.824), benefits of sports (OR = 1.659 and 95% CI 1.344~2.047), and management in sports (OR = 1.273 and 95% CI 1.011~1.603) were important for club members aged 60–64, the young-old, and the old-old, respectively. With a reduced model for elderly members, stratified analyses showed a significant impact of service quality for sports on active aged people in the benefits and management domains, regardless of sociodemographic information or club participation behavior; (4) Conclusions: The findings suggest that the services encountered in sports are key to promoting health in a community. Service quality in age segmentation should be considered to promote and manage active aging in the future

Loss of democracy in a cooperative kibbutz industry: ethical dilemmas – an Israeli case study

PurposeThis study aims to examine the changes in cooperative community and kibbutz industry that did not undergo privatization.Design/methodology/approachThis research was based on the case study method, combined with ethnographic interviews and document analysis.FindingsThe findings showed that the industry was highly successful economically, enabling the management to strengthen its authority without sharing information. The decision-making process, thus, became authoritarian, while the community's democratic mechanism was only nominal. This change was also accomplished by cultural transition from cooperative toward more capitalistic values. Management preferred to hire professional workers from the outside without any preference for kibbutz members, causing ethical dilemmas for certain elderly kibbutz members, who felt that the factory had abandoned socialistic ideas.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was conducted only on one kibbutz industry; further research is recommended.Practical implicationsManagement at cooperative organizations needs to realize that in a capitalistic environment, adaptation can cause the organization to lose its cooperative features. To prevent a cultural shift toward capitalistic values, managers need to be socialized and workers persuaded of the importance of cooperative values.Originality/valueThe study is innovative for its focus on loss of cooperative community and managerial style that has not been addressed sufficiently in the literature. This research sheds light on organizational conditions that can cause cooperative communities to lose their democratic and socialistic attributes.