Lifestyle Opportunities Research Articles

Exploring Social Determinants of Mental Health of Older Unforced Migrants: A Systematic Review.

Although the vulnerabilities stemming from the intersection of aging and migration are widely recognized, the migration contexts and the factors influencing the mental health of older unforced migrants have received scant attention. This review explores the drivers of unforced migrations in later life and the individual, relational, and structural factors influencing their mental health and well-being. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a systematic search of 7 databases for English peer-reviewed journal articles was conducted. A total of 21 studies were identified and analyzed inductively. The review classified motivations for migration as push factors and pull factors: push factors such as escaping structural inequities in the homeland and pull factors included seeking better lifestyle opportunities and reuniting with family. The positive determinants of mental health included cordial family relationships, paid employment, the presence of a partner, and strong support networks. Advanced age, absence of a partner, lifestyle changes, lack of intergenerational support, poor language proficiency, unfavorable policies, lack of access to resources, and systemic biases negatively affected the mental health of older unforced migrants. The review highlights the need to recognize the diversity among older migrants to develop policies and programs that address their specific circumstances. Recognizing their strengths, rather than focusing solely on their vulnerabilities will help create a more positive and supportive environment, enabling them to thrive in their new communities.

A study of Italian young adults’ transnational mobility to Australia: The reproduction of unequal trajectories in the host society

AbstractIn this article, we examine the mobility patterns of a group of Italian young adults migrating to Australia in the search of new education, labour and lifestyle opportunities. The article represents a contribution to the study of the link between youth mobility and unequal trajectories through the elaboration of a new conceptual framework based on the theory of epistemological fallacy that points to the growing disjuncture between the expectations of individual autonomy and the unequal distribution of resources to achieve them. This conceptual framework contributes to elucidate the paradox of mobility that drives young people between the aspiration to mobility and the reproduction of the structural factors that influence their success. We draw on data from a mixed methods research project examining the mobility of Italian young adults to Australia. Participants imagined mobility as a way of exiting insecurities and precarities in their local context to a more open and meritocratic society, but the analysis of their trajectories in the host country reflects similar patterns of stratification as experienced in the context of origin.

Old-age lifestyles: Patterns of participation in leisure activities and their associations with different forms of capital

As an important dimension of lifestyle, participation in leisure activities can enhance people's quality of life. Thus, pursuing an engaged lifestyle has become an assumed requirement of ageing successfully. People's opportunities to pursue an engaged lifestyle are influenced by their social positions, which are defined by their access to economic, cultural, and social capital. However, lifestyles in very old age and the significance of these forms of capital have not been sufficiently investigated.Against this background, we examined the questions of what lifestyles people pursue in very old age, and how these lifestyles are associated with their access to different forms of capital. Representative data from the NRW80+ study in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, were used. The sample comprised 1863 respondents aged 80 and older, and was carried out in 2017. First, the respondents' patterns of participation in leisure activities, which were used to measure their lifestyles, were identified by applying latent class analysis. Second, the associations between lifestyles and indicators of economic, cultural, and social capital were analysed separately for community- and institutional-dwelling very old adults using logistic regression.Three patterns of leisure activity participation were identified: a digital (16.5%), a sociable (41.0%), and a withdrawn (42.4%) lifestyle. For community-dwelling very old adults with low or medium education and those with low occupational prestige in their last job, the odds of having a withdrawn lifestyle were increased. For both community- and institutional-dwelling individuals, larger social networks were associated with decreased odds of pursuing a withdrawn lifestyle.We conclude that the different forms of capital continue to be related to the lifestyle opportunities of very old adults, but lose their importance for institutional-dwelling individuals. A life course perspective on social inequalities in lifestyle is therefore needed.

Downtown regeneration in Clarksdale, USA (‘Birthplace of the Blues’): Lessons for downtowns and high streets

Clarksdale is a small city in the state of Mississippi, USA, comprising some 16,000 residents. Once prosperous with a focus on agriculture and manufacturing, the city experienced severe economic changes from the 1940s and 1950s onwards. Industrial decline and loss of jobs, a population with low socio-economic profile in national terms, competition from other cities and towns and out-of-centre developments all contributed to a decline in downtown business activities. Around the turn of the 21st century, however, the seeds of downtown regeneration were planted by long-time local residents and by newcomers attracted by the cultural heritage of the locale and lifestyle opportunities. In essence, the regeneration of the downtown area has focused on the recognition that Clarksdale is the ‘Birthplace of the Blues’, with Blues music playing an essential part in the revitalisation process and building on cultural heritage, creative individuals and community efforts. This paper discusses factors contributing to Clarksdale’s regeneration, together with lessons for other downtowns, high streets, main streets and activity centres.

Educational Program “Healthy Lifestyle University” for Medical Students’ Vocational Adjustment Development

The paper describes the design and the essential results of a specially developed educational program “Healthy Lifestyle University”. This program can be viewed as an effective tool of medical students’ lifestyle monitoring as well as social and vocational position development. The program has been designed and implemented in Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University, and successfully tested in the XI open public All-Russian competition of educational institutions of higher education (subordinate to the Ministry of HealthCare of the Russian Federation). The program was the winner in the category “Higher Education Institution of Healthy Lifestyle”. The essential educational components of the program, dedicated to dissemination of medical knowledges and fostering healthy lifestyle in medical students are disclosed in the article. The results of the survey reflect modern medical students’ modus vivendi and the concept of “healthy lifestyle” perceptions, as well as students’ troubles, needs and suggestions for further improvement of healthy lifestyle conditions, facilities and opportunities. These provide essential guidelines for further development of healthy and student-friendly university environment in Russia. The propagated healthy lifestyle set of values and attitudes contributes to vocational adjustment and vocational position formation, as well as personal and vocational selfreflection preparedness development of medical students.

State Senior Games Participant Motivation

Sport provides many benefits to all who participate, from being socially mobile, to challenging one’s physical abilities. It offers opportunities for individual improvement in quality of life, self-confidence, and socialization. The National Senior Games Association (NSGA) exists to assist seniors (50+) in achieving a greater quality of life through activity and positive lifestyle opportunities. As interest in the area of sport motivation for senior adults continues to expand, there is still little information specific to the National Senior Games participants. This research contributes to the sport management literature by providing the basis of generalized information about NSGA participant demographic backgrounds and how they are motivated to participate in the individual state games held each year. Gaining pertinent information concerning the motivations of senior games participants, this study sought to identify specific motivation levels based on gender and the state of participation that may assist local and state organizations in the development and growth of similar events. Using the Sport Motivation Scale-6, demographic, and psychographic information results indicated that participants in different states are motivated differently and that participation is more personally important to women. Both genders were involved for the opportunity to challenge their abilities, improve or maintain their current health, and have a social connection to others. 
 
 Keywords: Senior Sports, National Senior Games, Older Adults, Motivation

Transnational gentrification, tourism and the formation of ‘foreign only’ enclaves in Barcelona

In a context of global-scale inequalities and increased middle-class transnational mobility, this paper explores how the arrival of Western European and North American migrants in Barcelona drives a process of gentrification that coexists and overlaps with the development of tourism in the city. Research has focused increasingly on the role of visitors and Airbnb in driving gentrification. However, our aim is to add another layer to the complexity of neighbourhood change in tourist cities by considering the role of migrants from advanced economies as gentrifiers in these neighbourhoods. We combined socio-demographic analysis with in-depth interviews and, from this, we found that: (1) lifestyle opportunities, rather than work, explain why transnational migrants are attracted to Barcelona, resulting in privileged consumers of housing that then displace long-term residents; (2) migrants have become spatially concentrated in tourist enclaves and interact predominantly with other transnational mobile populations; (3) the result is that centrally located neighbourhoods are appropriated by foreigners – both visitors and migrants – who are better positioned in the unequal division of labour, causing locals to feel increasingly excluded from the place. We illustrate that tourism and transnational gentrification spatially coexist and, accordingly, we provide an analysis that integrates both processes to understand how neighbourhood change occurs in areas impacted by tourism. By doing so, the paper offers a fresh reading of how gentrification takes place in a Southern European destination and, furthermore, it provides new insights into the conceptualisation of tourism and lifestyle migration as drivers of gentrification.

‘I felt like the mountains were coming for me.’—The role of place attachment and local lifestyle opportunities for labour migrants’ staying aspirations in two Norwegian rural municipalities

‘I felt like the mountains were coming for me.’—The role of place attachment and local lifestyle opportunities for labour migrants’ staying aspirations in two Norwegian rural municipalities

‘I felt like the mountains were coming for me.’—The role of place attachment and local lifestyle opportunities for labour migrants’ staying aspirations in two Norwegian rural municipalities

Abstract This article discusses two relatively underexplored topics in international migration research: place attachment processes and staying intentions in the new place of residence. The analysis is based on findings from semi-structured interviews with internal and international labour migrants in two rural Norwegian municipalities. In a study that primarily focused on migrants’ local social inclusion and belonging processes, several migrants on their own initiative brought up and elaborated on the importance of local material aspects (nature, climate, and localisation) and lifestyle options for their local contentment and staying aspirations. The interviewee accounts suggest that numerous factors can influence staying intentions, including social ties, work/career opportunities, local materiality, and lifestyle opportunities. By focusing on processes of place attachment, the findings bring to light some of the mechanisms that may lay behind the common proposition within international migration research that length of residence makes return less likely. The findings on these processes highlight how local contentment—and by extension staying aspirations—can change over time, thereby connecting the usually separated fields of migration and post-migration processes. Moreover, the findings show how local place attachment may also influence international migrants’ aspirations/decisions of internal migration within the new country of residence. Finally, the centrality of lifestyle for staying aspirations and place attachment in these labour migrants’ accounts underline a call by lifestyle migration researchers for increased attention to the role of lifestyle in all kinds of migration. The article’s conclusion notes the findings’ relevance also for urban settings.

The Role of Hybrid Methodologies in Understanding Complex Environmental Issues and Promoting Social Justice

AbstractClimate adaptation research often ignores the broader socio-cultural human sphere within which climate change takes place. Dominant viewpoints on climate adaptation derive from the biophysical world that often excludes social, economic, and political contexts that also connect to biophysical changes. Hybrid methodological mixed methods approaches to climate adaptation provide paradigmatically different questions. This perspective is useful for identifying socio-cultural aspects of climatic adaptation. To demonstrate the power of a hybrid approach for interconnecting human and non-human factors implicated in climate adaptation, we deploy an in-depth case study of N. Benin, West African farmers who increasingly must configure their farming methods to tackle erratic changes in weather. The case study examines the role gender dynamics play in climate adaptation that found few gender differences in the ways male and female farmers perceive the biophysical aspects of climate adaptation on their subsistence farming lifestyle from their initial village climate survey. However, the qualitative components of their study uncovered significant gender differences in socio-cultural adaptation challenges, vulnerabilities, and future lifestyle opportunities. We discuss the transformative policy implications about ignoring gender difference and the importance of taking an intersectional approach to variation in climate adaptation policy making.

Home-based work in cities: In search of an appropriate urban planning response

Home-based work is becoming an increasingly popular form of work in cities, fuelled by technological advances, lifestyle preferences, demographical change and rapid evolution of the knowledge economy. In many cities, particularly those planned and developed with intentional separation of land uses, this return of economic activities to residential neighbourhoods brings along both lifestyle opportunities and spatial challenges. Attempts to formulate appropriate urban planning responses are hindered by the limited understanding of home-based workers’ needs and aspirations, as well as their impacts on the built environment. Responding to this knowledge gap, this paper presents the results of a survey focused on urban planning implications of home-based work within the City of Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia). The findings provide strong evidence of home-based workers’ preferences for neighbourhoods that integrate residential amenities with place-making initiatives to enhance economic performance, networking and collaboration. Several urban planning recommendations are provided in three separate scenarios to facilitate the formulation of strategies prompting a gradual evolution of residential neighbourhoods towards live/work urban environments.

The emergence and utilisation of frailty in the United Kingdom: a contemporary biopolitical practice

AbstractFrailty has recently emerged as a dominant concept against a backdrop of media and governmental narratives that frame the growing ageing population as an economic threat to the current configuration of health care in the United Kingdom (UK). Despite frailty's popularity amongst geriatricians and policy makers, the concept faces resistance from other health-care professionals and older people themselves. This paper draws on the Foucauldian idea of biopower; by suggesting that the contemporary emergence and utilisation of frailty represents a biopolitical practice a number or critical observations are made. First, despite biomedical experts acknowledging ambiguities in the definition of frailty, the concept is presented as a truth discourse. This is driven by the ability of frailty measurements to predict risk of costly adverse outcomes; the capability of frailty scores to enumerate complex needs; and the scientific legitimacy frailty affords to geriatric medicine. Consequently, frailty has become pervasive, knowable and measurable. Second, the routine delineation between frail and robust objectifies older people, and can be said to benefit those making the diagnosis over those being labelled frail, with the latter becoming disempowered. Last, studies show that frailty is associated with increasing wealth inequalities in the UK; however, experts’ suggested management of frailty shifts the focus of responsibility away from ideologically driven structural inequalities towards the frail older person, attempting to encourage individuals to modify lifestyle choices. This neglects the association between lifestyle opportunities and socio-economic deprivation, and the impact of long-term poverty on health. These observations, set against the contemporary political climate of economic austerity, cuts to public services and rationalisation of health resources, bring the urgency of a critical consideration of frailty to the fore.

Evaluating Evidence-Based Strategies to Build and Support Lifestyle Change Programs for People at High Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

This study discusses preliminary outcomes from a subset of national grantees implementing evidence-based engagement strategies to scale the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) and reach people at risk for type 2 diabetes, including population subgroups who experience health or socioeconomic disparities. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted using progress reports submitted in years 1 and 2 by grantees (health departments in 17 states and 4 large cities). Evaluation reports were analyzed using MAXQDA software to identify facilitators and barriers to implementing these strategies. Grantees worked to increase prediabetes screening, testing, referral, and enrollment among vulnerable, high-risk participants. Major strategies implemented included (1) developing tailored marketing plans to reach and engage persons with prediabetes, (2) implementing culturally tailored media campaigns, and (3) funding lifestyle coach trainings and professional development opportunities on motivational interviewing. Media metrics show > 2 million people were reached (increase of 794% from baseline) and > 17,000 people (increase of 86% from baseline) with prediabetes enrolled in programs. Facilitators included partnerships, technical assistance to build capacity, and development of referral policies. Barriers included lack of referral processes, unclear communication among partners, and language barriers in some populations. As grantees worked to increase awareness of prediabetes and extend the reach of the National DPP, they created a network of partners, engaged community stakeholders, and developed activities to sustain the programs by leveraging existing resources. Disclosure Y. Mensa-Wilmot: None. S. Bowen: None. R.I. Brown: None. T. Bonner: None. K.D. Farris: None. G.E. Rutledge: None.

Aspiration, Agency, and the Production of New Selves in a Scottish New Town, c.1947-c.2016.

Narratives of deindustrialization, urban decline and failing public housing and the negative outcomes associated with these processes dominate accounts of post-war Scotland, bolstering the interpretation of Scottish exceptionalism in a British context. Within these accounts working people appear as victims of powerful and long-term external forces suffering sustained and ongoing deleterious vulnerabilities in terms of employment, health, and housing. This article challenges this picture by focusing on the first Scottish new town which made space for working people's aspiration and new models of the self manifested in new lifestyles and social relations. Drawing on archival data and oral history interviews, we identify how elective relocation fostered and enabled new forms of identity predicated upon new housing, new social relations, and lifestyle opportunities focused on the family and home and elective social networks no longer determined by traditional class and gender expectations. These findings permit an intervention in the historical debates on post-war housing and social change which go beyond the materialistic experience to deeper and affective dimensions of the new town self.

‘Black diamonds’, ‘clever blacks’ and other metaphors: Constructing the black middle class in contemporary South African print media

South Africa (SA) has been undergoing a process of transformation since the end of White minority rule (apartheid) in 1994. During this period, various employment and lifestyle opportunities have given rise to a growing Black middle class (BMC). Against this backdrop, the article draws upon an intersectional approach to corpus-assisted discourse studies in order to examine the construction of the BMC in a 1.4 million-word corpus composed of 20 mainstream Anglophone South African newspaper titles published between 2008 and 2014. With the help of the corpus tool AntConc, the article investigates the collocates of ‘black middle class’, ‘black diamonds’, ‘clever blacks’ and ‘coconuts’, classifying results according to semantic categories in order to provide an idea of the multiple but nuanced representations of the BMC in contemporary SA. The analysis finds several lexically rich moralizing and paternalistic discourses that, in accordance with an intersectional perspective, enact a complex pattern of strategies that are simultaneously exclusionary and inclusionary.

The Dependency of People on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

ABSTRACTUnderstanding how people are dependent on Large Scale Marine Protected Areas (LSMPAs) is important for understanding how people might be sensitive to changes that affect these seascapes. We review how resource dependency is conceptualized and propose that it be broadened to include cultural values such as pride in resource status, scientific heritage, appreciation of aesthetics, biodiversity, and lifestyle opportunities. We provide an overview of how local residents (n = 3,181 face-to-face surveys), commercial fishers (n = 210, telephone surveys), and tourism operators (n = 119 telephone surveys) are potentially dependent on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), a region currently experiencing significant environmental, social, and economic change. We found that commercial fishers and tourism operators were dependent not only financially on the GBR, but also because of their age, years in the industry and region, lack of education, and the number of dependents. These stakeholders lacked flexibility to secure alternative employment. All stakeholder groups, regardless of economic imperatives, were dependent on the GBR because of their cultural connections. We propose that resource dependency also provides an umbrella concept to describe the cultural services provided by an ecosystem, which can be described through place-based dependence and place-identity.

Challenges and Barriers to Providing Healthy Lifestyle Opportunities in Child Care Centers

Challenges and Barriers to Providing Healthy Lifestyle Opportunities in Child Care Centers

Withdrawing from amateur Junior ice hockey as a means for optimizing leisure experiences

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to explore amateur Junior ice hockey players’ opportunities to explore leisure interests when pursuing and after withdrawing from Junior level hockey. Participants consisted of 14 former amateur Junior ice hockey players. Each took part in a semi-structured interview. Findings suggested that the demands associated with Junior level hockey can lead to living a less than optimal leisure lifestyle and limited opportunities to explore other leisure interests. Participants had different approaches in their pursuit of Junior hockey, as some voluntarily neglected other leisure interests, while others felt obliged to participate in hockey and developed a negative perception towards hockey. After withdrawing from Junior hockey, participants perceived their leisure lifestyle as optimal and were able to explore and develop new leisure interests. Withdrawing from sport was not associated with negative consequences for former athletes and became an opportune way for participants to optimize their leisure lifestyle.

The role of distributed education in recruitment and retention of family physicians

BackgroundDistributed medical education (DME) programmes, in which training occurs in underserviced areas, have been established as a strategy to increase recruitment and retention of new physicians following graduation to these...

Facilitating health and wellbeing is "everybody's role": youth perspectives from Vanuatu on health and the post-2015 sustainable development goal agenda.

BackgroundProgress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) amongst Pacific island countries (PICs) has seen mixed results. As focus shifts to formulation of new health-related development goals beyond 2015, there is a need for bringing community consultation into this process. For this purpose, Go4Health is a global consortium examining the development of these goals, with Work Package 2 capturing viewpoints of marginalised populations regarding health. This paper examines the perspectives of youth in Vanuatu on essential health needs in the context of the post-2015 development agenda, to make these concerns more visible for their communities, stakeholders and health policy decision makers.MethodsAs part of a larger investigation undertaken in Vanuatu involving 100 residents from various rural and urban communities, this paper explores the perspectives of twenty 17-year old secondary school students gathered through two focus group discussions during September 2013. Questions sought viewpoints across areas including health ideals, essential needs, responsibility for health services and their governance. Focus group discussions were conducted in English and digitally recorded, with resulting transcripts subjected to thematic analysis.ResultsThis youth cohort from Vanuatu had a strong understanding of the social determinants of health. They placed value on all aspects of health, indicating the need for youth to have access to positive lifestyle opportunities (sport, community participation) and also increased protection from the impact of harmful substances and causes of chronic illness. Participants identified barriers to health due to unevenly distributed health services throughout Vanuatu, with members at all levels of society ultimately perceived as responsible for improving health throughout the nation.ConclusionAgainst a background of a weak health system and significant challenges to public health, young people are acutely aware that improving Vanuatu’s health status requires a communal effort. While contributing factors to health depend on actions taken at individual, local, national and global levels, no single actor currently provides enough support to cover all essential health needs. As a consequence, they see health in the Pacific as “everybody’s role”, of importance for the post-2015 sustainable development goal agenda and health policy makers in general.