Understanding In Older Age Research Articles

Negotiating care and control: Pet euthanasia as phronetic action

The lives and deaths of animals living with humans have become increasingly medicalised, and the life of a pet usually ends with euthanasia conducted by a veterinarian. In this paper, I explore how pet euthanasia is understood as a good death in interactions between vets and pet guardians in veterinary practice, provided as an act of care for old and seriously ill or injured animals. Drawing from interviews with vets in Finland, I discuss the ways in which care and control are negotiated in the decisions and practices concerning pet euthanasia, and their implications on understandings of old age and death in animals. I approach the task of euthanising an animal without a prospect of continuing life in Aristotelian terms as phronesis, as knowledge about the right and appropriate ways to act in a certain situation.

Challenging Stereotypes and Celebrating Family Bonds: Analysing the Representation of Older Adults in the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary

Abstract While there is growing interest in representations of older adults across media in general, specific studies of their representation in dictionaries are scarce. This study used content analysis, transitivity analysis and attitude system to explore how older adults’ identities are discursively constructed in the seventh edition of the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (CCD7). On the negative side, CCD7 reveals several stereotypes (e.g., being frail and vulnerable), presenting old age as the antithesis of active youth. On the positive side, CCD7 uniquely highlights the significant role of older adults within the Chinese extended family structure. In addition, CCD7 emphasises that, in Chinese culture, caring for older adults is seen as a familial and social responsibility. Through the lens of CDA, this study contributes to our understanding of old age in lexicographic discourse and promotes inclusive language.

Recognizing the Diverse Faces of Later Life: Old Age as a Category of Intersectional Analysis in Medical Ethics.

Public and academic medical ethics debates surrounding justice and age discrimination often proceed from a problematic understanding of old age that ignores the diversity of older people. This article introduces the feminist perspective of intersectionality to medical ethical debates on aging and old age in order to analyze the structural discrimination of older people in medicine and health care. While current intersectional approaches in this field focus on race, gender, and sexuality, we thus set out to introduce aging and old age as an additional category that is becoming more relevant in the context of longer life expectancies and increasing population aging. We analyze three exemplary cases on the individual, institutional, and public health level, and argue that considering the intersections of old age with other social categories helps to accommodate the diverse identities of older people and detect inequality and structural discrimination.

СМЫСЛ СТАРОСТИ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ПОСТСОВРЕМЕННОГО ОБЩЕСТВА

Objective of the study is a socio-philosophical understanding of old age in modern and post-commercial societies, the marker of which is considered the age of pension provision. The methodological basis of the research is built on the socio-philosophical discourse of old age, as part of personal gerontological identification, using the theoretical and methodological instrumentation of social synergetics.   Research results: the article presents the factors that form the status of the elderly, a retrospective analysis that reveals the attitude of society to old age is conducted, the role of the family in maintaining old age is shown. The factors of the uncertainty of an elderly person identity in the context of a post-commissary society are analyzed. Prospects of the study. The reflective understanding of old age in a post-commissary society is associated with a further deep analysis of its personal-existentialist and socio-cultural patterns.

Narrative Imagination: Dismantling Old Age Through The Literary Foodscape In Lore Segal's "The Arbus Factor"

Being able to take another person's perspective and understanding the Other is a crucial element of reading, understanding, and processing literature. Especially in the context of old age, many literary texts play into the culturally constructed (cf. Gullette 2004) and biased understanding of old age as decline narrative, rather than reading an old person's story as a narrative of possibility. In her short story "The Arbus Factor" which was first published in The New Yorker in 2007, Lore Segal offers a different perspective on aging. Through creating a space, coming into existence through foodways and food practices, which in my dissertation I will refer to as 'literary foodscape,' she offers a setting and backdrop for the characters to construct a discourse of possibility, creation, and new opportunities at a later stage in life. Segal wittily dismantles age-related stereotypes and opens up a discourse that goes beyond an easy categorization. This paper is going to analyze the ways in which a literary text, through the 'literary foodscape' is able to rewrite a culturally engrained perspective, and offers a different and more accurate understanding of what it means to be old. Gullette, Margaret Morganroth. Aged By Culture. The University of Chicago Press. 2004.

Psychometric function for speech-in-noise tests accounts for word-recognition deficits in older listeners.

Speech-in-noise (SIN) understanding in older age is affected by hearing loss, impaired central auditory processing, and cognitive deficits. SIN-tests measure these factors' compound effects by a speech reception threshold, defined as the signal-to-noise ratio required for 50% word understanding (SNR50). This study compared two standard SIN tests, QuickSIN (n = 354) in young and older adults and BKB-SIN (n = 139) in older adults (>60 years). The effects of hearing loss and age on SIN understanding were analyzed to identify auditory and nonauditory contributions to SIN loss. Word recognition in noise was modelled with individual psychometric functions using a logistic fit with three parameters: the midpoint (SNRα), slope (β), and asymptotic word-recognition deficit at high SNR (λ). The parameters SNRα and λ formally separate SIN loss into two components. SNRα characterizes the steep slope of the psychometric function at which a slight SNR increase provides a considerable improvement in SIN understanding. SNRα was discussed as being predominantly affected by audibility and low-level central auditory processing. The parameter λ describes a shallow segment of the psychometric function at which a further increase in the SNR provides modest improvement in SIN understanding. Cognitive factors in aging may contribute to the SIN loss indicated by λ.

Social Isolation and suicidality among elderly in local community : focusing on the difference between young-old and old-old

본 연구는 사회적 고립과 자살행동가능성의 관계가 노년기 단계에 따라 차이를 보이는지 살펴보고자 한다. 본 연구는 사회적 고립의 효과를 직접효과와 우울을 매개로한 간접효과 두 가지로 나누어 분석하였다. 본 연구에서는 노년기를 65-74세의 전기 노년기와 75세 이상 후기 노년기로 구분하여 분석하였다. 본 연구는 2014년 춘천지역 65세 이상 노인을 대상으로 조사한 결과를 활용하여 분석을 실시하였다. 표본 수는 2,034명이며 지역, 성, 연령을 고려하여 할당 표집을 실시하였다. 본 연구의 주요 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 전기 노년기의 경우 사회적 고립의 직접 및 우울을 매개로 한 간접효과 모두 유의미한 것으로 나타난 반면, 후기 노년기의 경우 간접효과만 유의미한 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 우울은 노년기 자살행동가능성에 영향을 미치는 요인이라는 점을 확인하였다. 셋째, 전기 노인집단과 후기 노인집단에서 자살행동가능성에 영향을 주는 요인은 공통적인 것도 있지만 상이한 것도 있다는 점을 확인하였다. 본 연구의 결과에 비추어 볼 때 노년기를 하나의 집단으로 연구하기 보다는 그 특성별로 나누어 연구하는 것이 노년기를 보다 정확하게 이해하는데 기여할 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.The purpose of this study is to examine whether the relationship between social isolation and suicidal behavior is different according to the stage of old age. In this study, the effects of social isolation were analyzed by dividing into direct effects and indirect effects through depression. In this study, old age was analyzed by dividing into young-old age of 65-74 years old and old-old age over 75 years old. The sample of this study was 2,034, and the sample was extracted through allocation sampling considering gender, age, and region. The main results of this study are as follows. First, in the group of young-old age, both the direct effect of social isolation and the indirect effect mediated by depression were found to be significant, whereas in the group of old-old age, only the indirect effect was found to be significant. Second, it was confirmed that depression is a factor influencing suicidal behavior in old age. Third, it was confirmed that although some factors are common affecting suicidal behavior in two groups, others are not. In light of the results of this study, it is proposed that researching old age by dividing it by its characteristics rather than studying it as a single group can contribute to a more accurate understanding of old age.

Total GABA level in human auditory cortex is associated with speech-in-noise understanding in older age

Speech-in-noise (SIN) understanding often becomes difficult for older adults because of impaired hearing and aging-related changes in central auditory processing. Central auditory processing depends on a fine balance between excitatory and inhibitory neural mechanisms, which may be upset in older age by a change in the level of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In this study, we used MEGA-PRESS magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to estimate GABA levels in both the left and right auditory cortices of young and older adults. We found that total auditory GABA levels were lower in older compared to young adults. To understand the relationship between GABA and hearing function, we correlated GABA levels with hearing loss and SIN performance. In older adults, the GABA level in the right auditory cortex was correlated with age and SIN performance. The relationship between chronological age and SIN loss was partially mediated by the GABA level in the right auditory cortex. These findings support the hypothesis that inhibitory mechanisms in the auditory system are reduced in aging, and this reduction relates to functional impairments.

Age-Related Effects on Social Cognition in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Possible Protective Effect on Theory of Mind.

Impaired social cognition has been suggested to underlie the social communication difficulties that define autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In typical development, social cognition may deteriorate in older age, but age effects in ASD adults have been little explored. In the present study, we compared groups of younger and older adults with and without ASD (n=97), who completed a set of social cognition tasks assessing theory of mind (ToM), and self-report measures of empathy and alexithymia. While typically developing (TD) younger adults outperformed elderly TD and younger ASD participants, younger and older ASD adults did not differ in their ToM performance, and the elderly ASD and TD groups performed equivalently. By contrast, ASD adults reported lower empathy scores and higher levels of alexithymia symptoms compared to TD adults regardless of age. The difference between ASD and TD groups in self-reported empathy scores was no longer significant when alexithymia was covaried (with the exception of the Perspective Taking subscore). Results suggest a possible age-protective effect on ToM in the ASD group. In addition, empathy difficulties appear to be associated with alexithymia rather than ASD per se. Possible interpretations are discussed, and future directions for autism aging research are proposed. LAY SUMMARY: People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties with social understanding. Some age-related studies in typical development have shown a decline in social understanding in older age. We investigated whether a similar pattern is present in adults with ASD. We found that understanding what someone is thinking was not worse in older versus younger autistic adults. Also, we reported further evidence suggesting that emotional empathy difficulties were related to difficulties with understanding one's own emotions rather than with autism itself. Autism Res 2021, 14: 911-920. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.

La ocupación en la Gerontología: una perspectiva crítica del Modelo de Ocupación Humana

Desde la Terapia Ocupacional en el campo de la Gerontología, se propone una reflexión crítica sobre el uso del Modelo de Ocupación Humana en el abordaje de la ocupación en el envejecimiento, reconociendo la emergencia de la perspectiva crítica, los aportes del paradigma del curso de vida en la comprensión holística y contextual de la vejez, y la concepción de envejecimiento saludable. Se revisan los postulados principales del modelo en cuanto a la adaptación ocupacional, la volición, la habituación, la capacidad de desempeño y los entornos en la vejez. Se analiza la participación social en actividades significativas de la persona mayor en la construcción de la vida ocupacional y el rol de la narrativa en la adaptación ocupacional en el envejecimiento. Esta reflexión tiene implicaciones en la fundamentación de la intervención ocupacional en el envejecimiento, tanto desde la perspectiva terapéutica como en la promoción de la salud y la calidad de vida de las personas mayores. En definitiva, el análisis favorece el uso del Modelo de Ocupación Humana en la práctica profesional gerontológica.

The Aged Radio Body: Corporeality and Old Age in Beckett'sAll That Fall

This article sets out to examine the aged radio body in Samuel Beckett's All That Fall. Its main argument is that there is a conceptual symbiosis between the radiogenic problematisation of corporeality and the deliberate thematisation of old age in All That Fall. The two main issues explored in this article – which are inextricably intertwined – concern the notion of reluctant corporeality, that is, the idea that the radiophonic body in All That Fall is very real but also frail and therefore resented; and the understanding of old age as a crucial theme that can and should be interpreted in the light of different age theories, such as disengagement theory, irremediable regret, and the réveil mortel.

Актуальность исследования социолингвистического измерения феноменов старости и старения

The author tries to broaden socio-philosophical understanding of old age and aging actualizing the sociolinguistic approach to the problem. The article justifies relevance of studying elderly people’s communicative behaviour using the methodological apparatus of sociolinguistics of aging. Scientific originality of the paper lies in the fact that the researcher justifies the necessity to develop the sociolinguistic approach to the aging problem, which allows formation of a unified gerontological theory. The research findings are as follows: the author substantiates the provision that the geronto-linguistic approach promotes enrichment of socio-philosophical knowledge concerning old age and aging.

Speech-in-noise understanding in older age: The role of inhibitory cortical responses.

Studies of central auditory processing underlying speech-in-noise (SIN) recognition in aging have mainly concerned the degrading neural representation of speech sound in the auditory brainstem and cortex. Less attention has been paid to the aging-related decline of inhibitory function, which reduces the ability to suppress distraction from irrelevant sensory input. In a response suppression paradigm, young and older adults listened to sequences of three short sounds during MEG recording. The amplitudes of the cortical P30 response and the 40-Hz transient gamma response were compared with age, hearing loss and SIN performance. Sensory gating, indicated by the P30 amplitude ratio between the last and the first responses, was reduced in older compared to young listeners. Sensory gating was correlated with age in the older adults but not with hearing loss nor with SIN understanding. The transient gamma response expressed less response suppression. However, the gamma amplitude increased with age and SIN loss. Comparisons of linear multi-variable modeling showed a stronger brain-behavior relationship between the gamma amplitude and SIN performance than between gamma and age or hearing loss. The findings support the hypothesis that aging-related changes in the balance between inhibitory and excitatory neural mechanisms modify the generation of gamma oscillations, which impacts on perceptual binding and consequently on SIN understanding abilities. In conclusion, SIN recognition in older age is less affected by central auditory processing at the level of sensation, indicated by sensory gating, but is strongly affected at the level of perceptual organization, indicated by the correlation with the gamma responses.

Un/re/production of Old Age inThe Taking of Deborah Logan

The article offers a re-examination of abjected femininity and old age through a close reading of The Taking of Deborah Logan (2015), a found footage horror movie centered on spectral possession. While to a large extent the movie replicates an infamous monstrous old woman trope, it also effectively questions typical Alzheimer's disease (AD) narratives, which tend to portray life with AD as a story of unmitigated loss and debility. In The Taking of Deborah Logan, potentially destabilizing moments occur when in the face of progressive loss of control, memory, and bodily functions, the main protagonist is momentarily experienced as resisting the dehumanisation and loss of agency conventionally associated with AD and possession alike. The aim of this article is thus three-fold. The first part sketches the processes through which possession narratives generate a highly ambivalent space for aging femininity in horror film, and how aging, disability, and AD intersect both in popular understanding and in film. In the second part, the author examines how The Taking of Deborah Logan, as a found footage horror, shapes a discussion about selfhood, agency, and monstrous embodiment. Finally, the author argues that it is through the concept of transaging that one can find ways to destabilise traditional understandings of old age, female embodiment, and AD, and offer new narratives that highlight monstrous, if ambivalent, agency.

Društveni aspekti starenja i obolijevanja

With the help of relevant literature the paper analyses social aspects of ageing and getting ill. The author concludes that none of the scientific theories by themselves hold the solution for studying these complex processes and the position of old people in the modern society, and that the interdisciplinary approach is the best. To accomplish the set goal, the article discusses: a) theories that help us understand old age and ageing, and allow us to define social and healthcare policies in everyday conditions, which directly affects the attitude of individuals, families and the society towards the constantly growing group of old and ill people, and b) the understanding of old age and ageing through history and the present which helps affirming those behavior patterns and activities that are an alternative to the one-sided, stigmatizing and at times segregating attitude towards people over 65 years of age. This may help institutional reforms of social and health care systems to allow for a different quality, and in some segments an entirely different attitude towards old people so they would not feel redundant and forsaken by families and the society in the otherwise difficult conditions of transition, as well as to find answers to increasingly more complex and important social, healthcare, legal, economic and ethical questions, in our parts, that are: a) current, b) insufficiently discussed, c) lacking a systematic and comprehensive representation.

The happy elderly as a being-toward-death: a phenomenological research.

Little research has been done on elderly adults from an optimistic perspective. What is it like to be a happy elderly person who is moving toward death? How can we approach their health promotion? This study aimed at exploring ways of being happy in older adults in Chile. We used a phenomenological approach, using Martin Heidegger’s philosophical frame. Participants were chosen after applying the Lyubomirski scale – those who fell into the “happy” category were invited to a semi-structured interview. We identified categories in happy elderly people; such as being autonomous, traveling, dancing, childcare, reading, pets, enjoy material goods. Thus, being able to understand the happy elderly person as being placed in the world without any choice other than accepting life and death as best as possible, with an optimistic regard about the past, an ability to reinvent themselves, and an awareness of being closer to death. There is still not enough knowledge available about the psychological resources that promote a welfare state in old age in juxtaposition with the losses at this stage of life. Studies show that happiness levels in older adults are very good, albeit in a context of high concentration of emotional and material losses, and the imminence of death. Unlike the common standpoint that conceives older adults within a biomedical framework, we believe it is necessary to promote an ontological understanding of old age; that is to say an understanding beyond bodily conditions, which includes the meaning of life experiences, and happiness as a tool for active and healthy aging.

Starzeć się z godnością: od doświadczenia straty do owocowania

W praktyce życia i w literaturze przedmiotu uderza antagonistyczne, stanowczo pozytywne lub negatywne ujmowanie starości. Pierwsze ma najczęściej korzenie biblijno-teologiczne, drugie – socjokulturowe. Szukając właściwej postawy wobec własnej i cudzej starości, odkrywamy, że okres senioralny jako czas odnajdywania nowego sensu można tylko wybrać, nie da się go natomiast moralizatorsko zalecić lub nakazać. Główna teza tekstu brzmi, że niepowodzenia w kształtowaniu sensu własnej starości wynikają w dużej mierze z nieprzepracowania strat wiążących się z tą fazą życia. W celu wskazania drogi do godnej starości starano się najpierw zdefiniować stan faktyczny zwany starością czy wiekiem senioralnym (1), następnie omówiono zagadnienie przepracowania zdiagnozowanych strat rzeczywistych i subiektywnych (2), by w trakcie tego celowego procesu dojść do zbierania owoców życia i starości (3) i do przybliżenia próby praktycznej realizacji takiego podejścia (4).

A Construção do Sentido de Envelhecimento para os Assistentes Sociais: uma abordagem contextualista das emoções a partir do cotidiano de trabalho

Este artigo analisou como as relações entre emoções e trabalho, presentes nas falas sobre a assistência social, configuram o sentido de envelhecimento para os profissionais dessa área de atuação em uma instituição de longa permanência para idosos. Articulou-se a abordagem contextualista dos estudos das emoções entremeadas com o processo de constituição subjetiva dos assistentes sociais. Para a coleta de dados foi realizada pesquisa em documentos disponibilizados pela instituição e entrevistas semiestruturadas com a assistente social, duas estagiárias deste segmento profissional e quatro idosos residentes na instituição pesquisada. Os resultados evidenciaram uma polarização entre dois modelos hegemônicos de entendimento da velhice, em que o engajamento emocional atua como a esfera subjetiva que permite a objetivação desse processo de clivagem social. Por meio das análises do engajamento emocional nas atividades de trabalho da assistência social, foram identificadas as práticas organizacionais que reafirmam o modelo de pauperização e de abandono dos idosos na sociedade.

Aging together: dementia, friendship, and flourishing communities

Never in human history have there been so many people entering old age-roughly one-third of whom will experience some form of neurodegeneration as they age. This seismic demographic shift will force us all to rethink how we live and deal with our aging population. Susan H. McFadden and John T. McFadden propose a radical reconstruction of our societal understanding of old age. Rather than categorizing elders based on their cognitive consciousness, the McFaddens contend that the only humanistic, supportive, and realistic approach is to find new ways to honor and recognize the dignity, worth, and personhood of those journeying into dementia. Doing so, they argue, counters the common view of dementia as a personal tragedy shared only by close family members and replaces it with the understanding that we are all living with dementia as the baby boomers age, particularly as early screening becomes more common and as a cure remains elusive. The McFaddens' inclusive vision calls for social institutions, especially faith communities, to build supportive, ongoing friendships that offer hospitality to all persons, regardless of cognitive status. Drawing on medicine, social science, philosophy, and religion to provide a broad perspective on aging, Aging Together offers a vision of relationships filled with love, joy, and hope in the face of a condition that all too often elicits anxiety, hopelessness, and despair.

Reflexão bioética sobre a situação do idoso e sua familia.

The progresses of medicine, by increasing longevity, as well as in geriatrics, by improving the elderly's quality of life led to an understanding of old age based on the therapeutic metaphor. This fact, imbued with positive consequences, yet culturally reinforced by the ideology of perfect health, caused an increasing medicalization of old age, considered a disease to be cured. One of the first perceptions of the human beings' ageing process is gaining awareness of their vulnerability. Individuals start to realize that they no longer have the energy and vitality they once had and, therefore, are more vulnerable and fragile in face of biological or psychological factors tending towards the imbalance. Illness is the exact metaphor of vulnerability and suffering is the bitter face of that experience. The human being is a being destined to die. The death process is part of the life event. For life to be possible, it is necessary for death to take place continuously. During the ageing process, the human being is confronted with other dimensions that may have already been forgotten, due to the feeling of power and Independence experienced during youth and adult life. Today, being old is a problem! In the course of time, people reached naturally old age, for ageing is a part of life. But, in our days, for the first time in History, being old has become a problem. The bottom-line ethical issue is, therefore, socio-cultural. And this because, on one hand, there isn't a place for the elderly in the contemporary society as it used to happen in pre-modern social contexts, and on the other hand, the culture itself does no longer supply (as before) additional symbolic references to help them face this new step of their lives. As such, the principles of Bioethics - autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice - could pave the way towards ethical guidelines that could help third age. General Practice/Family Medicine, as a specialty based on globality and continuity of care, can and should represent an important factor of social integration of the elderly in the community, while fostering their autonomy and reducing their institutionalization in order to achieve a greater quality of life.