Fifty-Five Years of Research Into Older People's Civic Participation: Recent Trends, Future Directions

A pandemic-related affect gap in risky decisions for self and others

The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed large portions of the global populations to increased daily stressors. Research on risky choice in medical contexts suggests that affect-rich choice options promote less-advantageous decision strategies compared with affect-poor options, causing an "affect gap" in decision making. The current experiments (total N = 437, age range: 21-82) sought to test whether negative pandemic-related affect would lower expected-value (EV) maximisation within individuals. In Experiment 1, participants indicated how much they would be willing to pay to avoid specific pandemic experiences (e.g. "not being able to gather in groups"), and then chose among pairs of risky prospects that involved pandemic experiences or subjectively-equivalent monetary losses. EV maximising was lower for pandemic experiences than for equivalent monetary losses. Experiment 2 replicated this finding, and further demonstrated a moderating role of decision perspective. EV maximising was greater in decisions made for another person than in decisions made for oneself. These findings highlight potential strategies for boosting decision making under affect-rich real-world conditions.

"I'm Part of Something That Matters": Exploring What Older Adults Value Through Their Engagement in Age-Friendly Community Initiatives

Older adults' engagement in age-friendly community (AFC) initiatives is considered an essential element of community transformation. However, research on older adults' experiences of engaging in AFC initiatives remains nascent. Based on qualitative interviews with 23 older adult participants from 15 AFC initiatives across four states in the United States (U.S.), our reflexive thematic analysisidentified three themes regarding what participants value from their engagement: (a) social contribution; (b) social connectedness and integration; and (c) staying active and personal growth. Exploring older adults' interest in contributing to, connecting with, and growing in their community can inform recruitment and retention in AFC initiatives.

Older adults, perceived ageism, civic participation and mental health: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVES

This study has three objectives: A) To investigate the relationship of ageism on older adults' civic activities; B) To analyze the influence of ageism on mental health; and C) To explore the impact of civic participation on older adults' mental health.

METHOD

This qualitative study included 782 older people from three different nationalities (Portuguese, Brazilian, and English) ranging in age from 65 to 88. All the interviews went through the process of content analysis.

RESULTS

For the first objective, the findings encompass one high-level theme (Social and individual incompetence), which included social rejection (86%), reduced competence (84%), expectations of failure (83%), and not being able to contribute (77%). For the second objective, findings indicated two overarching categories: Perceived inability, including frustration and impotence (89%), incompetence (77%) and irrelevance (71%); and Perceived distress, including anger (81%), feelings of anxiety (68%); and emotional bursts (63%). For the third objective, the following two high-level themes emerged: Ego-oriented resources, which comprised the development of a sense of purpose (81%), learning cognitive skills (71%), and (A3) practising sense of agency (67%); and Social-oriented resources, encompassing feeling socially integrated (80%); and expressing emotionally (54%). Findings indicated that the most verbalized themes for the three objectives were the same across the three nationalities.

CONCLUSIONS

Ageism made it difficult for people to participate in civic life, which has been linked to better mental health. These findings emphasize the need to encourage inclusive civic involvement to improve older individuals' mental health.

Human values, civic participation, and wellbeing: analysis on their relationship among older Europeans

Introduction

So far, both for the general and older population, research on human values and wellbeing mainly shows correlational associations but does not inquire about the direction of this relationship. This is also true for values and civic participation. Therefore, our objective is to identify the directional association between civic participation and Schwartz values, and between values and wellbeing, among older Europeans.

Methods

A pseudo-panel was created from the cross-sectional data of the European Social Survey (ESS 2002-2018), controlling for gender, age-group, country and level of studies (n = 3926). The data analysis was performed using a cross-lagged model, applying both random-effects and fixed-effects models.

Results

On the one hand, the relationship between participation and values is bidirectional, but the effect of civic participation on values is more significant since participating stimulates the development of certain values. On the other hand, although the relationship between values and wellbeing is also bidirectional, the effect of wellbeing on values is stronger since a given level of wellbeing favors the development of particular values.

Discussion

We conclude that civic participation should be promoted within the older population since it directly increases wellbeing, and moreover reinforces those (Growth-oriented) values that positively influence the health, happiness and life satisfaction of older people.

Civic engagement among foreign-born and native-born older adults living in Europe: a SHARE-based analysis

Civic engagement is one of the cornerstones of participatory democracy and fundamental to preventing old-age social exclusion. Even though civic engagement late-in-life has received considerable attention, there is a lacuna of research on older migrants' civic engagement. This study aims therefore to examine potential predictors of civic engagement in terms of formal volunteering and participation in political organisations among foreign-born and native-born older adults in Europe. Attention is hereby given to how socio-structural resources and social capital are associated with civic engagement, and whether these associations differ between foreign-born and native-born. Data from wave 7 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe [n = 74,150; 5710 of them are foreign-born] were used in multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results show that socio-structural and social capital variables are positively associated with volunteering and participation in political organisations, both in native-born and foreign-born older adults. The study also suggests that place of birth (in Europe vs. outside Europe) and age-upon-migration play a role in predicting civic engagement among foreign-born older adults, and are therefore features worth considering when studying older migrants' civic engagement.

Optimising conditions and environments for digital participation in later life: A macro-meso-micro framework of partnership-building

The ongoing digitalisation of societies, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to increased efforts to ensure the digital inclusion of older adults. Digital inclusion strategies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic predominantly focused on increasing access and basic digital literacy of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for all members of society. Older adults, who are more likely to experience digital exclusion, are amongst the target groups of digital inclusion strategies. We propose that beyond digital inclusion, there is a need to focus on digital participation and optimise opportunities for everyone to participate in communities and society in post-pandemic times. Creative digital skills are the foundation of digital participation and can lead to a variety of contributions. Digital participation offers conditions that support agency and active contributions in a digitalised society. Taking macro-, meso-, and micro-level enablers of digital participation in later life into account, we argue for the establishment and implementation of multi-layered and multisectoral partnerships that address environmental factors (including social and physical dimensions) of digital participation and create opportunities for diverse, meaningful and fulfilling engagement with ICTs in later life. The partnership approach can be used in designing and implementing digital participation programmes and should be further evaluated against the needs and lived experiences of older individuals. Foresighted research is needed to investigate key factors of effective partnerships for optimising environments for digital participation in later life.

Social participation of community-dwelling older adults in western China: A latent profile analysis

Objective

Social participation has become a policy framework to address population aging. However, little is known about the social participation of older adults in western China, and extensive, multicenter, regional research is lacking. This research investigated the profiles of social participation of older adults in western China and explored the characteristics and factors influencing social participation.

Method

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 3 provinces (Chongqing, Sichuan, and Inner Mongolia) in western China from March 2021 to December 2021 and included 3,456 participants aged 60 years or older. Social participation was assessed using the Chinese version of the Impact on Participation and Autonomy Questionnaire (IPA). Latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed to extract latent classes of social participation among older adults in western China. The chi-square test and multinomial regression analyses were used to identify differences between these classes.

Results

Three social participation classes were identified by LPA: high social participation (25.2%), moderate social participation (55.1%), and low social participation (19.7%). Being older, having a primary school education level, having mobility or speaking impairment, using assistive devices, and having a chronic disease were highly associated with the low social participation class (P < 0.05). Furthermore, older adults with no dependence (OR = 0.018, 95% CI = 0.005-0.062) or mild dependence (OR = 0.039, 95% CI = 0.011-0.139) in activities of daily living (ADLs) were less likely to be in the low social participation class. Older adults who were cared for by non-spouse primary caregivers were more likely to be assigned to the moderate social participation group (OR = 2.097, 95% CI = 1.501-2.930) than to the high social participation group.

Conclusions

Most older adults in western China have a moderate level of social participation. Advanced age, reduced ADL ability, reduced speech ability, reduced mobility, and non-spouse care are related to the level of social participation. Healthcare professionals should pay attention to the predictors for different classes, identifying high-risk groups as early as possible.

Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess Social Participation of High Risk-Adults in Germany During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background:

Restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic affect the social participation of people worldwide. Especially those at high risk for a severe disease tend to abstain from social gatherings. While there are a few questionnaires to measure social participation in elderly or chronic patients, a valid survey instrument that includes pandemic-related social participation is needed.

Methods

We developed a social participation questionnaire that aims to assess pandemic-related restrictions in social participation. Items were developed using a theory and literature-based approach and then compiled in a discursive process involving experts and lay people. This was followed by the validation of the questionnaire through a cross-sectional survey on 431 individuals. Items with low item-total correlations and low factor loadings using exploratory factor analysis [EFA] were excluded. Using EFA on the remaining items, the factor structure was retrieved and tested with a confirmatory factor analysis [CFA]. Internal consistency was assessed with Chronbachs α.

Results

Initially, 27 items were developed which were used for validation. 13 items were excluded due to low item-total correlations and factors loadings. EFA of the remaining 14 items revealed three factors which were identified as domains “active social participation,” “wellbeing,” and “restrictions”. CFA showed an acceptable model fit using the three-dimensional structure. Chronbachs α of 0.81 and McDonalds Ω of 0.87 indicate good internal consistency. Correlation analysis showed an association between the developed questionnaire and previously-established participation and mental health scales.

Conclusion

This study suggests that our 14 item questionnaire is of high reliability and validity and can be used to measure social participation during a pandemic.

"It's impossible for them to understand me 'cause I haven't said a word": how women baby boomers shape social participation spaces in old age

The baby boom generation's retirement will change the conceptualization of participation in old age due to their particularities from having experienced a specific socio-historical context. Likewise, the feminization of old age underscores the importance of developing research from the perspectives of gender and critical feminist gerontology. The objective of the present study is to identify and analyze women baby-boomers' conceptualizations about social participation regarding the configuration of social participation spaces. Five discussion groups and five individual interviews were conducted with 56 baby boomers residing in Andalusia (Spain). Here we focus on a separate analysis of the 27 women participating in these settings. The results were organized around four factors: desirability of social participation spaces, adaptation of spaces to preferences, facilitators and barriers in the adaptation of spaces, and the importance of agency in the social participation spaces. Through the analyzed discourse it was observed that participants in this study gave special importance to promoting spaces that involve social contribution, self-management, and self-determination of the spaces, adaptation of access, as well as exercising agency.

Examining subjective well-being among older adults using pain medications

PURPOSE

To examine the relationship between social participation and subjective well-being (SWB) among older adults using pain medications and evaluate the impact of sex on this relationship.

METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using the 2019 National Health and Aging Trends Study data, a nationally-representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older. Individuals were included if they reported taking pain medications for five days or more per week over the last month. Social participation was operationalized using the sum score of four items: visiting family and friends, going out for enjoyment, attending religious services, and participation in other organized activities. SWB was operationalized as a latent variable using four items reflecting positive and negative emotions, and three items reflecting self-evaluation. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationship between key study constructs, as well as the moderating effect of sex on the relationship between social participation and SWB.

RESULTS

A total of 964 (weighted N = 7,660,599) participants were included in the study. Most participants were female (61.3%), White (81.0%), community-dwelling (94.9%) older adults. Confirmatory factor analysis showed appropriate fit for SWB. Social participation had a statistically significant association with SWB (unstandardized regression coefficient = 0.133; 95% CI 0.071, 0.196; p < 0.001) after adjusting for covariates. However, this relationship was not moderated by sex (p = 0.836).

CONCLUSION

Social participation is positively and significantly associated with SWB among older adults using pain medications. Interventions aimed at improving SWB should consider incorporating a social activities component.

Community Participation and Subjective Well-Being of Older Adults: The Roles of Sense of Community and Neuroticism

Participation in community affairs and activities is beneficial to the mental health of older adults. The current study attempted to confirm the mediating role of sense of community (SoC) between community participation (CP) and subjective well-being (SWB), and the moderating role of neuroticism between CP and SoC. A total of 465 older adults aged ≥65 years from China participated in both two-wave online surveys. The self-developed Community Participation questionnaire, the SoC scale, and the Neuroticism subscale were used to assess CP, SoC, and neuroticism, respectively. The four indicators of SWB were assessed by the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale. The results revealed that CP was associated with three indicators of SWB including life satisfaction, positive affect, and depressive symptoms, SoC mediated the above associations, and neuroticism negatively moderated the association between CP and SoC, after controlling for age, sex, education, spouse status, monthly income, and physical health. CP enhances older adults’ SWB through increasing their SoC. When compared to those older adults with a higher score of neuroticism, the enhancing effect of CP on SoC is stronger for those with lower scores of neuroticism.

Social Network Moderates the Association between Frequency of Social Participation and Physical Function among Community-dwelling Older Adults

OBJECTIVE

Social participation is an essential component of active aging. Physical dysfunction is restriction of social participation, but it is inconclusive that improvement of physical function contributes to promote social participation. Therefore, understanding the other factor that moderates the association between physical dysfunction and social participation is important, and social network (i.e., ties with family and friends) may be a key factor. The aims of this study were to investigate the association between physical function and frequency of social participation, with social network as a moderator, and to examine the gender differences on the relationships.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study among 287 community-dwelling older adults. We asked how often they participated in social groups in a week to measure frequency of social participation. Physical function and social network were measured by using the modified version of Short Physical Performance Battery for community-dwelling older adults and the abbreviated Lubben Social Network Scale, respectively. To investigate the association, we performed a linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

After adjustment, a linear regression analysis showed interactions between physical function and social network on frequent social participation (β: -0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.40 to -0.01). Furthermore, the same association was observed only in women (adjusted β: -0.33, 95% CI: -0.65 to -0.02).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggested that social network moderates the association between physical function and social participation, and observed gender differences on the relationships. The findings of this study indicated the importance of multidimensional assessment and measures for improving social participation, not only physical function but also social network.

Active Aging through Volunteerism: A Longitudinal Assessment of Perceived Neighborhood Safety as a Predictor among Older Adults, 2008-2018

Volunteering can play an important role in active aging. The resource theory of volunteering posits that volunteerism depends on human, social, and cultural capital. Benefits of volunteering have been documented at the micro-, meso-, and macrolevels, positively affecting individual older people as well as their local communities and society at large. Taking a process-oriented theoretical approach, this study focused on the mesolevel factor of the environment with the purpose of determining the relationship between perceived neighborhood safety and volunteerism over the course of a decade and the extent to which this relationship differs by gender and race. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study in the United States of America between 2008 and 2018 were used (N = 72,319 adults 60 years and older). Generalized estimating equations (GEE) with robust standard errors were employed while controlling for a number of covariates. A third of the sample volunteered in the past year (33%). The probability of volunteering among older adults who rated their perceived neighborhood safety as excellent was greater compared with those who rated their perceived neighborhood safety as fair/poor after controlling for all other model covariates (ME: 0.03, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.05). Among males rating their perceived neighborhood safety as excellent, the probability of volunteering was higher (ME: 0.04, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.07). Among females, the probability of volunteering was higher among those who perceived their neighborhood safety to be excellent (ME: 0.03, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.05) or very good (ME: 0.02, 95% CI: 0.00, 0.04). White respondents who rated their neighborhood safety as excellent (ME: 0.05, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.07) or very good (ME: 0.04, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.06) had a higher probability of volunteerism. Results were not significant among Black respondents and those who described their race as “other.” This study's process-oriented theoretical approach indicates that initiatives aimed at improving neighborhood safety and older adults' perceptions of neighborhood safety could increase social capital and lead older adults to engage in more volunteering, providing benefits at micro-, meso-, and macrolevels—to older individuals, their local communities, and society at large.

An Overview of Social Participation in Older Adults: Concepts and Assessments

In older adults, social participation is an important component of rehabilitation and health promotion. Several studies have attempted to describe the definition and concepts of social participation, and there were many outcomes to measure social participation. This overview provides information about representative social participation and related concepts that have been defined in the literature. A standardized definition of social participation has not been developed; commonly, recognition for social participation was proposed as focused on involvement in social activities that provide interaction with others in a society or community. Many instruments assess the various aspects of social participation. Because of operational definition and diversity in social participation, performance in social participation was adopted as an aspect of assessment. Further discussions are needed to clarify the definition of social participation and evaluate the instruments used to assess social participation for it to be useful for rehabilitation and health promotion. In doing so, determining and developing assessment and intervention based on the purpose or perspective of social participation in older adults with and without disabilities is important.

An Agile Digital Platform to Support Population Health-A Case Study of a Digital Platform to Support Patients with Delirium Using IoT, NLP, and AI

For an organization to be customer centric and service oriented requires that it use each encounter with a customer to create value, leverage advanced technologies to design digital services to fulfill the value, and assess perceived value-in-use to continue to revise the value as customer expectations evolve. The adaptation of value cycles to address the rapid changes in customer expectations requires agile digital platforms with dynamic software ecosystems interacting with multiple actors. For public health agencies focused on population health, these agile digital platforms should provide tailored care to address the distinct needs of select population groups. Using prior research on aging and dynamic software ecosystems, this paper develops a template for the design of an agile digital platform to support value cycle activities among clinical and non-clinical actors, including population groups. It illustrates the design of an agile digital platform to support clients that suffer from delirium, using digital services that leverage Internet of Things, natural language processing, and AI that uses real-time data for learning and care adaption. We conclude the paper with directions for future research.

Precarity and Aging: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The concept of precarity holds the potential to understand insecurities and risks experienced by older people in the contemporary social, economic, political and cultural context. This study maps existing conceptualizations of precarity in relation to aging and later life, identifies key themes, and considers the use of precarity in two subfields.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

This article presents the findings of a two-phase scoping study of the international literature on precarity in later life. Phase I involved a review of definitions and understandings of precarity and aging. Phase II explored two emerging subthemes of disability and im/migration as related to aging and late life.

RESULTS

A total of 121 published studies were reviewed across Phase I and Phase II. Findings reveal that the definition of precarity is connected with insecurity, vulnerability, and labor and that particular social locations, trajectories, or conditions may heighten the risk of precarity in late life.

IMPLICATIONS AND DISCUSSION

The article concludes by outlining the need for conceptual clarity, research on the unique multidimensional features of aging and precarity, the delineation of allied concepts and emerging applications, and the importance of linking research results with processes of theory building and the development of policy directives for change.

The Differential Impact of Retirement on Informal Caregiving, Volunteering, and Grandparenting: Results of a 3-Year Panel Study

Objectives

Research on retirees’ engagement in informal caregiving, formal volunteering, and grandparenting often views retirement as a permanent exit from the workforce. Retirement processes are, however, increasingly diverse: some retire fully while others remain in paid work after retirement from a career job. A relevant but understudied question is how these different retirement processes relate to changes in engagement in unpaid productive activities. Building on role theory, we hypothesize that full and working retirees face different consequences of retirement and, therefore, differ in engagement in unpaid productive activities.

Method

We analyze data that were collected in 2015 and 2018 among 4,882 Dutch individuals aged 60–65 and employed at baseline. Around half had fully retired at follow-up and 10% worked after their retirement. At follow-up, more respondents are regularly volunteering (from 17% to 27%) and grandparenting (from 39% to 53%) than at baseline, while caregiving remains rather stable (from 33% to 30%).

Results

Conditional change models show that full retirement is associated with an increased likelihood of volunteering and grandparenting, but not caregiving. Engagement in postretirement work is related to an increased likelihood of looking after the grandchildren, but not to volunteering or providing informal care.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that volunteering is important for replacing weak ties after full retirement, while grandparenting might be a new, central role in retirement—irrespective of work engagement. Retirees seem to engage in unpaid productive activities for different reasons.

The Participation of Senior Citizens in Policy-Making: Patterning Initiatives in Europe

Worldwide, active aging policy calls for greater participation of senior citizens in the social, economic, and political realms. Despite emerging evidence of initiatives engaging senior citizens in social activities, little is known about the use of participatory approaches in the design and/or implementation of policies that matter to older citizens. This article identifies initiatives facilitating the civic participation of older people in policy-making in European Union member and associate states, drawing on a review of the literature, consultation of national policy experts, and exemplary case studies. Four main patterns of senior civic participation are identified: adopting consultative or co-decisional participatory approaches in policy design or policy implementation. The four are represented to varying degrees at different geographical levels (national, regional, local), with different actor configurations (appointed, elected/nominated, corporate representation), and with varying degree of institutionalization (temporary/permanent). Case studies illustrate approaches taken to enhance the quality and effectiveness of public services for senior citizens. Future research should strengthen this line of enquiry to cast further light on conditions facilitating the civic participation of senior citizens.

Social participation and physical prefrailty in older Japanese adults: The Shimane CoHRE study

As older adults in an early stage (prefrailty) of frailty may return to a healthy state, it is necessary to examine the prevention of prefrailty. In this context, the number and types of social participation activities associated with physical prefrailty in community-dwelling older adults have remained relatively unexplored. This cross-sectional study investigates this issue by analyzing 616 participants living in Okinoshima, Shimane, a rural area of Japan, in 2019. Frailty was assessed using the 5-item frailty phenotype (unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, weakness, slow walking speed, and low physical activity). Data on social participation were obtained using a questionnaire based on participants' level of involvement with volunteer groups, sports clubs/groups, neighborhood associations, religious organizations/groups, and community elderly salons; their answers were categorized as "yes" if they answered "several times per year or more" and "no" if they answered "never." Binominal logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of prefrailty by the number or types of social participation activities, adjusted for gender, age, body mass index, smoking, medication-taking, educational attainment, working status, and living arrangement. Of the 616 participants, 273 (44.3%) and 28 (4.5%) had prefrailty and frailty, respectively. The analysis showed that the number of social participation activities was significantly associated with lower odds of prefrailty (OR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74-0.94). Regarding the types of social participation, sports clubs/groups were associated with lower odds of prefrailty (OR = 0.47; 95% CI, 0.31-0.73). Participation in neighborhood associations was associated with prefrailty/frailty (OR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.37-0.86). These results suggest that increasing the number of social participation activities or involvement in sports clubs/groups and neighborhood associations may be important to prevent physical prefrailty in the older population.

Chloroquine and its derivatives in the management of COVID-19: A scoping review

Introducción.

Recientemente, investigadores chinos y franceses reportaron la eficacia de la cloroquina y la hidroxicloroquina para inhibir la replicación in vitro del virus SARS-CoV-2. La diseminación oportuna de la información científica es clave en tiempos de pandemia. Es urgente contar con una revisión sistemática sobre el efecto y la seguridad de estos medicamentos en la COVID-19.

Objetivo.

Describir el estado actual de la literatura científica publicada hasta el 25 de marzo de 2020 sobre el uso de la cloroquina o sus derivados en el manejo de pacientes con COVID-19.

Materiales y métodos.

Se hizo una revisión sistemática exploratoria en PubMed, Embase, Lilacs y 15 bases de datos de la Plataforma de Registros Internacionales de Ensayos Clínicos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). Se incluyeron publicaciones empíricas y teóricas en inglés, español, italiano, francés o portugués, y se hizo una síntesis narrativa de los resultados.

Resultados.

Se incluyeron 19 documentos y 24 registros de ensayos clínicos (n=43) de 18.059 pacientes. El 66 % (16/24) de los ensayos están registrados en China. Nueve ensayos evalúan la cloroquina exclusivamente y ocho, la hidroxicloroquina. Los documentos son comentarios (n=9), estudios in vitro (n=3), revisiones narrativas (n=2), guías de práctica clínica (n=2), así como una revisión sistemática, un consenso de expertos y un ensayo controlado.

Conclusiones.

Un ensayo clínico pequeño (n=26), no aleatorizado y defectuoso, respalda el uso de la hidroxicloroquina en pacientes con COVID-19. Se requiere de manera urgente tener acceso a los resultados de otros ensayos clínicos para determinar la efectividad y la seguridad de la cloroquina y sus derivados en pacientes con COVID-19.

How Can the Lived Environment Support Healthy Ageing? A Spatial Indicators Framework for the Assessment of Age-Friendly Communities

The Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Guide was released by the World Health Organization over a decade ago with the aim of creating environments that support healthy ageing. The comprehensive framework includes the domains of outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, housing, social participation, respect and inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, and community and health services. A major critique of the age-friendly community movement has argued for a more clearly defined scope of actions, the need to measure or quantify results and increase the connections to policy and funding levers. This paper provides a quantifiable spatial indicators framework to assess local lived environments according to each Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFC) domain. The selection of these AFC spatial indicators can be applied within local neighbourhoods, census tracts, suburbs, municipalities, or cities with minimal resource requirements other than applied spatial analysis, which addresses past critiques of the Age-Friendly Community movement. The framework has great potential for applications within local, national, and international policy and planning contexts in the future.

Older migrants' civic participation: A topic in need of attention

The number of international migrants around the world has steadily increased, as has the number of people that belong to the older segments of our populations. Due to these demographic transformations, topics that have yet to receive scholarly attention have begun to receive the attention of research communities. This article aims to expand the social gerontological agenda on civic participation in old age by arguing that migratory life courses offer new angles of investigation. By bringing attention to older migrants' civic participation, this article argues also for the expansion of the imagination of migration scholars who have yet to regard civic participation as an angle of investigation worthy of attention when it comes to this population. Thus, by proposing some of the research questions that could be posed if older migrants' civic participation was to be a part of the research agenda of social gerontologists and migration scholars alike, this article proposes that the ways in which these older people chose to engage civically is one of the ways through which we could bring explicit attention to the contributions that they make to their so called 'host' societies.

Lifecourse transitions and participation in political organisations in older Spanish men and women

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of studies addressing older people's political participation. Much of this literature, however, can be criticised for neglecting important aspects of seniors’ political participation, such as its dynamics across the lifecourse, its gendered nature and the influence of the particular socio-political contexts in which participation occurs. In this paper we bring together all these issues to explore the relation between lifecourse transitions and participation in political organisations in Spanish men and women. We conducted life-story interviews with 40 highly engaged older political activists regarding their lifetime story of political commitment, and identified eight different lifecourse transitions affecting their participation in political organisations. Three of these transitions were related to the work domain and five to the family domain. Most of them were clearly gender-dependent, affecting men's and women's engagement in political organisations in different ways and to different degrees. Our study expands on previous research on lifespan-related aspects of political participation by showing that considering biographical, gendered and historical aspects is key to understanding the relationships between life transitions and participation in political organisations across the lifecourse.