How ‘age-friendly’ are rural communities and what community characteristics are related to age-friendliness? The case of rural Manitoba, Canada

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
VERENA H. MENEC ◽  
LOUISE HUTTON ◽  
NANCY NEWALL ◽  
SCOTT NOWICKI ◽  
JOHN SPINA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
World Health ◽  
Community Characteristics ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
The Social

ABSTRACTSince the World Health Organization introduced the concept of ‘age-friendly’ communities in 2006, there has been rapidly growing interest in making communities more age-friendly on the part of policy makers world-wide. There is a paucity of research to date, however, that has examined age-friendliness in diverse communities, particularly in rural communities. The main objective of the study reported in this paper was to examine whether age-friendliness varies across community characteristics, such as a population size. The study was based on surveys administered in 56 communities throughout Manitoba, a mid-Western Canadian province, in the context of a needs assessment process for communities that are part of the Age-Friendly Manitoba Initiative. A total of 1,373 individuals completed a survey developed to measure age-friendliness. Domains included the physical environment; housing options; the social environment; opportunities for participation; community supports and health-care services; transportation options; and communication and information. Community characteristics were derived from census data. Multi-level regression analysis indicated that the higher the percentage of residents aged 65 or older, the higher the ratings of age-friendliness overall and, specifically, ratings of the social environment, opportunities for participation, and communication and information. Moreover, small communities located within a census metropolitan area and remote communities in the far north of the province emerged as having the lowest age-friendliness ratings. These findings suggest that communities are generally responsive to the needs of their older residents. That different results were obtained for the various age-friendly domains underscores the importance of considering age-friendliness in a holistic way and measuring it in terms of a range of community features. Our study further highlights the importance of differentiating between degrees of rurality, as different patterns emerged for communities of different sizes and proximity to a larger urban centre.

scholarly journals Financial strain and stressful social environment drive depressive symptoms, while FKBP5 variant intensifies the effect, in African Americans living in Tallahassee

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kia Fuller ◽  
Clarence C. Gravlee ◽  
Chris McCarty ◽  
Miaisha M. Mitchell ◽  
Connie J. Mulligan
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
The United States ◽  
Financial Strain ◽  
World Health ◽  
Social Stressors ◽  
The Social

AbstractThe World Health Organization estimates that almost 300 million people suffer from depression worldwide. Depression is the most common mental health disorder and shows racial disparities in disease prevalence, age of onset, severity of symptoms, frequency of diagnosis, and treatment utilization across the United States. Since depression has both social and genetic risk factors, we propose a conceptual model wherein social stressors are primary risk factors for depression, but genetic variants increase or decrease individual susceptibility to the effects of the social stressors. Our research strategy incorporates both social and genetic data to investigate variation in symptoms of depression (CES-D scores). We collected data on financial strain (difficulty paying bills) and personal social networks (a model of an individual’s social environment), and we genotyped genetic variants in five genes involved in stress reactivity (HTR1a, BDNF, GNB3, SLC6A4, and FKBP5) in 135 African Americans residing in Tallahassee, Florida. We found that high financial strain and a high percentage of people in one’s social network who are a source of stress or worry were significantly associated with higher CES-D scores and explained more variation in CES-D scores than did genetic factors. Only one genetic variant (rs1360780 in FKBP5) was significantly associated with CES-D scores and only when the social stressors were included in the model. Interestingly, the effect of FKPB5 appeared to be strongest in individuals with high financial strain such that participants with a T allele at rs1360780 in FKBP5 and high financial strain had the highest mean CES-D scores in our study population. These results suggest that material disadvantage and a stressful social environment increases the risk of depression, but that individual-level genetic variation may increase susceptibility to the adverse health consequences of social stressors.

Older adults' perceptions of age-friendly communities in Canada: a photovoice study

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1052-1072 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHEILA NOVEK ◽  
VERENA H. MENEC
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
World Health ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Community History ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

ABSTRACTThe concept of age-friendly communities has garnered international attention among researchers, policy makers and community organisations since the World Health Organization launched its Global Age-friendly Cities Project in 2006. Despite the growth of the age-friendly communities movement, few studies have examined age-friendly characteristics within different community contexts. The goal of the present study was to use a participatory methodology to explore older adults’ perceptions of age-friendliness. The study employed the photovoice technique with 30 community-based older adults in one urban community and three rural communities in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Participants were provided with cameras and took photographs to illustrate the relative age-friendliness of their communities and to generate discussion in interviews and focus groups. Themes from photographs, interviews and focus groups were organised into three broad categories: age-friendly features, contextual factors and cross-cutting themes. The age-friendly features we identified in this study generally correspond to the World Health Organization domains of age-friendliness. In addition, we identified three contextual factors that impact the experiences of older adults within their community environment: community history and identity, ageing in urban, rural and remote communities, and environmental conditions. Finally, independence, affordability and accessibility were identified as cross-cutting themes that intersect with various community features and contextual factors.

IX. The Indonesian Muslim Middle Class in Search of Identity, 1900–1950

Itinerario ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-196
Author(s):  
Kuntowidjojo
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
New Era ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
The Social

The dawn of the twentieth century witnessed a significant development in Indonesian social history in that urban centers replaced the role of rural communities as the loci of change. As much as the colonial demand of land and labour in the nineteenth century had changed the structure of the countryside, the development of commerce and industry inthe twentieth century resulted in the reconstruction of the social life in the centers of those activities Urban population, especially in the large cities of over 100,000, increased rapidly. Basing himself on the 1930 census data, Wertheim noted that in 1930 8 51 percent of the population of Java and Madura lived in 102 urban centers. In the course of a decade from 1920 to 1930 urban population percentage to the total population had increased 1 percent Only in East Java was the development less impressive. There the cities of 25,000 to 50,000 were stagnating, and there was sharp relative and absolute regression in the cities with a 10,000 to 25,000 population. What is more important, according to Wertheim, is the ‘mental climate’ of the urban centers that signified a new era in history

Health Related Quality of Life and Social Support: A Rural Mobilizing for Action Through Planning and Partnerships Feasibility Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandra Story ◽  
Douglas Knutson ◽  
Wei- Kang Kao ◽  
Anna Stuck ◽  
Rachel Shreffler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Life Assessment ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related

Background: Rural communities face geographical health inequities that can reduce quality of life. However, rural communities are thought to have close social networks and higher levels of support. The purpose of the current study was to determine the feasibility of utilizing a social support measure within the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) quality of life assessment process. Methods: Study participants (n=242, mean age: 46.5) completed a demographic questionnaire, Sense of Social Support Scale, and selected questions from the World Health Organization Quality of Life survey. Results: Findings indicate that perceived social support predicts health related quality of life (p=<.001). In terms of social support, keeping in touch with friends and solicitation of help from friends were negatively associated with quality of life (p=.001; p=.018) respectively. The relationship between income level and health related quality of life was statistically significant (p=.018). Implications and Conclusions: Findings indicate that the measurement of social support and health related quality of life can be beneficial within a general rural community sample. Incorporation of social support measures within community based quality of life assessments can assist public health professionals with the development of appropriate programs and services.

Reading and the Social Environment

1983 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-135
Author(s):  
Louise Cherry Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
The Social

The Social Environment of Older, Unmarried Persons

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-147
Author(s):  
Mollie B. Condra
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
The Social

Pelaksanaan Peraturan Pemerintah No. 9 Tahun 1975 dalam Perspektif Sosiologi dan Antropologi Hukum Islam

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muchimah MH
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Marriage Law ◽  
Anthropological Perspective ◽  
Government Regulations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

Government Regulation No. 9 of 1975 related to the implementation of marriage was made to support and maximize the implementation of Law No. 1 of 1974 which had not yet proceeded properly. This paper examines Government Regulations related to the implementation of marriage from the perspective of sociology and anthropology of Islamic law. Although the rules already exist, some people still carry out marriages without being registered. This is anthropologically the same as releasing the protection provided by the government to its people for the sake of a rule. In the sociology of Islamic law, protection is a benchmark for the assessment of society in the social environment. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to find out how the implementation of marriage according to PP. No. 9 of 1975 concerning the Marriage Law in the socio-anthropological perspective of Islamic Law.

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