scholarly journals Enjoying the third age! Discourse, identity and liminality in extra-care communities

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1874-1897 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN WEST ◽  
RACHEL SHAW ◽  
BARBARA HAGGER ◽  
CAROL HOLLAND

ABSTRACTExtra-care housing has been an important and growing element of housing and care for older people in the United Kingdom since the 1990s. Previous studies have examined specific features and programmes within extra-care locations, but few have studied how residents negotiate social life and identity. Those that have, have noted that while extra care brings many health-related and social benefits, extra-care communities can also be difficult affective terrain. Given that many residents are now ‘ageing in place’ in extra care, it is timely to revisit these questions of identity and affect. Here we draw on the qualitative element of a three-year, mixed-method study of 14 extra-care villages and schemes run by the ExtraCare Charitable Trust. We follow Alemàn in regarding residents' ambivalent accounts of life in ExtraCare as important windows on the way in which liminal residents negotiate the dialectics of dependence and independence. However, we suggest that the dialectic of interest here is that of the third and fourth age, as described by Gilleard and Higgs. We set that dialectic within a post-structuralist/Lacanian framework in order to examine the different modes of enjoyment that liminal residents procure in ExtraCare's third age public spaces and ideals, and suggest that their complaints can be read in three ways: as statements about altered material conditions; as inter-subjective bolstering of group identity; and as fantasmatic support for liminal identities. Finally, we examine the implications that this latter psycho-social reading of residents' complaints has for enhancing and supporting residents' wellbeing.

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 2711-2731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor K. Johnson ◽  
Ailsa Cameron ◽  
Liz Lloyd ◽  
Simon Evans ◽  
Robin Darton ◽  
...  

AbstractExtra-care housing (ECH) has been hailed as a potential solution to some of the problems associated with traditional forms of social care, since it allows older people to live independently, while also having access to care and support if required. However, little longitudinal research has focused on the experiences of residents living in ECH, particularly in recent years. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of four ECH schemes in the United Kingdom. Older residents living in ECH were interviewed four times over a two-year period to examine how changes in their care needs were encountered and negotiated by care workers, managers and residents themselves. This paper focuses on how residents managed their own changing care needs within the context of ECH. Drawing upon theories of the third and fourth age, the paper makes two arguments. First, that transitions across the boundary between the third and fourth age are not always straightforward or irreversible and, moreover, can sometimes be resisted, planned-for and managed by older people. Second, that operational practices within ECH schemes can function to facilitate or impede residents’ attempts to manage this boundary.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-44
Author(s):  
Jacek Pruszynski ◽  
Jacek Putz ◽  
Dorota Cianciara

The changes that take place in the modern world make it difficult, especially for elderly persons, to adapt to the constantly transforming environment. One of the most effective ways to prevent the marginalization of senior persons and enable their active inclusion in the structures of the society of the 21st century is using the lifelong learning opportunities available to "a person of the third age". Lifelong learning is offered by Universities of the Third Age (U3A). In Poland, the first U3A was founded, at the initiative of Professor Halina Szwarc in 1975 at the Centre of Post-Graduate Medical Education (CPGME) in Warsaw, one of its main goals being to include elderly persons in the lifelong learning system. This unit and other universities of the third age that followed, offer space for personal development and socializing and create appropriate conditions for elderly persons to participate in the social life on a regular basis. For more than 40 years, the U3As in Poland have offered programmes that meet the various needs of senior persons, with activities dedicated to broadening their knowledge, education, personal development, developing skills and interests, spending their free time actively and promoting a healthy lifestyle, thus contributing to preventive gerontology and health in the holistic meaning of the term. One of the factors that could affect the structure and implementation of U3A programmes is the evident feminisation of their students. Because of this, educational programmes and other activities offered to U3A students may be selected mainly to suit female interests, reducing the engagement of men to a minimum. Another possible challenge is ensuring the right team of lecturers.


Author(s):  
Phillippa Carnemolla ◽  
Catherine Bridge

The multi-dimensional relationship between housing and population health is now well recognised internationally, across both developing and developed nations. This paper examines a dimension within the housing and health relationship – accessibility – that to date has been considered difficult to measure. This paper reports on the mixed method results of larger mixed-method, exploratory study designed to measure the impact of home modifications on Health-Related Quality of Life, supported by qualitative data of recipients’ experiences of home modifications. Data was gathered from 157 Australian HACC clients, who had received home modifications. Measurements were taken for both before and after home modifications and reveal that home modifications were associated with an average 40% increase in Health-Related Quality of Life levels. The qualitative results revealed that participants positively associated home modifications across six effect themes: increased safety and confidence, improved mobility at home, increased independence, supported care-giving role, increased social participation, and ability to return home from hospital. This exploratory research gives an insight into the potential for accessible architecture to impact improvements in community health and wellbeing.


Author(s):  
Olena Ivashko

The article tackles the problem of teaching foreign languages to seniors. The general trends in FL education for the third-age learners are outlined. The institutions in which seniors can study foreign languages in Poland are enumerated. The psychological, physiological, methodological and social peculiarities of teaching a foreign language to the third agers are analyzed. Special emphasis is laid upon educational needs of the Third Age learners. Some language learning strategies which help seniors’ foreign language learning are suggested.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-91
Author(s):  
Ctibor Határ

The present scientific study, mostly of theoretical and methodological nature, is intended to penetrate into the near past (and present) of geragogy as a discipline and analyze briefly the process of creating the constitution and methodology in the area of Europe (with emphasis on the Czech and Slovak and German provenance). Emphasis is also placed on theoretical and methodological basis of the current geragogy, covering the subject of investigation, content, objectives and tasks, science-systemic geragogy anchor being a methodological and methodical basis of senior education in various spheres of their individual and social life.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Magdalena Pracka ◽  
Marcin Dziedziński ◽  
Przemysław Łukasz Kowalczewski

AbstractIn recent years have seen increasing percentage of the elderly in the overall population. This has driven the attention to the lifestyle factors that influence the health and quality of life of this social group, including their nutrition and physical activity. Universities of the Third Age (U3A) are a valuable platform for the dissemination and broadening of the knowledge related to these topics. The nutritional habits of 61 U3A students in Poznań were evaluated on the basis of a modified KomPAN questionnaire. Their nutritional status was determined using the body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) indices. Nearly half of the respondents were overweight and 16% had first degree obesity. The WHR index in women was on average 0.8, while in men it was 1.01. Only 13% of the students declared regular eating, with 60% consuming 4-5 meals a day. Women were found to eat snacks between meals more often than men. It was also found that the majority of the elderly do not add salt to ready meals or sweeten beverages with sugars. Taking into account the observed nutritional problems and the occurrence of improper eating habits of the elderly, it is recommended to continue the education on the prevention of common diet-related diseased.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3572
Author(s):  
Lavinia-Maria Pop ◽  
Magdalena Iorga ◽  
Iulia-Diana Muraru ◽  
Florin-Dumitru Petrariu

A busy schedule and demanding tasks challenge medical students to adjust their lifestyle and dietary habits. The aim of this study was to identify dietary habits and health-related behaviours among students. A number of 403 students (80.40% female, aged M = 21.21 ± 4.56) enrolled in a medical university provided answers to a questionnaire constructed especially for this research, which was divided into three parts: the first part collected socio-demographic, anthropometric, and medical data; the second part inquired about dietary habits, lifestyle, sleep, physical activity, water intake, and use of alcohol and cigarettes; and the third part collected information about nutrition-related data and the consumption of fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, and sweets. Data were analysed using SPSS v24. Students usually slept M = 6.71 ± 1.52 h/day, and one-third had self-imposed diet restrictions to control their weight. For both genders, the most important meal was lunch, and one-third of students had breakfast each morning. On average, the students consumed 1.64 ± 0.88 l of water per day and had 220 min of physical activity per week. Data about the consumption of fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, sweets, fast food, coffee, tea, alcohol, or carbohydrate drinks were presented. The results of our study proved that medical students have knowledge about how to maintain a healthy life and they practice it, which is important for their subsequent professional life.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document