Well-being and health from age 70 to 100: findings from the Berlin Aging Study

2001 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
JACQUI SMITH

An individual's personal sense of well-being (SWB) is an indicator of psychological adjustment and successful ageing. Health and functional capacity are viewed as important sources of life quality in old age but very little is known about their effects on SWB over time. Can older individuals maintain SWB despite declining health? Longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study, a locally representative sample of men and women aged 70 to 100+, indicate that cumulative health-related chronic life strains that characterize the Fourth Age set a constraint on the potential of the older individual to experience the positive side of life.

2020 ◽  
pp. 140349482092041
Author(s):  
Agnete Skovlund Dissing ◽  
Naja Hulvej Rod ◽  
Thomas A. Gerds ◽  
Rikke Lund

Aims: To investigate the effects of objectively measured smartphone interactions on indicators of mental well-being among men and women in a population of young adults. Methods: A total of 816 young adults (mean±SD age 21.6±2.6 years; 77% men) from the Copenhagen Network Study were followed with objective recordings of smartphone interactions from calls, texts and social media. Participants self-reported on loneliness, depressive symptoms and disturbed sleep at baseline and in a four-month (interquartile range 75–163 days) follow-up survey. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the association between smartphone interactions and mental well-being separately for men and women. Results: A higher number of smartphone interactions was associated with lower levels of loneliness at baseline and the same pattern appeared for depressive symptoms, although this was less pronounced. A high level of smartphone interaction was associated with lower levels of disturbed sleep for men, but not for women. In follow-up analyses, a high versus low level of smartphone interaction was associated with an increase in loneliness and depressive symptoms over time for women, but not for men. Conclusions: Smartphone interactions are related to better mental well-being, which may be attributed to the beneficial effects of an underlying social network. Over time, accommodating a large network via smartphone communication might, however, have negative effects on mental well-being for women.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trine Lund-Jacobsen ◽  
Peter Schwarz

Abstract Background: Given that BC patients now live longer and have a higher survival rate, long-term side effects of primary treatment and patients' Life Quality (LQ) have become a more central issue. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Life Quality changes after primary BC treatment.Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted including 149 Danish women with BC. Sixty had entered the date since chemotherapy termination and their daily measurement of QoL for mood in the app Bone@BC. All users can only enter the app with a Danish NemID and own mobile device. The app includes self-reported patient baseline characteristics related to BC treatment and simple self-reported data of LQ measured in mood, social life and wellbeing measured by fatigue, pain and appetite and physical activities. Results: During the pilot test period, 149 BC survivors entered baseline data. Of the 149 BC survivors 60 (40%) have entered chemotherapy history and LQ data. The mean age of the BC survivors was 58.2 ±9.6 years (range 27-78 years). Days since chemotherapy termination was with a mean of 450 days (range 54-5.175 days). In group A (n=20) 35% reported 0-365 days and in group B (n=39) 65% reported more than 365 days since chemotherapy termination. In the whole group 65% reported neutral mood. By division into group A vs. B showed that mood improve over time measured by several in group B had a neutral mood achieved. Half (53%) had a good social life. Similar changes were reported for pain with 79% reporting mild to moderate pain in the whole group, group A vs. B showed an increasing level of pain over time with 24% reporting moderate to severe pain in group B vs. 13% in group A. Finally, it was observed that 58% reported mild to moderate appetite and it is decreasing over time, 64% reported mild to moderate appetite in group B vs. 50% in group A. Conclusion: Our results indicate that BC survivors have impaired QoL up to several years after primary BC treatment but there is a trend of some improvement over time. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.grov:NCT03784651


Author(s):  
John Roger Andersen ◽  
Gerd Karin Natvig ◽  
Kristin Haraldstad ◽  
Turid Skrede ◽  
Eivind Aadland ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Norwegian Kidscreen-27 questionnaire, a measure of generic health-related quality of life, in 10 year-old children. The Kidscreen-27 consists of five domains and was validated in a sample of 56 school children (29 boys). The children completed the questionnaire at three different time points during two consecutive school days. For convergent validity, the study was powered to detect a statistically significant correlation coefficient of 0.4. Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.73 to 0.83. Floor effects were all zero and ceiling effects ranged from 1.7% to 23.7%. Intraclass correlation values over time ranged from 0.71 to 0.81. However, some individual variability over time occurred and was illustrated by Bland Altman plots. The domains of physical well-being, psychological well-being and autonomy & parents improved over time (Ps < 0.05), while social support and school environment domains did not. We assessed convergent validity using general life satisfaction scores obtained by administering the Cantrils Ladder. All the Kidscreen-27 domains were significantly associated with general life satisfaction (Spearman rank correlations ranged from 0.29 to 0.59, Ps < 0.05). In conclusion, the Norwegian version of Kidscreen-27 has good reliability and validity.


1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Porzsolt ◽  
Corinne P. Wölpl ◽  
Christine E. Rist ◽  
Renate Kosa ◽  
Gisela Büchele ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avron Spiro ◽  
Raymond Bossé

Is the recent construct of health-related quality of life (HQL) distinct from what gerontologists have long referred to as “well-being” or “life satisfaction?” We addressed this question using data from men in the VA Normative Aging Study to examine relations among twelve scales assessing HQL and seven scales of well-being (WB). We hypothesized that these two constructs would be distinct factorially, and that the derived factors would have different correlates. Correlations between scales of HQL and WB were moderate. When the nineteen scales were factored, four factors were extracted with HQL and WB scales generally loading on separate factors. The factors had distinct patterns of relations with general quality of life, personality, and the presence of a health problem, controlling for sociodemographics. These results suggest that HQL is distinct from the older construct of well-being. Although the two constructs are conceptually related, there is only a moderate amount of statistical overlap between them. Gerontologists should readily adopt health-related quality of life, which maintains continuity with such classics as well-being. This new construct, although needing slight alterations to broaden its assessment of well-being and life satisfaction, holds promise as more than an accessory in the study of health and well-being among older persons.


Author(s):  
Ghazal Aarabi ◽  
Richelle Valdez ◽  
Kristin Spinler ◽  
Carolin Walther ◽  
Udo Seedorf ◽  
...  

High costs are an important reason patients postpone dental visits, which can lead to serious medical consequences. However, little is known about the determinants of postponing visits due to financial constraints longitudinally. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the determinants of postponing dental visits due to costs in older adults in Germany longitudinally. Data from wave 5 and 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe was used. The occurrence of postponed dental visits due to costs in the last 12 months served as the outcome measure. Socioeconomic and health-related explanatory variables were included. Conditional fixed effects logistic regression models were used (n = 362). Regressions showed that the likelihood of postponing dental visits due to costs increased with lower age, less chronic disease, and lower income. The outcome measure was neither associated with marital status nor self-rated health. Identifying the factors associated with postponed dental visits due to costs might help to mitigate this challenge. In the long term, this might help to maintain the well-being of older individuals.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Roger Andersen ◽  
Gerd Karin Natvig ◽  
Kristin Haraldstad ◽  
Turid Skrede ◽  
Eivind Aadland ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Norwegian Kidscreen-27 questionnaire, a measure of generic health-related quality of life, in 10 year-old children. The Kidscreen-27 consists of five domains and was validated in a sample of 56 school children (29 boys). The children completed the questionnaire at three different time points during two consecutive school days. For convergent validity, the study was powered to detect a statistically significant correlation coefficient of 0.4. Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.73 to 0.83. Floor effects were all zero and ceiling effects ranged from 1.7% to 23.7%. Intraclass correlation values over time ranged from 0.71 to 0.81. However, some individual variability over time occurred and was illustrated by Bland Altman plots. The domains of physical well-being, psychological well-being and autonomy & parents improved over time (Ps < 0.05), while social support and school environment domains did not. We assessed convergent validity using general life satisfaction scores obtained by administering the Cantrils Ladder. All the Kidscreen-27 domains were significantly associated with general life satisfaction (Spearman rank correlations ranged from 0.29 to 0.59, Ps < 0.05). In conclusion, the Norwegian version of Kidscreen-27 has good reliability and validity.


Author(s):  
Ulric S. Abonie ◽  
Bregje L. Seves ◽  
Femke Hoekstra ◽  
Trynke Hoekstra ◽  
Lucas H.V. van der Woude ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Activity pacing is a behavioral strategy for coping with fatigue, optimizing physical activity (PA) levels, and achieving a paced approach to lifestyle and sustainable self-regulated exercise practice to optimize health and well-being. Yet little is known about how activity pacing affects PA and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) while controlling for fatigue and demographic characteristics over time in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). This study examined the natural use of activity pacing and how it is associated with PA and HRQOL over time in adults with MS. Methods: Sixty-eight adults with MS (mean ± SD age, 45.2 ± 10.9 years) completed questionnaires on their activity pacing, fatigue, PA, and HRQOL 14, 33, and 52 weeks after rehabilitation. Associations between the variables were examined using multilevel models. Results: No associations were found between activity pacing and PA (β = −0.01, P = .89) or between activity pacing and HRQOL (β = −0.15, P = .09). Conclusions: This study provides an initial understanding of how activity pacing relates to PA and HRQOL in people with MS over time and indicates that there is no clear strategy among adults with MS that is successful in improving PA and HRQOL in the short- or long-term. Persons with MS may benefit from goal-directed activity pacing interventions to improve longitudinal engagement in PA, and the present study provides a foundation for further intervention development.


Author(s):  
Nadezhda S. Pavlova ◽  

The aim of the work is to study time perspective and subjective age as determinants of psychological well-being and health-related life quality of people at the late ontogenesis stage, leading a different lifestyle. Based on the results of the ZPTI Questionnaire (F. Zimbardo), «Age-of-me» (B. Barak), SF-36 «Health status survey» and «Psychological well-being Scales» (К. Riff) the features of the time perspective, subjective age, health self-assessment and psychological well-being are analyzed in groups of pensioners (58–93 years old) leading a different lifestyle: elderly non-working people who receive home-based social services and elderly non-working people which lead an active lifestyle. It is shown that the categories «time perspective» and «subjective age» express a person’s attitude to time, but relate to different aspects of individuality. Subjective age is more connected with the assessment of physical health status — the physical component of health-related life quality. Time perspective is more connected with personal characteristics — psychological component of health-related life quality; psychological well-being. Self-assessment of health and psychological well-being are closely correlated with the attitude to the present and the past. While the future is in a zone of high uncertainty. The younger the subjective age, the higher the indicators of psychological well-being and health-related life quality. An active lifestyle is a resource that allows pensioners to assess biological and social subjective age younger, be more future-oriented, and have higher indicators of health-related life quality. Health limitations and home lifestyle observed in a reduced health self-assessment and close correlations of all the variables studied. The 65–74 years period, compared to the 58–64 and 75–93 years periods, is characterized by higher indicators of life quality, psychological well-being and the predominance of a balanced time perspective. The main changes in the late-aged people life begin after the age of 75: a decrease in all indicators of health-related life quality and psychological well-being (except for «Autonomy»), as well as an increased focus on the «Fatalistic Present». Thus, the research shows the correlations between attitude to time and age and psychological well-being and health self-assessment. There is almost no study of subjective age in our country. Therefore our work allows us to expand knowledge about subjective age in the Russian sample.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Jones ◽  
Alice Theadom ◽  
Philip Prah ◽  
Nicola Starkey ◽  
Suzanne Barker-Collo ◽  
...  

AbstractObjective:The impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) extends beyond the person who was injured. Family caregivers of adults with moderate to severe TBI frequently report increased burden, stress and depression. Few studies have examined the well-being of family members in the mild TBI population despite the latter representing up to 95% of all TBIs.Methods:Five areas of well-being were examined in 99 family members (including parents, partners, siblings, other relatives, adult children, friends or neighbours) of adults (aged ≥16 years) with mild TBI. At 6- and 12-month post-injury, family members completed the Bakas Caregiver Outcomes Scale, Short Form-36 Health Survey, EQ-5D-3L, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Outcomes and change over time and associated factors were examined.Results:At 6 months, group mean scores for health-related quality of life for mental and physical components and overall health status were similar to the New Zealand (NZ) population. Mean scores for sleep, anxiety and depression were below clinically significant thresholds. From 6 to 12 months, there were significant improvements in Bakas Caregiver Outcomes Scale scores by 2.61 (95% confidence interval: 0.72–4.49), health-related quality of life (mental component) and EQ-5D-3L overall health (P = 0.01). Minimally clinically important differences were observed in overall health, anxiety, health-related quality of life and depression at 12 months. Female family members reported significant improvements in physical health over time, and more positive life changes were reported by those caring for males with TBI.Conclusions:The findings suggest diminished burden over time for family members of adults with mild TBI.


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