scholarly journals Crafting Life Stories in Photocollage: An Online Creative Art-Based Intervention for Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Shoshi Keisari ◽  
Silvia Piol ◽  
Talia Elkarif ◽  
Giada Mola ◽  
Ines Testoni
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Developmental Task ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Creative Arts Therapies ◽  
Integrative View ◽  
Creative Art

Creative arts therapies (CAT) provide a safe and creative environment for older adults to process life experiences and maintain personal growth while aging. There is a growing need to make creative arts therapies more accessible to the aging population, as many have limited access to these services. This need has been catalyzed by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tele-CAT offers a possible solution. This study explored the experiences of older adults who participated in an online creative process of digital photocollage based on CAT. Twenty-four Italian and Israeli community-dwelling older adults aged 78 to 92 participated in this research through Zoom teleconferencing software. Transcriptions of the sessions and the art produced through the photocollage were qualitatively analyzed through Thematic Analysis. The findings show that the projective stimuli of digital photographs supported older adults’ narratives and engaged them in a more embodied emotional experience. Participant experiences involved artistic enjoyment within a positive and safe interaction with therapists. The creation of digital photocollages allowed the participants to process their life experiences and create an integrative view of their life, a vital developmental task in late life. These results point to the advantages and challenges of tele-CAT for older adults.

scholarly journals Psychological well-being among older adults during the COVID-19 outbreak: a comparative study of the young–old and the old–old adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
pp. 1365-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. López ◽  
G. Perez-Rojo ◽  
C. Noriega ◽  
I. Carretero ◽  
C. Velasco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Stressful Life Event ◽  
Purpose In Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Young Old

ABSTRACTThe COVID-19 outbreak could be considered as an uncontrollable stressful life event. Lockdown measures have provoked a disruption of daily life with a great impact over older adults’ health and well-being. Nevertheless, eudaimonic well‐being plays a protective role in confronting adverse circumstances, such as the COVID-19 situation. This study aims to assess the association between age and psychological well-being (personal growth and purpose in life). Young–old (60–70 years) and old–old (71–80 years) community-dwelling Spaniards (N = 878) completed a survey and reported on their sociodemographic characteristics and their levels of health, COVID-19 stress-related, appraisal, and personal resources. Old–old did not evidence poorer psychological well-being than young–old. Age has only a negative impact on personal growth. The results also suggest that the nature of the COVID-19 impact (except for the loss of a loved one) may not be as relevant for the older adults’ well-being as their appraisals and personal resources for managing COVID-related problems. In addition, these results suggest that some sociodemographic and health-related variables have an impact on older adults’ well-being. Thus, perceived-health, family functioning, resilience, gratitude, and acceptance had significant associations with both personal growth and purpose in life. Efforts to address older adults’ psychological well-being focusing on older adults’ personal resources should be considered.

scholarly journals Psychological wellbeing and resilience among Egyptian community-dwelling older adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Amira Y. Sharaf ◽  
Hanaa S. Ibrahim ◽  
Ola A. Lachine
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Purpose In Life ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Psychological Wellbeing ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Confounding Variables ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Background: Aging represents a time of significant challenges as well as opportunities for growth. Resilience helps older adults adjust to ongoing demands of aging. Little is known, however, about individual factors that bolster resilience. This study examines the potential contribution of psychological wellbeing in building resilience in older adults.Methods: A sample of 150 community-dwelling older adults was recruited from elder clubs in Alexandria, Egypt. Participant interviews included measures of resilience, psychological wellbeing, as well as measures of physical and psycho-social functioning.Results: Psychological wellbeing and resilience were positively and strongly correlated (r = .70, p < .001). Resilience was significantly associated with five dimensions of psychological wellbeing: mastery of environment (r = .54, p < .001), self-acceptance (r = .53, p < .001), personal growth, and purpose in life (both r = .49, p < .001), and autonomy (r = .36, p < .001). A weak, but significant association was found with the sixth dimension, positive relationship with others (r = .29, p < .001). Adjusting for potential confounding variables, psychological wellbeing remained significantly associated with resilience (β = .59, p < .001). Mastery of environment (β = .23, p < .01), autonomy (β = .20, p < .01), personal growth (β = .19, p < .01), and purpose in life (β = .18, p < .01), were independently influenced resilience among older adults.Conclusions: The findings highlight the adaptive function of psychological wellbeing in boosting resilience among older adults. Nursing strategies to optimize resilience and psychological wellbeing among older adults are delineated.

Experimental examination of worry among older and young adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1177-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Gould ◽  
Lindsay A. Gerolimatos ◽  
Barry A. Edelstein
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Penn State ◽  
Induction Type ◽  
State Worry

ABSTRACTBackground:Worry is experienced by many older adults, yet our understanding of the emotional experience of late-life worry is poor as findings regarding older adults are inferred from findings of studies conducted with young adults. In the present study, we aimed to characterize age differences in affect, self-reported arousal, and physiological arousal experienced during worry.Methods:Fifty-three young (M = 21.4, SD = 2.6 years) and 55 older community-dwelling adults (M = 69.1, SD = 8.1 years) participated in an experimental induction of worry or pleasant/neutral recall. Measures collected included: Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), worry intensity item, Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist-Revised (MAACL-R), Self-Assessment Maniken arousal item, and heart rate. Standardized residual scores were calculated to represent change from baseline for self-report and psychophysiological measures.Results:Older adults had lower trait worry and worry intensity at baseline. A significant age by induction type interaction was found for the MAACL-R subscales of anxiety, depression, hostility, and positive affect. Compared with young adults, older adults experienced smaller changes in emotions in response to the worry induction than in the recall induction. For both worry and recall inductions, older adults exhibited less change in self-reported arousal and interbeat intervals from baseline compared with young adults.Conclusions:Findings from the present study illuminate both similarities and differences in the experience of worry for older and young adults. This study provides preliminary evidence for the characterization of late-life worry as generating less anxiety than worry during young adulthood.

scholarly journals Positive Ageing: to What Extent can Current Models of Wellbeing Categorise the Life Events Perceived as Positive by Older Adults?

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 99-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Killen ◽  
Ann Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Hedonic Model ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Positive Life Events ◽  
Positive Ageing ◽  
Older Populations

Abstract Life expectancy is increasing globally, which makes understanding what contributes to well-being in older adults crucial for social and economic reasons. This is the first study to categorize positive life events in community dwelling older adults, to explore their fit with psychological well-being models. Volunteers self-defined as well (N = 88), completed diaries identifying three positive events daily for 14 days. Diary entries combated negative stereotypes of ageing by describing older adults with active lives contributing to society. Of nine themes identified through thematic analysis of over 3500 events; seven supported existing well-being models, being activities delivering positive affect and life satisfaction (hedonic model) and demonstrating competence, autonomy, relatedness, self-acceptance, purpose in life, and personal growth (eudemonic models). However, two well-supported new dimensions were also identified within the themes ‘interaction with the physical environment’ and ‘personal well-being’. These new dimensions were labelled ‘life-affirmation and ‘mindfulness’. This suggests the existence of additional considerations related to well-being specifically for older populations, which may indicate a need to broaden the existing models.

scholarly journals The Embodied-Enactive-Interactive Brain: Bridging Neuroscience and Creative Arts Therapies

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Vaisvaser
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
The Body ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Creative Arts Therapies ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Integrative View ◽  
Communicative Patterns ◽  
Synchronization Mechanisms ◽  
Neuroplastic Change ◽  
The Brain

The recognition and incorporation of evidence-based neuroscientific concepts into creative arts therapeutic knowledge and practice seem valuable and advantageous for the purpose of integration and professional development. Moreover, exhilarating insights from the field of neuroscience coincide with the nature, conceptualization, goals, and methods of Creative Arts Therapies (CATs), enabling comprehensive understandings of the clinical landscape, from a translational perspective. This paper contextualizes and discusses dynamic brain functions that have been suggested to lie at the heart of intra- and inter-personal processes. Touching upon fundamental aspects of the self and self-other interaction, the state-of-the-art neuroscientific-informed views will shed light on mechanisms of the embodied, predictive and relational brain. The conceptual analysis introduces and interweaves the following contemporary perspectives of brain function: firstly, the grounding of mental activity in the lived, bodily experience will be delineated; secondly, the enactive account of internal models, or generative predictive representations, shaped by experience, will be defined and extensively deliberated; and thirdly, the interpersonal simulation and synchronization mechanisms that support empathy and mentalization will be thoroughly considered. Throughout the paper, the cross-talks between the brain and the body, within the brain through functionally connected neural networks and in the context of agent-environment dynamics, will be addressed. These communicative patterns will be elaborated on to unfold psychophysiological linkage, as well as psychopathological shifts, concluding with the neuroplastic change associated with the formulation of CATs. The manuscript suggests an integrative view of the brain-body-mind in contexts relevant to the therapeutic potential of the expressive creative arts and the main avenues by which neuroscience may ground, enlighten and enrich the clinical psychotherapeutic practice.

Perceived Discrimination, Nativity, and Cognitive Performance in a Multi-ethnic Study of Older Adults: Findings from the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences (KHANDLE) Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Meza ◽  
Rachel Peterson ◽  
Paola Gilsanz ◽  
Kristen M George ◽  
Sunita J Miles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Abstract Background Despite growing research on the association between discrimination and disparities in cognitive aging, an evidence gap remains on how the association varies by racial/ethnic group. This study evaluates the associations of experiences of discrimination with cognitive function and whether these associations varied by race/ethnicity and nativity. Methods Using the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences (KHANDLE) cohort (N=1,712) with approximately equal groups of Black, White, Latino, and Asian community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older, we evaluated the associations between self-reported experiences of everyday and major lifetime discrimination with overall cognitive performance and domain-specific cognition (verbal episodic memory, semantic memory and executive functioning) across race/ethnicity and nativity. Linear regression models examined the cross-sectional association between self-reported experiences of everyday and major lifetime discrimination with z-standardized coefficients for cognition. We tested for effect modification by race and nativity. All models controlled for age, sex and education. Results Among KHANDLE participants (mean age: 76 years; standard deviation: 6.8), everyday discrimination was not associated with cognitive scores. Major lifetime discrimination was associated with better average cognitive scores among Black participants but not among other racial/ethnic groups. Major lifetime discrimination was associated with better average cognitive scores among US-born but not among non-US born individuals. Conclusion Our findings do not imply that discrimination improves cognition, but rather suggest that future research should include more detailed measures on discrimination and unfair treatment that could help disentangle the extent to which relationships are causal or reflect some other underlying factor.

Predictors of the importance of everyday preferences for older adults with cognitive impairment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
James M. Wilkins ◽  
Joseph J. Locascio ◽  
Jeanette M. Gunther ◽  
Liang Yap ◽  
Teresa Gomez-Isla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Autonomous Choice ◽  
Importance Ratings ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults ◽  
Everyday Living

ABSTRACT Objectives: Among older people with cognitive impairment and mild dementia, relatively little is known about the factors that predict preferences for everyday living activities and experiences and that influence the relative importance of those activities and experiences. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Participants were recruited from the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (MADRC) Clinical Core longitudinal cohort. Participants: The sample included 62 community-dwelling older adults with cognitive impairment (Clinical Dementia Rating global score ≥ 0.5). Measurements: We used the Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory (PELI) to assess preferences for activities and lifestyle experiences among persons with cognitive impairment. Within-subjects analysis of variance was used to test for significant differences in the mean ratings of importance for four domains of the PELI (“autonomous choice,” “social engagement,” “personal growth,” and “keeping a routine”). Multiple regression models were used to relate predictors, including neuropsychiatric symptoms, to importance ratings for each domain. Results: Significant differences were noted in the mean importance ratings of the preferences domains: “social engagement” preferences were rated as most important, followed by “autonomous choice,” “personal growth,” and “keeping a routine.” For the “social engagement” preferences domain, female sex was significantly associated with higher importance of “social engagement,” while depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale-15 scores) were significantly associated with lower importance. Conclusions: This study adds novel insight into the everyday preferences of community-dwelling older adults with cognitive impairment and highlights the impact of a number of factors, particularly level of depression, on how important various everyday experiences are perceived.

scholarly journals Creative Arts Therapies to Enhance Mental Health Over the Course of Aging: Research and Implications

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 567-567
Author(s):  
Shoshi Keisari ◽  
Nisha Sajnani ◽  
Dovrat Harel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Music Intervention ◽  
Art Making ◽  
Aging Research ◽  
Dance Movement ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Creative Arts Therapies

Abstract The creative arts therapies (CATs) are health care professions that involve the intentional and systematic use of the creative and expressive process of art making to optimize health and well-being. Visual arts, music, dance-movement, drama and poetry provide means of expression to help individuals understand, make sense of, and cope with life challenges within a therapeutic relationship. Older adults develop a better attitude toward CATs, as the creative processes position them as active productive contributors in their own communities, instead of “patients” or “clients”. In this sense, CATs encourage participation, and address the negative attitudes and stigma that are sometimes associated with mental health services. This symposium aims to present a diverse picture of studies on CATs for the aging population. Dr. Nisha Sajnani will present a systematic review of studies on CATs for older adults experiencing depression; Dr. Dovrat Harel will present findings from a qualitative study that explored poems written by poetry groups of men in residential care facilities; Dr. Shoshi Keisari will present an evidence-based model that integrates life-review and drama therapy; Silvia Piol, Talia Elkarif and Giada Mola will present a cross-cultural study that explored the experiences of Italian and Israeli participants during an online intervention that focused on the creation of digital photo-collages during COVID-19; Finally, Racheli Lital Gvili will present a study focused on intergenerational music intervention, as a vehicle to bridge the gap between grandparents and grandchildren, which was conducted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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