Swiss Platform Ageing Society

Inter- und transdisziplinär vernetzt für eine hohe Lebensqualität im Alter!

Literatur

12.2023
Forschung
Age and Loneliness: Ruhr Economic Papers #1048

In Europe, it is the elderly who are at the highest risk of loneliness. This is particularly salient since Europe already has a large population of senior citizens and is growing older still. With increasing life expectancy and low birth rates, the proportion of elderly individuals is expected to increase further in the years ahead. Policymakers have generally reacted to these demographic trends and the subsequent need to ensure funding for public pension schemes by postponing entry into retirement. Retirement, as a significant life event at older age, has wide-reaching consequences for individuals. The causal impact of retirement and the increases in pension eligibility ages on various (mental) health outcomes are well covered in the literature. However, scarce evidence exists on the causal effect of retirement on loneliness. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we contribute to the literature by exploiting differences in pension eligibility rules across and within European countries in an instrumental variable framework. This allows us to disentangle endogenous retirement behavior and identify the causal effect of retirement on loneliness. To analyze how the effect evolves over time, we examine both short-term (immediately after retirement) and long-term (four to six years after retirement) effects.

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12.2023
Forschung
The effectiveness of dance movement intervention for older adults with mild cognitive impairment

To synthesize evidence and summarize research findings related to the effectiveness and feasibility of dance movement intervention (DMI) in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and dementia; to systemically map existing research gaps and research directions for future practice.

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12.2023
Forschung
Forschungsbericht: «Bericht im Alter – Bedarf, Angebote und integrative Betreuungsmodelle»

Wie können heute und in Zukunft ältere Menschen möglichst selbstbestimmt und in einem selbst gewählten Umfeld leben können? Das Thema der Betreuung im Alter wird in einem kürzlich publizierten Forschungsbericht des Bundesamts für Sozialversicherungen (BSV) beleuchtet. Ziel dieser Synthesestudie ist es, ein gemeinsames Verständnis von Betreuung zu entwickeln und die verschiedenen Arten von Betreuungsbedarf zu thematisieren. Darüber hinaus werden Betreuungsansätze beleuchtet, die Leistungen verschiedener Akteursgruppen wie Privaten, öffentlicher Hand und professionellen Dienstleistern koordinieren.

Die Förderung der integrativen Betreuung - ein Ansatz, der die ältere Person und ihren Betreuungsbedarf in den Mittelpunkt stellt und die Koordination der verschiedenen Akteure und Angebote beinhaltet – ist eines der Hauptziele der Strategie 2021-2025 des BSVs.

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12.2023
Forschung
Fortschrittsbericht über die Dekade des gesunden Alterns (2021-2023)

Dieser von den Partnern der Vereinten Nationen erstellte Bericht vergleicht zehn nationale Fortschrittsindikatoren für die Dekade. Er befasst sich mit den Fortschritten zwischen 2021 und 2023, den Beiträgen der verschiedenen Interessengruppen und soll die Akteure dazu anregen, bei der Umsetzung der Dekade auf nationaler Ebene zusammenzuarbeiten und ein gesundes Altern zu gewährleisten.

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11.2023
Forschung
Building age-friendly cities cities: East Asia and Pacific regional paper

Four major trends are shaping our world: demographic transition, urban expansion, technological advancement, and frequent shocks from health and climate emergencies. Among the demographic shifts, aging is particularly significant as life expectancy increases, and fertility rates decline. Additionally, the increasing urbanization of the world, with two-thirds of the population projected to live in cities by 2050, exacerbates the impact of aging on urban areas. Furthermore, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterized by widespread integration of information, communication, and technology into our daily lives, has a crucial role in the future of development. Lastly, the simultaneous occurrence of these trends, such as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and growing natural disasters, is having a significant impact on cities, countries, and regions.

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11.2023
Forschung
Do financial hardships affect health? A study among older adults in Switzerland

A growing number of studies have underlined the relationship between socioeconomic status and health. Following that literature, we explore the causal effect of financial hardships on changes in health at older ages. Rather than traditional measures of socioeconomic variables, we study the role of financial hardships. The declarative measurement of financial hardships is particularly relevant for assessing the impact of short-term financial difficulties on health among older adults.

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11.2023
Forschung
Improving the transition of older adults into residential aged care

Objectives: The transition into residential aged care (RAC) is often associated with loss, grief, isolation and loneliness. This scoping review aimed to identify quantitative research which focused on reducing the negative effects associated with transition, thereby improving the transition experience. Methods: A scoping review, which concentrated on quantitative research, was conducted. MEDLINE, CINAHL andPSYCHINFO databases were searched using the initial search terms “olderadults”, “residential aged care” and “transition”. Results: From the 457 original citations identified, four met the inclusion criteria. The interventions used a range of professionals and clinicians, diverse content, and a mixture of outcomes. The content of the more successful studies were underpinned by mental wellness themes and helped to reduce depressive symptoms among new residents. Conclusions: Our review provides a summary of interventions aimed at improving the transition experience for older adults moving into RAC and highlights gaps in the literature. This review is limited by the paucity of quantitative research in this area. Further research is required to address the negative psychosocial effects associated with transition into RAC. Clinical Implications: Assessing which of the transition phases an individual is in can help individualize interventions to reduce negative symptoms relating to transition.

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11.2023
Tailoring Digital Privacy Education Interventions for Older Adults

Although older adults are increasingly adopting digital social technologies, a lack of knowledge and experience makes them vulnerable to digital privacy and security threats. It is, therefore, crucial to build digital privacy education interventions that empower older adults to take more control over their digital privacy. Most tutorials and support materials are designed for the younger generations and are not necessarily as effective for the older population. In this paper, we explore the development of education interventions suited to the learning styles of the older adult population. We particularly develop interventions that span a variety of modalities (text, videos, audio presentations, infographics, comics, interactive tutorials, and chatbots) and evaluate these interventions in a focus group study, gathering feedback from both older and younger adults regarding the education interventions and how to improve them. Our findings demonstrate that there are distinct differences in modality preferences between older and younger adults. In this paper, we discuss our findings and contribute to the development of digital privacy education interventions that are tailored to the specific needs and preferences of older adults.

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11.2023
Forschung
Polypharmacy, physical activity, and sedentary time in older adults

To map out the studies that have investigated the associations of polypharmacy and/or potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use with physical activity and sedentary time in older adults.

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11.2023
Forschung
A systematic review of the measurement properties of aspects of psychological capacity in older adults

Objective: to examine the measurement properties of instruments that have been used to measure aspects of psychological capacity in adults aged 60 years and over. Methods: the databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMCARE and Scopus from 2010 were searched using search terms related to psychological capacity, older persons and measurement properties. Both data extraction and risk-of-bias assessment were conducted using the COSMIN (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments) criteria using Covidence software. Results: the full text of 326 articles were reviewed and a total of 30 studies were included, plus two further articles identified from reference lists (n = 32). No single instrument measuring psychological capacity was identified. Twenty (n = 20) instruments were identified that measure seven constructs of psychological capacity: Resilience; Sense of coherence; Hope; Mindfulness; Optimism; Attachment to life; Emotional regulation. Conclusions: this systematic review identified potential measures of psychological capacity in older adults. The review will inform further work to develop a single comprehensive measure of psychological capacity in older adults.

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10.2023
Forschung
Investigating older adults dietary fibre preferences and the role of targeted educational materials on modulating future dietary fibre intake

The UK has an ever-increasing ageing population; hence, promoting balanced nutrition can have fundamental health and cost benefits. In addition, the majority of older adults' dietary fibre intake is below recommendations this is despite its well-cited benefits; therefore, more emphasis should be placed on identifying viable age-suitable strategies to overcome the associated dietary fibre-related knowledge gap. Accordingly, one hundred and seventy older adults (65-87 years) were recruited to partake in two survey related studies: (1) initial insights (e.g., dietary fibre-related knowledge, awareness, attitudes and behaviour as well as information preferences) were captured to inform the design of educational materials; and (2) the impact of two targeted educational materials on modulating older adults’ future dietary fibre intake was tested. Older adults were willing to learn more about dietary fibre and requested additional information relating to its benefits, recommendations and food-based examples in a clear and accessible format. Therefore, two educational materials (factsheet and practical tips) were developed encompassing key themes. Overall, older adults engaged with the educational materials (regardless of topic and format); thus, demonstrating the potential benefits of this approach going forwards. There was strong agreement with all variables: learning something new, change future dietary fibre intake, format liking, content engaging and share with others as well as the overall experience being cited as useful/helpful. Going forwards, importance should be placed on measuring dietary fibre consumption post engaging with educational materials. In addition, utilising a holistic approach incorporating support from different sources (e.g., health professionals, government, food companies, supermarkets and community) could be fundamental in helping older adults to consume more dietary fibre and subsequently contributing to positive health outcomes.

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10.2023
Forschung
Measurements of Healthy Ageing: Measuring what matters to older persons
10.2023
Forschung
Development and validation of a subjective end-of-life health literacy scale

Personal health literacy is the ability of an individual to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for oneself and others. The end of life is commonly characterized by the occurrence of one or several diseases, the use of many different types of healthcare services, and a need to make complex medical decisions that may involve challenging tradeoffs, such as choices between quality and length of life. Although end-of-life care issues concern most people at some point in life, individuals’ competencies to deal with those questions have rarely been explored. This study aims to introduce, develop, and validate an instrument to measure individuals’ self-assessed competencies to deal with end-of-life medical situations, the Subjective End-Of-Life Health Literacy Scale (S-EOL-HLS), in a sample of older adults aged 50+ living in Switzerland who participated in wave 8 (2019/2020) of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. The S-EOL-HLS uses a series of questions on self-rated difficulties in understanding end-of-life medical jargon, defining in advance which end-of-life medical treatments to receive or refuse, and communicating related choices. Aside from conducting exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate the construct validity, we compared measurements from the S-EOL-HLS to respondents’ general health literacy measured with the European Health Literacy Survey questionnaire. We obtained a three-factor model with acceptable fit properties (CFI = 0.993, TLI = 0.992, RMSEA = 0.083, SRMR = 0.061) and high reliability (α = 0.93). The partial associations between the health literacy scores from the two scales and respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics were similar; however, individuals with higher end-of-life health literacy scores appeared to have more positive attitudes towards end-of-life care planning outcomes. The S-EOL-HLS demonstrates reliable and consistent results, making the instrument suitable for older adults in population surveys.

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10.2023
Forschung
Internet Usage, Frequency and Intensity in Old Age During the COVID-19 Pandemic-A Case Study for Switzerland

This study examines the digital divide among older adults in Switzerland within the rapidly evolving digital environment. It investigates changes in internet usage among this population, focusing on the proportion of users, frequency, and the intensity of their internet usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on Swiss data from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement (SHARE), conducted in 2021, the study analyzes a sample of 1,205 older adults. The findings indicate a growing proportion of internet users over time. It also highlights that gender differences persist but are decreasing. Notably, around 9% of individuals in this study had never used the internet, while recent users exhibited high activity levels, spending an average of approximately two and a half hours online daily. The study identified age, education, employment, living arrangements, and attitudes towards technology as influential factors shaping internet usage among older adults. Importantly, the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a significant impact on internet adoption among this demographic. These findings shed light on the complex dynamics that shape internet usage among older adults and underscore the need to promote digital inclusion and engagement within this population.

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10.2023
Forschung
The willingness of older adults to engage in participatory research

This chapter presents results of a Swiss study concerning the willingness of younger (18–64 years) and older adults (65+ years) to engage in participatory research. Every participatory research approach within the field of aging studies relies on the general willingness of older adults to participate. Therefore, this chapter intends to present empirical findings (based on 1360 participants surveyed in late 2020) regarding the openness and motivations of younger and older adults to engage in participatory research. The results indicate that roughly 49% of all participants, but just 24% of the older group, are open to such projects. In short, the analyses show that younger adults are more open to participation in these projects than older adults. Multivariate analyses indicate that education, socio-cultural activities, and interest in science were specific predictors of willingness to join participatory research projects. The study presented here provides evidence for the potential and barriers to involving older adults as co-creators of scientific research.

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10.2023
Forschung
Co-producing knowledge : reflections from a community-based participatory research project on caring communities to strengthen ageing in place

A key claim of participatory approaches from all theoretical and disciplinary provenances is the goal to build equal research partnerships of scholars and citizens and/or professionals to co-create knowledge that benefits communities or social groups. Valuing and integrating diverse sets of knowledge such as experiences from everyday life and professional practice, contextual, relational, and conceptual knowledge is commonly stated as requisite. However, few accounts exist that provide reflections let alone guidance on the complex doing of co-producing knowledge. The chapter contributes to the development of participatory approaches in ageing research by providing insights from a community-based participatory research project initiating caring communities as a social and health initiative to support ageing in place in Switzerland. We reflect on a three-year research partnership between academics from two universities and residents, professionals, and political leaders in one of the project’s pilot municipalities. We explore which different sets of knowledge emerge in moments of cooperation and how they interact. We identify two forms of interaction between sets of knowledge: (1) working in parallel on clearly assigned tasks and (2) getting into each other to create novel solutions. Participatory research is well positioned to create momentum for a move from mode 1 to mode 2 production of knowledge with inspiration and information flowing in both ways between science and society.

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10.2023
Forschung
Transition to age-friendly community centres in 2050

The rapid global trend of ageing is forcing all aspects of society to systematically transition to offer a more inclusive and healthy old life for elderly people. While the need for transition has been agreed upon at many levels, the question of how to actually make a systematic transition is still a proposition that needs to be discussed in depth, particularly in the field of design. Based on the workshop “Transition Design – Age-Friendly Community Centres 2050” held in Prague in 2022, this paper explores the fears, desires, and visions of Prague residents for their local community and environment, and how a more sustainable future for older people and stakeholders can be achieved from a design perspective, demonstrating the need for citizen participation in community development and democratic decisionmaking and providing a reference for promoting and guiding public participation in the systematic transition to social and environmental sustainability.

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10.2023
Forschung
Association of multilingualism and language proficiency with cognitive functioning

We explored whether number of languages spoken and language proficiency are associated with cognitive performance among older adults living in the community and in long-term care (LTC) in Switzerland.

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10.2023
Forschung
The effect of loss incentives on prospective memory in healthy older adults

Prospective memory is important for our health and independence but declines with age. Hence, interventions to enhance prospective memory, for example by providing an incentive, may promote healthy ageing. The neuroanatomical correlates of prospective memory and the processing of incentive-related prospective memory changes in older adults are not fully understood. In an fMRI study, we will therefore test whether incentives improve prospective memory in older adults and how prospective memory is processed in the brain in general, and when incentives are provided. Since goals and interests change across adulthood, avoiding losses is becoming more important for older adults than achieving gains. We therefore posit that loss-related incentives will enhance prospective memory, which will be subserved by increased prefrontal and midbrain activity.

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10.2023
Forschung
The key role of early education in an ageing and shrinking population

Germany is currently among the 10 oldest countries in the world, as measured by the share of population aged 70 years and over.With the baby boomer cohorts of the 1950s and 1960s having started to reach retirement ages, a new phase of ageing is about to take place. In this debate piece, we argue that investments in human capital at any age and at any stage of the life course are indispensable for dealing with an ageing population. Investments in early education are most effective and efficient, as early skills beget later skills. We show that in an ageing society, it is most efficient to invest in children from the very beginning to develop their full human potential, and to ensure that no child is left behind. Moreover, investments in early education programmes have benefits in addition to those directly related to children, including benefits related to fertility, maternal employment and the integration of parents with a migration background. Globally, more and more countries are faced with increasing proportions of older people and decreasing proportions of working-age people in their populations. Thus, what we describe here for Germany can in many respects be transferred to other country contexts.

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