Search results

As the workforce is aging and becoming increasingly age diverse, successful aging at work has been proclaimed to be a desirable process and outcome, as well as a responsibility of both workers and their organizations. In this chapter, we first review, compare, and critique theoretical frameworks of successful aging developed in the gerontology and lifespan developmental literatures, including activity, disengagement, and continuity theories; Rowe and Kahn’s model; the resource approach; the model of selective optimization with compensation; the model of assimilative and accommodative coping; the motivational theory of lifespan development; socioemotional selectivity theory; and the strength and vulnerability integration model. Subsequently, we review and critically compare three conceptualizations of successful aging at work developed in the organizational literature. We conclude the chapter by outlining implications for future research on successful aging at work.

As demographic changes impact the workplace, governments, organizations, and workers are looking for ways to sustain optimal working lives at higher ages. Workplace flexibility has been introduced as a potential way workers can have more satisfying working lives until their retirement ages. This chapter presents a critical review of the literature on workplace flexibility across the lifespan. It discusses how flexibility has been conceptualized across different disciplines, and postulates a definition that captures the joint roles of employer and employee in negotiating workplace flexibility that contributes to both employee and organization benefits. Moreover, it reviews how flexibility has been theorized and investigated in relation to older workers. The chapter ends with a future research agenda for advancing understanding of how workplace flexibility may enhance working experiences of older workers, and in particular focuses on the critical investigation of uses of flexibility in relation to older workers.

This article aims to reflect on the role of prevention with respect to active ageing and why early action and intervention to promote active ageing at a societal, familial and personal level has potentially become somewhat of a necessity.

The article is the observations of injury prevention and contemporary active ageing initiatives in the UK from a practitioner's perspective.

The potential contribution of prevention towards optimised active ageing has frequently been recognised and supported by studies and programs from around the world. This article supports the theme that prevention can play an important role in promoting active ageing.

The article provides a simple and structured reflection upon the potential role of injury prevention in active ageing and also provides a framework for further analysis and discussion.

This paper explores the relationship between health promotion and active aging among seniors in Malaysia. The specific objectives were to (1) identify the contributing factors for seniors undergoing full medical check-up and (2) to explore the association between selected active aging factors and health promotion behavior and beliefs.

The study used data from 662 seniors from three different states in Peninsular Malaysia. Logistic regression was used to identify significant determinants of full medical check-up, and chi-square statistics were used to explore the association of active aging and selected health promotion behavior and beliefs. Healthy aging was characterized by being employed or traveling outdoors for leisure.

Household income was found to be a significant barrier to seniors undergoing a full medical check-up. Overall, active seniors were more likely to have positive self-rated health, positive health responsibility and health promotion beliefs but were less likely to undergo a full medical check-up.

Given that cost of a medical check-up could be a barrier for seniors, authorities could consider subsidizing medical check-ups to promote early detection of disease. There is also a need for continuous effort to educate seniors on health risk factors and the importance of taking fuller responsibility for their own health.

This study examined the relationship between active aging and health promotion together, as both components are essential in enhancing the mental and physical well-being of seniors.

Ageing populations are national and global phenomena. These older residents are likely to be among the most disadvantaged nationally and in comparison with younger neighbours. The benefits of active ageing are attracting attention from policy makers globally, as it is increasingly recognised that age‐friendly cities encourage active ageing. Resources to sustain active ageing are becoming scarce. Older people's health, social activity, needs, aspirations and the barriers to realising them are at the centre of this investigation. The purpose of this paper is to explore inclusion and exclusion within some of England's most deprived areas.

Between 2002‐2007, over 600 older Liverpool people, key informants and policy makers in five of Liverpool's poorest electoral wards were consulted via semi‐structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus groups about their needs and aspirations.

Barriers to active ageing arose primarily from participants' poverty, ill‐health and deprivation, poor neighbourhoods, ageism, and insecure, gendered, racialised and sectarian space.

This in‐depth investigation into active ageing consulted over 600 older people in some of Liverpool's poorest neighbourhoods. In disseminating knowledge of Liverpool's situation, the paper adds significantly to knowledge around the severe challenges to active ageing in localities characterised by multiple deprivation.

The article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of older people's situation in the labour market in three Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Three Nordic countries are taken as a reference point to compare the countries in order to better understand the situation from a comparative point of view. The article asks the questions: Does a longer working life for older people contribute to their better economic situation? How satisfied are they with a longer working life and their working conditions? Do they experience any discrimination in the labour market because of their age?

In order to understand the situation of older people in the labour market, the authors employ welfare state models and the Active Ageing Index. The welfare state models help us to understand the context in which the working life of older people is taking place. The Active Ageing Index helps to gain a better understanding of the employment domain of active ageing. The analysis is based on several Europe-wide data sources: statistics on earnings from Eurostat database, information on income, job prospects, occupational safety and health, training, working life perspectives from the European Working Conditions Survey as well as a special survey, conducted by the authors, of Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian residents aged 50 years and older.

Analysis conducted reveals that in the Baltic countries older employees, although actively participating in the labour market, face unfavourable material, physical and psychological situation in the labour market more frequently than their younger colleagues. The findings show that the most important factors influencing older employees' decision to stay longer in the labour market in the Baltic countries are linked mostly to welfare state-related issues, i.e. financial benefits, healthcare, possibility to reconcile work and family obligations. These welfare state-related issues are even more important for those who are going to stay longer in the labour market after reaching the retirement age.

This article contributes to a better understanding of older (50+) people's situation in the labour market. It suggests that, while the increasing employment of older people increases the Active Ageing Index and is generally viewed positively, in some countries with less developed welfare states high employment rates of older employees, although providing them with an additional means of livelihood, do not ensure a higher quality of life and, on the contrary, act as a factor reducing the quality of work and, at the same time, the quality of life.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for older people both in terms of the severity of the disease and the negative consequences of social distancing. Assumptions about negative effects on the lives of the elderly, affecting dimensions of successful aging (such as the preservation of social relationships), have thus far been hypothetical and have lacked empirical evidence. The aim of this paper is to shed empirical light on the effects of COVID-19 on the everyday life of older people against the background of the concept of successful aging.

Data of a standardized, representative telephone survey with residents of Lower Austria, a county of Austria, were used for this secondary analysis. The sample included 521 persons of 60 years of age and older. For this paper, contingency analyses (χ² coefficients, z-tests using Bonferroni correction) and unidimensional correlational analyses were calculated.

The empirical data show that successful aging along the three dimensions of successful aging is a challenge in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic – leaving the elderly caught between two fronts.

The present work focusses on a unique moment in time, describing the changes to the lives of Austrian elderly because of the social distancing measures imposed to protect against the spread of COVID-19. These changes are discussed in the theoretical framework of successful aging.

This paper is adapted from a Royal Institute of British Architects Building Futures project and is intended to stimulate discussion around the impact that the ageing population could have on the way cities of the near future are designed (and lived in); specifically the positive contribution that an active, older generation could make to both society and the economy in the UK. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Following a public debate and a series of roundtable discussions with experts across a wide range of disciplines from architecture and urban design to gerontology, in both academia and practice, the project team developed a series of potential future scenarios; speculations that draw out the potential positive contribution that an active Third Age could make, both socially and economically.

The author has made a series of practical recommendations for architecture and design professions related to the speculative scenarios presented that they believe would begin to harness the potential of an active Third Age whilst mitigating some of the likely challenges. It is imperative that ageing becomes part of the mainstream debate on city design and planning.

Whilst the scenarios presented respond directly to trends – key drivers of change – identified and evidenced, they remain speculations to stimulate debate and are not themselves grounded in rigour.

The practice of architecture, urban design and planning must better recognise the implications of an ageing population and look for ways of harnessing the opportunities that this presents, whilst addressing the clear challenges. Urban policy must also better reflect a shifting demographic landscape and adapt appropriately to encourage the necessary innovation in this area if they are to make a successful transition to an older population in the coming decades.

The author hopes that this work begins to reposition ageing – and particularly active ageing – as a positive opportunity for both society and the national economy, shifting the debate from one currently focused on challenges and the potential public sector burden.

There is little in the way of progressive thought as to how architecture, planning and urban policy can better accommodate an older population and ensure that cities embrace the whole population for the duration of their lifetime, whatever that may be.

This qualitative research examines the varied reasons for relocation to old age homes (OAHs) in contemporary India. The purpose of this study investigates the acceptance of institutional living in Lucknow (a Tier II city of India) and whether migration to OAHs is a voluntary decision. This study also examines the lifeworld of the older adult in these OAHs in an attempt to find out whether OAHs are conducive to positive ageing. Derivatively, the authors study their engagement/time use pattern and social networking patterns in the OAHs. Finally, the research seeks to learn whether OAHs are slowly substituting older adult care given within the family by offering the best of the facilities and services.

This qualitative research was conducted in two private OAHs in Lucknow, India. The findings of the study are based on 28 qualitative interviews conducted with the inmates, administrative staff and caretakers. The interviews were unstructured and open-ended and were supported by observations. The observation was not only made of the social setting but also the reaction of the participants. The idea was to develop an emic view of the subject by exploring valid narratives. Pseudonyms were used to report the finding so as to maintain the confidentiality of the research subjects.

This research moves beyond the traditional wisdom that people move to OAH because of the push factors within the family. OAHs in India have evolved over the years and high-end OAHs are equipped with modern amenities to cater to the upper class in their twilight years. Residents were found to lead active lives in OAHs and their common habitus and bonding capital helped them to face the vagaries of old age more confidently. Their active life and membership in various civic organizations challenge the contention of the role theory that the aged are more prone to lose rather than gain roles.

The originality of the research lies in the fact that the authors are extending the arguments made by the role theory of social ageing. The theory proposes that aged people are more likely to lose out roles rather than gain new ones. This study finds that the elderly tend to live a very active life in OAHs and engaged various civic organizations. Although they may lose/voluntarily give up the roles like the head of the household, spouse, etc., they acquire new roles in the context of OAHs.

Food rituals are an ever present part of consumers’ lives that have practical implications for well-being. This paper aims to explore how food and its relationship to pleasure evolve, as women navigate social norms around gender and aging.

Ethnographic data were collected using in-depth interviews and participant observations of members of the Red Hat Society (RHS) across 27 months. This approach provided a more nuanced perspective on how food experiences shape consumption rituals and communal ties over time.

Older women in the RHS eat rebelliously when they break social norms of gender and aging by indulging together in food and drink. Their rituals of rebellious eating have implications on well-being, heightening their experiential pleasure of food and conviviality and forging social support and a sense of community. The dark side of personal indulgence is explored within a larger framework of food well-being.

This study shows how older women challenge social expectations around age and gender through food pleasure rituals. The concept of rebellious eating is introduced to conceptualize how these older women rethink aging and indulgence within a supportive community of consumption and integrate the concepts into their personal narratives.