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People with dementia who feel included in decisions about their care show higher well‐being and positive adjustment to accepting care than those who feel their family make decisions for them (Bourgeois, 1991). Most carers want to involve the person with dementia in decision‐making and care arrangements, but many struggle because of the communication and cognitive problems associated with the condition. Research examined whether the Talking Mats framework could help people with dementia and their family carers feel more involved in decisions about managing their daily living. Eighteen couples (person with dementia and family carer) were asked to discuss how the person with dementia was managing their daily living activities using the Talking Mats framework (Condition A), and when having a typical conversation (Condition B). Each couple then completed a brief questionnaire separately to measure how involved they felt in both types of discussion. Both the person with dementia and their family carer felt more involved in discussions about managing daily living when using the Talking Mats framework than when having a typical conversation. Qualitative analysis of all discussions also offered insight into what people with dementia who are still living at home are managing in relation to their daily living. The study will contribute in a practical way to the current debate on how to involve people with dementia meaningfully in service planning. This will have implications for the organisation, delivery, and improvement of services to people with dementia.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship of self-determination with degree of dependence in daily activities among community-dwelling persons aged 80 years and older.

This cross-sectional study focused on community-dwelling people 80 years or older with varied degree of dependence in daily activities. Self-determination in daily life was assessed with the statements from the Impact on Participation and Autonomy-Older persons (IPA-O), and degree of dependence in daily activities was assessed with the activities of daily living (ADL) staircase. Data were analysed using Fisher’s exact test, and the relative risk with a 95 per cent confidence interval was used to explore the risk of perceiving reduced self-determination in daily life.

Compared to the independent persons, the perceived self-determination was significantly lower among persons dependent in instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), and persons dependent in personal activities of daily living (P-ADL). Reduced self-determination was most pronounced in persons requiring help with P-ADL.

Following key features could be applied to strengthen the community-dwelling older people’s self-determination; incorporating a dialogue where self-determined questions are raised; adopting a person-centred approach between the persons involved; acknowledging older people’s capabilities – what they are able to do and to be, and what they value.

This study highlights the need of integrating a self-determined dialogue into healthcare where the older person and the professional focus on self-determined questions.

How people spend their time is an indicator of how they live their lives, with time use over the life course conditioned both by age and by participation in age-graded institutions. This chapter uses nationally representative data from the pooled 2008–2020 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to evaluate how time use in 12 activity categories varies by age, gender, and disability status among 137,266 respondents aged 15 and older. By doing so, we quantify the “disability gap” in time use between men and women with and without disabilities, identifying at what age and by how much people with disabilities experience time differentials in activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and other indicators of social participation. Results indicate that – at many ages – patterns of time use for people with disabilities deviate from those of people without disabilities, with more pronounced differences in midlife. Further, the magnitude of women's disability gaps equals or exceeds men's for sleeping, and nearly all ADLs and IADLs, indicating that disability gaps are also gendered.

The purpose of this study is to explore social barriers affecting participation in chosen instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) among community-dwelling persons with schizophrenia in Rwanda.

A qualitative study used an embedded single case study design and constructivist epistemology paradigm. Purposive sampling and semistructured interviews of 10 persons with schizophrenia and their 10 caregivers were conducted. Data analysis was done thematically using an inductive analysis approach, following within-case and cross-case analysis.

The hindrances to participation and community negative attitudes were explored as the two themes. This study focuses on the community negative attitudes including family exclusion and stigmatization, which hinder the participation of persons with schizophrenia in their chosen IADLs.

This study highlights the need for psychoeducation about mental illness for the caregivers of the persons with schizophrenia, community outreach activities for sensitizing about mental illness to address stigma toward persons with mental illness and strengthening the activities which promote the social interaction and sense of belonging of persons with mental illness.

Persons with schizophrenia are facing maltreatment and stigma from the community members while participating in their chosen IADLs. Awareness raising of the support needs of persons living with schizophrenia will contribute to relevant stakeholders advocating for inclusion into families and communities.

The authors are in the process of exploring an information support robot to support daily activities of people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the robot should talk to an older woman with dementia to make her perform daily activities.

The robot asked to the participant to do some daily activities; Task A, taking medicine; Task B, measuring blood pressure; and Task C, cleaning up the room in three different ways for each task. In the talking pattern 1 (TP1), the robot simply informed what the tasks were. The talking patterns 2 and 3 (TP2 and TP3) were separated according to the process of activities in two and three steps, respectively. The participant was required to answer “Yes” if she understood what the robot talked to her, and perform the tasks.

The participant was not able to prepare water in the Task A when the robot spoke the TP1 (performance rate (PR) was 71.4 per cent). However, she could perfectly take medicine in the case when the robot spoke the processes of the task by the TP3 (PR was 100.0 per cent). The similar tendencies were observed in the Tasks B and C.

Multicenter studies would be required to apply these findings to a larger population.

The authors confirmed that it might be important to determine how the robot talked to people with dementia to properly facilitate their daily activities.

Exercising is a key approach adopted by muscular dystrophy patients to halt the weakening of muscles as it can eventually lead to serious immobility issues. Though it is essential to exercise on a daily basis for healthy living, there is no mention of any research effort in the current literature regarding the development of an apparel product for these mobility-affected patients that might assist them both in meeting their exercising needs and providing them some comfort in their daily living. Thus, this paper aims to focus on identifying the specific needs of muscular dystrophy victims and proposing special adaptive clothing solutions to support their daily exercise and mobility needs.

To achieve the objectives of this study, attention was focused on the muscular dystrophy afflicted women in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the female victims of muscular dystrophy and their lifestyles were observed carefully; additional data were gathered by holding semi-structured interviews with their physiotherapists. Further, interviews were conducted with both garment technologists and fabric technologists too. Data gathered through these methods were analyzed qualitatively using the principles of thematic analysis and then aggregate conclusions were drawn.

It was observed that the patients were engaged in special activities such as exercising three times a day besides following their normal day-to-day activities to maintain and develop muscle strength. It soon became evident that these women found it difficult to perform their daily exercise routines with their regular clothing and were looking for custom made clothing they could wear all day long in comfort and avoid the problems that arose while exercising. The study specifies the requirements that must be met to satisfy both generic and specific needs. Considering all these aspects some adaptive clothing solutions were proposed to support daily exercising activity with respect to comfort, convenience, health and safety, as well as socio-cultural and psychological needs.

The area of fusing generic and specific features to support the daily exercising needs of muscular dystrophy victims is an untouched field of experimentation and being a need of the disabled, the present study marks a milestone on the way to a novel area of apparel design, besides exploring a new field of research.

In Israel, institution staff classify residents’ functional status as part of the routine governmental surveillance of institutions for semi‐independent and frail elderly. However, owing to a lack of clarity and specificity in the regulation which defines functional status categories, nurse surveyors, who conduct the routine surveillance of institutions, have begun to make their own estimates of functional status. Data were collected and compared on the functional status classification of 78 per cent of the elderly residents by institution staff and nurse surveyors. Data analysis showed that the poorer the functional status, the less congruity between the classifications. This has practical consequences for estimating the number and type of staff needed. It was found that the waste of resources and discrepancies caused by reclassification of the elderly by the nurse surveyors may be avoided by using more specific and precise definitions as suggested in this article.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and characterize patterns of physical activity among office workers employed in largely sedentary occupations at a major health insurer located in the Southeastern USA.

The authors used latent class analysis to identify segments of office workers (n=239) based on their self-reported activities of daily living and exercise behaviors. The authors examined the association of demographic characteristics with segment membership, and differences in accelerometer-measured weekly minutes of light and moderate-vigorous physical activity across segments.

The authors identified two segments and labeled them “exerciser” and “non-exerciser.” Being female was associated with lower odds of membership in the “exerciser” segment (OR=0.18; 95% CI=0.06, 0.52), while those with at least a bachelor’s degree were more likely to be in the “exerciser” segment (OR=2.12; 95% CI=1.02, 4.40). Mean minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity per week were greater for the “exerciser” segment than the “non-exerciser” segment.

Based on this sample, the authors found that office workers in sedentary occupations were roughly equally divided and distinguished by their engagement in exercise-type behaviors. The findings underscore the need for innovative workplace programming that enhances activity opportunities particularly for those that are not likely to exercise.

A scarcity of research on activity patterns among office workers inhibits development of targeted worksite activity programming. The present research reveals two segments of workers with regard to their activity patterns and suggests ways for worksites to meet their unique needs.

China’s population is ageing. Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) are an emerging living arrangement of older Chinese. Incorporating social sustainability features into CCRCs helps to create age-friendly residential environments for residents. However, it is still unclear what kinds of social sustainability features are incorporated into the residential environments of CCRCs in China. Therefore, this study aims to address this research gap.

Qualitative content analysis is adopted to analyse the retrieved business information of representative CCRC developers in China.

This study revealed 36 social sustainability features in CCRCs, with the top-ranked ones being health care and management, social connection and engagement, high-quality and diverse services and daily life support and assistance. Additionally, a preliminary social sustainability framework of CCRCs was proposed, and this framework includes the five components of care and health, environment and management, service and facility, age-friendly life philosophy and social support and inclusion.

In theory, this research’s findings clarify the meaning of social sustainability within the context of CCRCs, which supports future relevant explorations in the CCRC research community. In practice, these findings enhance stakeholders’ understanding of the social sustainability in CCRCs, which promotes the development of age-friendly living environments for older people in an ageing society.