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Older people in Ethiopia are a vulnerable group due to the lack of governmental and societal support. The absence of national social protection and the decline in family support contributes to older adults’ vulnerability, furthering a climate of ageism. This study aims to explore the role of the Ethiopian Elders and Pensioner's National Association (EEPNA) in reframing the image of older adults and advocating for their rights.

Data were collected using multiple approaches: interviews with older adult members of EEPNA (n = 8), a focus group of older members (n = 7) and key informant interviews (n = 3). Narrative data was analyzed using thematic content analysis.

Findings revealed that EEPNA plays a pivotal role in promoting access to services and advocating for older adults’ rights, offering capacity-building programs, supporting vulnerable older adults to gain access to secure incomes and strengthening the network of older peoples’ associations. Older participants noted that the government had not ratified the National Convention for Older People, creating a considerable challenge to the association’s efforts.

Stakeholders can advocate with and on behalf of older adults to enhance the societal view of older adults in Ethiopia and to promote policies to increase their access to needed resources.

Using a strengths-based approach, this study presents the perspectives of older adult advocates who are fighting to create awareness of the needs of vulnerable older people in Ethiopia and to advance their rights.

This scoping review article aimed to systematically search the literature on the use, purpose and barriers of information and communication technology (ICT) for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) older adults in the host country. The review also conducted a search for literature on programs that aim to develop digital literacy skills for CALD older adults.

A scoping review approach was utilized to identify and search the available literature, and to map the key concepts. A total of 23 relevant articles were included following a systematic search across seven databases.

The review suggests that CALD older adults use ICT for various purposes, including social interaction, health management, information gathering, immigration, everyday routines and leisure. The barriers faced by these older adults in using ICT encompass fear and limited knowledge, language issues, lack of interest, limited access to technology and health concerns. The existing training programs focus on enhancing self-efficacy and confidence and promoting attitudinal changes toward ICT.

Despite the presence of empirical studies, few scoping or systematic reviews have focused on CALD older adults and technology. Research developments related to the technology use of CALD older adults and associated training programs have been fragmented and sporadic, resulting in gaps in the evidence base. This review fills such a gap to better understand the research status connected to CALD older people’s technology adoption and use.

The purpose of this study is to advance a novel evaluation index system and evaluation approach for ability of older adults in China.

This study constructed a comprehensive older adult ability evaluation index system with 4 primary indicators and 17 secondary indicators. Grey clustering analysis and entropy weight method are combined into a robust evaluation model for the ability of older adults.

The result demonstrates that the proposed grey clustering model is readily available to calculate the disability level of elderly individuals. The constructed index system more comprehensively considers all aspects of the disability of the elderly.

This study provides a quantitative method and a more reasonable index system for the determination of the disability level of the elderly.

A wide gap exists between the innovation and development of self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology (SMART) technologies and the actual adoption by older adults or those caring for them. This paper aims to increase awareness of available technologies and describes their suitability for older adults with different needs. SMART technologies are intelligent devices and systems that enable autonomous monitoring of their status, data analysis or direct feedback provision.

This is a scoping review of SMART technologies used and marketed to older adults or for providing care.

Five categories of SMART technologies were identified: (1) wearable technologies and smart tools of daily living; (2) noninvasive/unobtrusive technology (i.e. passive technologies monitoring the environment, health and behavior); (3) complex SMART systems; (4) interactive technologies; (5) assistive and rehabilitation devices. Technologies were then linked with needs related to everyday practical tasks (mainly applications supporting autonomous, independent living), social and emotional support, health monitoring/managing and compensatory assistance rehabilitation.

When developing, testing or implementing technologies for older adults, researchers should clearly identify concrete needs these technologies help meet to underscore their usefulness.

Older adults and caregivers should weigh the pros and cons of different technologies and consider the key needs of older adults before investing in any tech solution.

SMART technologies meeting older adult needs help support both independent, autonomous life for as long as possible as well as aiding in the transition to assisted or institutionalized care.

This is the first review to explicitly link existing SMART technologies with the concrete needs of older adults, serving as a useful guide for both older adults and caregivers in terms of available technology solutions.

The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of the constraints of older adult family caregivers with chronic diseases in caring for and accessing health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study used the descriptive phenomenology qualitative method. The sampling method was purposive sampling involving 16 older adult family caregivers.

The results of this study showed three themes such as difficulties in health services in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic (complaints of services provided by doctors, older adult treatment control problems and difficulty getting to hospital health facilities); difficulties accompanying taking older adult medicine (older adult non-compliance response to taking medication and older adult medicine assistance); and psychosocial complaints caring for and accompanying the older adult (negative emotions for the older adult, difficulty interacting with the older adult and the economic burden of caring for the older adult).

Barriers to family caregivers in caring for older adults with chronic diseases can help health-care service providers understand and support families caring for and assisting older adults, which may contribute to the quality of life and care for both family caregivers and older adults.

This study showed that Indonesian family caregivers faced difficulties caring for and living with older adults with chronic diseases during the pandemic. Family caregivers’ experiences are essential when developing an intervention to support and manage health care for older adults with chronic illnesses.

As climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, ensuring thermal comfort for older adults is magnified in tropical senior living environments. This study explores the lived experiences of older adults' thermal comfort in senior living facilities in a tropical climate and how these experiences impact their overall well-being.

Employing Moustakas' transcendental phenomenology and the Modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method, this study investigated older adults' thermal experiences through semi-structured interviews with 28 participants in six urban senior living facilities in Malaysia.

Four primary themes emerged: fabric and function; atmospheric conditions and living dynamics; thermal dynamics and environmental comfort; temperature tensions of stress, sound, and sensitivity. Our findings underscore the importance of considering the multisensory and multi-faceted nature of thermal comfort for older adults, considering sensory aspects, early life experiences, cultural practices, and personal preferences, particularly in tropical climates.

As one of the first to explore the thermal comfort of older adults in senior-friendly accommodations in a tropical climate, the findings provide a comprehensive understanding of older adults' diverse thermal comfort needs and offer practical recommendations for environments that support healthy aging. By integrating insights from hospitality, gerontology, and environmental studies, this research contributes to the promotion of public health and aligns with global objectives to improve the well-being of the aging population.

In the current scenario, with rapid socioeconomic transformation occurring in all aspects of society, the adversities experienced by older adults have come to the forefront. The lived experiences within joint families are making it harder for the elderly to adjust to the changed familial setup. In such a situation, they undergo many problems which are most often overlooked and considered not worthy of serious attention. Loneliness and isolation are the most crucial and serious issues experienced by the elderly within the nuclear family. After spending a significantly larger part of their lives within large families, with caring people, interdependent, adjusting to the changing familial setup has become hard and strenuous. Moreover, lack of emotional support is yet another major concern of the elderly. As they grow older, care and emotional support become necessary to maintain an effective and active life in old age. However, such emotional support and care that the joint family offered is missing in the changing familial setup. Now, in light of these issues, this paper aims to explore the multidimensional concerns of the elderly (60 years and above) who, on account of familial transitioning from joint to nuclear in Kashmir, are experiencing isolation and other, hard to adjust, life changes. The paper is based on 20 oral narratives conducted, over time, with elderly people undergoing life changes due to family transition from joint to nuclear. The finding of the study revealed that the elderly experience a greater degree of change in their lifestyle due to the family transition from joint to nuclear.

This is a qualitative study that describes the multidimensional concerns of the older adults. The study was conducted in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir using in-depth face-to-face interviews with 20 respondents aged 60 years and above who have witnessed a transition in family from joint to nuclear and have undergone many problems during this transition. Apart from this, two interviews with the sons of older persons were also included in the study to know the status of age in the current situation. After the data was collected from the first 10 respondents, the study witnessed a data saturation, as the same set of results were obtained. Meanwhile, 3 more respondents were included in the study to make sure that no data was left behind; however, again same results were witnessed. This led the investigator to halt the data collection process. Thereafter, the data was then analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis technique, which involved familiarizing oneself with the data, looking for themes, validating and refining themes, identifying and labeling themes and finally creating the report.

The traditional joint family is undergoing rapid transformation in the current scenario. With a trend toward the nuclearization of families, which resulted in the diminishing status of the elderly, the vulnerabilities of the elderly have come to the forefront (Kumar et al., 2014). The transition of the family from joint to nuclear can be difficult for the elderly as it involves the elderly having to adjust and adapt to a new social milieu, which can be quite complex as it involves major changes in their lifestyle and daily routine. The elderly may also experience difficulty with increased social isolation and reduced family interaction. Such problems may seem insignificant and trivial to the younger ones, but stepping into the shoes of the elderly would help us understand the intensity and vulnerability of such problems. This cultural shift is quickly making changes, in part due to the rise of individualism in modern societies and the existence of a consumerist perspective among the younger generations. Such situations lead to greater alienation and isolation among the elderly from society in general and the members of the family in particular.

The is an empirical study conducted to know the status of older adults in nuclear families.

This paper aims to explore how recently designed and built urban public spaces in Estonia address the concept of age-friendly environments and consider older adults as users of these spaces. This paper presents the evaluation of public spaces built as a result of urban design competitions in ten small towns of Estonia from 2014 until today.

This study explored and assessed how contemporary urban outdoor places meet the needs of older adults. For this purpose, this study developed an assessment instrument of age-friendly environment principles based on various sources and conducted fieldworks.

This study assumed that the needs of older adults were considered during the design competition and construction, as all towns of competition areas have a significant aging population. The findings suggest that various fundamental principles of universal or age-friendly design are not met, and there are areas of improvement in the inclusive design for all people that supports healthy aging.

This study can be used as improvement tool for current places in Estonia and basis for future design projects to make public places more age-friendly, specifically senior-friendly.

The aging population, a higher proportion of older adults (aged 65+), is considered a global and severe problem, while the information systems (IS) literature on detecting the relationship between the aging population and the development of electronic commerce (e-commerce) is limited and insufficient. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to examine whether an aging population can moderate the effect of infrastructure constructions on e-commerce sales and whether an aging population can affect e-commerce sales.

To investigate the relationship between the aging population and e-commerce sales, this study proposes two potential influential mechanisms: moderating the effects of infrastructure development on e-commerce sales and direct influence. Subsequently, a sample of 31 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2019 is utilized to conduct regression analyses in order to examine these hypotheses.

The findings suggest that the development of urban transportation infrastructure and network constructions can significantly contribute to the enhancement of e-commerce sales, and the influence cannot be affected by aging population. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that an aging population can have a positive effect on e-commerce sales.

The findings can inform future infrastructure constructions by assessing the potential of infrastructure projects to boost e-commerce sales and examining whether this effect varies in an aging population context.

The findings substantiate the pivotal role of older adults in the e-commerce industry. Moreover, the obtained results establish a positive relationship between an aging population and e-commerce sales, thereby offering diverse perspectives on existing theories.

This study aims to investigate the impact of regular Kung Fu and Taekwondo practice on the health and quality of life among elderly individuals in the Maule region, Chile.

The authors designed a 12-week Kung Fu and Taekwondo workshop with activities suitable for their age. Through semistructured interviews (at the beginning and the end of the workshop), along with periodic monitoring of vital signs and cardiovascular components, the authors observed an improvement in participants’ physical (strength, speed of reaction and flexibility) and psychological conditions (self-esteem and resilience), quality of life (relationships with family and friends and ability to deal with stressful events in working life) and health (waist circumference, percentage of oxygen saturation in blood, blood pressure, among other values).

From these results, the authors affirm that this workshop improves health and physical condition and helps the participants develop the coping capacity to deal with stressful situations and complicated interpersonal relationships. In this sense, the authors conclude that Kung Fu and Taekwondo as regular sports activities can benefit senior citizens’ aging process.

This research is based on an original study project.