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Transnational ageing processes are usually studied by focusing on the various cross-border practices and mobilities of different categories of ageing migrants. This paper introduces a retirement mobilities approach as an analytical framework that draws on both transnational studies and the new mobilities paradigm to widen the theoretical and empirical debates. It argues that both migrant and non-migrant populations, as well as human and non-human cross-border circulations, have to be taken into account when studying transnational ageing. Based on a mixed-methods study combining original data from a quantitative survey conducted in Switzerland with residents 55+ and semi-structured interviews held in Spain and Switzerland with older adults receiving a Swiss pension, we demonstrate the heuristic value of this approach. Indeed, empirical findings indicate that older adults with and without a migration background represent an internationally mobile population with similar mobility aspirations and transnational lifestyles. However, the motivations driving these two groups' transnational mobility differ significantly. Moreover, transnational circulations of financial resources, and in particular retirement pensions, are interlinked with mobility in old age. To conclude, a retirement mobilities approach sets a new research agenda, inviting scholars to examine transnational ageing beyond the ageing-migration nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental drama film Cenizas del cielo (2008), set in a polluted area of the otherwise idyllic North-western region of Asturias, was internationally saluted as Spain’s first explicitly ecologist film. While most studies have focused on its environmentalist theme, the film presents additional thematic complexities, such as the progressive depopulation of fast-aging rural Spain, the challenges of growing old as a lonesome man in a traditional, patriarchal community, and generational frictions between older peasants and younger environmental activists. In Cenizas del cielo, Galician-born actor Celso Bugallo embodies the complex intersections between aging, masculinity, and ecology. He plays the combative character of Federico, a local farmer in his sixties who lost his wife to the pollutants of a nearby power plant. In his determination to see the plant closed, this rebellious character clashes with numerous opponents, such as workers of the power plant, local authorities and even some of his own small-village neighbors. A living metaphor of an aging but defiant España vaciada, Bugallo’s character is studied in this paper as the site of multiple insurgencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of this study were to design and implement an experiential learning assignment in an undergraduate developmental psychology and aging course and to explore students' perceptions of it. One hundred and forty-three first-year students enrolled in an introductory course on developmental psychology across the life span recorded, transcribed, and analyzed the life story of an older person. Afterwards, they wrote a paper that combined theoretical concepts and reflections on this story and were asked about the benefits and difficulties of the task. The answers to these questions were content analyzed. The reported benefits were grouped into two categories: benefits related to the academic objectives of the project (improving learning of developmental concepts, research-related skills, and attitudes towards old age) and personal growth. The former were reported by approximately two-thirds of the participants and, in most cases, were related to the acquisition of theory. The latter were mentioned by 70.6% of students, and learning some kind of life lesson was the most cited benefit. Students mentioned some difficulties in interviewing, transcribing, and analyzing the interview, and in writing the paper. Interviewing seemed to be the most difficult task. Collecting and analyzing an older person's life story seems to have many positive effects, not only on students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes, but also on their personal development. Thus, despite the difficulties posed by this experiential learning assignment, it might be a useful tool to complement more traditional lecture-based teaching methods in developmental psychology and aging courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most of today’s children, young people, and adults are both consumers and producers of digital content, very little is known about older people as digital content creators. Drawing on a three-year ethnographic study, this paper reports on the digital video production and appropriation of approximately 200 older people (aged 60–85). They generated 320 videos over the course of the study. We show their motivations for engaging in digital video production, discuss their planned video making, and highlight their creativity while editing videos. We show the different meanings they ascribed to digital videos in their social appropriation of these objects, the meaningful strategies they adopted to share videos, and the impact on their perceived wellbeing. Furthermore, we outline the solutions the participants developed to overcome or cope with interaction issues they faced over time. We argue that the results portray older people as active and creative makers of digital videos with current video capturing, editing, and sharing technologies. We contend that this portrayal both encourages us to re-consider how older people should be seen within human–computer interaction and helps to frame future research/design activities that bridge the grey digital divide. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The increase in longevity and population aging are the greatest conquest and social challenge that we face in this century, especially in the most developed countries. Spain is, currently, one of the oldest countries in the European Union and it is expected that in 2050 it will be the oldest country in the world, second only to Japan, with the region of Galicia (located in the northwest of this country) being one of the most highly aged contexts, with a rate of people over 65 years old well over 24%. In the light of this demographic transition, which some see as a threat to the general wellbeing of society, it becomes particularly urgent to study the social representations of aging. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to assess the attributions, attitudes and knowledge around aging that circulate in highly aged contexts. With this purpose in mind, 445 adults were selected, stratified by age (young people, middle-aged people and older adults) and provided with a selection of tools to assess their knowledge, stereotypes and attributions regarding aging and old age. The results indicate that attitudes towards aging itself are negative, becoming more negative as we age. In a similar way when analyzing attitudinal biases towards aging, a mostly negative tendency is observed. Besides, the level of knowledge about aging is very low in all participants, especially in younger groups. The findings imply that these result could be used to design, implementation and evaluation of anti-ageist programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University Programs for Older Adults (Programas Universitarios para Adultos Mayores or PUMAs) have been developed throughout the world as an outcome of two worldwide policies: Life Long Learning (LLL) and Active Aging as a priority direction (UN, 2002). According to these policies, older persons should become full participants in the development process of a society, sharing in its benefits, while policies and actions should promote a positive view of aging. The present paper sets out to report some of the results from the evaluation of four PUMAs offered in 2009–2010 at four Universities: Autónoma University of Madrid (Spain), Autónoma University of Mexico (Mexico), Catholic University (Chile), and La Habana University (Cuba). With this purpose, a study with quasiexperimental design and nonequivalent control group was carried out. In total, 313 students (75% women, age range 50–87) on these four PUMAs and 190 controls (77% female, age range 50–91) participated in this evaluation study. Pre- and postexperimental and control comparisons results yielded significant differences in the expected direction: those people attending PUMAs significantly improved their self-perception of aging and group stereotypes, as well as significantly reduced their negative affect, and improving their emotional balance. At the same time, their perception of cultural age stereotypes became more negative. The results are discussed from the point of view of the II International Plan of Action on Aging objectives: the reduction of negative stereotypes and the promotion of the role of PUMAs in active aging. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The first objective of this work was to compare scores obtained in the daily memory function between young and elderly people, and to check whether there are differences between the groups for each of the profile scores obtained in the memory test. A second aim of this paper is to study the relationship between everyday memory and age, while controlling for gender and educational level. The total and profile scores obtained in the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test were compared in a sample of 60 young and 120 elderly people from Valencia (Spain). Results showed significant differences between the two groups: those between 18 and 30 years obtained a higher average than those over 65. Once the group comparison was controlled for gender and educational level, the statistical effect of age group disappeared. The non-significant effect of group can not be explained by the introduction of gender, because both its main effect and the interaction were not statistically significant. However, educational level had a statistically significant effect which may explain the non-significant effect of group in this new analysis. The main conclusion is the need to carefully control for educational level in all studies related with everyday memory and ageing, as the differences found could be due to generational differences more than to biological deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging paradigms should entail all individuals. More research on older LGBT+ adults is needed since the literature has been mainly built on heteronormative and cisgender standards. The creation and shaping of the kind of legacy an individual would like to leave behind when he/she dies is key in aging well. This study explores the intended legacies of older lesbian and gay adults (50+ years old) who were activists in social movements in Spain. Eighteen participants (12 gay men) participated in a semi-structured interview on their intended legacies. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interviews. The main findings showed that all participants reported intended legacies: i) personal, to transmit their lived knowledge and to be remembered as good and committed persons; ii) broader, to contribute to LGBT+ rights, and to a better society; iii) composite, the desire that younger generations recognize their contributions, and to know they helped to protect new generations. The participants in this study lived a life of intense involvement in social movements, and currently their intended legacies involve leaving a mark and passing the torch to younger generations. This understanding will help us to develop adequate practices that promote well-being in older LGBT+ adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pilgrimage is an intentional journey undertaken for reasons that can increase a sense of well-being. Although originally completed for religious purposes, motives in contemporary times may include anticipated religious, spiritual, and humanistic benefits as well as appreciation of culture and geography. This quantitative and qualitative survey research explored the motivations of a sample subset age 65 and over from a larger study who completed one of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela routes in Spain. Consistent with life course and developmental theory, some respondents walked at life decision points. The analyzed sample was 111 people, nearly 60% of whom were from Canada, Mexico, and the US. Nearly 42% were non-religious while 57% were Christian or a subset, Catholic. Five key themes emerged: challenge and adventure, spirituality and intrinsic motivation, cultural or historical interest, recognition of life experiences and gratitude, and relationships. In reflecting, participants wrote about sensing a call to walk and experiencing transformation. Limitations included snowball sampling, as it is difficult to systematically sample those who complete a pilgrimage. The Santiago pilgrimage counters a narrative of aging as diminishment through positioning identity, ego integrity, friendships and family, spirituality, and positive physical challenge at the center of aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at how death and funerals influence experiences of home amongst people ageing within transnational families. Drawing on ethnographic research with Ecuadorian and Peruvian migrants in Spain and England, and the elderly members of their families in their countries of origin, it argues that the fear of dying, the death of relatives, and the impossibility to attend their funerals profoundly shape the experience of home at both sides of the Atlantic. The narratives of those ageing in South America reveal that the fear of dying without seeing their adults children's return, or even visiting them, aggravates feelings of loneliness and affects their sense of home. The stories of those ageing in Europe reveal that the death of close kin and the impossibility of attending their funerals shape their attitudes towards home in both their 'host-lands' and 'home-lands'. Not being able to join funerary ceremonies, touch the hands of deceased relatives and say goodbye in preparation for the latter's final journey consistently disrupts their sense of home, if not forever, then for a significant part of their lives. By bringing death and funerals into the ageing-migration-home nexus this article complicates questions of home and return in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the joint effect of gender and marital status on financial literacy. The study is based on the data of 7,456 adults who responded to the Financial Competencies Survey (2016), conducted by the Bank of Spain. The results revealed that married/couple women have a lower level of financial literacy than married/couple men, perhaps because men often make decisions regarding family finances, while women are often in charge of other homework. This may have important consequences for the financial autonomy of women of all ages, especially as they aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rural areas of Spain the aging population trend is particularly acute, and these regions are also characterized by high sex ratios. These are the demographic consequences of an intense rural exodus that started in 1950. This paper addresses the strategies that families from these areas have put in place to guarantee care for the elderly in these limited demographic contexts. It quantifies the demographic change from 1910 to 2010 and analyzes current mechanisms for organizing social care. The methodology includes semi-structured interviews and secondary information obtained from censuses. The results show the emergence of new care strategies, the diversification of social agents involved in care, and the transformation of traditional gender relations. All these changes are conceptualized as social adaptation strategies that increase resilience in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Willem van Vliet on intergenerational cities, one by Mariano Sánchez, José M. Garcia, Pilar Diaz and Monica Duaigües on an intergenerational housing program in Spain and one by Arlene J. Carson, Karen M. Kobayashi and Valerie S. Kuehne on an intergenerational relations program at the Coldstream Meadows retirement community in Canada.

Objectives: To investigate the association between physical fitness, obesity, health related quality of life (HRQoL) and sleep disturbance in 463 community-dwelling older Spanish women (66-91 years of age).Study Design: Cross-sectional study.Method: Sleep disturbance was assessed with the Jenkins Sleep Scale. Active and sedentary behaviors were recorded by standardized questionnaires. HRQoL was assessed with the EuroQoL-5D. Anthropometric measurements were obtained using standardized techniques. Body fat was measured using bioelectrical impedance. Physical fitness was evaluated by a set of eight tests.Results: Sleep disturbance was reported by 45.1% of women, being associated with higher body mass index (p < 0.05) and waist circumference (p < 0.01). Presence of insomnia was inversely associated with physical fitness. Women in the upper tertile of fitness index had 92.0% lower risk of sleep disturbance as compared to the lower tertile (p = 0.08), while women in the highest tertile of upper body strength had 76.4% lower risk of sleep disturbance as compared to the lower tertile (p < 0.05). Women without sleep disturbance showed better HRQoL.Conclusion: Sleep disturbance was associated with central obesity, lower physical fitness and reduced HRQoL. Interventions involving weight management and improvement of physical fitness may contribute to better sleep quality in older women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of user needs is an essential phase in the early stages of every design project. Many needs identification methodologies are described in the literature. When targeting users with special needs, the task becomes more challenging for different reasons (difficulty of retrieving information, performing prototype testing, etc.). This article presents a novel methodology, Needs Identification Methodology for Inclusive Design (NIMID), that guides the process of needs identification in the inclusive design scenario considering users’ physical, sensorial and cognitive capabilities. NIMID is grounded in Abowd and Beale's human–computer interaction framework and uses WHO's International Classification of Functionalities as the taxonomy that provides a common language. We exemplify the application of the methodology in the design of a smart oven for elderly people. We also compare NIMID with other methodologies evidencing its strong points: universality (common international classification of functioning language), systematicity (clearly defined phases and outcomes) and rationality (grounded in well-established interaction theory). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives:Active ageing, considered from the perspective of participation in leisure activities, promotes life satisfaction and personal well-being. The aims of this work are to define and explain leisure activity profiles among institutionalized older adults, considering their sociodemographic characteristics and objective and subjective conditions in relation to their quality of life. Methods:Two samples of institutionalized people aged 60 and over were analysed together: 234 older adults without dementia and 525 with dementia. Sociodemographic, economic, family and social network, and health and functioning variables were selected. Cluster analysis was applied to obtain activity profiles according to the leisure activities, and ordinal regression models were performed to analyse factors associated to activity level. Results:The sample was clustered into three groups of people: active (27%), moderately active (35%) and inactive people (38%). In the final regression model (Nagelkerke pseudoR2= 0.500), a higher level of activity was associated with better cognitive function (Pfeiffer scale), self-perceived health status and functional ability, as well as with a higher frequency of gathering with family and friends, and higher educational level. Conclusion:The decline in physical and mental health, the loss of functional capabilities and the weakening of family and social ties represent a significant barrier to active ageing in a context of institutionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The goals of this study were to determine the learning impact of an assignment that consisted of interviewing and analyzing older people’s life stories, and to explore how the assignment was evaluated by students. Participants in the study were 122 first-year social education students enrolled in an adult development and aging course. They evaluated the assignment using an eight-adjective questionnaire and were asked about the benefits of the task. Their answers to the questionnaire were then reviewed using content analysis. The results indicated that marks on the life story assignment predicted marks on an exam about basic course concepts. Students considered that the assignment was interesting, useful, and integrated into the course, although most of them also thought that it was very time-consuming. They identified benefits related to the explicit goals of the course (improvement in the learning of developmental concepts, the acquisition of research-related skills, and the deactivation of aging stereotypes) and personal, growth-related benefits. The authors discuss the difficulties posed by the assignment and its usefulness as a complement to more traditional, lecture-based teaching methods in adult development and aging courses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The goal of this study was to explore stereotypes of older people as expressed in drawings by a sample of primary school children. Sixty children from fourth to sixth grades (30 boys and 30 girls aged 9 to 12 years) were asked to draw a young man, a young woman, an old man, and an old woman. The drawings were content analyzed. Children in our sample seemed to represent old people in varied or multidimensional ways, indicating, thus, that the image they held about elders was less negative than concluded in similar investigations. In fact, although some drawings had negative content, most pictured a positive—and even friendly—image of old people. Moreover, some of the drawings included both positive and negative traits at the same time. Compared with images of young men and women, those of the elderly seem to be more homogeneous and less complex, since there was more agreement on represented details. Suggestions for future research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Conclusions: EGb761 treatment has a significant benefit with an early and preventive effect, reversing the deleterious effect of aging in the integrity of the rat cochlea, even in the late stage of the rat lifespan. Objectives: We previously reported a significant relationship between aging and apoptosis in the rat cochlea. This study was designed to investigate the effects of Ginkgo biloba leaf extract (EGb761) on age-associated cochlear caspase activation. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats ( n = 80) divided into two groups according to their age (4 months old, younger, YR, and 12 months old, aged-mature, AM) were treated with 100 mg/kg/day body weight of EGb761 extract dissolved in tap water for two periods: 4 and 12 months. Then cochleae were harvested to measure caspase activities, ATP levels, total superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and caspase-3 gene expression. Auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) threshold shifts were also measured before sacrifice of the rats. Results: EGb761 treatment prevents significantly aging-related caspase-induced activities within the cochleae in YR and AM rats. In the short EGb761 treatment, YR rats showed lower levels of caspase-3/7 than AM rats. In contrast, longer treatment did not show significant differences between YR and AM rats. Reduced caspase-3/7 activity in presence of EGb761 correlates with significant improvements of ASSR threshold shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]