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Purpose: The digital age requires people of all ages to communicate and organise their lives through digital technologies. The project EQualCare investigates how the growing population of older people living alone is managing this transition, how it shapes their (non-)digital social networks and what changes on a local level need to be brought about. This paper aims to give insight into the process of participatory action research (PAR) with older people in the community across four countries and reflects on experiences made by academic and co-researchers. Design/methodology/approach: Following the emancipatory underpinnings of PAR, which aims to reduce inequalities through collaboration and co-design, EQualCare involved nine teams of co-researchers across Finland, Germany, Latvia and Sweden making older people the centre of policy development. Co-researchers were involved in formulating research aims, collecting data, reflecting on data, formulating and disseminating recommendations for local policy stakeholders. Findings: Co-researchers' motivation to invest considerable time and effort was driven by a desire to create a more equal future for older people living alone. Moreover, they were keen to involve marginalised older people and became frustrated when this proved difficult. Power dynamics played a role throughout the process but became productive as roles and responsibilities were renegotiated. Doing PAR with older people can be emotionally challenging for co-researchers when negative feelings around ageing are encountered. Originality/value: The paper advances understanding on the process of PAR in ageing research by reflecting on the social, cultural and political contexts of doing PAR with diverse sets of older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finland and the Czech Republic are among the countries where population ageing has been the most pronounced in the last decade. The aim of the paper is to describe future development of life expectancy in the context of ***pension system reforms that are currently prepared by the politicians in analysed countries. One-year age-and-sex-specific mortality rates for population aged 0 to 100+ were taken from the Human Mortality Database for 1950-2021 and projected to 2050. Three stochastic models were calculated in R and compared. Suitable was Lee-Carter model modified by Li-Lee-Gerland (with rotation of bx parameter) because of low infant mortality in both populations. Projected year-on-year change of life expectancy was comparable to the Eurostat, but absolute values were too optimistic in our case. Values of temporary life expectancy between 60 and 70 years and indices of annual relative changes revealed relatively fast pace of increase in life expectancy in both populations which the pension systems should take into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postgraduate education in gerontology is now widespread within European universities, but, even so, such developments remain very uneven. This paper outlines the variety of provision by describing Master's programmes in a sample of countries: England, Scotland, Finland, and Spain. These programmes illustrate some of the common problems: lack of funding for students, limited availability of academic staff, and reliance on a small core of dedicated teachers. They exhibit many strengths, including the breadth of curricula, high academic standards, high calibre and varied backgrounds of the students, the value of the qualification in employment, and meeting the demands of an ageing Europe. At the same time, these courses are faced with important issues about their sustainability. This paper argues that the demand for generalist courses such as gerontology taught Master's may fall in the coming years due to a combination of factors, such as employers' unwillingness to allow day release and demands by older people themselves for treatment and care by specialists. Generalist courses, this paper argues, may only survive in the biggest and best universities serving large populations and in cities able to attract overseas students. doi:10.1300/J021v27n03_03 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the association between structural and cognitive aspects of social capital and self-rated health among adults aged 50 or more, living in three countries: Finland, Poland and Spain. The study, which was based on data from the European Social Survey (2008/09), was a part of the EU research project COURAGE in Europe. More specifically the paper assesses the association between social capital indicators – informal social network and general trust – and good self-rated health through single-level and joint effects analyses. The results showed that Finland was a country of high social capital, in terms of both social networks and general trust, while Spain showed low levels of general trust and Poland low levels of informal social networks. As to the association between social capital and self-rated health, high levels of general trust and high networks were found to be associated with good health among all countries' respondents. Older persons living in partnerships, with higher education, higher levels of engagement in informal networks and general trust, were found to be more likely to show good self-rated health. Our comparative analyses revealed different associations between social capital and health according to country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aim: To outline the organisation and responsibility for health and social care provided to older people in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Methods: Non-quantifiable data on the care systems were collated from the literature and expert consultations. The responsibilities for primary healthcare, specialised healthcare, prevention and health promotion, rehabilitation, and social care were presented in relation to policy guidance, funding and organisation. Results: In all three countries, the state issues policy and to some extent co-funds the largely decentralised systems; in Denmark and Sweden the regions and municipalities organise the provision of care services – a system that is also about to be implemented in Finland to improve care coordination and make access more equal. Care for older citizens focuses to a large extent on enabling them to live independently in their own homes. Conclusions: Decentralised care systems are challenged by considerable local variations, possibly jeopardising care equity. State-level decision and policy makers need to be aware of these challenges and monitor developments to prevent further health and social care disparities in the ageing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine whether there are systematic differences in the quality of life, depending on whether an individual is institutionalised or not, holding health status and income level constant. In doing this we use a nationally representative data set, the Health 2000 in Finland. When controlling for health and functional status, demographics and income level, we find that individuals who are living in old-age homes actually report significantly higher levels of subjective wellbeing than those who are living at home. We argue that this finding emerges from queuing for care homes. This implies that there are individuals living at home who are so frail that they should really be living in an old-age institution, but because of the queues for that particular mode of living, they are living at home with a decreased quality of life as a consequence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: There is a need for better adoption of technology to meet the needs of home care professionals, older people, and informal caregivers. Methods: Mixed methods were used to describe and analyse quantitative and qualitative data in a Finnish governmental programme called KATI. The study was three-fold: it 1) listed what kinds of technologies were piloted and deployed in a national study, 2) provided information from the perspectives of home care professionals about requirements to use technology by using focus-group interviews, and 3) assessed experiences of how the adoption of technology changes work and work processes over time by using repeated surveys. Informants in interviews (n = 25) and surveys (n = 90) were home care professionals, who also described the perspectives of older people and informal caregivers. The conceptual models framing the study were adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model and DirVA PROVE-IT. Results: There were 80 technology pilots, in which variety of technologies were followed in home care. Familiarity with, commitment to and understanding of technology benefits were considered to be requirements for the technology to be used. The adoption of technology provided new skills and information about older people's wellbeing, realisation of treatment and new possibilities in home care. It developed new procedures to focus on older people's needs and motivated professionals by gained concrete aid. It enabled them to leave out some concrete procedures as unnecessary. On the other hand, there were also pessimistic and negative experiences when technology use provided nothing new or did not change anything. Conclusions: The adoption of technology is dependent on the technology and its integration into the prevailing service practice. When they both work, it is possible to leave out unnecessary procedures in care, allocate resources and save time. It is possible to be aware of older people's safety and how they cope at home, find new ways to get involved in older people's lives, gain insight, and make changes at work. Continuous on-site training, modifications in service practices and communication throughout organisations is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of hiring and exit rates by age at the firm level and firm-level age segregation in hirings and separations in Finland. Design/methodology/approach -- The use Finnish linked employer-employee data from 1990 to 2004. The authors present a decomposition of employment change by age group to disentangle the roles of hirings and exits from factors related to demographics effects. Firm-level analysis is conducted using regression models for the hiring rates and shares of different age groups and for the probability of hiring older employees. Similar models are estimated for the exits of older employees. Segregation is analysed using age segregation curves and Gini indices calculated from them. Findings -- The hirings of older (50+) employees have clearly been more segregated at the firm level than the exits or the stock of old employees. Larger firms are more likely to hire older employees, but their hiring rates are lower. However, the probability of having hires or exits of older workers are much higher in large firms. The results are relatively similar for men and women. Research limitations/implications -- The determinants of the probability of hiring older workers and the rate of hiring them, given that the rate is positive, are different and these two processes should be modelled separately. The Gini index of segregation may be misleading when the number of employees per firm is small. Therefore it is useful to compare segregation to a random reshuffle of employees to firms. Practical implications -- Older worker who have become unemployed or who want to change their job need to have more employment opportunities. Labour and pension policies need to be monitored and designed so that there are more incentives for the individual to search for a new job and for the firms to hire older employees. Originality/value -- The authors provide new empirical evidence of age segregation and hiring prospects of older employees. Age segregation has previously been examined in occupations, but the authors extend the analysis to firm-level segregation. The authors suggest a new decomposition of the rate of employment change to the hiring and exit rates and to a cohort effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper a transnational perspective is used to explain whether and how older migrants construct and sustain their social networks. The paper uses a transnational viewpoint on older migrants' lives by analysing their engagement with their former homeland, and the intensity and habitualness of those engagements in old age. The aim of this article is to study the transnational connections of later-life migrants'. Attention is especially paid to the features of old age while maintaining these connections. These considerations are based on analyses of transnational networks in the everyday lives of later-life migrants from the former Soviet Union residing in Finland. The data were collected from 11 later-life migrants. It is found that transnational relationships are a vital part of the everyday lives of older migrants, and that they are sustained in varied ways. These connections mean a concrete source of help, family affiliations, the sharing of emotions, and a larger social network. Economic limitations affect the frequency and type of communication, and various physical limitations may also cause inability to maintain contacts across borders. In these circumstances, family members or other close relatives or friends are needed to deliver messages on the older person's behalf. Old age and immigration status affect the amount and direction of communication across borders, thereby shaping these networks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aims: This paper examines associations between self-rated health, three indicators of SES (self-reported education, disposable household income, adequacy of income) and three types of communities (urban, densely or sparsely populated rural areas) among ageing men and women in the Province of Päijät-Häme, Southern Finland. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the magnitude of community type when examining the relation between subjective health and SES. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire data gathered in the spring of 2002 for a prospective follow-up of community interventions were used. These data, together with a number of clinical and laboratory measurements, yielded the baseline for a 10-year community intervention study. A representative stratified (age, gender, area) sample of men and women living in the province and belonging to the birth cohorts 1926–1930, 1936–1940, and 1946–1950 was obtained from the National Population Registry. The target sample was 4,272, with 2,815 persons responding (66% response rate). Results: Positive associations between indicators of SES and self-rated health were observed in all three community types. After adjusting for other factors, adequacy of income showed the strongest (positive) association with self-rated health in urban areas in all age groups. A similar pattern of associations, with varying statistical significance, though, was found in the two rural areas. Conclusions: This study supports the view that while actual income is positively correlated to health, adequacy of income is an even stronger predictor of it. Thus, there was a significant link between better financial standing and good health among ageing people, especially in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: The purpose of this study is to explore how the concept of 'feeling at home' manifests in nursing home environments and influences the transformational potential of such homes—servicescapes where customers experience vital conjunctures. Background: Recent research on places highlights the potential of service venues as places that can promote well‐being. Nursing homes bridge the concepts of 'home' and a service with transformational aspirations. Moving to a nursing home can be regarded as a vital conjuncture, yet despite the resultant mixed emotions, nursing homes can generate positive changes and meaningful relations. Design; Methods: A qualitative field study with ethnographic features was conducted in two Finnish nursing homes. The data consist of observations and 64 semi‐structured interviews. COREQ guidelines were followed. Results: 'Feeling at home' is built on: (1) artefacts and surroundings, (2) functions and activities and (3) relationality and atmosphere. A home‐like experience related to each category is important in enabling customers to feel at home, thus assisting in dealing with the vital conjuncture, but the transformative power of nursing homes is linked most closely to respectful, kind attendance of the others and a positive atmosphere. Conclusions: The roles of nurses and a homely servicescape are essential in dealing with residents' vital conjunctures, whether those residents employ resistance or adjustment coping methods. Positive transformations that evoke residents' re‐balancing and well‐being are enabled in nursing homes that support residents' important relationships, identity, safety and self‐efficacy. This positive transformation also aids family members with their associated vital conjunctures, thus multiplying the service's transformational potential. Patient or public contribution: Service users and caregivers were involved in the design and conduct of the data in this study. Relevance to clinical practice: Creating a homely atmosphere in nursing homes fosters not only residents' but also family members' re‐balancing and well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the caregiver stress process model emphasising the role of resources for caregiving outcomes, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of subjective caregiver burden (SCB) and its associations with individual social, economic, and political resources among older spousal caregivers in a Nordic regional setting. Cross-sectional survey data collected in 2016 in the Bothnia region of Finland and Sweden were used, where 674 spousal caregivers were identified and included in the analyses. The descriptive results showed that about half of the respondents experienced SCB. SCB was more common among Finnish-speaking caregivers. Results from the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that none of the assessed political resources were significantly associated with SCB when controlling for other variables. Experiencing financial strain was associated with SCB, while personal income was not. Frequent contact with family members was statistically significantly associated with SCB. Future research could use longitudinal data to determine causal relationships, and when data allow, test the full caregiver stress process model to investigate the role of mediating factors in different comparative settings. Accumulated evidence on risk factors for negative outcomes of informal caregiving can contribute to effective screening tools for identifying and supporting vulnerable caregivers, which is becoming increasingly important with the ageing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study examines how staff in housing and day activity centres describe the transition of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) to old-age retirement. The data comprise the staff's written responses to open-ended questions included in an online questionnaire. The data were analysed using content analysis, followed by further analysis using the concept of the script. We identified two main scripts in which the staff outline the transition process. According to the person-centred script, the role of the person with ID in transition is an agent with initiative and the staff are seen as enablers and supporters. In the system-driven script, the role of the person with ID is a passive object adapting to changes, while the staff seems to implement routines. This study shows inequality among aging people with ID. Their opportunities to make decisions from retirement depends on which script is followed in their municipality's disability services and service-provider organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospital discharge of older people in need of both medical and social care following their hospital stay requires extensive coordination. This study aims to examine and compare the views of nurses in three Nordic cities on the influence of sociodemographic factors and having close relatives, for the hospital discharge and post hospital care of older people with complex health and social care needs. Thirty-five semi-structured interviews (Copenhagen n = 11, Tampere n = 8, Stockholm n = 16) with nurses were conducted. The nurses were identified through the researchers' networks, invitation and snowball sampling, and recruited from hospitals, primary care practices, home care units, home nursing units, and geriatric departments. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Interpretations were discussed and agreed within the team. Four main themes and 13 sub-themes were identified. Across the cities, informants reported that the patient's health status, rather than their gender or ethnicity, steered the discharge date and further care. Care costs, commonly reported in Tampere but also in Copenhagen and Stockholm including costs for medications and home help, were considered barriers for disadvantaged older people. Home situation, local arrangements and differences in collaboration between healthcare professionals at different sites also influenced the hospital discharge. Generally, the patient's health status steered the hospital discharge and post-hospital care. Close relatives were regarded important and a potential advantage. Some informants tried to compensate for the absence of close relatives, highlighting the importance of care systems that can compensate for this to minimise avoidable inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the use of antidepressants over 6 years between family caregivers providing high-intensity care and a matched control population using register-based data.Methods: The study includes all individuals, who received family caregiver's allowance in Finland in 2012 (n = 29,846 females, mean age 66 years; n = 12,410 males, mean age 71 years) and a control population matched for age, sex, and municipality of residence (n = 59,141 females; n = 24,477 males). Information on purchases of antidepressants, including the number of defined daily doses (DDD) purchased, between 2012 and 2017 was obtained from the national drugs reimbursement register.Results: During the follow-up, 28.5% of female caregivers and 23.5% of the female controls used antidepressants, while the numbers for males were 21.1% and 16.4%, respectively. Adjusted for socioeconomic status, female caregivers used 43.7 (95% confidence interval 42.4-45.0) and their controls used 36.2 (35.3-37.2) DDDs of antidepressants per person-year. Male caregivers used 29.6 (27.6-31.6) and their controls used 21.6 (20.2-23.0) DDDs of antidepressants per person-year. Among female caregivers, the relative risk for use of antidepressants was similar (about 1.3) from 20 to 70 years, after which the relative risk declined. In male caregivers, the relative risk was highest (about 1.4-1.5) between 45 and 65 years.Conclusions: Family caregivers providing high-intensity care use more antidepressants and hence, are likely to have poorer mental health than the age-matched general population in virtually all age groups. However, the magnitude of the higher use varies as a function of age and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Finland is one of the fastest ageing countries in the world. At the same time, care personnel working with senior citizens at home care are also getting older. (OECD Economic Surveys: Finland 2020.) People at working age are expected to work longer and retire later, but simultaneously, there is a lack of care personnel. Therefore, the better utilization of technology has been stated (Technology Advisory Board 2021), but the challenges exist to the impacts and integration of technology into the home care contexts. We aim to describe how a national programme called KATI ('Smart Ageing and Care at Home') support the integration of new technologies and digital services for older people home care in Finland. The ultimate goal of the programme is a continuing collaborative model of technology-supported ageing and care of older people at home. In this abstract, the focus is on perspectives of home care personnel. Method The KATI programme consist of six regional projects across seven regions in Finland which represent municipalities or associations of municipalities, third and private sectors, and universities. The programme coordination rests with the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), and the regional projects participate in systematic assessment coordinated by the THL and The Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd (VTT), who participates in a national programme as an expert of technology solutions. Home care personnel will be studied in the programme from three perspectives by using mixed-methods (Creswell & Clark 2018). 1) Well-being of home care personnel will be assessed by using follow-up surveys. 2) Changes that technology has in their work, service processes and impact on home care work will be studied by using follow-up surveys. 3) Home care personnel's user experiences and attitudes towards technology will be evaluated by using interviews. While combining all this information and communicating it with regional projects we are aiming to achieve a continuing collaborative model of technology-supported ageing and care of older people at home. Results and Discussion So far, while the national programme is halfway, we have conducted the baseline survey for assessing well-being of home care personnel (n=805). The survey was conducted in six KATI projects and in five comparative regions not involving in the KATI programme but in which the home care personnel worked within similar context at home care. Almost 94 % of the respondents were female, mean age of the participants was 45 years, mean years of working at home care was 16 years and eight years at the same position. The most common technologies used were safety solutions without GPS localization, medicine-dispensing robots, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and software, video calls, security systems and access controls. We have also conducted the baseline survey for the KATI projects for assessing changes that technology has in the work of home care personnel, service processes and impact on home care. The survey was answered by 21 teams, 1-10 respondents per team. Results were the following: home care personnel skills to use technology improved, they received realtime information on older people coping at home, and they learned to analyse and utilize the received information in their work making their work to be more versatile. More results of the baseline surveys and information about the analysis methods using inductive and deductive content analysis will be discussed at the conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: essential aspects of independence in community mobility among older people concern the control over where, when and how to participate (perceived autonomy), and actual mobility (life-space mobility; frequency, distance and need of assistance). We studied relationships between frailty and life-space mobility and perceived autonomy in participation outdoors among community-dwelling 75-90 years old people. Methods: longitudinal analyses of the 'Life-space mobility in old age' cohort study (n = 753). Life-space mobility (Life-Space Assessment, range 0-120) and perceived autonomy in participation outdoors (Impact on Participation and Autonomy subscale 'autonomy outdoors', range 0-20) were assessed at baseline and 2 years later. Baseline frailty indicators were unintentional weight loss (self-report), weakness (5 times chair rise), exhaustion (self-report), slowness (2.44 m walk) and low physical activity (self-report). Results: in total, 53% had no frailty, 43% pre-frailty (1-2 frailty indicators) and 4% frailty (>3 indicators). Generalised estimation equation models showed that life-space mobility was lower among those with frailty and pre-frailty compared with those without frailty and, in addition, declined at a faster pace. Perceived autonomy in participation outdoors was more restricted among those with frailty and pre-frailty compared with those without frailty, but the rate of decline did not differ. Conclusion: frailty was associated with more restricted life-space mobility and poorer perceived autonomy in the decision-making concerning community mobility. Over the follow-up, frailty predicted a steeper decline in life-space mobility but not in perceived autonomy. Further study is warranted to determine whether compensation strategies or changes in the valuation of activities underlie this discrepancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social activity and health correlate in old age, but less is known about what explains this association. The aim of this study was to investigate whether mobility, cognitive functioning, and depressive symptoms mediate the association between social activity and mortality risk, or whether they alternatively should be considered as prerequisites for social activity in older Finnish men and women. In 1988, 406 men and 775 women aged 65-84 years took part in face-to-face interviews about their health, socioeconomic status, and social activities. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to form latent variables describing collective and productive social activity. Latent variable models were used to investigate the possible pathways among social activity, mobility, cognitive functioning, depressive symptoms, and mortality risk. In the 21-year follow-up, 89 % of men and 81 % of women had died. Collective and productive social activity correlated with a lower risk for mortality among men and women. Part of the association between social activity and mortality was mediated by mobility. Cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms were not mediators in the association. Instead, good cognitive functioning and having less depressive symptoms were prerequisites for participating in collective social activity among men and women. Among men, good cognitive functioning, and among women, good cognitive functioning and having less depressive symptoms were prerequisites for productive social activity. The health-enhancing influences of social activity may be partly explained by better mobility among persons who are socially active. Moreover, social activity may maintain mobility and thus decreases mortality risk, as many social activities also include physical activity. Better cognitive functioning and having less depressive symptoms should be considered as prerequisites for participating in social activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: high job strain increases the risk of health decline, but little is known about the specific consequences and long-term effects of job strain on old age health.Objectives: purpose was to investigate whether physical and mental job strain in midlife was associated with hospital care use in old age.Methods: study population included 5,625 Finnish public sector employees aged 44–58 years who worked in blue- and white-collar professions in 1981. The number of in-patient hospital care days was collected from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register for the 28-year follow-up period.Results: rates of hospital care days per 1,000 person-years for men were 7.78 (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.71–7.84) for low, 9.68 (95% CI 9.50–9.74) for intermediate and 12.56 (95% CI 12.47–12.66) for high physical job strain in midlife. The corresponding rates for women were 6.63 (95% CI 6.57–6.68), 7.91 (95% CI 7.87–7.95) and 10.35 (95% CI 10.25–10.42), respectively. Rates were parallel but lower for mental job strain. Reporting high physical job strain in midlife increased the risk of hospital care in old age compared with those who reported low job strain, fully adjusted incidence rate ratio 1.17 (95% CI 1.00–1.38) for men and 1.42 (95% CI 1.25–1.61) for women. These associations were robust in analyses confined to hospital care that took place after the employees had turned 65 years.Conclusion: exposure to high mental and, particularly, high physical job strain in midlife may set employees on a higher healthcare use trajectory which persists into old age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyse the decline in visual acuity (VA) during normal ageing in two Scandinavian population samples of subjects aged ≥ 70 years and to study the age-specific decline in VA in eyes with early age-related maculopathy (ARM). We carried out a cross-sectional analysis of data pertaining to VA in the better eye in one population sample from Oulu (OU), Finland (aged 70-82 years) and a second population sample from Gothenburg (GG), Sweden (aged 82 or 88 years). The change in VA with age was evaluated in healthy eyes (OU, n = 119; GG, n = 40) and in eyes with early ARM (OU-ARM, n = 22; GG-ARM, n = 114) using linear regression or logistic regression. The results were compared with those of previous reports. Our population samples showed a significant decrease with age in VA in healthy eyes in subjects aged ≥ 44 years using both statistical models. Comparisons with previous reports demonstrated a homogeneity in the decline in VA with age. On average, 0.3 logMAR are lost from middle age up to 88 years, presumably as a result of physiological ageing. In early ARM, the rate of age-specific decline in VA more than doubled and the prevalence of VA < 0.5 markedly increased. Visual acuity in healthy eyes declines with age from middle age onwards. The decrease in VA possibly accelerates in subjects aged > 70 years, although no significant evidence for this was found. An age-specific decline in VA is shown in eyes with early ARM. These results are important for the evaluation of age-specific treatment results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is part of the Promoting Aging Migrants’ Capabilities programme that applied person-centred group meetings and one individual home visit to prolong independence in daily activities among people ≥70 years who had migrated to Sweden from Finland or the Western Balkan region. With the purpose to understand programme outcomes, the study aimed to explore the participants’ everyday experiences of using health-promoting messages exchanged during the programme. Using a grounded theory approach, 12 persons aged 70–83 years were interviewed six months to one year after their participation in the programme. The participants experienced how using health-promoting messages was a dynamic process of how to make decisions on taking action to satisfy health-related needs of oneself or others immediately or deferring action. Five sub-processes were also identified:gaining inner strength, meeting challenges in available resources, being attentive to what is worth knowing, approaching health risks, and identifying opportunities to advocate for others. The results suggest that the programme could develop personal skills to support older people who have migrated to overcome health-related challenges. They further demonstrate the importance of supporting their health literacy before personal resources hinder action, and call for research on programmes to overcome environmental barriers to health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]