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The article will report on a service aimed at the elderly, the Day Center for Frail Elders, a context in which, beginning with an exploration of participants’ demand, they work together to revitalize their desire. After a brief historical overview that contextualizes the birth of this type of service, the now fifteen-year experience of Elianto, Day Center for the Frail Elderly in the province of Rome, will be discussed. Both organizational and cultural aspects, resources and possible elements of development will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longevity of age is a global phenomenon of the 21st century. Therapists working with older adults therefore need to be aware of issues of ageing, dying as well as societal and other attitudes towards older adults. Little is known about therapists' experiences of providing psychotherapy to ageing clients. This article uncovers the findings of a Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological study which describes and interprets ten Irish therapists' lived experiences of working with older adults. The findings indicate that psychotherapy with older adults is a different and challenging experience for therapists, compared to work with clients in younger age ranges. Participants in this study found ways of coping with dominant experiences of sadness, vulnerability, ageing, dying and death. In order to cope with and effectively work with older adults, a commitment to personal development regarding one's own ageing and mortality is necessary, coupled with ongoing professional development to increase specialised knowledge of and theoretical perspectives on ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making competence is one of the most important aspects throughout the individual's lifespan. Making correct choices in everyday life is essential to keep autonomy, which is crucial, especially when age increases. Even though many studies showed that awareness about the decisional process plays a key role in an effective decision, no tools are available to assess it. Such awareness is especially crucial during old age, when most of the cognitive functions underlying the decision-making ability tend to impair, making the decisional process less efficient as well. This study concerns the Metacognitive Decision-Making Scenarios, a self-report tool designed to explore the elderly's awareness of the decisional process. Data collected through a pilot phase will be presented. Responses of 40 participants were investigated. Results revealed that the tool has internal consistency levels above the acceptance threshold and the answers to the items are stable over time. Further findings concern the relations between subscales and principal cognitive abilities and psychological characteristics bound to the decisional process, as well as possible differences associated with age, schooling, and sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades there has been a progressive increase in the elderly population worldwide. Parallel to the lengthening of life expectancy, chronic degenerative diseases have increased in people over 60. By examining several studies on the health of the elderly, it was found that in addition to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, depression is the mental illness that frequently occurs in this population. It is often underdiagnosed and untreated and causes psychological, social, and disability malaise. New epidemiological data show the impact of late-life depression in terms of mortality and social isolation. Consequently, the scientific literature underlines the urgency of evidence-based psychotherapeutic protocols in old age. Therefore, the study aims to analyze clinical manifestations of late-life depression, paying attention to the differential diagnosis between depression in old age and dementia. Finally, the present study examines the current protocols used in cognitive-behavioral therapy in late-life depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid and constant increase in the aging rate of the population, with the consequent increase in the number of elderly people characterized by comorbidities, frailty and a significant loss of autonomy, represents a challenge for contemporary society and for bioethical reflection. Faced with the major problems that occur in the care of the elderly (ageism, depersonalization and depression, insufficient treatment of pain, various forms of abuse), a possible answer can be sought in the contamination of the approach of palliative care to care for the elderly. This choice, by promoting patient-centered care, attentive to caring rather than curing, to holistic management of the person (to his ‘total pain’) could constitute an adequate response to the current negative elements in assistance to the elderly, guaranteeing the best possible quality of life, including the dimension of life satisfaction, pain control, overcoming ageism and preventing abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the elderly, morphological modifications dictated by the aging process constitute one of the main risk factors for falls, often caused by balance and walking disorders. Fall-related injuries and the fear of falling again contribute to the decline of functional capacities, with a consequent decrease in autonomy and quality of life. In addition, a sedentary lifestyle aggravates the normal decline in physiological function and increases the vulnerability of the elderly. The effect of physical activity on reducing falls and improving balance is a primary component of fall prevention guidelines. To ensure adherence to physical training interventions, it is important to make the interventions accessible, supporting the user and limiting the development of negative feelings. For this, there is an increasing use of new technologies, such as exergames, virtual reality and visual biofeedback, in order to make training more attractive and stimulating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reconstructs Carlo Cristini's contribution to psychology. In particular, the contributions to the study of healthy and pathological ageing, to the training of operators and caregivers of the elderly, and to inter-disciplinary exchange are highlighted. The approach aimed at enhancing the resources of the elderly and recognising the uniqueness of the individual is emphasised. Lastly, mention is made of the work on the institutional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to an understudied topic in Italian film studies: representations of older people in contemporary comedies. After contextualising Italian cinema's enduring tendency to employ laughter to cope with tragedy, I cast a spotlight on three of the few Italian film comedies that address the topics of old age and ageing in sustained, purposeful, and original ways. Beginning with an analysis of Fantozzi va in pensione (Neri Parenti, 1988) as a kind of precursor to more recent features, I examine the interconnected themes of work, retirement, intergenerational conflict, and death. Close readings of Metti la nonna in freezer (Giancarlo Fontana and Giuseppe Stasi, 2018) and Buoni a nulla (Gianni Di Gregorio, 2014) follow. These comedies recycle tropes addressed in Fantozzi va in pensione. Yet, when interpreted in the context of contemporary Italy, the latter two films are also innovative in their grotesque depiction of older persons as 'human capital'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In old age, the most frequently-occurring conditions that involve psychic suffering and that often acquire psychopathological connotations are maladjustment, anxieties and fears, depression and cognitive decline. These are existential and clinical areas that Professor Marcello Cesa-Bianchi has dealt with many times in his long scientific career. His early works include in particular the maladjustment of the elderly detected and analysed in different experiential contexts. Whereas anxieties, fears and depression - in addition to maladjustment - also occur in other periods of life, in old age they acquire specific characteristics. Furthermore, the ageing process involves the risk of the onset of dementia, in its various forms. Cognitive decline - without of course ignoring its clinical manifestations and still unknown etiology - is considered in its multidimensionality and hypercomplexity, highlighting above all the emotional, relational and creative dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychology of ageing and advancing years has been a common theme throughout Professor Marcello Cesa-Bianchi's scientific and academic career, as can be seen by his impressive number of publications. He has examined and studied various areas and topics regarding psychological ageing in-depth. This paper highlights the studies that led him to define, as always ahead of his time, the various factors that can influence ageing, which are now being confirmed by numerous international research projects. There is a particular focus on studies into creativity among the elderly, to which he has dedicated the last twenty-five years of his long scientific career, analysing the various areas in which such creativity can be seen and especially concentrating on the last expressions of creativity by many famous artistic and cultural figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the concept of gender identity has been under study until reaching the transgender concept which goes beyond the binary concept of sex and gender. It proposes a fluid vision that legitimizes the existence of a gender identity variety in which one can recognize itself. Therefore, the concept of gender identity goes through a long process of depathologization, as happened for example to the concept of "homosexuality" in previous years. This process starts from the first studies of differentiation between sex and gender and goes through the modern classifications that the many diagnostic manuals present us. The DSM-5 with its label of "gender dysphoria" emphasizes the personal distress associated with this condition, whilst the PDM-2 emphasizes its non-pathological dimension by naming it "gender inconsistency" while confining it in the appendix section. The health of the elderly LGBT population and their ageing-related needs have so far been poorly addressed in services, policies, or research. The understanding of this LGBT population life process cannot be separated from their social and historical life context that passed through the "Greatest Generation" and the one of the "Baby Boom", both characterized by strong experiences of discrimination and victimization. Moreover, talking about the transgender population over fifty, it faces a transition life phase in which one cannot ignore the peculiar characteristics of the experience as a transgender person and all the aspects related to the social support and the physical health. To look at the transgender ageing-perception means adopting a perspective that takes distances from the heteronormative scripts largely prevailing in the society, and that makes use of the typical concepts of this identity experience, such as queer time and queer space. For a broader understanding of the phenomenon is thus necessary to integrate two fundamental perspectives, the queer view and the gerontological one, contributing to the growth of awareness about ageing, identity, and human development. By adopting a health equity point of view, it is possible to identify the risk and protective factors that, on an individual level, have the greatest influence on the ageing process and psychological wellbeing. Among them, minority stress and resilience resulted to be the most relevant ones. On a physical level, during ageing, our body and mind can suffer from a gradual decline. Hormonal and surgical therapies for sex change can contribute to it and can represent some additional risks. To control this, the hormonal treatment is given following the Endocrine Society guidelines. The relationship between public health and transgender users has been characterized by a discriminatory climate that makes this population often reluctant to seek health care and negatively affect their physical health. Besides, also the social and family support that characterizes the transgender population over 50 influences their real and perceived well-being. Taking into consideration the issues concerning relations with public health, family reactions, as well as those encountered in the social sphere characterized by heavy prejudices, and the impact that all this has, it emerged the need to promote constructs such as health equity to overcome these problems and improve the living conditions of the transgender population. The goal of this contribution is hence to highlight the transgender population problems and needs in order to promote a clinician who is accurate and conscious of the peculiarities of the users and to support an ad hoc psychosexual clinical intervention adopting a biopsychosocial approach. The ultimate aim is to offer a service that is free from any heteronormative prejudice and binary conception of the genre, promoting the creation of a listening and analysis place in which the user can feel confident in exploring and expressing his needs and desires, which will be embraced and supported respecting his legitimacy and value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent decades, leisure travel has increasingly involved older people, even for very faraway destinations. Professor Marcello Cesa-Bianchi - he himself a great traveller, right up to the last days of his long life - carried out a lot of research and in-depth analysis, leading him to consider travel to be a unique opportunity to develop knowledge, meet new people and experience different ways of behaving, habits and customs, substantially learning about ourselves and the surroundings with which we interact. He highlighted how tourism can create psychophysical well-being in the elderly, help them to rediscover emotions and memories, facilitate communications, with a particular focus on intergenerational communication, develop creativity and personal growth, educate them with regard to respecting the local area and the environment and promote the overcoming of prejudice and a better culture of integration. He underlined how tourism can also represent a metaphor for an inner journey that allows us to express and enhance our feeling of self worth, representing a positive experience able to activate new and significant paths towards good health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that the economic and politics intervention has resulted in high frequency of neurodegenerative disorders among the still actively working population. It mentions that a unified diagnostic- therapeutic-rehabilitative process is needed to manage cognitive impairment in working elders. A table is presented which lists the rehabilitation strategies in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia.

The article discusses a study related to the measuring of perceived work ability in nurses for finding the work ability predictors. As per the study, 78 nurses were recruited and had filled the Work Ability Index (WAI). The study mentions that several factors are involved in perception including individual characteristics, job characteristics and working climate. The study further concludes that main work ability predictor's nurses are age over 45 years and working from 15 years.

The article cites a research study that estimates the employed nurse population aging trends for the period 2009-2035 in two teaching hospitals located in the North of Italy. It is said that the phenomenon of aging of the nursing workforce is being faced by several industrialized countries. Aging projections for the nursing workforce from 2009 until 2035 was obtained in the study by developing a deterministic mathematical model.