The International Network for Older Adults

Conclusion Although funds were not available to bring members of the Older Adults Network to the World Assembly of Adult Education in January 1990, there was, among the delegates, considerable interest in the subject and several meetings were arranged. The thing that struck me most was not how different were our situations, coming as we did from every corner of the earth, but how many problems and concerns we had in common.With the second Network Newsletter, sent out in the spring of 1991, questionnaires asked for brief details of schemes which involved older people in projects that were, in some way, conservational. They could be involved in conserving language, mythology or history. They might be working to improve and save their environment. The aim is to establish a small but useful register of such projects in sufficient detail to encourage contact and replication by others. For this purpose, small grants are being made available from the money given by CIDA. Slowly but surely, the Older Adults Network is gathering information about positive actions being taken to ensure that older people, in all countries, have the skills and opportunities they need to continue as fully participating citizens. With the rapidly increasing number of older people in all our countries, this small beginning will, hopefully, be a foundation on which much important work will be done in the years to come.     

The Capacity to Consent to Research Among Older Adults

The aim of this study was to develop and validate an assessment tool for research consent competence in older participants. A four-item instrument was developed to assess the capacity of the older adults to consent to research. Data were obtained from 203 nursing home residents from two facilities and 201 community-dwelling older adults in a metropolitan city in South Korea. The results revealed that the four-item instrument for assessing the capacity of older adults to consent to research had good internal consistency, convergent and concurrent validity, an acceptable model fit, and good sensitivity and specificity. The short form can be used for gerontological researchers to encourage their older participants to have the capacity to consent to research in informed consent process.     

Motivation to Learn Among Older Adults in Taiwan

This study analyzed the survey on adults administered by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan in 2008, and logistic regression analysis showed a close relationship between learning motivations of older adults. The finding revealed that the higher age or the lower education attainment of older adults, the lower their learning motivation. The investigation of environmental factors showed that developing a comprehensive learning model boosts the participation of older adults. The study considered both individual and environmental factors, and it found being relatively young, female, and lonely had higher learning motivation. Also, the learning styles involving group activities and online learning stimulated the learning motivation of older adults.     

The Importance of Object Memories for Older Adults

The memories of treasured objects are essential in giving life meaning. In the process of development in later adulthood, most changes involve significant loss including loss of physical and mental ability, loss of family and friends, and loss of possessions. Objects and their associated memories are especially important in maintaining an internal working model of self. This study explores the roles and functions of object memories in the lives of elders in a residential home. An interview process is used to examine the functions and memories of objects for elderly men and women. These objects and memories became the means of communicating the substance, meaning, and justification of a life history. Good long-term care facilities are places where the elderly are respected and allowed and encouraged to have personal items.     

Journal Writing with Web 2.0 Tools: A Vision for Older Adults

This article describes how Web 2.0 technologies may facilitate journaling and related inquiry methods among older adults. Benefits and limitations of journaling are summarized as well as computer skills of older adults. We then describe how Web 2.0 technologies can enhance journaling among older adults by diminishing feelings of isolation, promoting collaboration, establishing learning communities that overcome physical boundaries, and facilitating storage and dissemination of resources. The article concludes by identifying several factors that must be anticipated when using these technologies and provides ideas to overcome privacy, access, and posthumous management.     

Gerontological Counseling Grid: Making Judgments About Older Adults

The author describes the Gerontological Counseling Grid (GCG), an instrument for exploring experienced counselors' awareness of and judgments about older adults. Derived from Kelly's Role Construct Repertory Test, the GCG is based on the personal construct theory of understanding the way individuals make judgments and order their environments. The GCG provides a meaningful way to determine how individuals organize their implicit attitudes toward and evaluations of older adult groups. Administration procedures are presented and a case analysis of a GCG completed by a counselor trainee is presented.     

Medication Adherence in Older Adults: A Qualitative Study

To effectively address medication adherence and improve cardiovascular health among older adults, a deeper understanding is needed of the barriers that this age group faces and of approaches that would be most effective and feasible for improving adherence. We conducted a focus group study (n = 25) in a diverse population of older adults with hypertension recruited from the Cohort Study of Medication Adherence in Older Adults (CoSMO). A structured guide was used to collect feedback on barriers to adherence and acceptability and the feasibility of intervention strategies. The final coding framework outlines factors at the individual, relationship, health care system, and environmental or policy level that affect adherence in older adults. These include memory, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, side effects, social support, interaction with healthcare providers, and cost and convenience of medication filling. Patient responses highlighted the varied nature of barriers and the need for interventions that are both multifaceted and tailored.     

Technology: Education and Training Needs of Older Adults

The impact of the global aging of the population on social, economic, political, and health care institutions is unequaled. Parallel to this, evolving developments in technology promise opportunities for sales and product development to support positive aging. Older adults are excited to utilize technologies that they perceive as practical. However, age, education, technical knowledge, and technological anxiety affect interest in new technologies, creating a technology divide. Providing more accessible and relevant technologies for today's older adults may make the technology more universally accessible. This article reports the results of a survey on technology and education among a sample of 77 adults between the ages of 52 and 92 who attended a week-long lifelong-learning event at Indiana University. Familiarity with technology, age, education, and gender were found to be correlated with familiarity with new technologies as well as operating and shopping for new electronic devices.     

Cultural Diversity Among Older Adults: Addressing Health Education

ABSTRACT

The diversity of the older adult population is increasing, and health professionals need to learn new knowledge and skills to improve the adherence of older ethnic clients to their health recommendations. Much of the existing research literature on diversity in gerontology concludes that ethnic older adults are at a health disadvantage. Few if any of these studies, however, offer practical applications for health promoters. This article reports on a paradox: there is a surprising amount of diversity within each group of ethnic elders, but it may be the similarities across these groups that lead to practical applications of use to health-promoters. The article ends with health-promotion questions of relevance to older adults, regardless of ethnicity.     

Preparing for the Silver Tsunami: The Demand for Higher Education Among Older Adults

Over the next decade, Baby Boomers will be reaching retirement age in large numbers and the U.S. will be undergoing one of the most significant demographic shifts in its history. This demographic shift has important implications for the role of higher education as a provider of lifelong learning and for the changing composition of postsecondary institutions. Using data from the 2005 National Household Education Survey, the results of this study informs the higher education community about this emerging student market segment as a way to help us better respond to older adults?? demand for formal learning in postsecondary institutions.     

研究范例:关于老人对远程教育需求的研究

一项能受到社会广泛关注的远程教育研究课题应该切合社会和人们的需要.本文介绍由作者主持的<香港老人的学习活动、年龄和专长、元认知知识的研究>这一课题的过程和经验教训,包括研究课题的选择、文献的收集和综合、研究的设计和方法、研究的过程、论文的撰写和交流、以及经验和教训.根据这一研究的主要成果所撰写的论文,于2002年在印度新德里召开的十五届亚洲开放大学协会年会上荣获了"最佳论文奖".本研究的主要经验是,成功的远程教育研究离不开严谨的研究设计、方法和过程,有效的研究工具也应基于本地的实情专门开发,同时,研究的结果能对远程教育的发展和实践具有指导作用.本研究的教训是,如果照搬西方的某些能力测量量表,不仅浪费研究经费,而且浪费大量的人力.本研究也同时说明,开发适合我国成人和老人的学习能力的测量量表成为急需.最后,本文附录了这项研究采用的问卷表,供同行们参考或修改使用.     

From Loving Grandma to Working with Older Adults: Promoting Positive Attitudes Towards Aging

The steady increase of population aging requires not only more people working within the field of aging but also the creation of new services. However, current students from areas such as medicine, nursing, psychology, and social work frequently have low interest in working with older adults. The low interest relates to this task's lack of challenge, absence of social status, and lower incomes. Different variables explain pervasive negative attitudes and lack of interest to work with older cohorts. Change of direction in this trend involves the inclusion of age related topics in university curriculum as well as promoting direct contact with older adults.     

Instructional Videos for Supporting Older Adults Who Use Interactive Systems

The study reported in this paper investigated the usefulness of different instructions for guiding inexperienced older adults through interactive systems. It was designed to compare different media in relation to their social as well as their motivational impact on the elderly during the learning process. Precisely, the video was compared with textual help and the impact of model age (young versus old) on knowledge acquisition was explored. As a research object, a simulated ticket-vending machine was used. Results show that video-supported knowledge acquisition is better than text, but in relation to model age, no significant differences were found.     

Healthy Aging in Place: Perceptions of Rural Older Adults

To date, initiatives to support healthy aging in place have focused primarily on the views of policy makers, researchers, and health professionals. This article explored the meanings, experiences, and perceptions of healthy aging in place among rural older adults. Guided by a community-based participatory research approach, this study sheds light on the perspectives of rural seniors themselves. Through semistructured interviews with 40 rural older adults, the study found that rural older adults' conceptualization of healthy aging in place consisted of factors that policy makers and health professionals would not necessarily consider. In contrast to biomedical approaches, the rural older adults situated healthy aging in place within a more holistic context of health, ranging from social interaction to maintaining an optimistic mental outlook. If policy makers and researchers are to develop more effective interventions that support rural healthy aging in place, then the importance of rural older adults' perspectives, experiences, and input must be recognized.     

The Development of a University for Older Adults in Taiwan: An Interpretive Perspective

ABSTRACT

Education for older adults is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. Taiwan, a small island in the western Pacific Ocean, has responded to the educational needs of its aging population with the development of its version of the University of the Third Age (U3A). However, the title of U3A has never been used in Taiwan. Taiwanese people call their U3A the University for Older Adults (UOA). This paper traces the creation of UOAs in Taiwan and explains why UOAs are as they are. Hence, there are 3 main sections in this paper. First, the researcher briefly explores the context of Taiwan, in terms of historical, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds in relation to this study. Second, this paper aims to trace the historical development of UOAs in Taiwan in order to reveal their developmental processes. Finally, the researcher explains UOAs are as they are in the historical, socioeconomic, and educational context of Taiwan.     

Digital Gaming Perspectives of Older Adults: Content vs. Interaction

There were two objectives to this study: (a) to establish flow and (2) to establish whether computer game interaction or content was important to the older adult, using the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 2 consoles. An earlier study had identified the sports genre as a preference, and three games (golf, tennis, and boxing) were selected that suited play on the game consoles. Participants completed a survey that incorporated the Flow State Scale (FSS). Observations undertaken used, a seven-point scale adapted from the FSS measuring subjects’ ease of use, control of game, enjoyment, concentration, and skill. Participants reported a more positive experience on the Wii console than on the PS2 in relation to the sports genre. Qualitative data collected illustrated participants’ experienced fun, laughter, and smiling and gave more positive aural feedback than the PS2. Two of the three games (golf and tennis) played on the Wii console identified the experience of flow by participants.     

Educating Older Adults about Medicare: The Role of Cognitive Variables

ABSTRACT

A survey was conducted on 3,738 beneficiaries about their knowledge of the Medicare program as well as their reading habits, reading comprehension ability, and metamemory. Factor analysis yielded a reading and a metamemory factor. These factors explained variance in knowledge about Medicare above and beyond the variance explained by formal education. Individuals with good knowledge of memory processes, and those who reported high memory capacity and internal locus of control regarding their memory functioning, as well as frequent readers were more knowledgeable about Medicare. We suggest that cognitive variables be included in studies evaluating the effectiveness of educational materials for older adults.     

老年计算机教育教材内容研究

针对老年人学习电脑的需求快速增长与国内老年计算机教育研究的发展相对滞后的现实问题,国内老年人学电脑教材内容被分析评价。评价结果显示目前教材存在的问题:教育定位于丰富精神文化生活,忽略老年人发展性需求和价值性需求;无统一教学大纲,内容广度和取材深度差异较大;编排体系不符合老年人的生理、心理特点和认知规律,不利于激发老年人学习兴趣;教材结构大多不完整,缺少习题、思考题和参考文献。最后,从教材设计思想、系列安排和内容细节三方面阐述老年人学电脑教材的编写建议。     

Cultural Competence Training for Healthcare Professionals Working with LGBT Older Adults

The population of the aging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is significant and growing rapidly. As LGBT individuals age and begin to move into healthcare communities, they are fearful of apathy, discrimination, and abuse by healthcare providers and other residents. Person-centered cultural competence and sensitivity among service providers is necessary in order for LGBT individuals to share the same quality of life as other members of the aging community. Programming developed to educate healthcare professionals and aging-services providers on issues related to aging as an LGBT adult must be thoughtfully evaluated to show both efficacy and impact.