‘Borrowed access’ – the struggle of older persons for digital participation

This study investigates older persons engagement with digital interfaces as one important way to social inclusion. Digital exclusion and social exclusion are intrinsically intertwined, which put older persons at risk for exclusion. To construct meaningful educational practices for inclusion, more insight is needed to understand consequences of low digital competence. Eighteen men and women (retired) have been interviewed about their everyday encounters with digital interfaces. Results show how older persons ‘borrow’ knowledge from social networks or from contacts at previous workplace, to access technology and digital practices. Data also show a common acceptance of exclusion and changes in lifestyle. These fragile chains, put together to access digital practices jeopardise social inclusion understood as autonomy and participation in society. Informants did not mention community arrangements as resources for access and knowledge, which indicate that hard work is required to promote inclusion of this group. A possible way could be using the power of informally framed learning scenarios. Society cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that groups of citizens are hindered from developing capabilities to maintain a social life, to access the health sector, to enjoy integrity and independence and cultural recreation – to live a capable life.     

Yoga for seniors: understanding their beliefs and barriers to participation

ABSTRACT

Yoga has been found to provide numerous health benefits to older adults including preventing or slowing physical frailty and subsequent functional limitations. The purpose of this study was to examine pre-frail or frail older adults’ beliefs about yoga as well as to identify barriers to participation. We recruited 37 older adults from a Faint, Fall, and Frailty Clinic at a medical center and asked them to complete questionnaires regarding their physical health and beliefs about yoga using the Beliefs About Yoga Scale. Frailty and fall risk were obtained through electronic health records. Participants’ had mean age of 72.81 years. Participants were considered to be prefrail (66.7%) or frail (33.3%), and most (78.4%) had fallen at least once in the past year. Over 72% of participants engaged in light physical activity. The BAYS mean score was 59.17 (SD = 12.5; Range 11–77). Higher scores indicted more optimistic beliefs about yoga. Over 90% of participants had not practiced yoga, 97.1% had no intentions to practice, 61.8% did not know locations placed where yoga classes were offered, 82.4% were unsure about the costs associated with yoga, and only 56.3% reported having transportation. The three primary barriers to practicing yoga were perceived difficulty of yoga practice, lack of motivation, and fear of injury. Participants held positive beliefs about yoga, yet had limited experience and little intention to participate indicating a need to provide targeted educational interventions to this population of older adults.     

Associations between individual and collective efficacy beliefs and students' bystander behavior

This study examined whether defending and passive bystanding during peer victimization episodes were associated with individual- and classroom-level efficacy to stop peer victimization. Self-report survey data were analyzed from 1,467 Swedish fourth-grade students (mean age = 10.55) from 100 classrooms in 63 schools. Multilevel analyses revealed that, when witnessing peer victimization, students more often defended victims if they were high in defender self-efficacy and if they belonged to classrooms high in collective efficacy. In contrast, students were more likely to remain passive if they were low in defender self-efficacy and if they belonged to classrooms low in collective efficacy. Taken together, our findings suggest that efficacy beliefs both at the individual and at the classroom level contribute to explaining variability in students' bystander behaviors, which has potential implications for prevention and intervention work.     

Ella Evolving: Cinderella Stories and the Construction of Gender-Appropriate Behavior

This article considers the cultural messages embedded in the patriarchal canon of fairy tales and their implications for the construction of gender-appropriate behavior. The characteristics of feminist re-visions of fairy tales are discussed, and studies that explore the importance of access to alternative discourses in order for children to challenge dominant ideology are reviewed. Finally, four versions of Cinderella are analyzed, considering if and how they provide children with alternative positions to occupy.     

Mothers' parenting cognitions in cultures of origin, acculturating cultures, and cultures of destination

Japanese and South American immigrant mothers' parenting cognitions (attributions and self-perceptions) were compared with mothers from their country of origin (Japan and Argentina, respectively) and European American mothers in the United States. Participants were 231 mothers of 20-month-old children. Generally, South American immigrant mothers' parenting cognitions more closely resembled those of mothers in the United States, whereas Japanese immigrant mothers' cognitions tended to be similar to those of Japanese mothers or intermediate between Japanese and U.S. mothers. This study provides insight into the nature of parenting cognitions generally and those of immigrant mothers specifically and therefore the parenting climate in which immigrant children are reared.