Suchergebnisse

The population aging in Europe imposes challenges to societies that require adaptations and responses at various levels to minimize impacts and figuring out opportunities. Portugal has been committed to the World Health Organization and European Union's values and policy frameworks concerning active and healthy aging. In 2017, an inter-ministerial working group developed the National Strategy for Active and Healthy Aging. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic that exposed the vulnerabilities of older populations, the launch of the Decade of Healthy Aging 2021-2030 and its baseline report and the 2018 Active Aging Index Analytical Report may constitute an opportunity to strategically think about the aging of the population as a national purpose in Portugal and in the other European countries that face similar challenges. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Copyright © 2021 Costa, Câmara, Arriaga, Nogueira and Miguel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. ; The population aging in Europe imposes challenges to societies that require adaptations and responses at various levels to minimize impacts and figuring out opportunities. Portugal has been committed to the World Health Organization and European Union's values and policy frameworks concerning active and healthy aging. In 2017, an inter-ministerial working group developed the National Strategy for Active and Healthy Aging. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic that exposed the vulnerabilities of older populations, the launch of the Decade of Healthy Aging 2021–2030 and its baseline report and the 2018 Active Aging Index Analytical Report may constitute an opportunity to strategically think about the aging of the population as a national purpose in Portugal and in the other European countries that face similar challenges. ; This publication was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the references UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Promoting active and healthy aging in urban spaces requires environments with diverse, age-friendly characteristics. This scoping review investigated the associations between urban characteristics and active and healthy aging as identified by citizen science (CS) and other participatory approaches. Using a systematic scoping review procedure, 23 articles employing a CS or participatory approach (participant age range: 54–98 years) were reviewed. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis was completed to (a) identify local urban barriers and facilitators and (b) map them against the World Health Organization (WHO) Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities. A new Citizen Science Appraisal Tool (CSAT) was developed to evaluate the quality of CS and other participatory approaches included in the reviewed articles. A range of interconnected urban barriers and facilitators was generated by residents across the personal (e.g. perceived safety), environmental (e.g. unmaintained infrastructure), socio-cultural (e.g. cross-cultural activities), economic (e.g. affordable housing) and political (e.g. governmental support to migrant communities) domains. Mapping the barriers and facilitators to the WHO age-friendly checklist underscored the checklist's relevance and elucidated the need to explore barriers for migrant and cross-cultural communities and neighborhood development and alterations. The CSAT demonstrated strengths related to active engagement of residents and study outcomes leading to real-world implications. To advance the potential of CS to enrich our understanding of age-friendly environments, employing co-production to enhance relevance and sustainability of outcomes is an important strategy. Overall, employing CS highlighted the value of systematically capturing the experiences of older adults within studies aimed at promoting active and healthy aging. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11524-022-00622-w.

It is expected that, by 2050, people aged over 60 in 65 nations will constitute 30% of the total population. Healthy aging is at the top of the world political agenda as a possible means for hindering the collapse of care systems. How can ICT/sensing technology meet older people's needs for active and healthy aging? This qualitative study carried out in Italy and Romania in 2020 involved 30 participants: older adults, caregivers, and stakeholders. Based on a user-centered design approach, this study aimed to understand which requirements of ICT/sensing technologies could match people's needs of active and healthy aging. Findings highlighted that ICT/sensing technology needs to focus on six major themes: (1) learnability, (2) security, (3) independence, empowerment, and coaching values, (4) social isolation, (5) impact of habit, culture, and education variables, and (6) personalized solutions. These themes are consistent with the Active Aging framework and the factors that influence perceived usefulness and potential benefits among older adults. Consequently, this study shows how well-known, but still unresolved, issues affect the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote active and healthy aging. This suggests that the reinforcement of the public health system, especially considering the pandemic effect, requires a concrete and formidable effort from an interdisciplinary research network.

"This book demonstrates the efficacy of a multidisciplinary intervention strategy for promoting active and healthy ageing, with the assistance of dedicated technological resources. Taking an applied approach, this book promotes active and healthy aging through the implementation of an intervention model based on the comprehensive geriatric approach (AGA). The proposed AGA model, entitled AGA@4life, is based on a holistic and multidisciplinary individual assessment protocol, with the consequent design and implementation of intervention strategies tailored to each individual, aimed at preventing frailty and functional, cognitive and social decline of the elderly. Intervention actions focus on personalized exercise programs, nutrition education, cognitive stimulation, co-morbidity monitoring, therapeutic counselling, and overall promotion of well-being. This book will be of interest to researchers, professionals and students working in ageing and health, gerontology, and preventative and holistic approaches to well-being"--

This article presents considerations on the active and healthy aging of Panamanian specifically in the Province of Colon. Considering that in Panama, population aging is an undisputed sociodemographic fact. We are currently the second country in the Central American region with an elderly society (the first one is Costa Rica). However, despite this population reality, in our country the theme of ageing and old age has not been taken seriously by any government; therefore, older adults in general (retired or not) are unprotected by the Panamanian State, which not only means that their citizen rights are being injured, but is an essential factor for the emergence of processes of vulnerability and social exclusion. For the development of the study has been taken as a technique, the elaboration of semi-structured surveys to a random sample of older men and women adults over 60 sixty years old and which allows us to answer the following questions: what does mean to grow old actively? What life experiences can be meaningful for healthy aging? It is hoped to know through this study the experiences and meanings that they attribute to active aging to a group of adults over the age of 60 sixty, living in the city of Colon. It is recommended to include in the country's Public Policies strategies aimed at the protection of rights, from older adults to active ageing, where equity, protection and social inclusion are guaranteed through the conditions to preserve the right to their life and a dignified and healthy old woman within the "Human Rights Framework". ; En este artículo se presenta las consideraciones sobre el envejecimiento activo y saludable del panameño, específicamente, en la Provincia de Colón. Tomando en consideración, que en Panamá, el envejecimiento poblacional es un hecho sociodemográfico indiscutible. Somos actualmente el segundo país en la región centroamericana con una sociedad anciana (el primero es Costa Rica). Sin embargo, y a pesar de esta realidad poblacional, en nuestro país la temática del envejecimiento y la vejez no ha sido tomada en serio por ningún gobierno; por ende, las personas adultas mayores en general (jubilados o no), se encuentran desprotegidas por el Estado panameño, lo cual no solo significa que sus derechos ciudadanos están siendo lesionados, sino que constituye un factor esencial para la aparición de procesos de vulnerabilidad y exclusión social. Para el desarrollo del estudio, se toma como técnica, la elaboración de encuestas semiestructuradas a una muestra al azar de hombres y mujeres adultos mayores de 60 y más años. Que nos permite dar respuesta a las siguientes interrogantes: ¿cómo es envejecer activamente? ¿cuáles experiencias de vida pueden resultar significativas para envejecer en forma saludable? Se espera conocer con este estudio las experiencias y los significados que le atribuyen al envejecimiento activo a un grupo de personas adultas mayores de 60 años que viven en la ciudad de Colón. Se recomienda incluir en las Políticas Públicas del país, estrategias encaminadas a la protección de los derechos de los adultos mayores a un envejecimiento activo, donde se le garantice la equidad, protección e inclusión social a través de las condiciones para preservar el derecho a su vida y una vejez digna y saludable dentro del Marco de los Derechos Humanos.

Funding: NOVAsande and FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grant nr. UID/MAT/00297/2013) ; Introduction: Governments across Europe want to promote healthy and active aging, as a matter of both public health and economic sustainability. Designing policies focused on the most vulnerable groups requires information at the individual level. However, a measure of healthy and active aging at the individual level does not yet exist. Objectives: This paper develops theSelfie Aging Index(SAI), an individual-level index of healthy and active aging. The SAI is developed thinking about a tool that would allow each person to take aselfieof her aging status. Therefore, it is based entirely on self-assessed indicators. This paper also illustrates how the SAI may look like in practice. Methods: The SAI is based on the Biopsychosocial Assessment Model (MAB), a tool for the multidimensional assessment of older adults along three domains: biological, psychological, and social. Indicators are selected and their weights determined based on an ordered probit model that relates the MAB indicators to self-assessed health, which proxies healthy and active aging. The ordered probit model predicts the SAI based on the estimated parameters. Finally, predictions are rescaled to the 0-1 interval. Data for the SAI development come from the Study of the Aging Profiles of the Portuguese Population and the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe. Results: The selected indicators are BMI, having difficulties moving around indoors and performing the activities of daily living, feeling depressed, feeling nervous, lacking energy, time awareness score, marital status, having someone to confide in, education, type of job, exercise, and smoking status. The model also determines their weights. Conclusion: Results shed light on various factors that contribute significantly to healthy and active aging. Two examples are mental health and exercise, which deserve more attention from individuals themselves, health-care professionals, and public health policy. The SAI has the potential to put the individual at the center of the healthy and active aging discussion, contribute to patient empowerment, and promote patient-centered care. It can become a useful instrument to monitor healthy and active aging for different actors, including individuals themselves, health-care professionals, and policy makers. ; publishersversion ; published

Societies across Europe and Central Asia are aging, but people are not necessarily living longer. This demographic trend-caused by a decrease in fertility rather than improved longevity-presents both challenges and opportunities for governments, the private sector, and individuals alike. Some of the challenges are well known. Output per capita becomes smaller if it is shared with an increasingly larger group of dependent older people. At a certain point, there may not be sufficient resources to maintain the living standards of this older group, especially if rising expenditures on health care

Population aging affects almost every sphere of society. The number of people aged 60 or older has surpassed 1 billion, and the majority of them lives in low-income and middle-income countries, often without access to basic resources and facing barriers to full social participation. The number of European citizens aged over 65 in the next 50 years will increase two times, while the number of oc- togenarians will increase three times. However, a longer life does not necessarily mean a healthier or a more active life. Today, unhealthy life years amount to almost 20% of a person's life. An aging population, mainly due to the presence of chronic diseases, requires greater use of health care ser- vices, leading to unsustainable health care costs (1). The challenges posed by aging population in Europe have been the focal point of debates on the future of European Union. An increasing number of retired people, coupled with a shrinking working-age population, is expected to place additional burden on European welfare systems. European 2020 Strategy for Smart, Sustainable, and Inclu- sive Growth has been implemented with an aim to pro- mote active aging policies. Besides eradicating poverty and social exclusion, the strategy emphasizes the need for "promoting a healthy and active ageing population to allow for social cohesion and higher productivity" (2). Simi- larly, the initiative of European Innovation Partnership in Active and Healthy Aging by the European Commission fosters innovation and digital transformation in active and healthy aging.

Between longer life expectancies and declining birth rates, Europe's elder population is growing into a sizable minority with considerable impact on nations, health systems, and economies--in other words, global implications as well as local and regional ones. Those investing in the health of older adults need a double perspective: the social and clinical complexity of aging and the larger forces shaping these experiences. Aging in European Societies examines aging trends across the continent, analyzing individual and collective variables that affect the lives of older adults, and drawing salient comparisons with other parts of the world. An interdisciplinary panel of experts provides theory, research, and empirical findings (with examples from the UK, Cyprus, Sweden, and others) in key areas such as family and social supports, physical and cognitive changes, dependence and autonomy issues, and living arrangements. The book's wide-net approach offers insights into not only aging, but aging well. And of particular importance, it details approaches to defining and measuring the elusive but crucial concept, quality of life. Included in the coverage: The potential for technology to improve elders' quality of life. Dementia and quality of life issues. Changes in functional ability with aging and over time. Family networks and supports in older age. Factors influencing inequalities in quality of life. Late-life learning in the E.U. Gerontologists, sociologists, health and cross-cultural psychologists, and public health policymakers will welcome Aging in European Societies as a springboard toward continued discussion, new directions for research, and improvements in policy and practice.

Individuals with severe disabilities and their families can engage in person-centered and family-centered planning for aging using a life course view. Viewing aging within the context of the family and disability is essential because many people with severe disabilities depend on their families for supports in daily living, social relationships, and for activities within communities. Since eligibility-based supports are often limited, parents and other family members play large roles both financially and socially in helping their family member move through the life course into active and healthy aging. Charting the LifeCourse is a framework that both people with disabilities and their families can use to achieve desired life outcomes over time. Issues that impact active and healthy aging for people with disabilities include the aging of caregivers, death of a caregiver, limited resources for supporting physical and health concerns, staying active in the community following retirement, and maintaining social emotional connections.