Suchergebnisse

In general, women are longer lived than men in the general population. Yet, a previous study of Taiwanese centenarians (Yang, 2012) found that there were an over representation of male centenarians who were Second World War veterans. To further explore the characteristics of veteran centenarians, this study completed a cross-sectional population survey in Taiwan in the year of 2015. The inclusion criteria of centenarians was those born before December, 31st of 1914. The final sample comprised of a total of 157 Taiwanese centenarians, with 62 males and 95 females. Among them, there were 31 veteran centenarians. Descriptive and referential statistics were performed to compare the general centenarians and the veteran centenarians. Results showed that veteran centenarians were significantly different from the general centenarians in their ADL and IADL scores; i.e., the veteran centenarians were significantly more independent in their daily functioning. Also, many veterans married quite late in their late middle age or old age, so a much higher percentage of 32% still had living spouses who were much younger, compared to only 10% of general centenarians with spouses. There were also a higher percentage of veteran centenarians who were never married and had no children. Therefore, unlike the traditional family support culture dictates, veteran centenarians relied primarily on government pensions for their retirement income. In sum, the survivors of WWII veterans had distinct characteristics and a lot of strengths to sustain them to the super old age. Benefits of early strenuous physical training and life-long independent living were discussed as a lesson learned from the veteran centenarians.

Evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong (TQ) have emerged in the past two decades, but TQ is underutilized in modern health care in Western countries due to lack of promotion and the availability of professionally qualified TQ instructors. To date, there are no government regulations for TQ instructors or for training institutions in China and Western countries, even though TQ is considered to be a part of Traditional Chinese medicine that has the potential to manage many chronic diseases. Based on an integrative health care approach, the accreditation standard guideline initiative for TQ instructors and training institutions was developed in collaboration with health professionals, integrative medicine academics, Tai Chi and Qigong master instructors and consumers including public safety officers from several countries, such as Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Korea, Sweden and USA. In this paper, the rationale for organizing the Medical Tai Chi and Qigong Association (MTQA) is discussed and the accreditation standard guideline for TQ instructors and training institutions developed by the committee members of MTQA is presented. The MTQA acknowledges that the proposed guidelines are broad, so that the diversity of TQ instructors and training institutions can be integrated with recognition that these guidelines can be developed with further refinement. Additionally, these guidelines face challenges in understanding the complexity of TQ associated with different principles, philosophies and schools of thought. Nonetheless, these guidelines represent a necessary first step as primary resource to serve and guide health care professionals and consumers, as well as the TQ community.