Are social representations of positive ageing really effective? the ageing process through the eyes of elderly (original) (raw)
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2020
Objective: to discuss the social representations of people aged ≥65 years about being elderly or aged. Method: research outlined in the Theory of Social Representations. Elderly people from Minas Gerais Basic Health Unit participated. Sociodemographic characterization data were collected and evocation technique and recorded interviews were applied in 2015, with prototypical and content analyzes, supported by softwares. Results: 93 elderly people participated, mostly women (62.4%), aged 72 years on average and with ≤8 years of education (88.15%). Nuclear contents were identified common: “evaluates-being-old” and distinct: “age-arrives” and “experience” (being elderly) and “difficult-bad” (being aged). In the procedural approach, engagement to deal with new demands was identified, despite the recognition of secondary limitations to the aging process. Conclusion: there was an absence of objective nuclear contents, with behaviors and thoughts anchored in one’s experiences and in other p...
Ageing and Old Age as a Task- Health, Activation, Development, Integration
Th e concept of meaningful ageing goes beyond the goal of preventing diseases among the elderly. It pursues the objective of activating and facilitating the life of this social group in its physical, psychological, social and cultural aspect. It is generally believed that high level of activity in old age and the optimal model of support in different fields of life allows the elderly to achieve their priorities: being independent and self-sufficient as long as possible which in uences their opinion on their quality of life. Th is means that being active is the core element of the model of meaningful ageing. The title of this publication refl ects the premises and dictates the order of chapters and articles. Presented texts are mainly praxeological and in major part consist of the authors’ studies and research. The remainder are theoretical inquiries built around recent scienti c findings. They are all bound together by the fi nal chapter which includes the description of good practices in the fi eld of activating senior citizens. The object of the authors’ inquiries were the issues associated with social gerontology. Th eir aim was to recognise or describe the spectrum of social reality already known to us which can contribute to meaningful and active ageing, which both constitute the elderly’s quality of life.
Old Age and the Ageing Individual: Social and Linguistic Aspects
Odessa Linguistic Journal
The article addresses the issues of representation of old age and the ageing individual in the discourse of sociology. The topicality of such works is quite obvious, since with the increase in life expectancy, many academic studies have focused on old age and its new meanings in societies from different perspectives. This predetermines the need for the interdisciplinary analysis of old age and the ageing self. Also, this study closely examines vocabulary units that are used to designate an older person in English. The material for the analysis has been selected from present-day lexicographical sources. We conducted a qualitative study using the analysis of dictionary definitions and defined attitudes and perceptions of ageing and older adults as encoded in language units. The research highlights that as a socio-cultural product, language is influenced by two views on ageing: successful ageing, ignoring the physical dimensions, and that of decline, creating negative stereotypes of ag...
Older women and their representations of old age: a qualitative analysis
Ageing and Society, 2012
ABSTRACTIn this article we shall be analysing the representations of old age and ageing made by three generations of older women with different life stories (single, married, children and childless). Our principal findings, based on a qualitative analysis of 25 in-depth interviews conducted with three generations of older women (65–74, 75–84 and 85 and older), mainly reveal their reluctance and even refusal to define themselves as ‘older or elderly women’, largely due to persistent stereotypes linking old age to dependency, social isolation and fragility. Aware of the social prejudice regarding women and old age, they reject it unanimously. Older women represent a challenge to these homogenising preconceptions of old age, which they, on the contrary, experience in a multitude of ways, often enjoyable. Their conceptions of ‘ageing well’ are diverse and do not correspond to a clinical definition of ageing. Their representations of ‘ageing well’ and of ageing express positive values of...
Social Representations of the Process of Ageing in Young and Mature Romanian Adults
Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology, 2014
The aim of this research was to investigate Romanians' social representations of ageing and positive ageing, as well as the variations of these social representations according to the age and gender of the participants in what regards the centrality of the components and basic cognitive scheme activations. Study 1 was conducted on 80 participants who filled in two associative map tasks (Dafinoiu & Crumpei, 2013) that had as inductors "ageing" and, respectively, "positive ageing". Results have shown a notable variation between the two social representations, in the sense that the latter was entirely made up of positive associations, whereas the former comprised both positive and negative associations. The second study was conducted on another sample of 80 participants (20 young adult men and 20 young adult women and, respectively, 20 mature adult men and 20 mature adult women) and it found by employing the questioning principle ("mise-en-cause", Moliner, 1994) that two core elements of the social representation of ageing vary in centrality according to the age of the participants. Moreover, variations across age were also encountered in the overall activation of basic cognitive schemes as well as in the activation of the three dimensions: Description, Praxis and Attribution / Evaluation (Rateau, 1995). Results are discussed in the light of their contribution to the social representations theory.
2016
With the demographic changes experienced worldwide of an increasingly ageing society the number of people now living well into their eighties is also increasing. Globally the population of 60 and older years of age is projected to reach 22% by 2050 1 with the oldest old age group (over 80 years plus) growing at the fastest rate 2. Although Europe has the highest proportion of 65 plus age group, Asia, Caribbean, East and North Africa and South are also set to triple by 2050 2. However this is a new phenomenon for many developing countries where 63% of the over 60 year olds live 3. For this reason the countries included in this study were from developing countries. With this ageing population there is a need to understand and gain an insight into the older person's experiences and perceptions of growing older within their own societies in relation to their independence, choice and decision making. These in turn can help to inform government agendas and policies and help demystify some of the myths surrounding growing older. As Watson 4 noted ageing can be easily observed. However it is harder to explain and understand. Therefore, in an attempt to identify what is happening in different countries and cultures and to share these experiences, attitudes and perceptions from older people, this study asked people from three developing countries, from three different continents, to take part in this study. The aim was to gain an insight into the lives and perceptions of older people in relation to ageing and identify similarities and differences in different countries and cultures across the globe. The objectives included: To explore the lived experiences of older people living in a variety of cultures and countries brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk
Aging identity: Do theories match experiences?
Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2015
Dominant aging identity theories ("mask of ageing", "social mask", M. Foucault's "disembodiment thesis", gerotranscendental theory) as well as the concept of the postmodern reflexive self of A. Giddens cannot be used to effectively explain old age identity in contemporary Lithuania. More suitable for this purpose is E. Goffman's concept of stigma that explains denial, evasion and marginalization of old age. These are the conclusions of a qualitative piece of research-involving in-depth interviews with elderly people-that was designed to examine the ways in which old age identity is created and aging is experienced by older people, as well as to ascertain whether the elderly experience stigmatization in everyday interactions. The data were collected from October 2010-January 2011 in Vilnius (N=24): the selection of informants was targeted by gender, age group (60-74 and 75-89), level of education (primary, secondary, higher), and household type (households of several generations, single-generation and institutional households). To interpret the data, the method of abduction or inference to the best explanation (Harman, 1965) was used.
This paper talks about the health and social problems associated with old age. many people do not know how to treat the old ones and there is a stereotype attached to old age which is Ageism, there is the need to understand them better in other to associate well with them.
What is Old Age? Elderly’s Perception and Understanding: A Qualitative Study
European Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences
The current study focuses on the lives of the elderly people and tries to understand how they conceptualise old age and how they believe their lives to be as they get older. The study was conducted among two groups of old people—one living in their homes and the other in religious ashrams—to accomplish this goal. Participants were surveyed individually in 16 separate interviews for the data, which were then analysed using thematic analysis to provide themes. The findings indicate that, for the most part, both participant groups viewed old age as a time of physical and mental deterioration as well as changes in appearance brought on by ageing. Second, both participant groups saw this age as a time of eroding social ties. Participants also varied in how they felt about getting older. The elderly who resided in ashrams were positive and demonstrated their ability to have spiritual experiences; in contrast, the elderly who lived alone had a pessimistic outlook and believed that old age ...