This paper focuses on the power dimension of social practices. The study sought to understand the literacy-related practices of a retired woman without a high-school diploma in everyday life and community activities. It drew on social practice theories, the New Literacy Studies, and transformative learning. The ethnographic approach chosen to…

Background: Limited access to fitness programs for rural older adults make lay or volunteer delivery approaches potentially desirable to extend reach. However, factors affecting adoption of such approaches are not well explored. Purpose: This study sought to identify barriers and facilitators affecting adoption of a volunteer lay delivery approach…

Fifteen older women involved as volunteers faced several barriers to participation: pain, disability, family obligations, assumptions about age, transportation, and different patterns and pace of life. Structural changes that would enhance older people's contributions to community life were suggested. (SK)

This article explores the meaning and experiences of paid work for older women. Taped, in-person interviews were conducted with 53 ethnically and economically diverse women, 55 to 84 years old. The interview guide contained open-ended questions regarding the meaning of work, reasons for working, and the centrality of work to personal identity.…

Examines voluntary associations of the aged. A substantial majority of respondents were affiliated and more than one-half had multiple affiliations. Women were more active in voluntary groups than men. Those belonging to multiple associations were more active in each association than individuals with only one affiliation. (Author)

Interviews with five white and three African American women ages 66-87 uncovered factors contributing to satisfaction in later life: education, religiosity, positive attitude, volunteerism, and family. Contrary to previous research, good health, income, work life, and leisure were not important factors. (SK)

Older women are often perceived as marginal in the development process and are ignored by planners. The challenge is to foster recognition and increase their activity rates. The development process must be redesigned to ensure that it uses older women to their fullest potential. (JOW)

Conducted qualitative interviews with 30 African-American women to examine meanings of leisure within context of lifelong work histories. Respondents participated in unpaid agricultural work in childhood, paid work in domestic and service occupations as adults, and volunteer work as retirees. Women continued their history of self-reliance,…

Compared correlates of retirement satisfaction for married and widowed rural women. Increase in voluntary association memberships and health were predictors of retirement satisfaction for both groups. Other predictors of satisfaction included financial adequacy, frequency and certainty of aid from friends for married women, and maintenance of…

Reviews theoretical perspectives on voluntarism. Outlines factors that must be present if minorities and elderly people are to be recruited as volunteers for social agencies. (GC)

This study examines whether gender and employment status affect burnout, motives for volunteering, and difficulties associated with volunteer activity in social and community services in Israel. The sample included 375 men and women aged 16 through 80. Participants were divided into four groups by employment status: high school students, employed…

A mail-out survey was used to assess the transportation needs of seniors living in relatively remote rural areas of Saskatchewan. Two types of transportation needs were identified: the need to make local trips at least once a week and the need for transportation to a district center at least once a month. (Author/CT)

This document contains 16 papers on family roles and caregiving presented at a conference on aging. The papers, grouped into themes of trends and implications, resourceful roles (grandparenting and caregiving), and an agenda for the future, include the following: "Demographic Potential and the Quiet Revolution" (Opening Remarks by Robert A.…

This bibliography lists training programs and training materials, both print and audiovisual, related to aging irrespective of the source of language used. Materials emanate from Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, the former Soviet Union, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States as well as from several international…

These conference proceedings contain 55 papers and symposia presented at the conference whose focus was on nonformal adult education. Papers deal with adult/continuing education concerns such as participatory research, ABLE (Adult Basic Level Education) parenting, army basic skills educational development, learning contracts, volunteerism,…