This article explores the effects of activities in Men's Sheds on elderly women. Specifically, it investigates the opportunities that are made available for women when their husband/partner becomes active in the Men's Shed movement; focussing on 'empowerment', 'gender identity' and 'well-being'. Five focus group interviews and eight individual…

With the popularization of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in the e-learning landscape, more and more older adults are participating in MOOC learning activities. Understanding older adults' learning motivations in MOOCs will help MOOC developers design suitable learning systems and appropriate course content for older learners. Using a content…

Understanding the nature of career mentoring is important for improving the career experience of aged care workers. This study explores the career mentoring behaviours of sponsorship, coaching, advocacy, challenging assignments, exposure and visibility in the residential aged care context. Interviews were conducted with 32 aged workers from…

Changes in thinking skills are commonly experienced by older adults, though large variation exists. Such changes are one of the top concerns of people as they get older. Public perceptions of those changes could be used to effectively communicate with them about ways to improve their thinking skills. This study explored people's views about…

Purpose: Social contact is known to be vital for older adults' mental and physical health but, because communication impairments often co-occur with other types of disability, it is difficult to generalize about the relative impact of a communication impairment on the social relationships of older adults. Specific aims of the study were to examine…

Gifted elders (those who are both gifted and senior citizens) are one of the world's greatest untapped and unrecognized resources. Their needs are too-often neglected in today's world. Spending time with a gifted grandparent, or with a retired teacher, coach, or mentor, can be a win-win for all. However, that time can be even more productive if…

Background: There is a high prevalence of communication difficulty among older people living in residential-aged care. Such functional deficits can have a negative impact on resident quality of life, staff workplace satisfaction and the provision of quality care. Systematic research investigating the nature of communication management in…

This mixed-methods study examined the social gameplay and learning experience of 50 adults aged 60 years or more during 4 weeks of playing a multiplayer, educational digital Bingo game with embedded learning content about nutrition and health. The first phase consisted of 4 weeks of gameplay with quantitative data collection using pretests and…

Introduction: Nowadays, providing the access to learning appears as an emphasized priority for every stage of life, due to the demographic changes, even near the place of residence or with the utilization of the possibilities of the new informational and communicational technologies, which bring new possibilities also in the dimension of learning…

Creativity is considered to be one of the most important characteristics that humans possess. It emerges from fundamental cognitive operations and the activation of specific brain regions. In several neurological disorders, such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Parkinson's disease (PD), creativity plays an important role in diagnosis and…

Background: Not enough is currently known about how people with learning disabilities experience and understand the ageing process. This is particularly important as the population of older people with learning disabilities is growing due to increased life expectancy. This article draws on the first author's doctoral research study, which aimed to…

Supported decision making (SDM) has begun to receive significant attention as means to enable people to exercise autonomy and self-determination over decisions about their life. Practice frameworks that can be used to promote the provision of supports for decision making are needed. This paper integrates the literature across intellectual and…

The purpose of this paper was to analyse the core of the quality of life, intended as a complex construct with specific and transversal features. The approach to this issue, by linking it to the great emergency of disability in adulthood, pushes the analysis into deep conceptual pedagogical reflections, which lead the authors' initial reflections…

The current study examined whether relationships also influence personality trait development during middle and older adulthood, focusing on the individual's perception of support from the relationship partner. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 20,422; mean age = 65.9 years), we examined the longitudinal relationships between…

Working with speakers of endangered languages often involves developing a deep rapport with the eldest members of a community. These relationships present unique challenges that include navigating great losses--not only of the language of study, but, more profoundly, the attendant death of its speakers. This essay is motivated by the recognition…