Background: People with intellectual disabilities have a shorter life expectancy, but healthcare improvements mean that they are beginning to live longer, with associated health difficulties. This means that there is an urgent need to focus research on ageing as well as end-of-life care. This study aimed to explore a specialist intellectual…

Old age is a period when the social environment of the elderly person shrinks due to reasons such as loss of social role, health, decline of income and empty nest situation. This research was carried out in order to determine, how elderly people use the social relationship networks and communication with their environment, to satisfy the needs for…

Purpose: This article, based on analysis of data from a mixed methods study, builds on a growing body of assisted living (AL) research focusing on the link between residents' social relationships and health. A key aim of this analysis, which uses the social convoy model as a conceptual and methodological framework, was to examine the relative…

This study explores dynamic changes in network size and composition by examining patterns of older adults' social network change over time, that is: types of movements; the reason for the loss of network members; and the relation of movement and composition in concert. This study is a 6-year follow up of changes in the social networks of U.S.-Born…

Older individuals play a critical role in disseminating family health history (FHH) information that can facilitate disease prevention among younger family members. This study evaluated the characteristics of older adults and their familial networks associated with two types of communication ("have shared" and "intend to share…

Purpose of the study: We conducted a qualitative study of 38 mid-late life volunteers in intensive humanitarian service to ascertain the challenges, personal changes, and benefits they experienced from their volunteer activities. Intensive volunteering was defined as service done on a 24-hr a day basis at a location away from home. Design and…

Purpose: This article investigates how continuing care retirement community (CCRC) residents define transitions between levels of care. Although older adults move to CCRCs to "age in place," moving between levels of care is often stressful. More than half a million older adults live in CCRCs, with numbers continually increasing; yet, no studies…

Background: People with intellectual disabilities (IDs) are growing older as a population cohort. Many live at home with family members who are their carers but who are also becoming older and less able to provide care. The housing and support preferences of people with IDs and their carers into older age are poorly characterised in the…

This study explored the needs and preferences of older gay and lesbian adults regarding their care in later life. Using a phenomenological case study approach, 15 participants were interviewed regarding their anticipated practical needs, including housing and finances, and their psychological needs, such as support and quality of life. Fearing…

This study explores the relationship between the life satisfaction of older adults and the social support from grandchildren in Hong Kong. Two hundred and fifteen older people (from the ages of 64 to 101, mean age 79.3), whose youngest grandchild was aged 12 or older, were recruited from elderly service agencies to participate in the study.…

The new schooling-leaving age policy in New South Wales, a state in Australia, requires all students to stay at school until they are 17 years old. The policy was introduced in January 2010, with little warning and, it appears, little consideration of its impact in complex contexts. In south-western Sydney, the most diverse region in the city, the…

Purpose: This study evaluates the changes in social networks of older and younger breast cancer patients over a 6-month period following their first diagnosis and how such modifications are associated with changes in the patients' mood state. Design and Methods: Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were interviewed shortly after their diagnosis…

Background: Informal relationships are central to conceptualisations of quality of life. Deinstitutionalisation studies consistently suggest a trend of increased contact with family and friends by people with intellectual disability (ID) following relocation from an institution to the community. In this study, changes in the nature of the informal…

Prompted by increasing U.S. longevity and aging demographics, this phenomenological study explored what it is like for 13 women, 75-91, to thrive in elder adulthood. Through multiple interviews, projective inventories, and focus groups, 6 group patterns emerged: (a) vital involvement and service, (b) desire to learn, (c) appreciation of basic life…

Examines the relationship between stress and diabetes with data provided by a recent nationwide survey of older adults. Two main findings emerged. First, stressors arising in social roles that are highly important to older adults are more strongly related to diabetes than events associated with less important roles. Second, social support buffers…