The present study was conducted to expand research showing that older adults' expectations that they will recall particular medication instructions do not coincide with their actual ability to do so. Seventy-one younger-old adults (M = 68.10 years, range = 57–74) and 62 older-old adults (M = 80.31 years, range = 75–89) made judgements about the likelihood of their recalling medication instructions and about their confidence in their recall. The results indicate that older-old adults recall fewer instructions than do younger-old adults and that both groups overestimate their ability to recall the instructions. This research suggests that problems remembering to take medication may be due, in part, to older adults' overestimating the ease with which they will remember medication instructions.

The move towards early retirement as witnessed over the last few years in Europe comes from social assistance mechanisms, other than old age security and is not due to a simple earlier retirement age.

Two systems have been used primarily to help older workers. These are disability and employment insurance. “Early retirement” mechanisms have also helped these active or unemployed workers retire, by means of allocating resources.

The social security structure in European countries has remained essentially unchanged with the risks and logistics of management inextricably intertwined. Moreover, these new forms of transition between activity and retirement reveal the reorganization underway in all matters related to aging workers. One of the implications of the massive movement towards early retirement has been that the tripartite life course in which important social stages within the life course are marked by milestones (e.g. school age, retirement age …) is disappearing. It is gradually being replaced with new flexibility for managing the end of the life course. This type of evolution would require us to rethink the social protection system in the sense of reducing the distinct ternary division in the life course. In this perspective, the very concepts of retirement and social transfers for definitive inactivity are no longer relevant.

This article examines, on the basis of longitudinal data from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, the effects of health and employer-provided pensions on retirement decisions, which have not been studied simultaneously in the Canadian context. The results indicate that employer-provided pensions have substantial and significant incentive effects on retirement behaviour. Having poor health substantially increases the likelihood of entering retirement, by up to 25 percentage points. The results corroborate previous evidence regarding the relative importance of attenuation and justification bias in self-reported health measures. Further, the results confirm U.S. and European evidence that employer-provided pensions and health are significant determinants of retirement.

A rapidly growing older population has led to changes in health care, including a community health movement with an emphasis on community collaboration, self-help, and capacity building. This study examined factors in the lives of older individuals that influenced their ability and willingness to participate in a health-related community-capacity-building project to help their frailer, older neighbours. Using cross-sectional survey methodology, 107 volunteers who lived in a high density seniors' apartment complex known for its high health service utilization were compared with a random sample of 74 non-volunteers from the same community. Factors associated with volunteer involvement included age, activity level, functional ability, life satisfaction and certain personality characteristics. The study suggests that, within a community, the “younger-old” may be able to support their frailer, older neighbours so that they can remain living in the community.

Many of the limitations experienced by community-dwelling older women are related to mobility within their communities. This qualitative study explored community mobility from the perspective of older, community-dwelling women in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Semi-structured interviews were completed with 23 older women (mean age 75.9 years) identified through an existing database. In addition to travels to conduct instrumental activities of daily living and participate in social and recreational activities, the women in the study described trips to fulfil social obligations (e.g., attending funerals, visiting sick friends) and emphasized the importance of these trips. The women's travels through the city were influenced by their perception of risk and the strategies they employed to minimize or avoid risk during the day, in the evening, and during bad weather. Autonomous community mobility provided the women with a sense of independence and control. The findings have potential implications for health care providers and community programmers who work to maintain older women in the community.

This paper extends an earlier analysis of the geography of caregiving to elderly relatives (Joseph & Hallman, 1996), by closely examining the implications of time-distance between family caregivers and their older relatives. We hypothesize that overlaying a highly gendered social behaviour (eldercare) onto the distinctive time-space geographies of men and women will translate into demonstrably different “eldercare geographies”. Analysis of data from two interrelated CARNET surveys suggests that female and male caregivers provide assistance within very different time-space contexts. Women demonstrate greater engagement with caregiving and more extensive commitments to travel in order to provide assistance. This “distance-defying” behaviour translates into the use of residential relocation as a means of modifying time-space in order to improve caregiving provision. In contrast, male caregivers are more sensitive to the limiting effects of time-distance, including the manipulation of their eldercare geographies. The paper concludes with a discussion, based on comments made by caregivers, of the negative impacts of eldercare involvement, focussing on perceived effects on personal time for other family relationships.

This study examined correlates of caregiving at the end of life provided by adult children to their older parents and the role of gender of adult children in family caregiving in rural China. Data came from five waves of the Longitudinal Study of Rural Elder’s Well-Being in Anhui Province, China, over 12 years and from a post-mortality survey. Hierarchical linear modeling was used. Findings demonstrated that the birth order of adult children, prior geographic distance, and prior intergenerational support exchange were significantly associated with family caregiving at the end of life. Eldest children, compared to other siblings, provided the most end-of-life caregiving to their parents. Children cohabitating with older parents before death provided the most caregiving, compared to other siblings. Adult children who had previously exchanged instrumental support with older parents before death, especially sons, tended to provide the most caregiving, compared with that by others, at end of life.

In an experimental evaluation of a “friendly visitor” type of program in which adolescents visited senior citizens, it was found that general attitudes toward elderly people (measured by the Semantic Differential developed by Rosencranz and McNevin) improved following weekly contact with specific elderly persons. One of the weaknesses in research on this type of intervention has been the assumption that the quality of the contact was uniform, and the impact of quality was rarely assessed. In the present study, the perceived quality of the experience was found to have a significant impact on improving attitudes. Programs such as the one evaluated here can, therefore, have two outcomes: the provision of service to elderly individuals and the change of negative attitudes toward elderly people.

Over the past 15 to 20 years there has been discussion and debate in the gerontological literature about the relative merits of self-report versus performance-based observational (PBO) measures of functional status. In 2001 the Aging in Manitoba Longitudinal Study had the opportunity to add a PBO measure of functional status and use it together with two self-report measures on a sub-sample of 138 participants. The PBO measure that was used was the Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills, Version 3.1 (Home). Using ranks of the proportion of participants who were independent in nine different tasks, no significant correlations were found between the performance measure scores and either of the self-report measures. This finding suggests that using self-report data rather than performance data could lead program developers and policy makers to different conclusions about the extent of need for assistance among older adults.

Despite a recognition of the importance of families in providing informal care to frail seniors, there is no consensus as to who constitutes the caregiving family. The authors discuss the current ideology about the caregiving family and the state of knowledge about its composition and propose that the caregiving family has actual and potential elements. Based on the assumption that the concept of “who's the family” is socially constructed, the authors argue that it is essential to understand “who's the family” from the perspective of primary caregivers in order to evaluate the nature of family support. This paper challenges the notion that the cargiving family is equivalent to the kin family. It is argued that the status quo in which a simplistic view of family caregiving is used to justify pressure on families to provide more care is not sustainable.

The present study examines worry themes and the tendency to worry in older adults. The sample, which is made up of 162 participants, is divided into three groups. The first group includes 47 participants aged from 55 to 64 years old (the youngest subjects). The second group consists of 56 participants aged from 65 to 74 years old. Finally, the third group includes 59 participants who are 75 years old or older (the oldest subjects). Participants completed the Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire, the Worry Domains Questionnaire for Older Adults and the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. For all subjects combined, the most frequently reported worry theme was health, followed by relationships with family and friends. The results show that participants in group 1 (the youngest subjects) worry more about their future, work and finances than those in the other two groups. The results also show that participants in the first two groups have a greater tendency to worry and report a greater number of worries than those in the third group (the oldest subjects). The study's findings are discussed in light of current knowledge of worry among the elderly.

The literature on ethics in health care that explores the moral concerns of care providers typically focuses on registered health professionals and ethical dilemmas in acute and primary care. Far less attention has been paid to the long-term care (LTC) environment and non-registered, direct care workers. To address this gap, this research examined the moral concerns of personal support workers (PSWs) who provide direct care to residents. Data were collected during a 5-year participatory action research project to formalize palliative care programs in LTC homes. Eleven focus groups explored PSWs’ experiences providing palliative care in LTC homes, their challenges and learning needs (n = 45). In-depth secondary analysis of these focus groups found that PSWs experienced moral dilemmas. Two main moral dilemmas were ensuring that residents don’t die alone; and providing the appropriate care based on residents’ wishes. Their organizational constraints coalesced around policies, hierarchy, time, and balancing residents’ needs.

The Seniors Support Services for South Asian Community (S4AC) project was developed in response to the underutilization of available recreation and seniors’ facilities by South Asian seniors who were especially numerous in a suburban neighbourhood in British Columbia. Addressing the problem required the collaboration of the municipality and a registered non-profit agency offering a wide range of services and programs to immigrant and refugee communities. Through creative outreach and accommodation, the project has engaged more than 100 Punjabi-speaking seniors annually in diverse exercise activities. Case study research methods with staff and current and former senior participants of S4AC include participant observation, individual interviews, and focus groups. Viewed through the critical interpretive lens of the “candidacy framework”, findings reveal the myriad ways in which access to health promotion and physical activity for immigrant older adults is a complex iterative process of negotiation at multiple levels.

Due to increasing life expectancy over time, persons who live into their nineties, known as nonagenarians, are an important and growing segment of the Canadian population. In 2001, there were 130,325 nonagenarians (compared to 3,795 centenarians), and it is estimated that they will top 400,000 by 2026. This paper provides a health profile and an exploratory analysis of selected social determinants of health for community-living nonagenarians, using the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey (Statistics Canada, 2003). Perceived health, a selection of prevalent chronic illnesses, and several health behaviours are examined. One dominant pattern is the tendency for male nonagenarians to be in better health than their female counterparts. This finding is consistent with research on centenarians and is discussed in terms of a mortality selection effect. Other key findings include the strength of sense of belonging, income, and physical activity as potential social determinants of health, connected to particular dimensions of health status.

The study focuses on perceived control and coping strategies regarding activity restriction due to osteoarthritis in a sample of older women. Using a cross-sectional design, it examines how these variables, separately and in combination, predict anxious symptoms and depressive symptoms. Perceived control did not predict anxious symptoms, while approach-type coping strategies did. Perceived control and approach-type coping strategies individually predicted depressive symptoms. Higher perceived control in interaction with avoidant-type coping strategies significantly predicted lower depressive symptoms. Overall, the findings suggest that perceived control and coping strategies with regard to activity restriction relate in different ways to anxious symptoms and to depressive symptoms.

Developmentally grounded research on norms for social exchange in adult relationships is equivocal, and rife with theoretical and methodological inconsistencies. We examined the applicability of three theoretical perspectives to specific relationships differing in self-perceived closeness in three groups of adults. Participants were first year (n = 37, MAge = 19.1 years) and fourth year (n = 42, MAge = 22.1 years) undergraduates, and retired teachers (n = 42, MAge = 66.8 years). We find considerable similarity among the three age groups on exchange norms and reciprocity expectations, despite considerable differences in sources of supportive relationships. Results indicate greatest support for exchange based upon need over either equity or social exchange perspectives, with this being especially true for very close relationships. Older adults report relationships operating to a greater extent on expectations for long-term over short-term reciprocity than young adults. Findings highlight the importance of considering intra-individual variation in exchange norms and expectations for reciprocity.

Data from the 1986/87 Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS) were used to examine the relationship between reported disabilities and institutionalization. Odds ratios obtained through logistic regression analyses were utilized to estimate the strength and direction of the associations between the various disabilities, age, gender, and institutionalization. An analysis of types and combinations of disabilities which are most strongly associated with institutionalization indicate that persons with disabilities regarding agility, mental functioning or speech have higher odds of institutionalization. The analyses of the relationship between number of disabilities and institutionalization suggest an exponential relationship, a greater rate of institutionalization with age and a higher rate for women than for men.

Health care cuts and restructuring are shifting the site of acute care from hospitals to homes and prompting provincial governments to introduce varying forms of mixed economies in home care. Typically, such arrangements seek to drive down public costs and to reposition service users as “consumers” of market-modelled care. Drawing on an ongoing study of frail elderly women and women with disabilities receiving home care in Ontario, this paper explores the significance for service users of these economic and political objectives. Rather than feeling like consumers free to exercise choice and demand quality in the mixed economy of home care, they experienced their positioning within it as insecure and subordinate and its supply as unpredictable and meagre. The implications of these findings for fashioning secure and equitable public responses to elderly and disabled citizens who need assistance at home over the long term are discussed.

The last “great pension debate” in Canada came to an end in the early 1980s but is now about to resume. The terms of debate have changed significantly, however. As a contribution to the debate, this paper aims to identify emergent positions and the new social, economic and political conditions to which they are a response. “Conservative” strategies have emphasized privatization of the pension function and greater emphasis on providing income-tested benefits to the low income elderly. New “progressive” alternatives have advocated a redesign of the welfare state to allow for a more flexible model of retirement and the economic life course more generally. Each is a response to real changes in the fiscal capacities of governments, the conditions for successful economic performance and the distribution of economic risk among age groups. The empirical core of the paper uses data from the Survey of Consumer Finances to show how the age distribution of economic well-being has changed since the the 1960s when the current welfare state was designed. Our aim is not to resolve the debate but to set it in context and identify the main assumptions and models underlying alternative strategies for reform.

High divorce rates over the past 40 years have affected multiple generations and have long-term consequences for family relationships. This article applies a life course perspective as it explores the reverberation of relationship dissolution beyond the nuclear family. Qualitative data from a study involving 86 adults from 10 three-generation families illustrate the extensive reach of divorce across time and generations. An intensive analysis of two families reveals six key areas of negotiation following divorce: relationship dissolution itself; balancing work and family obligations; inlaw ties; parent-child ties; sibling ties; and intimate relationships. Multiple voices from three generations demonstrate the complexity of family relationships over time and the reverberation of individual life course transitions throughout family networks. Applying the concept of ambivalence highlights variations among social groups in the ongoing renegotiation of relationships and situations that follows the dissolution of long-term unions.