Young and old observers performed a feature search task in which a single target was embedded in five distractors. Target-distractor similarity was varied quantitatively (along the feature dimension of orientation) and display duration ranged from approximately 50–400 ms. Identification accuracy was worse on target-absent trials, particularly when distractor similarity was high and display duration brief. An age X duration interaction on accuracy was found to reflect generalized age deficits in sensitivity and duration-dependent age differences in bias. Results suggest that an age deficit in the rate of information extraction produces in the elderly a greater dependence on partial information gained from distractors. Additionally, the additive effects of age and similarity have implications for visual search tasks where display size is varied.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of eight categories of leisure participation and enjoyment with ten selected demographic variables. A Likert-type questionnaire was designed to ascertain the degree of participation and enjoyment in 89 activities. The activities were grouped in the following leisure categories: aesthetic, civic, intellectual, mass-media, physical, social, spiritual and touristic.

The sample consisted of three executive board members and five non-board members for each of the 229 senior citizen clubs currently affiliated with the New Brunswick Senior Citizen's Federation. Canonical correlation analyses were used to investigate the relationship stated in the two research questions. Three meaningful canonical variates were respectively identified for participation and enjoyment. On the basis of the results of the study, there seems to be some justification to take into account the particular ethnic orientation of senior clubs in the delivery of the various leisure programs.

We validated seven chronic disease ascertainment algorithms for use in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. The algorithms pertained to diabetes mellitus type 2, parkinsonism, chronic airflow obstruction (CAO), hand osteoarthritis (OA), hip OA, knee OA, and ischemic heart disease. Our target recruitment was 20 cases and controls per disease; some cases were controls for unrelated diseases. Participants completed interviewer-administered disease symptom and medication use questionnaires. Diabetes cases and controls underwent fasting glucose testing; CAO cases and controls underwent spirometry testing. For each disease, the appropriate algorithm was used to classify participants’ disease status (positive or negative for disease). We also calculated sensitivity and specificity using physician diagnosis as the reference standard. The final sample involved 176 participants recruited in three Canadian cities between 2009 and 2011. Most estimated sensitivities and specificities were 80 per cent or more, indicating that the seven algorithms correctly identified individuals with the target disease.

Passive remote monitoring is a relatively new technology that may support older adults to age in place. However, current knowledge about the effectiveness of this technology in extending older adults’ independence is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review of studies examining passive remote monitoring to systematically synthesize evidence about the technology’s effectiveness as an intervention. Our initial search of Embase, CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus databases identified 486 unique articles. Of these, 14 articles met our inclusion criteria. Results show that passive remote monitoring technologies are being used in innovative and diverse ways to support older adults aging in place and their caregivers. More high-quality research on this topic is needed.

This paper draws a socio-demographic, physical, psychosocial, and behavioural profile of housebound older adults with arthritis and compares older adults with rheumatoid arthritis to those with osteoarthritis. Data from 125 housebound older adults with osteoarthritis (65%) or rheumatoid arthritis (35%) were compared to published samples and to population data using appropriate weighting. Respondents were mainly women, living alone, mean age 77 years (SD = 10.50). Symptoms of stiffness, fatigue, and pain intensity were moderate to severe, and a substantial proportion (51.4%) reported depression. Participants reported low levels of health behaviours such as exercise. Overall, older adults with rheumatoid arthritis were significantly younger, reported less pain and limitations, were more optimistic and satisfied with their social life, and had a higher self-efficacy than older adults with osteoarthritis. Home-based pain self-management programs should be constructed considering the unique profiles and needs of this population.

It has been suggested that an exaggeration of the target age effect is obtained when the same respondents judge multiple age groups rather than only one age group. In the present study each of 1200 undergraduates rated a young, middle-aged, or old target on the 32 bipolar adjective pairs of the Aging Semantic Differential (ASD; Rosencranz & McNevin, 1969). An additional 200 undergraduates rated all three target age groups on the ASD. The ASD was scored in terms of the three dimensions reported by its authors. In the isolated judgment condition young targets were rated highest on the Instrumental-Ineffective and Personal Acceptability-Unacceptability dimensions followed, in both cases, by middle-aged and then by old targets; on the Autonomous-Dependent dimension, middle-aged targets were rated higher than both young and old targets. The hypothesized exaggeration of the target age effect in the comparative judgment condition was obtained for the descriptive dimensions (Instrumental-Ineffective and Autonomous-Dependent) but not for the evaluative dimension (Personal Acceptability-Unacceptability) of the ASD. Possible explanations for why judgment context might affect descriptive but not evaluative assessments of target age groups are discussed.

This article sets out to analyze how older women understand grandmotherhood. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 elderly women from Quebec with diverse lives (widowed, married, single, with or without children) drawn from three generations (65–74 years, 75–84 years, 85 years and over) according to principles of qualitative analysis using grounded theory. Based on a constructivist approach, results highlight the evolution of images of grandmotherhood offering the benefit of emotional, playful and comforting roles. This analysis also reveals multiple ways of being a grandmother and commitments that vary according to three principal factors: (1) the personality and life trajectory of the grandmothers; (2) the family situation and role of crisis in the family; and (3) the degree of intimacy with grandchildren. There follows a discussion on the place and role of the family in the lives of older women today.

The main objective of this study was to present the development, validation and normalization of the Quebec Semantic Questionnaire (QueSQ). The QueSQ is a 12-item questionnaire designed for the rapid screening of semantic disorders. Psycholinguistic parameters that can influence performance, such as the nature of semantic features and superordinate semantic categories, were taken into account during its development. Psychometric qualities of QueSQ were demonstrated during the validation process. QueSQ normative data were established on the basis of age and level of education, from a sample of 100 Franco-Quebecers aged 50 years and over.

In light of COVID-19 and elevated concerns for the health of older Canadians receiving care, this Policy and Practice Note explores the confluence of the current home care policy landscape and the organisation of personal support worker (PSW) work, and highlights the need to consider governance of PSW work generally, and in-home and community care especially. PSWs are currently not professionally regulated, nor is there a central site documenting location, education, or any form of verification of the PSW workforce. Home care PSWs often provide physical care in isolated settings with no in-person supervision. In home and community health care, complaints about PSWs can be scattered among different service providers or client files not linked to or searchable by PSW name. This policy note explores how these factors and the currently unregulated status of PSWs affect home care safety in general as well as in the context of COVID-19, Ontario’s decentralised home care system, and efforts towards professional regulation.

This article explores the potential of discourse analysis for understanding issues in aging and in the lives of older people. We describe discourse analysis from the perspective of discursive psychology and identify the basic features of discourse analysis: (1) talk and written texts are viewed as action; (2) talk itself is the topic of interest (not an index of internal states); (3) variability is viewed positively. Stages of discourse analysis are briefly discussed. We then consider examples of discourse-analytic research (on identity construction, phatic communion, frame stereotyping and humour). We conclude by suggesting possible uses and applications of discourse analysis in research on aging.

While American literature on sustaining restraint reduction is relatively robust, there is a lack of research published on the same issue in Canadian continuing care (CC) settings. Statistics from Canada's largest publicly funded and operated CC organization have revealed telling patterns in mechanical restraint use. Over a 4-year study period during a campaign to reduce mechanical restraint use, the organizational prevalence dropped from 24.68 per cent to 16.01 per cent. There was substantial variability in restraint prevalence among the organization's 11 centres (range: 0–39.86% of residents restrained) and all but 1 was able to achieve mechanical restraint reduction. Specific facilitators to achieving and sustaining restraint reduction are identified, including small facility size, provision of specialized care (e.g., Alzheimer's disease), and an on-site champion. Specific barriers, such as large facility size and an off-site champion are also discussed.

This paper describes a preliminary assessment of a departmental approach to palliative care for the dying older person. Forty patients who died in the Extended Care Wing of a teaching hospital were studied using the Palliative Care Assessment Record. Twenty-five were studied retrospectively while fifteen were followed prospectively. The results suggest that there may be subgroups of the terminally ill elderly, such as those with respiratory illnesses, requiring distinct care approaches. Suggestions are outlined regarding a more comprehensive assessment protocol to study this and related care issues.

The purpose of this research is to examine what factors influence the economic circumstances of widowed women who were in the labour force at some time in their lives. Using the Survey of Ageing and Independence, widows are compared to the married, separated/divorced and the ever single who retired. Widows above and below Statistics Canada Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) are also compared. Models predicting who falls below the Low Income Cut-Off are estimated for all women and for the widows. The findings indicate that 49 per cent of the widows live below the Low Income Cut-Off. Factors associated with living below the poverty line include widowhood, a smaller household, lower levels of education and an occupation at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy. Sources of income that would enhance the likelihood of being above the poverty line, such as RRSPs, investments and a job-related pension, are not common amongst these women despite their previous attachment to the labour force.

Data from longitudinal studies have a number of advantages for gerontological research, but the effects of attrition and the increased complexity of data structures with multiple observations may pose some problems for statistical analysis. Proportional hazards models allow for the examination of event histories using all observations of a dependent variable, and these models can incorporate time-dependent covariates to increase their explanatory power. The assumptions and applications of event history analysis using proportional hazards models are described, and the analysis of mortality data from the Ontario Longitudinal Study of Aging provides a relevant example. Extensions of proportional hazards models and commercially available software are also discussed.

The study objective was to examine the association, among older persons with cutaneous melanoma, between areal socioeconomic status (SES) and receiving chemotherapy. SEER-Medicare-linked database (1,239 white men and women aged ≥ 66, with invasive melanoma [regional and distant stages]; 1991–1999) was used. SES was measured by census tract poverty level (average of 1990 and 2000 Census data). Covariates were sociodemographics, tumor characteristics, and comorbidity index. Residing in poorer SES areas was associated with a lower likelihood for receiving chemotherapy among patients in the overall sample (adjusted odds ratios = OR 0.97, 95% confidence interval = CI 0.95–0.99), and those with regional stage at diagnosis (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94–0.98). These findings reflect socioeconomic disparities in chemotherapy use for melanoma among older white patients in the United States.

Following the example of other Canadian provinces, those in Atlantic Canada are affected, albeit to a lesser degree, by the increase in the number of persons aged 65 or over, a trend that we can define as gerontogrowth. In addition, this region of Canada seems particularly affected by the trend of an aging population, that is, the rise in the proportion of people in the total population aged 65 or more. For example, on a national scale, New Brunswick is the third oldest province according to the last five-year period (2001–2006), having advanced from the fourth position it held between 1981 and 2001 and from the fifth position occupied between 1971 and 1981. In addition, these trends evolve in different manners in different places, contrasts that are strongest at the regional and local level. The goal of this article is to examine the strength of these disparities during the period 1981 to 2006 and to identify some potential solutions for a territorial development strategy for seniors.

Public health messages and societal discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic have consistently indicated a higher morbidity and mortality risk for older people, particularly those with multiple health conditions. Older adults’ interpretations of pandemic messaging can shape their perceived vulnerability and behaviours. This study examined their perspectives on COVID-19 messaging. Eighteen community-dwelling older adults residing in Manitoba (Canada) participated in semi-structured telephone interviews between July and August 2020, a period of low COVID-19 cases within the province. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify key themes that described participants’ processes of information interpretation when consuming pandemic-related messages, their emotional responses to messaging and consequent vulnerability, and the impacts of messaging on their everyday lives. Understanding how older adults have construed COVID-19 and pandemic-related messages, and the subsequent impact on their daily behaviours, is the first step towards shaping societal discourse and sets the stage for examining the pandemic’s long-term effects.

The reality of volunteering in nonprofit organizations who offer services to seniors at home was observed from the viewpoint of two types of actors: volunteers and coordinators. Our results suggest that there are three decisive stages in volunteering: recruitment, realization of volunteer activity, and pursuit of this commitment. For each of them, some factors are more influential than others. Their presence or absence makes possible or not the initiation of this commitment and its pursuit. In this context, a constant negotiation takes place between the actors. Each of them has to adapt himself to others. Nevertheless, this adaptation is limited. So, stability between the position of the organization and that of the volunteer is necessary.

In this article, we explore the role of substitute decision-makers (SDMs) in matters of sexual expression for continuing care residents with diminished cognitive capacity. We examine how Alberta’s current use of SDMs can enable an “all-or-none” approach to competence, wherein a person either has capacity to make all decisions or is incapable of making any. Three factors facilitate an environment in which this approach can influence residents’ sexual expression. These include the wording of current legislation, lack of resources for SDMs, and relational dynamics between SDMs and care staff. We provide a critical review of existing legislation and empirical evidence of its challenges in practice. Though we focus on the Alberta context, there is reason to believe that similar issues persist in other Western jurisdictions. We offer several recommendations for how we can better support residents’ sexual autonomy in continuing care and avoid pitfalls of the “all-or-none” approach to competence.