Vol. 17 No. 44 (2025): Conference Issue
Published
December 2, 2025
Message from the Guest Editor Special Issue
Dear Readers,
The English-language international day of the Gerontology Days International Scientific Conference took place on October 17, 2025.
The conference provided an opportunity to present scientific and professional achievements related to the field of gerontology, as well as to promote cooperation and the sharing of best practices. The event included presentations of research results achieved to date, discussions of experiences with effective methods, and the identification of new, joint development directions.
The social and health challenges arising from demographic changes can only be effectively addressed with complex solutions based on cooperation across professional fields and national borders. Recognizing this, Hungarian and international experts in gerontology, researchers, students and professionals working in the fields of education, social services and healthcare gather every year at events organized by the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen.
This time, the conference was is supported by MEC_24 sub-programme MEC_SZ_24 of the "Scientific Patronage Call" under ID number: MEC_SZ149415 "International Gerontology Conference". This funding has made it possible for us to personally host international speakers. Their personal presence facilitated shared thinking and could lay the foundation for cooperation.
Some of the invited guests have already been partners of the faculty – from the United States, Russia, Turkey, Poland, and Slovakia — but in recent years, additional professional relationships have been established with researchers and professionals from Malta, Poland, Syria, Pakistan, Romania and Germany, among others, who accepted the invitation and presented their latest scientific findings.
This cultural diversity is also reflected in this abstract publication, which contains summaries of the English-language presentations.
Ágnes Bene, Secretary of the Conference, Editor of Conference Issue
Appx.
The abstracts of Section 9 can be found in the Vol. 16 (2024): Conference Issue.
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Articles
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Longer male life in the Mediterranean: Older men's roles, habits and leisure activities in Malta
3-4Views:0Most aging societies are characterized by gender differences, i.e., a predominance of women among those aged 65 and over, and especially among the oldest elderly.PDF0 -
Health status of persons aged 65+ - cross-sectional study
5Views:0The aim of the research was to describe the health status of older adults in the South Bohemian Region using selected indicators.PDF0 -
A new Precedent in Health Cooperation to Make an Assessment Model of Total Demand for Health Service
6-7Views:0Working in a team greatly improves health cooperation and helps propose innovative solutions for health issues. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary team has more overlapping roles defined by communication and troubleshooting.PDF0 -
Weaving threads of care: Examining extended family support for aging in rural Ghana
8-9Views:0Globally, societies are experiencing a significant increase in the population of older adults, a demographic shift that presents both opportunities and challenges. This transformation is particularly pronounced in developing countries such as Ghana.PDF0 -
Examining the effects of physical activity on the impact of older people's bereavement in ELSA data
10-11Views:0The loss of a loved one and consequent bereavement and grief have a negative impact on physical and mental health and can cause high stress levels.PDF0 -
Climate Change and Older Adults: Health Challenges and Practical Solutions in Healthcare
12-14Views:0Climate change has emerged as a pressing public health concern worldwide, with its effects already visible across multiple sectors. As societies age, a growing number of older adults are becoming directly exposed to the adverse health consequences of climate-related events.PDF0 -
Perceived barriers and enablers to outdoor mobility among older adults in the Nordic Arctic Region
15-16Views:0Little is known how older people move outdoors in the Arctic region, challenged by long and snowy winters, vast distances, underdeveloped transportation systems, and remote community facilities.PDF0 -
Health literacy and active ageing among the population 65+ in the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic
17-19Views:0Czechia is still experiencing an ageing population trend. The medium variant of the 2023 Projection (CZSO, 2023) suggests that by the end of the 2050s, the proportion of elderly (i.e. people aged 65 and over) should reach three and a quarter million people.PDF0 -
Frailty as the Cornerstone of Elderly Care: Strategies for Early Detection and Intervention
20-21Views:0Frailty is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of elderly care. It represents a multidimensional syndrome of vulnerability that increases risks of disability, hospitalization, institutionalization, and mortality.PDF0 -
Interpersonal communication style towards hospitalized seniors - study report
22-23Views:0Interpersonal relationships that occur during the care process should take into account the subjectivity of the older person, and care should be individualized.PDF0 -
Physiotherapy in Semmelweis University Geriatrics Clinic and Center for Nursing Sciences
24-25Views:0The increasing global population of older and very elderly individuals poses significant challenges to healthcare systems, particularly in delivering efficient and sustainable care.PDF0 -
Are We Listening to Elders? Intergenerational Wisdom as a Protective Factor Against Bullying in Diverse Academic Spaces
26-29Views:0Bullying remains one of the most persistent challenges in educational and academic environments, exerting a wide-ranging impact on students’ psychological well-being, physical health, and academic achievement.PDF0 -
Older people in the structure of local society - results and experiences of the panel survey in Nyíregyháza
30-31Views:0The aim of the presentation is to explore the situation of the elderly based on the results of an urban panel study. The lecture examines the position of older people in local society in three areas: their distribution across income strata representing positions in the social structure, the possibility of precarity among the elderly, and their subjective health status.PDF0 -
The role of balneotherapy in helping older people take advantage of new job opportunities
32-33Views:0Maintaining and supporting the physical and mental health of older people is not only in the interest of individuals, but also of the community, as active and healthy older people are able to continue participating in the labor market, volunteering, and fulfilling family roles.PDF0 -
Resilience Amid Crisis: The Impact of COVID-19 on Older Adults in Jordan - Challenges, Interventions, and Policy Innovations
34-36Views:0The COVID-19 pandemic was not only a global health crisis but also a profound social and humanitarian challenge. Older adults, particularly those living with chronic illnesses and limited access to healthcare, were the most severely affected.PDF0 -
Adapting the WHO Age-Friendly Cities Framework to Address Challenges in Kenya’s Urban Informal Settlements
37-38Views:0Kenya’s rapidly growing and ageing population, and the urbanization presents urgent challenges and opportunities for creating urban environments that truly support older adults.PDF0 -
Unmet care needs of older patients with maxillofacial diseases: A cross-sectional study
39-40Views:0Recognizing and addressing unmet care needs is essential for enhancing the quality of healthcare and social support. For patients with maxillofacial diseases who often face complex physical, emotional, and functional challenges, these unmet needs can significantly impact their recovery, well-being, and quality of life.PDF0 -
Physical Activity and Healthy Aging
41-42Views:0The purpose of this study is to examine the role of physical activity in promoting healthy aging, focusing on its impact on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial outcomes in older adults.PDF0 -
Political participation of retired people towards a future for all ages – from Portugal to Europe
43Views:0In this presentation, I will present the project ‘Sowing a future for all ages’, developed between August and December 2024 by a Portuguese association made up exclusively of retired people. The project focused on demanding rights from political decision-makers, in an exercise of full citizenship and effective political participation.PDF0 -
Well-being among the Elderly - challenges for social policy
44-45Views:0The aim of this presentation is to explore the multidimensional concept of well-being among older adults and to identify the factors that can either support or threaten it. In the context of an aging society, the issue of quality of life in late adulthood is gaining increasing importance not only from an individual perspective, but also systemically as a challenge for social policy, healthcare, and local communities.PDF0 -
Forever Vital: Redefining Age, Well-being, and Quality of Life
46-47Views:0Pakistan is entering a demographic transition with one of the fastest-growing ageing populations in South Asia. Despite this shift, ageing in Pakistan is predominantly framed through a medical and welfare lens, emphasizing dependency, decline, and family-based care.PDF0 -
Ageing in Two Worlds: Policy and Culture in Pakistan and Hungary
48-49Views:0Pakistan and Hungary are at different stages of population ageing, yet both face challenges in balancing family caregiving and formal support. This study explores how national ageing policies and cultural attitudes shape elder care in these contexts.PDF0 -
Ageing Without Care? The Healthcare Insecurity Among the Elderly in Nigeria
50-51Views:0This paper provides a review of studies of the healthcare insecurity experienced by the elderly population in Nigeria, focusing on social isolation, economic struggle, inadequate healthcare, and the potential lack of governmental support.PDF0 -
Someone makes videos and gets the money for it’ - Agency of Older TikTokers in Digital Capitalism
52-53Views:0The capitalist operations of today have been described in various forms in literature, and while each concept highlights different aspects of this operation, they all agree that large tech companies are the biggest beneficiaries of this transformation, capable of influencing market dynamics and consumer behaviour.PDF0 -
Rewriting Female Ageing: Positive Later-Life Narratives in Post-COVID Cinema from the Global North
54Views:0Ageing has surged as a central theme during the COVID-19 pandemic, gaining visibility in social and cultural discourse and narratives. This new cultural attention opened space for an in depth analysis of how later life is framed within narrative cinema, particularly for women.PDF0 -
Preventive aspects of addictions in old age
55-56Views:0Around the world, increasing numbers of individuals are abusing drugs and alcohol in their later years. Evidence suggests that the current “Baby Boom” cohort of aging adults, born from the mid-1940s to mid-1960s, abuses alcohol and psychoactive prescription medications at a higher rate than previous generations did.PDF0 -
Self-care behaviour and illness perception in older adults with heart failure in outpatient care
57-58Views:0Heart failure (HF) is a highly prevalent condition among older adults and associated with a high risk of mortality within one year. Self-care (SC) activities improve health outcomes and reduce hospitalisation and mortality rates in patients with HF.PDF0 -
The burden on informal caregivers caring for a family member
59-60Views:0Caring for geriatric patients is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon today. For caregivers, it represents a period characterized by many changes, which often place a burden on their lives.PDF0 -
Inmates with Dementia: Responding to an Ageing and Ailing Prison Population
61-62Views:0Penitentiary systems worldwide are confronting a profound demographic shift mirroring that of developed societies: a rapidly ageing prison population. This trend results in a growing number of inmates with complex, age-related health issues, most notably dementia and other severe cognitive impairments.PDF0 -
Generational change in pensioner organisations: challenges and opportunities in leadership succession
63-65Views:0Leadership succession is a crucial factor in ensuring the sustainability of organisations across both business and civil sectors, particularly in community-based organisations whose activities are strongly person-dependent and locally embedded.PDF0 -
Enhancing Geriatric Care through Speech-Language Therapy - Practical Tools for Cognitive - Communication Disorders
66-68Views:0This study aims to present the significance of cognitive-communication disorders (CCD) in geriatric care and to highlight the role of speech therapy along with the latest research directions in diagnostics and therapeutic interventions.PDF0 -
Self-compassion in elderly people: Samples from studies
69-72Views:0Elderly people who practice self-compassion tend to experience better psychological well-being and cope more effectively with the challenges of aging, such as physical decline and emotional stress.PDF0 -
The appearance of old age in the documents regulating artificial intelligence of the European Union and Hungary
73-74Views:0In our paper, we review the most important domestic (Government Resolution 1573/2020. (IX. 9.) on the Artificial Intelligence Strategy of Hungary and certain measures necessary for its implementation; Artificial Intelligence Strategy of Hungary) and European Union (e.g. White Paper on Artificial Intelligence: a European approach to excellence and trust; Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of harmonised rules on artificial intelligence…) legal and strategic documents from a gerontological perspective.PDF0 -
Digital Solutions for Supporting Active and Healthy Aging and Elderly Care
75-76Views:0The presentation discusses how the challenges associated with population ageing, particularly in the context of elderly care and quality of life, can be addressed through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and innovative solutions.PDF0 -
Hungarian and European Conscious Ageing Network: Cooperation between Municipalities, Municipality Associations, NGOs and business to promote Active and Conscious Ageing in Hungary and Europe
77-79Views:0As the European population is ageing, local communities are increasingly confronted with complex, interconnected challenges. Demographic change intersects with economic uncertainty, social fragmentation, health inequalities, labour market restructuring and the broader polycrisis affecting Europe.PDF0 -
Growing Old and Being LGBTIQ in Malta: What Happens When We Need Care?
80-82Views:0The present abstract explores the lived experiences of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) individuals in Malta, focusing on the intersection of ageing, care needs, and systemic disparities.PDF0 -
Beyond Longevity: How Gender Roles Shape the Ageing Experience of Women in Nigeria
83Views:0Longevity is often celebrated as a marker of progress in global ageing discourse. Yet for many Nigerian women, a longer lifespan does not necessarily translate into security, dignity, or empowerment in later life.PDF0 -
Dynamic and Interoperable Social Welfare Integrated System (DISWIS) – A Data Architecture Model for Coordinated Health and Social Service Delivery
84-85Views:0The fragmented ecosystem of social service delivery in the Philippines has been negatively affecting social welfare service delivery among the population.PDF0 -
Storytelling as a Psychoeducational Tool in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy with Older Adults
86-88Views:0Older adulthood is frequently accompanied by life events that threaten autonomy, safety, and personal identity, including bereavement, physical illness, accidents, or transitions in living arrangements.PDF0 -
The challenges of community nursing in Europe with a focus on health advice patient education, digital education and the potential of telecare in nursing and nursing education
89-90Views:0European health systems face accelerating population ageing, rising multimorbidity, and persistent workforce shortages, with primary care and community services under increasing pressure.PDF0