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Culture on Prescription in Portugal: cultural experiences promoting health in lonely people and older adults
11-13Views:71Social connections play a vital role in personal well-being. Loneliness, characterized by a lack of meaningful social engagement, has emerged as a significant public health concern in Europe, especially after COVID19 pandemic, when the problem was labelled by the media as a “loneliness epidemic” (Berlingieri et al., 2022). According to Casabianca & Kovacic (2022), older adults are especially vulnerable to loneliness due to all the life transitions and disruptive life events they face. Loneliness is more prevalent among Europeans aged 50 and above in southern and eastern regions (ranging from 31% to 46%) compared to western and northern areas (ranging from 10% to 30%).
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University of the Third Age at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, the University of South Bohemia
45-46Views:83The goal of the paper is to present almost 30 years of activities of the University of the Third Age at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, the history of which started in 1992.
The first discipline called Care of Humans and their Health was opened by the University of South Bohemia in the academic year 1992/93. The elderly were offered an educational six-term health and social program, while three hours of direct lessons and two counseling sessions a week (“senior Thursday) were subsidized. The students had to sit for unmarked and marked examinations, and to process and defend a thesis at the end of their study. In July 1995, 28 graduates were awarded a certificate on an extramural education in a festive ceremony. The implementation of the discipline of Care of Humans and their Health confirmed that even a non—professional leisure-time education could be provided at an “academic” level. A comprehensive view of education enabled to identify areas that should be taken into consideration during the education of elderly adults. They include areas relating to computer and functional literacy, cultivation of leisure time, culture of the interpersonal mutuality, and the human being (looking for the sense of life and higher goals).
In the course of the thirty-year history of the University of the Third Age many activities have developed and the conception has extended. The new educational subject called Man in Health, Disease and Distress was transformed into a two-stage program offering the choice of the length and type of the educational program. The option A represented the choice of an integral and topically closed discipline while the options B and C represented the choice of the educational demandingness and inclusion in the European educational program called SoLiLL: Self-Organized Learning in Later Life. Furthermore, a conception of an extending program called Quality of life in the Old Age and other programs were offered to the elderly living in our region. As a part of the project activities, the elderly were involved in the projects of Phare a Interreg IIIA. The conception of the University of the Third Age at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of the University of South Bohemia enables the applicants to complete an integral educational program, lecture blocks/cycles with various topics, and, at the same time, a unique research program called “Golden Path” focused on the Czech-Austrian border area can be completed. The uniqueness of the educational research program is evidenced by two translated monographs called “Wallern und Wallerer (Volary a Volarští - Volary citizens and Volary)“ and „Der Goldene Steig“ (Zlatá stezka – Golden Path) by the indisputably most important expert and researcher of the Golden Path, a historian living in Bavarian Waldkirchen. -
Social service delivery for senior citizens in rural Philippines and secrets to longevity of Apo Whang-od
2-14Views:400Access to social services such as healthcare, transportation, and financial support can be limited, leaving many elderly individuals vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion. This paper examined the recent elderly demographics, status of social service delivery, the roles of traditional and cultural practices, and specific challenges faced by older persons in rural areas, using the case of Apo Whang-od and her community, Buscalan that is in the municipality of Tinglayan, Province of Kalinga, Philippines. Using a mixed methods approach, this paper revealed that almost 11% of Tinglayan’s population is elderly, mostly indigenous people with a relatively low literacy rate, and low-income earners who are engaged mostly in subsistence farming and small-scale traditional craft making. Also, there are substantial government programs and services offered by existing laws; however, access to these is challenged by limited access to education and healthcare services, with long travel distances and a lack of transportation being major barriers. Financial difficulties were also observed, with no or few having access to social security benefits and reasonable amounts of pensions. The challenges can also be attributed to an unfavorable geographical location, conflicts with neighboring tribes, limited local government funds, lack of knowledge, and inadequate social service centers within the locality. Tinglayan’s cultural values were also found to play a pivotal role in supplementing the scarce social services by fostering a supportive atmosphere for the elderly. Analysing Apo-Whag-od's longevity, it was revealed that she lived a longer life because she ate organic and locally sourced food, slept well, laughed a lot, engaged in regular physical activity, nurtured her spiritual well-being, built strong relationships with her family and community, and kept a positive outlook. In conclusion, social demographics shows that elderlies in rural areas are disadvantaged, which calls for more efficient and effective access, delivery, and availability of social services. Moreover, policymakers are enjoined to accelerate social infrastructures, expand social protection programs, and support intergenerational solidarity and resilience and cultural preservation. Lastly, Apo Whang-od’s legacy lives on. Her popularity not only gained revitalization of the Kalinga tattoo culture, but it also inspired people to follow her steps to longer and happier way of life.
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Democratic values – discriminative practices regarding to the status of the elderly
64-76.Views:159The scientific study of gerontology in Hungary has a short history. Perhaps that is why the
meaning of gerontology is erroneously restricted to the type belonging to biology and medical
sciences by many. The present study argues that human and social science gerontology does
have reasons for its existence. We outline the specific areas of research done by philosophy
and ethics in connection with the situation of the existence of people, especially that of the
elderly and describe what their mission consists of. We analyse the history of Western
philosophical thinking and the moral ideas and values formed by this thinking in thousands of
years. The basic principles of modern democratic societies are constituted by these ideas:
liberty, equality, justice, brotherhood, human dignity and human rights. In practice these
rights are often violated, for example the elderly people are discriminated against their age,
which violates their equality and justice as well as human dignity. Their disadvantageous
situation is obvious in the economy, politics, culture, education and relations between
generations. The task of ethics is the principle criticism of these practices along the Western
values thus contribution to the formation of human conditions. The demographic crisis of the
continent is viewed by the EU as based on modern age policy, aids, projects and classical
Western values. -
Active Ageing Good Practices Promoting Intergenerational Communication and Understanding
5-6Views:62Persistent negative stereotypes on the aging process and the older person are noticeable within the current youth-orientated culture. Older persons may also hold negative stereotypes about the younger generation. These undesirable typecasts co-exist because younger and older persons often have limited contact with each other. Indeed, the younger generation, only gets to engage in communication with the older person within the family unit, rarely outside their own familial structures. Similarly, older persons, residents of long-term care have limited opportunities of interacting with the younger generation.
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A Sóstó-Gyógyfürdők Zrt. kínálata az idősödő generációknak
103-115Views:195Analyzing the age pyramid of Hungary, we can see that we live in an aging society, due to which the older generations are becoming more and more important in the medical tourism sector. The largest group of medical tourism is the elderly over the age of 60, who most often visit spas with musculoskeletal disorders. Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county is especially rich in spas, the Sóstó Spa, which is our spa of international significance, also stands out. The aim of the Sóstó Spa is to play a role in maintaining and improving the health of health tourists, in developing a bathing culture, and in spending a pleasant and useful leisure time.
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The Role of Elderly Generation in Generational Turnover of Family Farms
2-13Views:314One of the greatest risks of a family farm is the succession of the farm. It is also backed by the fact that 2/3 of the companies do not survive the generational turnover. However, several farm risk their survival by not planning succession. Predecessors play a major role in the succession process. Thus, the aim of the study is to examine the role of the elderly generation in generational turnover of family businesses based on earlier empirical research. The predecessors continue to play a symbolic role after succession and thus have a profound impact on corporate culture, values and performance. The predecessors have extensive farming experience but are inexperienced in succession. Several of them contemplate on retirement, but few actually get to action. In conclusion, the core benefit of family farms is that, ideally, they remain in the control of a family for generations, thus allowing tens of years of experience and knowledge to be concentrated in the leader. Therefore, we should not forget that the silver generation is worth gold!
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Elderly Service Officer Trainings
15-16Views:141Introduction One of the challenges that stands before the aging population is the integration and mental and physical wellbeing of the elderly, and building the culture of active ageing. Meeting this challenge requires the activity of professionals who, in alliance with the work and services of the local governments, will become able to organise programmes that meet the needs and demands of the older citizens.
This objective is targeted by the Elderly Service Officer Trainings provided by Family-Friendly Country Public Beneficiary Ltd.
Methods: Our goal is to enable future Elderly Service Officers to actively contribute and enforce lawful practice to preparing, organising and implementing local civil programmes that target active aging; to recognise the special needs of the older citizens; and to orient within the legal environment of the programmes for the elderly. They should become able to co-operate efficiently with local government officials and NGOs supporting active ageing.
Training topics: 1. Active ageing and mental wellbeing, 2. Community development, networking, volunteering, 3. Environment for active ageing, 4. Planning and implementing elderly friendly programmes.
As regards to monitoring effectiveness, above activity indicators, we survey the changes of attitudes among trainees, and further activities of the Elderly Service Officers. The effectiveness studies are in progress.
Results: Since May 2019, 16 study groups with 238 attendees have been launched (11 in Budapest és 5 on the countryside), and 12 groups have finished, yielding 144 certified trainees. We are planning a further set of 23 groups for 2021, in order to achieve the planned number of participants of 1000.
Discussion: Further development of the training will depend on our future results.
Supported by: Grant No. EFOP-1.2.6-VEKOP-17-2017-00001, „Family Friendly Country Project.
References:
L Patyán, JI Tóth, AM Tróbert, R Wernigg: Methodology to Aid the Community Inclusion and Person-Centered Care of Older Generations. Family-Friendly Country Public Beneficiary Ltd., 2019.
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Beyond the limelight of Apo Whang-od: Exposing the face of social service delivery and access of older persons in the Philippines
79-80Views:49This study examined the access to social services for the elderly population in Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines, which is the home of Apo Whang-od, a globally renowned traditional tattoo artist. The case study explored the challenges and opportunities that elderly individuals encounter in accessing social services within geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA) and how these dynamics have been influenced by the artist's popularity.