We are the UK’s leading publisher of books on Ageing and Gerontology and our titles fill a clear gap in the current literature. The list interrogates the challenges of an ageing population, push forward knowledge and reframe perspectives.
Central to this are the international and comparative works in the Ageing in a Global Context series, published in association with the British Society of Gerontology, and the Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies journal.
Ageing and Gerontology
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This scoping review highlights the need for research to address the intersectional relationship between racialisation, health inequality and frailty in older age. We map research addressing the relationship between frailty and ethnicity across literature exploring health inequality in order to collate findings, identify trends and highlight research gaps. Our most significant finding is the absence of attention to the role of racism despite the majority of studies identifying a positive correlation between frailty and minority ethnicity. In countries with ageing populations, ill health and frailty was generally found to strike earlier and more severely in racially minoritised groups. However, there is a paucity of research addressing ageing and ethnicity. To focus the review, we asked: how are frailty and ethnicity/race related in the current literature addressing health inequality? We map the existing literature, commenting on terminology, findings and methodology. While social, economic and cultural factors are speculated to be explanations for inequality, there has been little analysis of the association between frailty, ethnicity and socioeconomic inequality, no explicit attention to the role of racism and little qualitative research to explore the lived experience of frailty and ethnicity. Despite the contested nature of both frailty and ethnicity, the majority of studies lacked definitions of the terms used, particularly with respect to ‘identifying terms’ used for ethnicity. We call for further research (particularly qualitative research) to address frailty and ethnicity in the context of racialisation and health inequality and for critical engagement with ‘identifying terms’ used.
This article seeks to advance our understanding of the care experiences of people living with the effects of disability, ageing and other social locations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on key informant interviews (n = 8) and results from an anonymous online survey (n = 36), this article provides evidence of how people with disabilities and older adults in Ontario, Canada, experienced disruptions in different types of care in their multiple caring relationships. The results describe why they were not able to access the care that they needed during a period when activities began to resume and how their caring relationships had been disrupted. The impact of disruption on people with disabilities, older adults and others in their care relationships was exacerbated by barriers rooted in ableism, ageism and other forms of exclusion. This study demonstrates the importance of addressing unmet care needs by moving beyond the dichotomy of ‘carer’ and ‘cared for’.
There is an urgent need to deepen understanding of the particular experience of family caregivers of people with early-onset familial Alzheimer’s disease. In this effort, we aim to identify the socio-demographic variables associated with social support, self-efficacy and coping strategies. Not belonging to the family lineage carrying the disease-causing mutation, having secondary or professional education, and caring for a relative in the early stages of dementia are associated with better coping tools. However, belonging to the family lineage carrying the mutation increases the use of passive coping, escape or emotional discharge, which risks adverse psychological outcomes.
Current societal transformations in health care and other fields of care have led to an enormous increase in the number of publications in the anthropology of care. Yet, the field turns out to be fragmented and complex. To provide some orientation, we present results of a scoping review on empirical research on paid care work in health-care settings. We structure our findings according to whether the authors tend to focus on ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘grey’ areas of care. Anthropology might contribute to the field of care studies by making aspects of care visible that often remain concealed otherwise.
In response to the dominant narrative that informal care episodes become increasingly heavy over time, this study empirically identifies distinct informal care trajectories in terms of developments in care demands (care receivers’ health), intensity (number of hours) and complexity (number and type of tasks) over the course of a care episode. Latent class analysis on 5,595 informal care episodes among 2,884 Dutch carers identified a ‘stable trajectory’ (41 per cent) and ‘decrease trajectory’ (22 per cent) apart from an ‘increase trajectory’ (37 per cent). The trajectories were related to care receivers’ characteristics (age), carers’ difficulty of saying ‘no’ (relationship and obligation) and changes in the care context (living situation).
This article critically assesses the recent European Care Strategy, the European Union’s most significant policy statement yet on long-term care. Using a framework that differentiates between economistic, social protection and configurational approaches, the European Care Strategy is adjudged to rely on an economistic approach. This sees it suggest some important measures for better services and working conditions for care workers but not enough on social protection rights and too little to disrupt the reliance on unpaid carers. Comparing the European Union approach with that of several United Nations entities – the International Labour Organization, World Health Organization and UN Women – indicates that other approaches are possible, though all need improvement.