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
The COVID-19 pandemic has made many aspects of care work more visible. This article focuses on cleaning as a form of care work that has been systematically ignored and made invisible. We examine both the benefits and drawbacks of acknowledging cleaning as a specific form of care: while broadening the concept of care might risk diluting its analytical precision, incorporating cleaning into care work discussions brings attention to its significance. We argue that recognizing cleaning as care is vital because it uncovers its nurturing, life-sustaining and intimate qualities. Cleaning can, thus, be understood as a biopolitical dimension of contemporary societies.
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the commitment to honour parents and keep private ‘issues’ within the home combine to shape caregiving styles and needs. Evidence on the effectiveness of interventions for informal caregivers for people living with dementia in the MENA region is lacking. This study offers an overview of interventions for caregivers. It also explores informal caregivers’ needs, preferences and views on addressing intervention through online content. A middle-range programme theory is developed to provide insight into the mechanisms underpinning the interventions.
A realist review approach was used to explore what intervention types and features support the informal caregivers of people living with dementia throughout the MENA region and to examine in which contexts and how these interventions worked. The realist synthesis included 23 articles and eight interviews with health professionals. Eight context–mechanism–outcome configurations (CMOCs) were extrapolated to build and iteratively refine a middle-range programme theory and finalise it for testing. Contextual conditions that emerged include stigma, long care duration, culture, lack of support and the effect of this on intervention uptake. Mechanisms reported include feeling supported and empowering caregivers with the skills, knowledge and support they need, which led to outcomes such as improved quality of life for people living with dementia and caregivers and reduction in stress for caregivers.
This article contributes to the limited literature by addressing an identified gap in knowledge, providing insights into informal caregivers of people living with dementia in the MENA region to understand why particular interventions work or not, and in what contexts.
Introduction:
Mexico faces unique challenges due to the confluence of population ageing, an increasing burden of chronic conditions and limited resources to address these concerns. Substantial evidence links both independent and co-occurring chronic conditions to the risk of cognitive decline, but the association between common multimorbidity patterns and change in cognitive function has not been examined among older adults in Mexico.
Objective:
The objective of our research was to identify the most common multimorbidity patterns among ageing Mexican adults in 2012, then examine the association between these multimorbidity patterns and change in cognitive function with advancing age.
Methodology:
Data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (2012–21; n = 6,082) was used to identify multimorbidity patterns in 2012 (including hypertension, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, heart attack, stroke, arthritis and depressive symptoms), then latent growth modelling was used to examine associations between the mean cognitive trajectory and the baseline multimorbidity patterns.
Results:
Several baseline multimorbidity patterns were associated with variation in cognitive function. Diabetes and depressive symptoms were present in the majority of multimorbidity patterns associated with lower cognitive function at baseline, and respondents with either lone diabetes or hypertension+diabetes+arthritis at baseline experienced more rapid cognitive decline than those reporting no conditions at baseline.
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that prevention and management of diabetes may reduce cognitive gaps that manifest prior to older adulthood and protect against rapid cognitive decline among older Mexican adults. Further examination of depressive symptoms as a component of multimorbidity and cognitive change is also warranted.
Institutionalisation marks a significant transition for older adults, often accompanied by a multitude of challenges encompassing ageing, uncertainty and social dynamics. This qualitative study delves into the lived experiences of institutional older adults, focusing on the intricate interplay between ageing processes, the formation and maintenance of social bonds and the negotiation of ambiguity within institutional settings. Prior to moving into an old-age home, many older adults rely on long-established social networks. However, institutionalisation often disrupts these networks, creating a need for older adults to form new connections within the facility. Through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, the research elucidates the multifaceted nature of ageing experiences, revealing how older adults navigate the passage of time amid shifting social landscapes and ambiguous circumstances. Findings underscore the centrality of social capital in buffering the effects of uncertainty and fostering resilience among institutional older adults. The themes that emerge highlight the importance of social connections in providing emotional support, practical assistance and a sense of belonging, which serve as critical resources in adapting to institutional life. Moreover, the study illuminates the ways in which older adults actively engage in sense-making processes, renegotiating identities and priorities in light of institutionalisation. By examining these experiences, this research contributes to a nuanced understanding of ageing in institutional contexts, emphasising the significance of social relationships in promoting wellbeing and adjustment. Insights gleaned from this study have implications for the development of interventions aimed at enhancing social support networks and fostering a supportive environment conducive to the holistic needs of institutional older adults.
Dementia affects over 55 million people worldwide, with much support provided by unpaid carers, who struggle to access leisure-time physical activities. This review investigates gender differences in engagement in group-based physical activity for people with dementia and their unpaid carers. A systematic review from inception until 1 August 2024 resulted in the inclusion of 15 studies. The review found that slightly more males than females with dementia attended the group physical activity sessions, with most carers attending being female. Further research is required to inform interventions to promote physical activity in male and female unpaid carers for people living with dementia.
In this article, we examine unpaid care work through the lens of subaltern women in Ecuador, highlighting their oppression and resistance. Based on decolonial feminist epistemology, we propose a new framework for analysing well-being in care work, inspired by Indigenous cosmologies. The study presents an analytical framework for Buen Vivir centred on care time and applies it to the Ecuadorian Amazon community of Tzawata. Using such methods as time diaries, interviews and a focus group, it explores when care time devoted to family, self-care, community and territory-nature is perceived as emancipatory and/or alienating. The findings reveal both the emancipatory and alienating dimensions of care and demonstrate the interconnectedness of these four times.
The poor working conditions of care workers within Germany’s eldercare sector have resulted in a series of reforms. Employing a conceptual framework that combines feminist perspectives on the devaluation of care work, Fraser’s concept of recognition and redistribution, and Honneth’s concept of distribution struggles, this article assesses whether these reforms have increased the social status of this undervalued sector. The findings indicate that these reforms have both positively and negatively impacted the social status of eldercare work – a phenomenon that this article links to the contradictory influence of the state, trade unions and provider associations during distribution struggles.
This study aims to understand how care planning is conducted in English older adult care homes and explore the views of staff involved in care planning. Drawing on 22 semi-structured interviews, the findings of the study are organised around five themes: the aims of care planning; conducting care planning; support and resources for care planning; the use of care planning information; and improving care planning. Our discussion notes the ways in which care staff would like to improve how care planning is conducted but highlights that a lack of resources may make improvement difficult.
Loneliness is a growing public health concern among the ageing population. Increasingly, scholars have recognised that even married and partnered persons experience loneliness and that loneliness is associated with the health and wellbeing of both partners. Prior research has linked individual loneliness with impaired kidney functioning, but to date no study has explored dyadic associations of both one’s own and a partner’s loneliness with biological measures of kidney function. This study uses dyadic data from the 2015 wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE; n = 10,139 individuals from 5,290 couples) to examine associations of both partners’ loneliness with Cystatin C, a blood-based biomarker of kidney function, in a large sample of midlife and older couples in Europe. Multilevel models analysed dyadic data, wherein individuals were nested within couples. Results indicated that both individuals’ own reports of loneliness and their partners’ reports of loneliness were uniquely associated with higher Cystatin C levels. This extends prior research on dyadic loneliness and cardiovascular biomeasures, suggesting Cystatin C may be a physiological pathway for long-term health effects of loneliness – for oneself and a partner. These findings suggest that both being lonely and having a lonely partner may be risk factors for poorer kidney function, which could have implications for the overall health of both partners. We discuss implications of these findings for theory and future research and suggest Cystatin C as a potential biological pathway for harmful effects of dyadic loneliness on health among ageing couples.
