Retirees' encounter with time has long interested social scientists, especially the negotiation of such an open-ended status. Pursuing theoretical suggestions that daily activities anchor a narrative of self-identity, this project examined the coherence of retirees' representations of their time use. Information is drawn from interviews with 30 retirees in the Midwestern United States of America who were invited to discuss their daily lives and activities. The retirees valued time sovereignty and accounted for their time use by describing schedules of activities in some detail. Daily time was not presented as improvised but rather as structured into routines. Recurring behaviours flowed from situations and structures in which people were implicated, such as body care and living with others. Even in replies to a specific question about the preceding day, people slipped into language about what they typically do. Retirees' ready narratives about routines were also accounts of who they are not. Our findings suggest, first, that daily routines are instrumental for retirees in economising thought and behaviour. Second, the assertion of a routine is an assurance that one's life is ordered and proceeds with purpose, thus solving the task of time. Third, routines can be a means to signal conformity with ideals of active ageing.

This paper analyses data from the World Health Organization's Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) on the prevalence of reported fear of crime at home and on the street among older people in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. SAGE provides nationally representative data for 35,125 people aged 50 and over. These reveal large national variations in reported crime fear: for example, 65 per cent of older South Africans felt unsafe on the street, compared to only 9 per cent of older Ghanaians. The paper examines factors potentially associated with crime fear, including age, socio-economic status and frailty, and relates these to different theoretical models of crime fear. Female sex and frailty are associated with higher rates of crime fear across the study countries. Other associations are less consistent, e.g. urban residence is associated with higher levels of fear in some countries and lower levels in others. The paper considers the potential effects of crime fear on mobility beyond the home, health status and quality of life. A strong association is found for mobility, but effects on health and quality of life are harder to interpret as the direction of causality can be two-way. Overall, the paper demonstrates the potential impact of crime fear on older people's wellbeing and highlights a need for further, more contextualised research.

Loneliness is a debilitating condition with particular negative health effects, including psychological distress. While the vast majority of older people do not experience significant degrees of loneliness, a minority do and there are some reports that this is even greater among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) seniors. This article examines the experience of loneliness and social support among LGBTI people aged 50 and over living in New South Wales, Australia. It also explores their interest in participating in social and health-promoting activities. Findings from an online survey delivered to 312 people are reported. Loneliness was associated with living alone, not being in a relationship, higher psychological distress and lower mental health. Nonetheless, most respondents reported that they are able to gain support from both biological family and friends if they need it in a crisis. The social and health-promoting activities that were most preferred among all respondents were fitness groups, walking groups, swimming and meditation. Those who experienced the greatest degree of loneliness were much more likely than those who were less lonely to want to participate in social and health-promoting activities with other LGBTI people. The findings indicate scope for community organisations to develop targeted interventions, such as those social and health-promoting activities most preferred by the participants of this study.

There is lack of research on old indigenous women's experiences. The aim of this study was to explore how old women narrate their experiences of wellbeing and lack of wellbeing using the salutogenetic concept of resilience. Interviews from nine old Sami women were analysed according to grounded theory with the following themes identified: contributing to resilience and wellbeing built up from the categories feeling connected, feeling independent and creating meaning; and contributing to lack of lack of resilience and wellbeing built up from the category experiencing lack of connectedness. The old Sami women's narratives showed that they were to a high extent resilient and experienced wellbeing. They felt both connected and independent and they were able to create meaning of being an old Sami woman. Having access to economic and cultural capital were for the old Sami women valuable for experiencing resilience. Lack of resilience was expressed as experiences of discrimination, lack of connectedness and living on the border of the dominant society. Analysis of the Sami women's narratives can give wider perspectives on women's health and deepen the perspectives on human resilience and increase the understanding of minority groups in a multicultural world.

Decision-making among older patients with stroke, their families and professionals has been extensively studied in a Western context, but there has been little prior work in China. The study reported here explored how decision-making took place between older people with stroke, their family carers and professionals in an acute care context in mainland China using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. Constant comparative analysis of the data was carried out. This paper focuses on the key social process of ‘hiding’ and its dynamic relationship with the core category ‘keeping the peace’. In order to meet the traditional Chinese cultural value of ‘maintaining harmony’, both family carers and professionals hid essential information from older stroke survivors who, as a consequence, were effectively precluded from playing an active role in major decisions. In understanding ‘hiding’, the paper draws upon both Chinese cultural values and ‘awareness context theory’ and in so doing questions the relevance to the Chinese context of key Western notions such as involvement in health-care decision-making. A better understanding of the experiences of decision-making processes between older people with stroke, their family carers and professionals in China will help professionals to provide the best possible support and care whilst promoting informed decision-making amongst all concerned.

The share of older migrants in Dutch cities is increasing. However, only limited knowledge has been gained about the urban conditions that older migrants live in and how these compare to those of their native Dutch counterparts. This paper contributes to filling this knowledge gap using detailed information on residential patterns, housing conditions and levels of neighbourhood deprivation in the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and links this information to data about housing and neighbourhood satisfaction and perceived safety. Empirical evidence demonstrates that there is strong path dependence with regard to the places in which one finds different groups of older non-Western migrants. Older non-Western migrants in Amsterdam are highly concentrated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The number of concentrations has increased significantly over the past decade, as well as the concentration levels. Nevertheless, we did not find indications of social isolation. With regard to housing conditions, we found better conditions for socio-economically similar groups of native Dutch and Surinamese 55+ residents, compared to Turkish and Moroccan 55+ residents. These conditions correspond with levels of housing satisfaction. Surinamese older people are more positive about their neighbourhoods. We hypothesise that this is related to the restructuring of neighbourhoods where Surinamese 55+ residents are concentrated. Although the immediate environment of older non-Western people is characterised by high levels of social deprivation, this does not translate into dissatisfaction with social relations or feelings of lack of safety. This suggests that their residential concentration in particular urban neighbourhoods may also bring significant opportunities.

The aim of this article is to investigate different ways in which nursing home scandals in Sweden have been framed, to discuss the relations between these existing frameworks, and to identify ways of describing the problem that are absent in the current debates. Data for the study consisted of media articles, television documentaries and internet debates, expert reports and court hearings, and interviews with representatives of organisations dealing with the issue of mistreatment in care services for older people. An analytical tool developed within social movement research was used to identify three ‘debates’ on such mistreatment in Sweden, where competing ways of framing the problem have been used: (a) a debate where staff are cast as either perpetrators or victims, (b) a debate on privatisation and profit as the motive for neglect of care recipients, and (c) a debate on deserving and non-deserving recipients of socially provided care centred around populist claims. The analysis highlights a need to introduce an alternative frame for interpretation where mistreatment in care for older people is regarded as involving scandalous cases of ageism. This anti-ageism frame would provide older people with a lead role in the drama – not just as victims but as stakeholders in relation to the problem.

Previous research has often visualised ageing and migration as risk factors for poor health, pointing to a need for targeting health-promoting efforts towards ageing persons who are born abroad. However, most research has been conducted from an objective and poor health perspective, losing the broader picture of health in the context of ageing and migration. A key issue left unexplored is the meaning of health from a subjective perspective with focus upon persons who constitute the target groups for health promotion and other health-care services. A large number of people are now ageing in countries other than their country of birth. Therefore, studying the meaning of health in relation to this part of the population is of growing importance. As part of a larger health promotion project, the aim of this study was to explore the meaning of health to ageing persons who have migrated from the Western Balkan region to Sweden. Data were collected by individual interviews, conducted in the participants' mother tongue. Inspired by Ricoeur's hermeneutic approach, health was interpreted as a retrospective and prospective process of exercising control over one's own life, daily activities and social commitments. This interpretation is discussed in relation to how a person-centred approach to health-care services could bridge health inequities in an ageing and globalising society.

Grandmothers serve as primary care-givers for a significant number of South African children. Previous research has documented that South African grandmothers experience physical, financial, emotional and social adversity. However, less attention has been given to South African grandmothers' resilience, or their capacity to respond to the challenges associated with raising their grandchildren. Utilising Walsh's (2003; 2012) family resilience model, this qualitative study examined resilience and resilient processes among 75 Black South African grandmothers raising grandchildren. Grandmothers participated in structured interviews during a weekly visit to a local luncheon (social) club. Results indicated that the grandmothers perceived themselves as engaging in a number of resilient processes, including relying on their spirituality, accessing sources of instrumental support, and seeking emotional support and companionship from their grandchildren and larger communities. Grandmothers also believed that focusing on their grandchildren contributed to their sense of resilience. This involved maintaining a sense of responsibility to their grandchildren, having hope for their grandchildren's futures and finding enjoyment in the grandmother–grandchild relationship. The findings reveal that, by engaging in various resilient processes, South African grandmothers raising grandchildren perceive themselves and their families as having strategies they can utilise in order to successfully cope with adversity. Findings also highlight the need for prevention and intervention efforts designed to promote grandmothers' resilience, as well as the resilience of their grandchildren.

Later-life loneliness is becoming an area of great concern in Uganda in light of gradual weakening of extended family as a source of old-age human support. Although information about the effects of feeling lonely exists, little is known about the associated risk factors within the country's social and cultural setting. This paper discusses prevalence and correlates of feeling lonely among older persons. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on 605 older persons in a 2012 cross-sectional study. Respondents were asked to evaluate how they felt in terms of loneliness during the administration of the questionnaire. A total of ten focus group discussions and 12 key informant interviews were also conducted to collect qualitative data. Binary logistic regression was used to predict factors affecting loneliness. Findings indicate that approximately seven in ten older persons felt lonely. Elderly people residing in the urban area were more likely to be lonely than their counterparts staying in the rural environment. In comparison with married older persons, elderly people who were widowed were more likely to be lonely. Absence of a television and pension benefits and prevalence of limb joint ill-health predicted loneliness. The findings have several implications, including developing age-friendly urban centres, encouraging old-age social organisations, decentralising the elderly health-care system and establishing a special old-age fund.

The social care system of China has come under close scrutiny from policy makers due to the rapid ageing of China's population. Unfortunately, there is very little Chinese research evidence that might be used to plan future service developments. This article is a contribution to filling that gap and it provides essential new information on the expressed demand among older people in China for various community care services. The data are from the 2008 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. According to the characteristics of the dependent variables, we used Binary Logistic Regression Analysis to analyse the need for community care among older people in China. The results show considerable need for such care, but China is still a developing country and there are insufficient resources to fund a Western-style social care system (even if that was desirable). Thus, it is argued that the development of social care in China should emphasise community-based care, in partnership with families, with institutional care as a last resort. In addition, it is argued that China (and other countries) should introduce measures to prevent the demand for social care.

This paper examines how older men perceive, experience and internalise ageist prejudice in the context of their everyday lives. We draw on in-depth interviews with 29 community-dwelling Canadian men aged 65–89. Although one-third of our participants were unfamiliar with the term ageism, the majority felt that age-based discrimination was prevalent in Canadian society. Indicating that they themselves had not been personally subjected to ageism, the men considered age-based discrimination to be a socially distant problem. The men explained their perceived immunity to ageism in terms of their youthful attitudes and active lifestyles. The men identified three groups who they considered to be particularly vulnerable to age-based discrimination, namely women, older workers and frail elders residing in institutions. At the same time, the majority of our participants had internalised a variety of ageist and sexist stereotypes. Indeed, the men assumed that later life was inevitably a time of physical decline and dependence, and accepted as fact that older adults were grumpy, poor drivers, unable to learn new technologies and, in the case of older women, sexually unattractive. In this way, a tension existed between the men's assertion that ageism did not affect their lives and their own internalisation of ageist stereotypes. We consider our findings in relation to the theorising about ageism and hegemonic masculinity.

Worldwide, populations are ageing and consequently so are the consumer profiles for most organisations. Understanding how best to ensure satisfaction in interactions with older customers, patients, members of organisations, and so on is therefore increasingly important. This paper examines two research questions: (a) How satisfied or dissatisfied are older people with their customer service experience, and what are the factors associated with dissatisfaction? and (b) What prompts older people to want to change service providers? The research questions are addressed using a mixed-methods approach – quantitative analysis of observation logs, supported by illustrative quotes from focus groups. We find that on the whole older people are generally satisfied with their interactions with organisations, although a substantial minority of interactions lead to dissatisfaction or lower-than-expected satisfaction. Dissatisfaction with interactions is mostly associated with impersonal communications, including interactions that are not conducted face to face, and those that are one-off interactions rather than repeated interactions. Media and communications firms prompted the greatest levels of dissatisfaction among older consumers. Dissatisfied older consumers from our sample are more than 12 times more likely to report an intention to switch providers than satisfied consumers. This highlights the potential costs to organisations of poor customer interactions with older people.

Optimal mobility is fundamental for healthy ageing and quality of life. This study is part of a cross-sectional population-based study of 85-year-old people residing in Linköping municipality, Sweden. The purpose was to describe 85-year-old peoples' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in relation to mobility and fall risk while adjusting for gender and body mass index. Data collection included a postal questionnaire, a home visit and a reception visit. HRQoL was assessed with EQ-5D-3L, mobility with the Timed Up and Go test (TUG) and fall risk with the Downton Fall Risk Index (DFRI). All those who completed the DFRI, TUG and EQ-5D-3L were included in the present study (N = 327). Lower HRQoL was associated with longer time taken to complete TUG and higher fall risk in both genders but not with body mass index. Women had higher risk of falling, took a longer time to complete TUG and reported less physical activity compared with men. Health-care professionals should address mobility capacity and fall risk in order to maintain quality of life in elderly people. This is of utmost importance, especially for elderly women because impaired mobility, high risk of falling and occurrence of pain are common among women, and related to lower HRQoL.