Person-Environment Fit in Urban Neighbourhoods in Slovenia: Challenges and Coping Strategies.

A poor person-environment fit may bring various negative effects to older people's independence and physical and psychological well-being. The presented study is especially valuable as it explores the challenges of living in cities in a country located in central and eastern Europe; namely, a less researched area when it comes to the quality of life of older people dwelling in an urban environment. The research questions that were explored are (1) what environmental pressures have people identified in the urban environment in Slovenia; and (2) what strategies have they used to deal with them? The study is based on 22 interviews with older people and three focus groups, that were then analysed using a thematic analysis approach. The study results identify a number of environmental pressures, which were divided into structural housing pressures, structural neighbourhood pressures, and formal and informal pressures. The analysis shows important behavioural responses, such as strategies of using formal and informal help, moving away from environmental pressures, mobility, actively involved in changing the environment, as well as attitudinal adaptation strategies, such as acceptance, resilience, using distraction, modesty and planning for the future. We further emphasize how these coping strategies are linked to individual and community capabilities, which function as a conversion factor.

Life Course Pathways Into Intergenerational Caregiving.

OBJECTIVES: We develop a framework for the analysis of pathways into intergenerational caregiving to older people provided by family members using life course concepts of key turning events in life, cumulative processes, and linked lives within the family realm. METHODS: Using framework analysis, we analyze semistructured qualitative interviews from a sample of dyads (older cared-for adults and their main family carers comprised of children, children-in-law, and grandchildren) in Austria (N = 24) and Slovenia (N = 52). Data were collected in 2019 through purposive sampling, including dyads from a differentiated socioeconomic background and gender. RESULTS: The analysis reveals 4 nonexclusive pathways into caregiving. One pathway is associated with single turning events occurring in family or work trajectories of carers that expanded the possibilities for caregiving later in life. A second pathway referred to cumulative processes that later influenced transitions into caregiving, such as personal biographies marked by weak labor market attachment. Another cumulative pathway, exclusive to caregiving, is characterized by continued and sustained exchanges of support within families that cement reciprocal ties that underpin caregiving at later stages. In the fourth pathway, life trajectories of siblings, but also family relationships and conflicts, constrained carers into their role. DISCUSSION: Decisions regarding caregiving within families can be best understood as processes, linked to developments in other trajectories in carers' lives, as much as to internal family dynamics and relationships. Becoming a carer may be itself the result of intertwined accumulated vulnerabilities, as well as cumulative exchanges within families.

Postgraduate education in healthy and active ageing: learning needs, curriculum and expected outcomes: a scoping review protocol.

Background: As the European population ages, it becomes increasingly important to promote and facilitate healthy and active ageing and age-friendly societies. Professionals across a range of disciplines and sectors need knowledge and skills to support both. Objective: This scoping review aims to identify and map the literature on learning needs, learning outcomes and respective curricula in healthy and active ageing and age-friendly society concepts. Inclusion criteria: Studies focused on the teaching/learning process in healthy and active ageing and/or age-friendly society, of any design type, are eligible. Included studies may focus on undergraduate, postgraduate or continuing education and on any aspect of the educational process, such as needs analysis, content delivery, learner satisfaction/acceptability, or education outcome. Methods: This review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for conducting scoping reviews. Four electronic databases, PubMed, EBSCO (Academic Search Complete), Scopus and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), will be searched, limited to studies published from 1 st January 2000. Text language will be limited to English, German, Greek, Portuguese, Finnish, and Slovenian. Google Scholar and Research Gate will be searched for grey literature, limited to the first 50 results of each. Title and abstract screening, followed by full-text screening will be undertaken independently by at least two reviewers. The JBI extraction tool will be adapted for data extraction. Quality assessment will be conducted using a tool developed by Hawker and colleagues. A narrative synthesis will outline the data in relation to the aims and objectives outlined.