The value of work in younger and older adults' lives: an Australian perspective

In the present study we examined the perceived role of work in the lives of younger and older adults in three different occupations: teaching, nursing, and small business. On the basis of lifespan developmental theory of changes in work-related values across the lifespan we expected that (1) older adults would rate their job satisfaction and organisational commitment more highly than younger adults, and (2) younger adults would rate the importance of work more highly than older workers. Based on utility theory we expected that nurses and teachers would view early retirement more positively than small business employees because of early retirement incentives in these two careers. One-hundred-sixty-two participants completed a 118-item survey. Overall few age differences were found between older and younger workers. On average, all participants rated work as moderately important and their job satisfaction as moderately high. Nonetheless, older participants rated their job satisfaction higher than younger participants. On average, all groups believed they would retire before 65 years of age. The latter finding is important for workability theory and raises issues about how to change attitudes, perceptions and values about working past traditional retirement ages.

The relationship between lower body strength and obstructed gait in community-dwelling older adults

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between lower body strength of community-dwelling older adults and the time to negotiate obstructed gait tasks.

DESIGN: A correlational study.

SETTING: The Biomechanics Laboratory, Deakin University, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-nine women and 16 men aged 62 to 88 were recruited using advertisements placed in local newspapers. The participants were independent community dwellers, healthy and functionally mobile.

MEASUREMENTS: Maximal isometric strength of the knee extensors and dynamic strength of the hip extensors, hip flexors, hip adductors, hip abductors, knee extensors, knee flexors, and ankle plantar flexors were assessed. The times to negotiate four obstructed gait tasks at three progressively challenging levels on an obstacle course and to complete the course were recorded. The relationship between strength and the crossing times was explored using linear regression models.

RESULTS: Significant associations between the seven strength measures and the times to negotiate each gait task and to walk the entire course at each level were obtained (r = -0.38 to -0.55; P < .05). In addition, the percentage of the variance explained by strength (R2), consistently increased as a function of the progressively challenging level. This increase was particularly marked for the stepping over task (R2 = 19.3%,25.0%, and 27.2%, for levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively) and the raised surface condition (R2 = 17.1%,21.1%, and 30.8%, for levels 1,2, and 3, respectively) .

CONCLUSION: The findings of the study showed that strength is a critical requirement for obstructed locomotion. That the magnitude of the association increased as a function of the challenging levels suggests that intervention programs aimed at improving strength would potentially be effective in helping community-dwelling older adults negotiate environmental gait challenges.

Motor-unit Coherence During Isometric Contractions Is Greater in a Hand Muscle of Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to quantify the strength of motor-unit coherence from the first dorsal interosseus muscle in young and old adults using data obtained in a previous study, where no differences in motor-unit synchronization between the two groups were observed.

The Effects of Progressive Resistance Training on Obstructed-Gait Tasks in Community-Living Older Adults

This study examined the effects of improved strength on an obstacle course (OC) simulating gait tasks commonly encountered by community-living older adults. Forty-five adults (mean age 68.2 +/- 1.5 years) were randomly assigned to a control (10 women, 5 men) or an experimental group (EXP; 19 women, 10 men) and trained 3 days/week for 12 weeks.

The effects of improved strength on obstacle negotiation in community-living older adults

Poor mobility has been associated with age-related deterioration in muscle strength. While previous work has examined the effects of improved strength on level walking, we have quantified the effects of a resistance-training program on obstructed gait tasks using biomechanical-dependent measures. Forty-five community-dwelling participants aged 62 years or older were randomised to either a control (n=16) or experimental group (n=29). The experimental subjects exercised for 24 weeks on a progressive resistance-training program designed to improve lower body strength. Dynamic strength was assessed at weeks 0 and 24 as well as specific laboratory gait kinetics and kinematics during stepping over an obstacle and negotiation of a raised surface set at 10, 20 and 30% of each subject's leg length.

Gait termination in young and older adults : effect of stopping stimulus probability and stimulus delay

Sixteen young (25±2.6 years) and 16 older individuals (69±4.4 years) walked normally then terminated walking rapidly. A visual stopping stimulus was presented 10 ms following ground contact (short delay) and in another condition, at 450 ms prior to toe-off (long delay). Stimulus probability was either high (80% of trials) or low (10%). The younger group stopped faster (463 vs. 574 ms) despite also walking faster (1.29 vs. 1.17 m s⁻¹). Longer delay decreased one-step responses but older participants used significantly more (slower) two-step stopping, which increased stopping time and distance. The additional step may have been pre-planned to maintain medial–lateral stability.

A clinical nursing leadership model for enhancing continence care for older adults in a subacute inpatient care setting

This article describes the application and evaluation of a clinical nursing leadership model to enhance continence care in an inpatient rehabilitation setting for older adults. Multiple strategies were employed to optimize the uptake and sustainability of 3 practice initiatives: (1)  establishment of an enhanced role for wardbased nurses to provide clinical support to patients and other staff for the management of incontinence, (2) a new method for nursing assessment and management of bowel elimination, and (3) a framework for improved discharge care of patients with incontinence. Evaluation data indicated a high level of acceptance of the role of the ward-based continence resource nurses, improved assessment and management of bowel elimination, and enhanced discharge care for patients with incontinence. These initiatives were sustainable during a 2-year period after their introduction, despite the gradual withdrawal of the clinical leader.

Assessing financial competence in older adults with cognitive impairment

One common problem brought before Courts and Tribunals in Australia is whether or not someone is able to manage his or her own financial affairs. The problem is that currently in Australia there are no universally agreed upon standards for assessing financial competence. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a new measure of financial competence, The Financial Competence Assessment Inventory (FCAI), in assessing financial competency of older adults with a cognitive impairment. The sample comprised 18 older adults with acquired brain injury, 10 adults with schizophrenia, 21 adults with dementia and 27 older adults without cognitive impairment. Ages ranged from 55 to 91. Each participant was individually interviewed using the FCAI. The findings revealed that the FCAI is a reliable and valid assessment tool for assessing financial competence of older adults with different types and levels of cognitive impairment. In particular, the FCAI was able to distinguish between older adults with global brain impairment and older adults with specific brain impairment; and older adults who had a legal administrator and older adults who did not. In addition, using the FCAI it was possible to obtain a profile of participants’ strengths and weaknesses across six domains of financial competence including; everyday financial abilities, financial judgment, estate management, cognitive based financial tasks, debt management, and support resources. The FCAI has the potential to assist clinicians and legal decision-makers regarding ‘least restrictive alternatives’ when financial competence is in question.

Teaching and learning online : older adults in a community setting

This research was designed to assess whether the older adult learning in IT environments and online represents a different pedagogy from that of younger learners, as has been suggested by some authors in the literature. The study was conducted in a community learning and employment centre in an Australian rural town, and involved interviews with six teachers of older adults, and nine older learners. The results did not support the need for a particular pedagogy for older learners, instead supporting an approach to teaching that was based around teachers identifying learner characteristics and needs and responding to them as individuals. This finding has been interpreted in the context of already published iterative and interactive teaching models, and has considerable implications for the effective teaching and learning of older adults. Those implications are discussed in the paper.