Policy Addressing Civil Rights/Discrimination Complaints, January 3, 2011

The Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) shall comply with all applicable federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination, as well as the State of Iowa’s Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Anti-Discrimination Policy for Executive Branch Employees (Section 2.40 of Iowa Department of Administrative Services Managers and Supervisors Manual). Federal law prohibits discrimination against individuals or groups, either in employment or in the delivery of services or benefits, on the basis of age, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or disability. State law prohibits discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, credit, public accommodations and education. Under the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965, discrimination, or different treatment, is illegal if based on race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, physical disability, mental disability, retaliation (because of filing a previous discrimination complaint, participating in an investigation of a discrimination complaint, or having opposed discriminatory conduct), age (in employment and credit), familial status (in housing and credit) or marital status (in credit). State policy requires all employees and applicants for employment in the executive branch be afforded equal access. The intent of this policy is to ensure that employment opportunities, within the executive branch of state government, are accessible to all persons, and that executive branch agencies do not discriminate against any person because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or physical or mental disability.

Statistical discrimination and employers' recruitment : Practices for low-skilled workers

This paper deals with the recruitment strategies of employers in the low-skilled segment of the labour market. We focus on low-skilled workers because they are overrepresented among jobless people and constitute the bulk of the clientele included in various activation and labour market programmes. A better understanding of the constraints and opportunities of interventions in this labour market segment may help improve their quality and effectiveness. On the basis of qualitative interviews with 41 employers in six European countries, we find that the traditional signals known to be used as statistical discrimination devices (old age, immigrant status and unemployment) play a somewhat reduced role, since these profiles are overrepresented among applicants for low skill positions. However, we find that other signals, mostly considered to be indicators of motivation, have a bigger impact in the selection process. These tend to concern the channel through which the contact with a prospective candidate is made. Unsolicited applications and recommendations from already employed workers emit a positive signal, whereas the fact of being referred by the public employment office is associated with the likelihood of lower motivation.

Consommation d'alcool et de benzodiozépines au troisième âge [Consumption of alcohol and benzodiazepines in the elderly]

In Switzerland, 9.1% of the general population accept regular consumption of BZD. In 65-74 years age group, 2% of cases display a high-risk alcohol consumption. Moderate risk consumption is present in 5% of cases. For the BZD, the cognitive difficulties settle in an insidious way; for alcohol, the daily consumption of fairly high quantities may lead to cognitive deterioration. At early stages, alcohol abusers show preserved neuropsychological performances. Gradually, the deficits will affect the remaining cognitive functions and become irreversible. This review indicates that the chronic consumption of alcohol and BZD in old age is at the origin of major clinical difficulties that need ad hoc training both for psychiatrists and general practitioners.

Sistema fiscal y reforma de la Seguridad Social

El presente trabajo analiza desde un punto de vista cuantitativo, mediante un modelo de equilibrio general de generaciones sucesivas, los efectos sobre la economía española de eliminar el actual sistema de Seguridad Social e implantar uno de capitalización. El análisis considera el proceso de transición y mide en términos de bienestar, quiénes son los agentes que se opondrían a este tipo de reforma. La consideración de la interacción entre el sistema de seguridad social y el sistema fiscal implica mayores beneficios asociados a una reforma de la seguridad social. Sin embargo, este tipo de reforma sigue generando pérdidas de bienestar para la mayoría de agentes vivos en el momentodel inicio de la reforma, existiendo un sesgo en favor del status quo.

Dépression, suicide assisté et vieillissement: cas clinique et commentaires = Depression, assisted suicide and ageing: case report and comments

L'hôpital de jour de psychiatrie de l'âge avancé du centre hospitalier universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), en Suisse, prend en charge ambulatoirement les personnes âgées souffrant de troubles psychiatriques. Cet article relate la première expérience de notre équipe d'une patiente qui est décédée à domicile via l'assistance au suicide alors qu'elle était suivie dans notre service pour un épisode dépressif sévère, de probables troubles cognitifs et un trouble de la personnalité émotionnellement labile de type borderline. Cette pratique d'assistance au suicide, autorisée par la loi suisse sous certaines conditions, est reprécisée et quelques directives médicoéthiques professionnelles sont présentées, avec un accent sur la capacité de discernement. © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits réservés. The old age psychiatric daycare hospital of the Vaud University Hospital (CHUV), in Switzerland, follows up on elderly ambulatory patients with psychiatric disease. This article relates our team's first time experience with a patient who, while she was being treated in our unit for severe depression, cognitive symptoms and a borderline personality disorder, died at home via a suicide organization. Assisted suicide, allowed by the Swiss law, is also discussed in this article and, in addition, a few professional medico-ethics directives, with an emphasis on decision-making capacity are presented. © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Calidad de vida, felicidad y satisfacción con la vida en personas ancianas de 75 años atendidas en un programa de atención domiciliaria

Se objetivó detectar los elementos que participan en la Calidad de Vida (CV) de las personas mayores de 75 años que reciben cuidados domiciliarios. El diseño fue de un estudio de caso. La muestra del estudio la configuraron las personas con 75 años o más, atendidos por el servicio de Atención Domiciliaria del Área Básica de Vilafranca del Penedès (n=26). Las variables fueron: a) datos socio demográficos, b) concepto de CV; c) percepción de CV, d) motivos; e) satisfacción con la vida y aspectos relacionados; f) sentimiento de felicidad. Se aplicó la técnica de la entrevista cara a cara. El 76,9% presentó una buena percepción de CV y los principales elementos relacionados fueron la salud, las relaciones familiares y sociales y la adaptación. La teoría de los roles y la teoría de la desvinculación explican el proceso de adaptación de estos individuos en esa etapa de la vida.

Stressful life events and neuroticism as predictors of late-life versus early-life depression.

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of depression in younger adults is related to the combination of long-standing factors such as personality traits (neuroticism) and more acute factors such as the subjective impact of stressful life events. Whether an increase in physical illnesses changes these associations in old age depression remains a matter of debate. METHODS: We compared 79 outpatients with major depression and 102 never-depressed controls; subjects included both young (mean age: 35 years) and older (mean age: 70 years) adults. Assessments included the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, NEO Personality Inventory and Cumulative Illness Rating Scale. Logistic regression models analyzed the association between depression and subjective impact of stressful life events while controlling for neuroticism and physical illness. RESULTS: Patients and controls experienced the same number of stressful life events in the past 12 months. However, in contrast to the controls, patients associated the events with a subjective negative emotional impact. Negative stress impact and levels of neuroticism, but not physical illness, significantly predicted depression in young age. In old age, negative stress impact was weakly associated with depression. In this age group, depressive illness was also determined by physical illness burden and neuroticism. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the subjective impact of life stressors, although rated as of the same magnitude, plays a less important role in accounting for depression in older age compared to young age. They also indicate an increasing weight of physical illness burden in the prediction of depression occurrence in old age.

Calidad de vida, felicidad y satisfacción con la vida en personas ancianas de 75 años atendidas en un programa de atención domiciliaria

Se objetivó detectar los elementos que participan en la Calidad de Vida (CV) de las personas mayores de 75 años que reciben cuidados domiciliarios. El diseño fue de un estudio de caso. La muestra del estudio la configuraron las personas con 75 años o más, atendidos por el servicio de Atención Domiciliaria del Área Básica de Vilafranca del Penedès (n=26). Las variables fueron: a) datos socio demográficos, b) concepto de CV; c) percepción de CV, d) motivos; e) satisfacción con la vida y aspectos relacionados; f) sentimiento de felicidad. Se aplicó la técnica de la entrevista cara a cara. El 76,9% presentó una buena percepción de CV y los principales elementos relacionados fueron la salud, las relaciones familiares y sociales y la adaptación. La teoría de los roles y la teoría de la desvinculación explican el proceso de adaptación de estos individuos en esa etapa de la vida.

Valoració qualitativa de la salut oral d'una població institucionalitzada de la tercera edat

La construcció cultural i social de la salut/malaltia oral i del dolor associat en residents de la tercera edat. Què entenen i què significa per a ells la salut oral?

Who Cares? A comparison of informal and formal care provision in Spain, England and the USA

This paper investigates the prevalence of incapacity in performing daily activities and the associations between household composition and availability of family members and receipt of care among older adults with functioning problems in Spain, England and the United States of America (USA). We examine how living arrangements, marital status, child availability, limitations in functioning ability, age and gender affect the probability of receiving formal care and informal care from household members and from others in three countries with different family structures, living arrangements and policies supporting care of the incapacitated. Data sources include the 2006 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for Spain, the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006), and the eighth wave of the USA Health and Retirement Study (2006). Logistic and multinomial logistic regressions are used to estimate the probability of receiving care and the sources of care among persons age 50 and older. The percentage of people with functional limitations receiving care is higher in Spain. More care comes from outside the household in the USA and England than in Spain. The use of formal care among the incapacitated is lowest in the USA and highest in Spain.

Onnistunut vanheneminen ja vanhuuden muuttuvat mielikuvat

Kirjoitus on käännetty ja muokattu versio professori Marja Jylhän Successful Ageing -symposiumissa pitämästä englanninkielisestä esitelmästä "Rethinking successful aging : the changing images of old age"

El significado de las ocupaciones en las personas mayores-jóvenes: algunas tendencias

Con la llegada del nuevo paradigma del “envejecimiento activo” planteado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS, 2002), estamos asistiendo a una nueva manera de enfocar el progresivo envejecimiento de la población. Este enfoque trata de fomentar la consecución de una esperanza de vida saludable y libre de discapacidad, gracias a la promoción de políticas y programas cuyos objetivos principales se centran en la independencia y en la autonomía a lo largo del proceso de envejecimiento. Acorde con este enfoque pensamos que las ocupaciones significativas son una buena herramienta para mantener la autonomía de estas personas al fomentar la prevención y la promoción de su salud, motivo por el cual desarrollamos este estudio. Los objetivos principales del presente estudio son conocer y comprender que ocupaciones adquieren un significado y satisfacción personal en las personas mayores-jóvenes, que han concluido su etapa laboral, que cuentan con buena salud y condiciones psicofísicas favorables y que viven de manera autónoma en la comunidad, así como explorar también si se establece en estas personas alguna vinculación entre las actividades que eligen desarrollar en la actualidad con su perfil e historia ocupacional previa. Por último, este estudio pretende conocer el tipo de gestión que cada persona prefiere para llevar a cabo las actividades cotidianas que les son más significativas, a partir de los contextos en los que se inscribe. El marco teórico se desarrolla a partir de la conceptualización aportada por diversos autores sobre el envejecimiento activo y la ciencia de la ocupación. La metodología utilizada es de carácter cualitativo, enfocado desde un paradigma constructivista. Los resultados del estudio muestran que se inicia tímidamente un cambio de tendencias en la elección y el significado que las personas mayores-jóvenes atribuyen a sus ocupaciones. Muestran también que las ocupaciones elegidas como más significativas por estas personas mantienen una vinculación con las que ya realizaban con anterioridad a la jubilación, con su historia o perfil 6 ocupacional previo. Y finalmente demuestran que el tipo de gestión que eligen para efectuarlas influye en la elección del entorno donde las llevan a término.

Rakkautta, kumppanuutta, hoivaa vai vaivaa? : leskien uudelleenavioituminen keski-iässä ja vanhuudessa

Abstract: Love, companionship, care or trouble? Remarriage of widows and widowers in middle-age and in old age

Pensions and procrastination : how can employers help their employees save for the future?

In this paper I show that employees tend to procrastinate when they are expected to decide whether or not they would like to save using the defined contribution pension scheme offered by their employer. By auto-enrolling the employees or asking them to decide before a given deadline, employers can mitigate some of the problems caused by employee procrastination. However both of these mechanisms present their own problems, caused by default stickiness and other issues, so I discuss how employers can decide which is the right mechanism to use depending on the characteristics of their employees, and how to minimize the problems these mechanisms can cause.

Dietary restriction affects lifespan but not cognitive aging in Drosophila melanogaster.

Summary Dietary restriction extends lifespan in a wide variety of animals, including Drosophila, but its relationship to functional and cognitive aging is unclear. Here, we study the effects of dietary yeast content on fly performance in an aversive learning task (association between odor and mechanical shock). Learning performance declined at old age, but 50-day-old dietary-restricted flies learned as poorly as equal-aged flies maintained on yeast-rich diet, even though the former lived on average 9 days (14%) longer. Furthermore, at the middle age of 21 days, flies on low-yeast diets showed poorer short-term (5 min) memory than flies on rich diet. In contrast, dietary restriction enhanced 60-min memory of young (5 days old) flies. Thus, while dietary restriction had complex effects on learning performance in young to middle-aged flies, it did not attenuate aging-related decline of aversive learning performance. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in Drosophila, dietary restriction reduces mortality and thus leads to lifespan extension, but does not affect the rate with which somatic damage relevant for cognitive performance accumulates with age.