Learning for older people in care

Source: NIACE

Follow this link for fulltext

Follow this link for the press release

Date of publication: October 2009

Publication type: Press Release and Report

In a nutshell: The report Enhancing informal adult learning for older people in care settings is putting into practice the commitments of The Learning Revolution White Paper, which reported that ‘learning can improve the health and quality of life for older people in care, but too often it’s missing’.  Funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the report draws on feedback from organisations and individuals and highlights examples of existing good practice, setting out the challenges in providing more learning opportunities for older people in care settings. An on-line forum has been created on the Learning Revolution discussion-site to capture thoughts and ideas; these contributions will be included in the production of a toolkit of best practice to be published next year. To contribute, visit http://thelearningrevolution.ning.com/group/olderpeople.

Length of publication: 32 pages

Inequalities in Health in an Aging Population: Patterns, Causes and Consequences

Source: ESRC Society Today http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk

For fulltext link here 

Date of publication: 2009

Publication type: Research summary

In a nutshell: The study’s key findings deal with 4 discernible dimensions of aging. One of the four dimension considers the impact of the route into retirement on older peoples’ social roles, relationships and their identities. Those who had taken early involuntary retirement had poorer mental health than those who had taken routine retirement, who in turn had poorer mental health that those who had taken a voluntary early retirement. In this latter group the mental health profile is still similar to those who were still working. But those who were long-term sick or unemployed had dramatically worse mental health than all other categories and such distinction was present across all ages for the three categories of routine, early voluntary and early involuntary retirees.

Length of publication: 9 pages

Some important notes: Original article may be available with an NHS Athens username; contact your local NHS library service for details

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Acknowledgement: Department of Health – South East, Health Policy and Information Team Information Update No. 90