Technology and Older Women: Considerations Regarding Their Use and Misuse.

Health and wellbeing are inextricably linked to an individual's capacity for continued meaningful engagement and connection with the world around them. Technological innovations designed to maximize the quality of life for older women range from sophisticated bio-medical interventions to ordinary day-to-day communication devices. Many innovations can ensure a higher quality of life for older women and support and care as required.

Older Women in Australia: Facing the Challenges of Dual Sensory Loss.

With the increase in longevity, the number of women living into old age is rising and higher than that of men. Data was derived from the Melbourne Longitudinal Studies on Healthy Ageing Program, which included 533 women and 467 men aged 65 years and older, in Australia, over 10 years. Logistic regression modeling was used to investigate the prevalence of dual sensory loss and the unmet needs for vision and hearing devices in older women (compared to men) over time, as well as its impacts on self-reported general health, depression, perceived social activities, community service use and ageing in place.

Understanding patients and spouses experiences of patient education following a cardiac event and eliciting attitudes and preferences towards incorporating cardiopulmonary resuscitation training: A qualitative study.

Aim: The aim of this study was to gain a comprehensive perspective about the experience of patient and spousal education following an acute cardiac event. The second objective was to elicit an understanding of patient and spousal attitudes, preferences and intentions towards future cardiopulmonary resuscitation training.

Background: Patients with cardiovascular disease require comprehensive patient and family education to ensure adequate long-term disease management.

Social inclusion and the Fatosphere: the role of an online weblogging community in fostering social inclusion.

Overweight and obesity are one of the most salient issues within society today, and the stigmatisation of overweight individuals is prevalent and widespread. Utilising interviews with 44 individuals who blog within an online fat acceptance community known as the Fatosphere, participants' perceptions of inclusion and exclusion were examined within their offline and online environments. Additionally, the effect this had on their offline lives was examined.

The PROblem Gambling RESearch Study (PROGRESS) research protocol: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of psychological interventions for problem gambling.

Introduction: International prevalence rates for problem gambling are estimated at 2.3%. Problem gambling is a serious global public health concern due to adverse personal and social consequences.

The health and service needs of older veterans: a qualitative analysis.

Background: With substantial numbers of older people within the Australian veteran population continuing to age well within the community, appropriate planning of community support and health services is important for this ageing population.

Objective: The purpose of this research study was to investigate the health and service usage of a group of older Australian war veterans who receive Australian Government support for their health-care needs and conditions.

Design: This paper reports on qualitative data gathered from the longitudinal MELSHA study.

Translating research findings into community based theatre: More than a dead man's wife.

Increasingly, qualitative scholars in health and social sciences are turning to innovative strategies as a way of translating research findings into informative, accessible and enjoyable forms for the community. The aim of this article is to describe how the research findings of a doctoral thesis - a narrative study about 58 older women's experiences of widowhood - were translated into a unique and professionally developed script to form the basis for a successful theatrical production that has travelled extensively within Australia. This article reports on the process of collaboration between a researcher, a highly regarded Australian actor/script writer and an ensemble of well-known and experienced professional actors.

Partner or perish? Exploring inter-organisational partnerships in the multicultural community aged care sector.

Given an Australian national and state policy agenda that continues to promote collaborative work, many community organisations are attempting to engage in partnerships with mixed results. This paper reports on a qualitative study conducted to explore the experiences of existing partnerships between organisations and small community groups who deliver community based support services to older people from culturally diverse backgrounds. In particular, this study sought to identify the key factors that facilitate and hinder the formation, maintenance and effectiveness of partnerships within the ethnic and multicultural community aged care (EMCAC) sector.

Retirement: What will you do? A narrative inquiry of occupation-based planning for retirement: Implications for practice.

Aim: To examine, using a retrospective narrative study, the factors influencing four older people's decision to plan for the activities they would undertake once retired, the planning process undertaken and their subsequent experience of retirement.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the factors influencing older people's decision to commence pre-retirement planning, the planning process undertaken and their experience of retirement. In keeping with narrative inquiry, paradigmatic-type narrative analysis led to the development of categories and subsequent themes to reveal the participants' experiences of these issues.

Food security in older australians from different cultural backgrounds.

Objective: To investigate the experiences and barriers to food security of community-dwelling older people.

Design: Quantitative questionnaire and 5 focus group discussions using purposive sampling.

Setting: Shire of Melton, Victoria, Australia.

Lower-extremity functional electrical stimulation decreases platelet aggregation and blood coagulation in persons with chronic spinal cord injury: a pilot study.

Background: Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) develop premature cardiovascular disease. Regular exercise reduces the incidence and symptoms of cardiovascular disease in able-bodied individuals; these salutary effects of exercise have not been documented in persons with SCI.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of functional electrical stimulation leg cycle ergometry (FES-LCE) exercise training on platelet aggregation and blood coagulation in persons with SCI.

Factors affecting walking activity of older people from culturally diverse groups: an Australian experience.

This study sought to investigate the walking habits of older people from diverse cultural backgrounds, and to identify the factors associated with their walking. Three hundred and thirty three people over the age of 60 years were recruited from seven culturally diverse groups from the Western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. A survey questionnaire recording physical activity, and various factors related to activity, was interviewer-administered in the participants' preferred language.

Mainstream versus ethno-specific community aged care services: it's not an 'either or'.

Approximately 16% of the Australian population speak a language other than English at home. Older people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds face many barriers to accessing services which may explain their under-utilisation of community aged care services. The aim of this review is to critique the literature related to the delivery of community aged care services to people from CALD backgrounds.

The influence of the built environment and other factors on the physical activity of older women from different ethnic communities.

Inactivity has been identified as a major contributor to the burden of disease in older women. Study aims were: (a) to assess the personal, social, and environmental facilitators and impediments to physical activity in older women from ethnic communities; and (b) to determine the factors associated with physical activity participation. Older women (aged 60-84 years) were recruited from the local Italian (n = 20), Vietnamese (n = 26) and Anglo-Celtic (n = 26) communities.

The effect of tumour type and distance on activation in the motor cortex.

Functional MRI has been widely used to identify the eloquent cortex in neurosurgical/radiosurgical planning and treatment of CNS neoplasms and malformations. In this study we examined the effect of CNS tumours on the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activation maps in the primary and supplementary motor cortex. A total of 33 tumour patients and five healthy right-handed adults were enrolled in the study.

Crafting the self: older persons' narratives of occupational identity.

Objective: This study aimed to examine how engagement in creative occupations informed six older retired people's occupational identities.

Method: Occupational narratives were gathered from in-depth interviews with 6 participants (75 years of age or older) who had extended experience of participation in creative occupations. A process of narrative-type inquiry produced summarized, chronological stories for each participant.

fMRI study of acupuncture-induced periaqueductal gray activity in humans.

BOLD fMRI was used to study acupuncture-induced activation (increase in the BOLD signal from undetectable) of the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and two somatosensory cortical areas in seven healthy human subjects. Mechanical stimulation (push-pull) was given to the LI4 (Hoku) acupoint or to a non-acupoint. The stimulation paradigm consisted of 5 runs, each consisting of four 30 s On/30 s OFF periods over 30 min.