Historical and social forces in the Iridescent Life Course: key life events and experiences of transgender older adults.

The lives of transgender older adults are rarely examined, and little is known about the critical life events and experiences of this population. Informed by the Iridescent Life Course, this study investigates how intersectionality, fluidity, context and power impact the life events and experiences of trans older adults by generation and gender. Utilising 2014 data from the National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study: Aging with Pride (National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging funded), a national sample of LGBTQ+ individuals 50 years and older, living in the United States of America, were analysed to examine life events of 205 transgender older adults, including identity development, work, bias, kin relationships, social and community engagement, health and wellbeing.

Implicit and Explicit Spirituality in the Lives of Transgender and Gender Expansive Older Adults.

Religion and spirituality for transgender and gender expansive people (whom we refer to collectively as trans) are complicated by mainstream religions' history of stigmatizing and marginalizing sexual and gender minorities. We conducted an interpretive content analysis of biographical interviews with 88 trans older adults from across the United States, applying six tenets of spiritual psychotherapy to their life narratives. Our findings suggest that some trans older adults' spirituality is experienced both implicitly and explicitly.

Authenticated social capital: conceptualising power, resistance and well-being in the lives of transgender older adults.

Trans people experience social marginalisation, stigmatisation and violent oppression in US society and worldwide. Given the importance of social capital for wellbeing, this study sought to illuminate the ways in which trans people build social capital throughout their lives and to use this knowledge to promote new and helpful ways of thinking about social capital concerning the human life course in the 21st century. We conducted a secondary interpretive content analysis of 86 in-depth interviews with trans older adults generated as part of the arts project .

The manifestation of multilevel stigma in the lived experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming older adults.

Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people experience disparities in mental health when compared with non-TGNC sexual minorities and the general population. One line of inquiry with respect to these disparities is the examination of stigma and its connection to emotional and psychological well-being. Recent conceptualizations of stigma draw attention to multiple levels-individual, interpersonal, and structural-that are thought to impact well-being for TGNC people.

The State of Theory in LGBTQ Aging: Implications for Gerontological Scholarship.

Social research in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) aging is a rapidly growing field, but an examination of the use of theory has not yet been conducted for its impact on the field's direction. We conducted a systematic review of empirical articles published in LGBTQ aging in the years 2009-2017 ( N = 102). Using a typology of theory use in scholarly articles, we analyzed these articles for the types of theories being used, the degree to which theories were used in each article, and the analytical function they served.

Measuring the Delivery of Complex Interventions through Electronic Medical Records: Challenges and Lessons Learned.

Background: Health services and implementation researchers often seek to capture the implementation process of complex interventions yet explicit guidance on how to capture this process is limited. Medical record review is a commonly used methodology, especially when used as a proxy for provider behavior, with recognized benefits and limitations. The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of chart review to measure implementation and offer recommendations for future researchers using this method to capture the implementation process.

Disclosing Sex Trading Histories to Providers: Barriers and Facilitators to Navigation of Social Services Among Women Impacted by Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

Sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) can lead to devastating health and mental health consequences for women, such as elevated rates of substance use, trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV. Consequently, engagement with services that address addiction, mental health, and housing, and provide general advocacy is critically important to women's increased safety, stabilization, and quality of life. The purpose of this study is to identify perceived barriers and facilitators to service access and engagement with social services among women involved in CSE.

Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's Disease: Issues and Implications for Social Work Practice.

Owing to recent medical advancements, people with Down Syndrome (DS) are now able to live considerably longer lives and thus experience a variety of complex issues as they age. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) frequently occurs in older adults who have DS, but few practice guidelines exist to inform social work practice with older adults who have this dual diagnosis. This commentary will highlight the connection between these two conditions within a neurobiological framework and discuss implications for practice based on the available literature on this intersection of ability status, cognitive status, and age.

Agency and Social Forces in the Life Course: The Case of Gender Transitions in Later Life.

Objectives: In order to bolster gerontology's knowledge base about transgender issues and advance conceptualizations of agency and social forces in life course scholarship, this study explores the conditions under which people contemplate or pursue a gender transition in later life.

Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with male-to-female identified persons (N = 22) who have seriously contemplated or pursued a gender transition after the age of 50 years. Participant observation was also carried out at three national transgender conferences (N = 170 hours).

Gender transitions in later life: a queer perspective on successful aging.

Purpose Of The Study: Most understandings of successful aging are developed within a heteronormative cultural framework, leading to a dearth of theoretical and empirical scholarship relevant to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) older adults. This study explores the experiences of transgender persons who contemplate or pursue a gender transition in later life in order to develop culturally diverse conceptualizations of health and wellness in older age.

Design And Methods: Using the extended case method, in-depth interviews were conducted with male-to-female-identified persons (N = 22) who have seriously contemplated or pursued a gender transition past the age of 50.

Gender transitions in later life: the significance of time in queer aging.

Concepts of time are ubiquitous in studies of aging. This article integrates an existential perspective on time with a notion of queer time based on the experiences of older transgender persons who contemplate or pursue a gender transition in later life. Interviews were conducted with male-to-female identified persons aged 50 years or older (N = 22), along with participant observation at three national transgender conferences (N = 170 hr).

Are your asset data as good as you think? Conducting a comprehensive census of built assets to improve urban population health.

Secondary data sources are widely used to measure the built asset environment, although their validity for this purpose is not well-established. Using community-engaged research methodology, this study conducted a census of public-facing, built assets via direct observation and then tested the performance of these data against widely used secondary datasets. After engaging community organizations, a community education campaign was implemented.

Social work and transitions of care: observations from an intervention for older adults.

Making the transition from hospital to home can be challenging for many older adults. This article presents practice perspectives on these transitions, based on a social work intervention for older adults discharged from an acute care setting to home. An analysis of interviews with clinical social workers who managed 356 cases (n  =  3) and a review of their clinical notes (n =  581) were used to identify salient themes relevant to care transitions.