Exercising older people´s brains in Costa Rica: Design principles for using information and communication technologies for cognitive activity and social interaction

Access to Learning Opportunities for Residents in Care Homes: Reviewing the challenges and possibilities

“…The interactions between trainers and residents highlighted the benefit of social engagement with others who were not carers [4], which afforded a sense of agency to the resident. In addition, the culture of learning was seen as one that provided a respectful learning environment, a knowledge by the trainers of age related changes, gave time for residents to reflect on emotions evoked by the learning experience and acknowledged each resident's individuality [7].…”

“…Thriving denotes human development and growth and is directly related to quality of life [35]. Learning, as opposed to activities, facilitates development and growth and provides a strong sense of thriving [7,35]. Whilst the notion of lifelong learning is a familiar one, and its positive contribution to healthy ageing is widely recognised, the paucity of articles on the subject suggests that learning is a neglected area in the care home context [29].…”

“…This is, in part, explained by the fact that "all too often the doors of care settings are closed, which locks residents in and the local community out" [10]. This can leave residents disconnected from the learning activities they engaged in when living independently in the community [7]. Viewed from a policy perspective, the care home door effectively represents a transition from an education policy priority which "favours qualifications for those who can contribute back financially to society with improved job prospects or higher earning power" and health and social care policy priority which "sees learning as a peripheral need" [10].…”

“…WHO [6] stress that in long term care, formal and informal carers have the duty to "ensure that a person who is not fully capable of selfcare can maintain the highest possible quality of life, according to his or her individual preferences, with the greatest possible degree of independence, autonomy, participation, personal fulfilment and human dignity". Providing learning opportunities for people in long term care, supported by existing community resources, has been carried out in some areas [7][8][9][10][11][12] and could be rolled out to infuse a culture of leaning in the nursing (care) home sector.…”

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“…For example, in infancy and childhood, media literacy education is expected to support well-being, selfexpression, play, participation, and needs for safety (Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, 2013). In old age, media literacy education may be especially important for cognitive functioning, social relationships (Castro Rojas, Bygholm, & Hansen, 2018;Chen & Schulz, 2016;Vaportzis, Martin, & Gow, 2017) and for obtaining and critically assessing and using health-related information and services (Strong, Guillot, & Badeau, 2012;Xie, 2011). In addition, media literacy education interventions can be tailored to meet the needs of individuals of different ages by understanding the life roles that they have across the lifespan.…”