Health inequalities in the older population: the role of personal capital, social resources and socio-economic circumstances

Grundy, Emily; Sloggett, Andy

doi:10.1016/s0277-9536(02)00093-x

Cited by 237 publications

(198 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

164

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…12,13 Appropriately targeted interventions have the potential to encourage physical activity at this life transition and to ensure that inequalities in health and well-being are not widened at retirement. This is particularly true where retirement is a positive choice (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to promote or maintain physical activity during and after the transition to retirement: an evidence synthesis

Baxter¹,

Blank²,

Johnson³

et al. 2016

Public Health Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundIt has been argued that transition points in life, such as the approach towards and early years of retirement, present key opportunities for interventions to improve the health of the population. Interventions that may change or preserve activity levels around the time of retirement have the potential to provide benefits in terms of increased health and well-being for people in later life. Research has highlighted health inequalities in health statuses in the retired population and in response to interventions.ObjectiveWe aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-synthesis of the types and effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity among people around the time of retirement. We also aimed to identify factors that may underpin the effectiveness or acceptability of interventions, and how issues of health inequalities may be addressed.Data sourcesThe following electronic databases were searched: (1) MEDLINE; (2) Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts; (3) The Cochrane Library (including The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Health Technology Assessment Database); (4) Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature; (5) Science Citation Index; (6) Social Science Citation Index; (7) PsycINFO; (8) Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre; (9) SPORTDiscus; (10) Social Policy and Practice; (11) Health Management Information Consortium; and (12) Sociological Abstracts. We also searched for grey literature, checked reference lists of included papers and screened other reviews.Review methodsA systematic review of quantitative and qualitative literature was carried out between February 2014 and April 2015. The searches aimed to identify, first, evidence of effectiveness of interventions for older adults at the point of transition to retirement and, second, data relating to perceptions of barriers and facilitators to intervention effectiveness. A meta-synthesis of the two types of evidence was also carried out to provide further interpretation of the review findings.ResultsA systematic search of the literature identified a large number of potentially relevant studies. Of these, 103 studies examining the effectiveness of interventions and 55 qualitative papers met the criteria for inclusion. A review of the effectiveness literature indicated a dearth of studies that investigate interventions that specifically examine the transition to retirement. More general studies in older adults indicated that a range of interventions might be effective for people around retirement age. The qualitative literature indicated the importance of considering the appeal and enjoyment, and social aspects, of interventions. Although there were a range of different measures in use, many were self-reported and few studies included an evaluation of sedentary time. A meta-synthesis across the data types indicated that elements reported as significant by participants did not always feature in the interventions.LimitationsOwing to the lack of evidence relating to the retirement transition, we examined the literature relating to older adults. The applicability of these data to people around retirement age may need consideration.ConclusionsAlthough the retirement transition is considered a significant point of life change, only a small volume of literature has reported interventions specifically in this period. The included literature suggests that interventions should take account of views and preferences of the target population and evaluate effectiveness by measuring meaningful outcomes and using a control group design.Study registrationThis study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42014007446.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to promote or maintain physical activity during and after the transition to retirement: an evidence synthesis

Baxter¹,

Blank²,

Johnson³

et al. 2016

Public Health Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The weight of formal and informal relations in the social life of the older population depends on culture. Country differences in the associations between self-rated health and social networks seem to surpass the well-known socio-economic factors (Turner and Marino 1994;Grundy and Slogett 2003). In particular, emotional support from children is associated with good physical and mental health in older people from Spain, while the role of networks made up of subjects' children and support from such children is much weaker among the French-speaking Canadian population (Zunzunegui et al 2001b(Zunzunegui et al , 2004.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Disability and social ties: comparative findings of the CLESA study

et al. 2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The associations between prevalence, incidence and recovery from activities of daily living (ADL) disability and social ties among community-dwelling persons over 65 in Finland, The Netherlands and Spain are examined. Data were harmonized in the CLESA study. The baseline sample was composed of 3,648 subjects between 65 and 85 years old, living in Finland, The Netherlands and Spain. Disability in four activities of daily living was determined at baseline and at follow-up. Social participation, number of family ties and presence of friends were added to obtain a social ties index. Logistic regressions were fitted to the prevalence, incidence and recovery data to estimate the associations between disability and social ties, adjusting for education, comorbidity and self-rated health. The modifying effects of country, age and sex were tested in all models. For every country, the social ties index, having friends and social participation were negatively associated with ADL disability prevalence. ADL incidence was negatively related to the number of family ties, with a stronger relationship in Spain than in The Netherlands or Finland. ADL recovery was associated with the social ties index. No age or gender differences in these associations were found. Social ties appear to generate a beneficial effect on the maintenance and restoration of ADL function. While social ties play an important role in maintaining and restoring function in all three countries, family ties appear to generate a stronger effect on protection from disability incidence than does social participation, and the strength of this effect varies by culture.

show abstract

“…Assessment of socioeconomic status (SES) in older adults, especially those in care homes, presents challenges (Grundy and Holt 2001;Grundy and Sloggett 2003). The information is often missing when a proxy respondent has been used, and assigning SES based on occupation can be difficult when the older person is retired or has never worked outside the home.…”

Section: Health Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social capital, health, and care home residence among older adults: a secondary analysis of the Health Survey for England 2000

Andrew

2005

Eur J Ageing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This secondary analysis of the Health Survey for England 2000 aimed to investigate whether individual-level social capital is associated with care home residence and with function, mental health, and self-assessed health in older adults. Older adults in both care home and community residential settings were included. Two indicators of social capital, perceived social support and group participation, were considered for both care home and community-dwelling respondents. Amongst community dwellers, trust in others was considered as a third indicator. Functional impairment, psychiatric morbidity, and self-assessed health were used as indicators of health. Multivariable modelling was undertaken using logistic or ordinal logistic regression. The results show that severe lack of social support was associated with over twice the odds of care home residence, with increased odds of psychiatric morbidity in both care home and community settings, and with more severe functional impairment and worse self-assessed health in the community but not in care homes. Participation in more groups was associated with lower odds of functional impairment in both settings, and with lower odds of psychiatric morbidity and better self-assessed health among community but not among care home respondents. High levels of trust were associated with lower severity of functional impairment, reduced odds of psychiatric morbidity, and better self-assessed health. It is concluded that individual-level social capital was associated with care home residence and with indicators of physical, mental and self-assessed health. These associations differed between community and care home settings, and were generally stronger in the community.

show abstract

Health inequalities in the older population: the role of personal capital, social resources and socio-economic circumstances

Cited by 237 publications

References 51 publications

Interventions to promote or maintain physical activity during and after the transition to retirement: an evidence synthesis

Interventions to promote or maintain physical activity during and after the transition to retirement: an evidence synthesis

Disability and social ties: comparative findings of the CLESA study

Social capital, health, and care home residence among older adults: a secondary analysis of the Health Survey for England 2000

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About