This article reports on two studies that describe the adaptation of Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (form Y) for people aged 65 and older. The aim of the first study is to assess the necessity to modify the format of the STAI for the aged. Verbal reports of 22 subjects suggest difficulties reading the items, respecting the instructions and using the Likert scale. Item-remainder correlations supported these observations. Therefore, the size of the text was doubled and the state or trait instructions, as well as the choices of the Likert scale, were repeated in each item. A second study is carried out to test if these modifications enhanced the understanding of the items, and simplified the use of the STAI-Y. Verbal report and internal consistency showed a significant improvement. Our results support the recommendation of other authors that adapting an instrument for the elderly necessitates important modifications.

The association of institutional relocation and mortality among elderly patients has been the subject of considerable debate, in part, because of equivocal findings in the literature. However, much of the research in this area is limited by small sample sizes, use of arbitrary follow-up periods and crude statistical methods. The present analyses are based on six years of mortality data in a chronic care hospital that experienced a mass relocation of patients to a new facility. After adjusting for age, gender and length of stay before follow-up, the odds ratio for mortality associated with relocation was 1.53.

This research evaluates a mediational model of work-family conflict among employees with caregiving responsibilities for older relatives. In a survey of employees from eight organizations, 396 women and 316 men completed measures assessing their eldercare involvement, the extent to which their family responsibilities interfered with work (FIW), the extent to which their work interfered with family (WIF), job satisfaction, job costs (e.g., missed meetings), and absenteeism. Eldercare involvement was significantly associated with FIW for women but not for men. Among women, FIW was related to job dissatisfaction and absenteeism; among men, it was related to job costs and absenteeism. WIF was unrelated to eldercare, but was associated with FIW and job costs for both women and men. It also was associated with job satisfaction for men. The findings of the current study suggest that eldercare responsibilities impact on the workplace indirectly by arousing conflict between family and work.

The present study examined the ability of the Aging Sexuality Knowledge and Attitude Scale (ASKAS) to assess individuals' attitudes toward elderly sexuality. The instrument's primary assumption, that individuals' attitudes toward elderly sexuality are one dimensional, was challenged. Four hundred and fifty-eight college students, with a mean age of 27 (s.d. = 8.67), completed the attitude subscale of the ASKAS, responded to a series of elderly sexuality attitude items constructed by the authors, and provided self-report information regarding a number of demographic and personality variables. A factor analysis of all attitude items revealed a two factor solution in which items loading on the first factor appeared to represent more restrictive (i.e. less permissive) attitudes toward elderly sexuality, whereas items loading on the second factor appeared to represent more empathic attitudes. The validity of this bivariate attitude structure appears to be supported by the differentially predictive nature of a number of subject variables including religiosity, death anxiety, salience of elderly sexuality, and age. The discovery of this underlying, two factor attitude solution also is used to interpret previously discrepant findings regarding health care providers' attitudes toward elderly sexuality.

The goal of this study was to examine the reaction (anxiety, depression, and helplessness) and adaptive strategies (problem-solving and emotion-reducing) of community-dwelling elderly, confronted by one specific chronic stressor. We have conducted three face-to-face home interviews on a monthly basis with a follow-up interview seven months later. There were 237 psychotropic drug users and non-users, of high or low socio-economic status. Not only were low socio-economic psychotropic drug users more anxious about the targeted hassle of the week, but they also relied on and used more problem-solving strategies than non-drug users. It is suggested that psychotropic drug use be looked at as a strategy like any others rather than as passive behaviour when facing daily hassles. Moreover, using a high number of coping strategies is not synonymous with being good at coping with chronic stress. Various recommandations for clinical intervention are put forward.

Burden among caregivers has consistently been recognized as a function of both subjective and objective variables. In addition to concrete role demands, caregivers' perceptions and appraisal strongly contribute to perceived burden. At present, however, the relative contribution of objective and subjective factors remains unclear. This question was addressed among 70 spousal caregivers recruited within a dementia assessment clinic. Subsequent to adjustment for socially desirable responding, both groupings of variables significantly contribute to the prediction of burden scores. These findings are discussed in the context of the hopelessness theory of depression. Demographic similarity between these caregivers and a corresponding sample of randomly derived spousal caregivers recruited as part of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) suggest the results of this study may be generalized with greater confidence.

The elements of a conceptual scheme for long-term care (LTC) were developed based on two lines of thought. The first, more practical, borrows from planning. The second, which is more theoretical, reflects sociological action theories. Planning is defined as an action that targets the development of a plan. Using values, desires, resources and constraints as a starting point, operational objectives are defined and means chosen. Planning focuses on four themes: (1) establishment of priorities, (2) setting up organizations in the form of agencies, (3) choosing objectives and (4) defining resources. These four themes are analyzed in turn, with each producing four elements defining a total of 16 themes, dilemmas, problems or issues specific to LTC. The relationships between these elements, which are by definition prescriptive, form the core of our proposal for an LTC planning model.

Planning of long-term care (LTC) focusses on four themes: (1) developing priorities to reflect values; (2) setting up human service organizations governed by a set of rules and procedures; (3) choosing objectives to which participants and organizations are committed; (4) mobilizing resources. A conceptual scheme for LTC planning could draw on each of these four structural elements. But they might prove to be a set of separate concepts only linked to each other intuitively, unless they are linked through action processes. The total number of reciprocal relationships between the four planning elements is 12. We have therefore identified 12 different action processes to be examined whenever LTC planning is undertaken. These processes allow information from the four structural elements to circulate between them. For example, priority, organization and objectives are sources of information when choosing criteria for the allocation of resources. Thus the processes form bridges between the planning elements. These bridges must be used whenever planning is undertaken in order to ensure that all the elements are given equal weight. Whichever planning element is used as a starting point for LTC planning, the process knits the structural elements together into a whole. Using our conceptual scheme as a guide, planners can cover the whole field of LTC that it represents.

The elements of a conceptual scheme for long-term care (LTC) were developed based on two lines of thought. The first, more practical, borrows from planning. The second, which is more theoretical, reflects sociological action theories. Planning is defined as an action that targets the development of a plan. Using values, desires, resources and constraints as a starting point, operational objectives are defined and means chosen. Planning focuses on four themes: (1) establishment of priorities, (2) setting up organizations in the form of agencies, (3) choosing objectives and (4) defining resources. These four themes are analyzed in turn, with each producing four elements defining a total of 16 themes, dilemmas, problems or issues specific to LTC. The relationships between these elements, which are by definition prescriptive, form the core of our proposal for an LTC planning model.

Planning of long-term care (LTC) focusses on four themes: (1) developing priorities to reflect values; (2) setting up human service organizations governed by a set of rules and procedures; (3) choosing objectives to which participants and organizations are commited; (4) mobilizing resources. A conceptual scheme for LTC planning could draw on each of these four structural elements. But they might prove to be a set of separate concepts only linked to each other intuitively, unless they are linked through action processes. The total number of reciprocal relationships between the four planning elements is 12. We have therefore identified 12 different action processes to be examined whenever LTC planning is undertaken. These processes allow information from the four structural elements to circulate between them. For example, priority, organization and objectives are sources of information when choosing criteria for the allocation of resources. Thus the processes form bridges between the planning elements. These bridges must be used whenever planning is undertaken in order to ensure that all the elements are given equal weight. Whichever planning element is used as a starting point for LTC planning, the process knits the structural elements together into a whole. Using our conceptual scheme as a guide, planners can cover the whole field of LTC that it represents.

This book is an analysis forecasting the potential conditions surrounding the aging of the post-war baby boom generation beyond the year 2000. The author looks at trends that will play a part in the medium-term development of indicators to the future and elements that could prove critical for aging and old age in the near future. He describes the current situation of seniors based on the ideology of salaried employment in an industrial society. He suggests thoroughly rethinking the individual and collective management of the life cycle by renegotiating the resources and empowerment of work, without sparking an inter-generational dispute. This analysis is intended to be hypothetical rather than predictive.