Gender, societal and cultural impacts on Italian women’s sleep
Emanuella Bianchera
Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender, University of Surrey
Drawing on qualitative research with 50 Italian women aged between 40
and 80 years, the phd examines how family structure, gender role
expectations and caring roles impact on women’s sleep at different
points in their life course. Participants are studied through in-depth
semi-structured tape-recorded interviews, together with audio or written
sleep diaries , and for a subset actigraphy, for fifteen days.
Findings show how family structure, gender role
expectations and caring roles impact on women’s sleep at different
points in their life course. A core issue is care work, that defines and
fragments sleep quality for the majority of the participants. Higher
levels of sleep disturbance were found among women who cared for older
frail or disabled relatives, especially in association with long term,
degenerative illnesses. Other issues explored in the PhD are: the role
of l ife course transitions, marital status, living arrangements and
sleep; work-life balance, social and time constraints and sleep; aging,
health and sleep.
I discuss the peculiarities of the Italian
informal “family solidarity” care model and the implications of
inadequate welfare state provision in increasing unpaid domestic caring
work, with the subsequent effects on sleep quality and overall physical
and emotional well being.
This PhD is being supervised by Sara Arber at
the Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender, Department of Sociology,
University of Surrey and funded through EU Marie Curie
Research Training Network on “The biomedical and sociological effects of
sleep restriction” (MCRTN-CT-2004-512362).
PhD Work in Progress
Workplace age discrimination
Dinah Bisdee
Social Psychology European Research Institute, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey
Email: d.bisdee@surrey.ac.uk
Workplace age discrimination
was outlawed in Britain in October 2006, yet as with other forms of
prejudice, legislation alone is unlikely to eradicate it. This PhD
programme aimed to investigate the causes of ageism in the workplace,
and in particular, to examine whether it arises from a perception of
threat (Stangor & Crandall, 2000) posed by including older workers
in a working team. One qualitative study investigated older people’s
(50+) experiences of ageism at work, and how they deal with it or defend
against it; another probed the perceptions by employment gatekeepers
(HR executives and managers generally) of older employees, and the
explanations behind those perceptions: the ideal employee nowadays is
seen as an energetic, ambitious person who will ‘give 110%’ to the
organisation. Stereotyped perceptions of older workers mean that they
are seen as a threat to achievement of the tough targets prevalent
nowadays. Hence it was hypothesized that workplace ageism would be most
likely to occur when teams are pressured with demanding targets; and
that people inclined to experience anxiety (‘Trait Anxiety’ –
Spielberger, e.g. 1995) and feel out of control of work related outcomes
(‘Work Locus of Control’, Spector, 1988), would be more likely to be
‘ageist’ in their decisions about older workers. An experimental study
supported these hypotheses. A scale to measure Workplace Ageism has been
developed, which correlated as predicted with measures of Trait Anxiety
and (external) Work Locus of Control, on two different samples, and has
been validated in terms of its relationship with ageist decisions in
the experimental study.
Are country towns and villages sustainable environments for older people?
Elizabeth Brooks
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University
Email: elizabeth.brooks@newcastle.ac.uk
This
exploratory study bases itself on current government definitions of
rurality and sustainability to investigate what may be distinctive about
the experience of growing older in rural settings. It looks at the past
and current policy landscape for rural ageing and the policies
currently in place that may affect later life in the countryside. It
asks what older people – including in-migrants from urban and suburban
areas, rural in-migrants and those ageing in place – need; and what they
contribute. At the same time, it attempts to assess the impact on rural
places of higher proportions of older people in their populations.
The study is designed as a pilot study followed
by three case studies, based on the geographic entities of market towns
and their rural hinterlands. Interviews with key professionals at local
and regional level, and with older people and their carers in a
hierarchy of rural settlements, are combined with observations of local
territory and reviews of local policy, services, facilities,
neighbourhood statistics and local newspaper reports to build up a
picture of the relative sustainability of different kinds of rural
settlements for older people. The study in particular tries to identify
“chains of sustainability” – the linked consequences for places that
older people move from (because they are experienced as unsustainable)
and to (because they are perceived to be more sustainable). The study
will come to identify ways in which sustainability, both personal and
global, may be increased or decreased by older people’s rural
migrations.
ESRC/DCLG joint-funded PhD studentship, 2005-8.
Supervisors: Rose Gilroy, Senior Lecturer; Tim Shaw, Head of School
Caregiver burnout in dementia: recognition, intervention, and prevention
Pilar L. M. Callaby
University of Southampton
Email: plmc104@soton.ac.uk
Adjusting to the role of dementia caregiver is
often devastating. Evidence has shown that without support overwhelming
burden extends to ‘burnout’ and premature institutionalisation. Not only
because of the lack of resources dedicated to its’ prevention, but also
because of lack of understanding devoted to its cause. This thesis
considers a range of caregiving situations involving a variety of
dementias. The initial phase of the research examined factors previously
thought to predict burnout, as well as new factors in a study of eight
caregiving dyads, of whom one suffered with dementia and the other
provided full-time care. These latter factors were recognised as more
influential in explaining burnout, with a theoretical framework and
hypotheses developed in support. The first study also provided the
opportunity to explore the potential of mediation over time, during
visits to the caregivers’ home. Although relatively unexplored in
dementia, mediation has the potential for playing a major role in the
prevention of burnout.
In phase two, a questionnaire was developed from
which to test the hypotheses. Supported by the Alzheimer’s disease
Society, the questionnaires were made accessible throughout the UK.
Resentment was identified as the strongest predictor of emotional
distress, conceptualised in terms of social-exchange theory and rooted
in philosophical perspectives on freedom and resentment. Resentment
occurs in response to inadequate communication and unsupported
‘time-out’. The final phase will include the development of a support
programme, embedded in social exchange but capturing the supportive role
of mediation intervention. Using the concept of on-call care and
facilitated focus groups, this programme will incorporate the needs of
the dementia caregiver while being amenable across a multitude of
alternative healthcare settings.
PhD Work in Progress
Critiquing active ageing: time use among older people in the United Kingdom
Stella Chatzitheochari
Marie Curie Research Fellow, Centre for Research on Gender and Ageing, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey
Email: s.chatzitheochari@surrey.ac.uk
This study casts new light on the experience of
ageing by examining patterns of time use among older people in the
United Kingdom. Despite the focus of sociologists of ageing on the
concepts of ‘active ageing’ and the Third Age as a period of fulfilment
and an ongoing engagement with a leisured lifestyle, there has been
little research on how older people actually spend their time. This
study examines activities related to the idea of the Third Age in order
to assess the realization of active ageing for this cohort and produce a
typology of activity patterns of older people by conducting secondary
analysis of time use data.
The paper analyzes data from the 2000 Time Use Survey, which contains a
random sample of individuals who completed time use diaries to record
their daily activities over two days. We focus on a subsample of 1390
people over the age of 65.
Findings suggest that the majority of older people engage in ‘passive’
leisure activities with only a tiny minority undertaking any activities
suggesting they are constructing a unique pattern of ageing. The
influence of physiological as well as of structural factors, such as
gender and social class, on lifestyle that is underscored by our
findings does not lend support to the active ageing paradigm and
suggests that the current cohort of older people are not engaged in a
reflexive project.
Managing transition: a longitudinal study of social relations in later life widowhood
Tracy Collins
Keele University
Email: t.l.collins@appsoc.keele.ac.uk
Many older people are confronted by the loss of a
spouse or partner in later life. This longitudinal research considers
the significance of social relationships in managing later life
widowhood, exploring social relations and social capital during a time
of transition.
A series of qualitative in depth semi structured
interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of twenty-six older
widows in North Staffordshire over a period of eighteen months. In
addition to interviewing the women, personal network diagrams were
constructed and Christmas cards viewed and discussed in order to capture
the women’s social relationships over a period of time. Interviews
initially explored the women’s life histories, the impact of widowhood,
and their social networks or ‘personal communities’. The focus of the
second and third interviews was the social celebration of Christmas
which revealed the minutia of the women’s lived experiences and the
detail of their social relationships, in addition personal network
diagrams were revisited to document any changes in personal communities.
Initial findings include the emergence of a typology
of the different personal communities of the older women and also the
complexities involved in the continuity and discontinuity of family and
associational life as an older widow during the change process
Understanding sleep in care homes
Emma Cope
University of Surrey
Email: e.cope@surrey.ac.uk
The Department of Health (DOH) National Service Framework for Older
People (2001) noted that increase in healthy activities and modifying
health behaviours, such as activity can be beneficial, even in
increasing age. Standards set ensured to increase health promoting
activities, which are deemed beneficial to older people’s health. These
standards may aid appropriate changes in care homes in order to maximise
the overall health and wellbeing of older people.
The fact that this framework exists highlights
that research needs to be carried out in care homes in order to fulfil
the stated objectives. Research will identify areas which are failing
older people’s health and wellbeing, such as, activity and sleep and
inform the development of health and social care models that will
improve the quality of life experienced by older people living in care
homes. Furthermore, the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for
Older People (2006) also states the needs of care homes to promote older
people’s health and wellbeing; via exercise, being able to carry out
whatever activity they see fit, such as, walking.
The data collection will consist of twenty-four
hour diaries* over a two-week basis. Twenty residents will be asked to
take part in ten care homes, totalling 200 participants overall. Both
organised activities and individual activities will be recorded.
Comparisons will be made between care home activities and residents’
uptake of them. Sleep data will also be collected using a questionnaire
and actiwatch.
Care homes personal ethos is expected to relate
to the type and amount of activities. An understanding of how factors,
such as sleep and activity inter-relate will be explored and ultimately
understand what/if changes could be made to ensure optimum sleep in care
homes.
*Whilst working as research officer on the
New Dynamics of Ageing project (NDA): Understanding Sleep in Care Homes,
I will be using the diaries, which are part of the NDA project, my
intention will be to investigate the associated aspects of the
resident’s lifestyle within the care home domain and evaluate the
correlation between sleep and activities.
PhD Work in Progress
Understanding sleep in care homes
Theresa Richards
University of Surrey
Email: t.richards@surrey.ac.uk
Sleep can influence quality of life, recovery
from illness, risk of falling and depression in older people. Among the
very old, poor sleep quality and use of sleep medication can have a
negative effect on frailty and cognitive impairment yet there is wide
use of sleep medication in care homes.
Sleep research has traditionally focused on
physiological and psychological factors however this study uses
qualitative methods. The research forms part of a project on optimising
sleep quality in older people and is funded by the ESRC under the New
Dynamics of Ageing research programme. This doctoral study uses
qualitative methods to try and understand the experience of ‘sleep’ in
four care homes for older people. The research will explore the
experience and meanings of sleep for the older people who live in the
care homes as well as identifying aspects of living in the home that
impact on their sleep quality. Qualitative research with the staff will
also be undertaken to discover their attitudes and understanding of
sleep behaviour and sleep needs in the care home, organisational
structures and routines, the use of medication and any intervention
strategies adopted to improve sleep quality for people who live there.
PhD Work in Progress
Food for life: consumption inequalities in later life
Jenny Routledge
Centre for Research on Ageing, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton
Email: jar01@soton.ac.uk
The aim of this thesis is to investigate
consumption disadvantage in later life and the implications for social
exclusion. Adequate access to food provisioning for older people has
been researched by academics and included in policy debates in the UK
and elsewhere, but further research is needed to more fully understand
the extensive range of factors that give rise to consumption
inequalities throughout the lifecourse. This can have substantial
implications for assessing whether one can successfully live
independently into later life. The degree to which disadvantages in food
provisioning exist varies from one individual to another, but can be
due to external limitations (i.e. existing retail spaces, transport
networks, etc.), personal limitations (i.e. mobility, social networks,
etc.) or a combination of both. To explore these issues, this project
first consider previous academic and policy research to identify and
address consumption inequalities and disadvantages for older people, and
then conducts primary and secondary research. Using a multi-method
approach, the research will examine a local cohort of older people in
Hampshire, UK, to investigate the factors that contribute to consumption
inequalities. The factors which will be investigated include: financial
limitations; lifestyle indicators; access to social services;
experiences of social exclusion; health considerations; retail planning
and provisioning; and mobility and transport. The experiences of the
Hampshire local study will be placed into a national context using
representative data on household expenditure from the Expenditure and
Food Survey. A range of conceptual and theoretical approaches will be
explored.
The research is supervised by Prof
Maria Evandrou and Dr Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill and is funded by a
Centre for Research on Ageing studentship.
How retirement affects professional workers’ identity.
Tatiana Schifferle-Rowson
Keele University
Email: tsrowson@gmail.com
Retirement is a predicable stage in an individual’s life. Most
workers expect to retire one day; retirement is part of workers’
reality. Having grown and consolidated in the 20 th century, and more
specifically after the World War II, retirement became an ‘earned
right’, fully incorporated into the life course. Even though retirement
is an established institution, how it is experienced has been changing
from being a predicable and standardised process to an individualised
experience. The experience of retirement is to some extent a consequence
of midlife. However, midlife is no longer a linear period. People may
experience a number of changes.
Continuity theory was developed to understand
the adjustment process in later life, and argues that the continuity of
ideas and lifestyle from middle to late life is a common adaptative
strategy to changes. Continuity means the maintenance of consistent
patterns throughout adulthood, by being absolutely unchanged or by
presenting only minor fluctuations. A break in such a pattern would
characterise discontinuity.
There is no definite definition of what means to
be a professional. Among the most significant core traits of a
profession is the educational element. In some groups, the professional
role can be so powerful that the practitioner is aware of general
standards of behaviour or particular lifestyle required to preserve a
professional identity.
The aims of this research are to investigate the
transition to retirement for professional workers, especially in
relation to how retirement affects identity, how continuity is
experienced and other interests after retirement.
Understanding sleep in older people in the community
Susan Venn
Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey
Email: s.venn@surrey.ac.uk
Good sleep in later life reduces risk of falls and depression, is
essential for maintaining activity and performance levels. Despite
evidence indicating a deterioration of sleep quality with ageing, there
remains a clear need for research to understand the impact of sleep
disturbance, and to guide the non-pharmacological management of sleep
problems among older people in the community.
Researching sleep in later life is a high priority because:
1. Poor sleep is one of the most common
complaints of old age and good sleep reduces the risk of falls,
depression and accidents.
2. Quality sleep is essential for well-being,
daytime activity, functioning and cognitive performance, and thereby
independence and autonomy.
The aim of this PhD is to obtain an indepth
understanding of older people’s meanings and experiences of poor sleep,
and their coping strategies, and to identify whether aspects of daily
living (e.g. light exposure, activity, food) are associated with poor
sleep among older people.
elf completion questionnaires containing
socio-demographic variables and a validated sleep questionnaire will be
sent, through their GPs, to 2400 people aged 65 and over. From these
questionnaires 60 people will be identified as ‘poor sleepers’.
Qualitative data on these 60 ‘poor sleepers’ will comprise interviews
and two-weeks of tape-recorded sleep diaries. Additionally, over the
same 2-week period, quantitative data will comprise Actigraphy (a device
for measuring activity/light exposure), to assess activity, rest, sleep
and light and daily records of activities, medication use, food
consumption, caffeine/alcohol intake.