The agency of a person with young onset dementia (YOD) changes owing to individual symptoms, uncertainty about the speed of progression and the severity of YOD. Dementia usually greatly interrupts life and reduces agency. Previous studies show that some people and families integrate and cope with dementia better than others. This study aimed to find out how YOD changes the agency of the person who has it and what family members’ role is in forming their agency. The data were collected in Finland in semi-structured interviews with 14 people with YOD and 15 family members, about a year after the diagnosis. These two data sets were analysed with a narrative method, actantial analysis. A wide variety of elements, both human and non-human factors, were found to promote and undermine agency. It was found that people with YOD need both integrity and flexibility to reconstruct their own agency. Resources support them in this process of reconstruction, and hinderers interrupt the process. This combination of integrity and flexibility, resources and hinderers, generates how people with YOD recount the future, the aims they set and how they reconstruct their agency. Other people, especially family members, are part of this dynamic process and when their relationship is cohesive, the agency of both parties increases. The participants used ideal and burdensome storylines to narrate factors that supported or interrupted their agency. Based on our findings, narrating one’s situation is, for coping, not only a means but its very basis.

Civic engagement is increasingly relevant for healthy and active ageing and addressing social exclusion among older people. Current research focuses primarily on formal volunteering, overlooking other ways older people contribute to their families and communities. This study addresses these gaps by recognising civic engagement as multi-dimensional – including associational engagement, informal care-giving, formal volunteering, digital engagement and formal/informal political engagement – and exploring activity combinations among older individuals. Using data from the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey (33 European countries), it examines the civic engagement of 9,031 individuals aged 65+. Descriptive analysis maps their multi-dimensional civic engagement, while latent class analysis identifies distinct engagement profiles and explores which activities are combined. It also investigates the socio-structural and social capital resources associated with each profile. Findings reveal that 32 per cent of older individuals are not engaged in civic activities. Among the civically engaged, five profiles emerge, illustrating varied engagement across multiple activities. Many older people (35.8 per cent) combine several civic activities, albeit in different combinations. Informal care-giving can be found in all profiles; and for a large part of the population, it is their only civic activity, while another profile displays older Europeans engaged in several activities simultaneously. Higher levels of socio-structural resources are associated with greater diversity in civic engagement in later life. Interventions and policies therefore must consider the diverse circumstances and preferences of older people and valorise and include all forms of multi-dimensional civic engagement, including informal care-giving, in policy making.

Grandparents are increasingly participating in international migration to resettle with or visit adult children and grandchildren living overseas. In doing so, they make important social, cultural, emotional and financial contributions to transnational families, in particular through providing unpaid childcare and domestic work. This scoping review aims to examine the extent, range and nature of studies on transnational grandparent migration and care-giving to provide an overview of existing research. The review was conducted in August 2022, following Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review methodology. Of 2,099 sources identified using nine databases, supplemented with manual searching (including grey literature), 65 (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods) studies conducted between 2000 and 2022 were deemed relevant for inclusion. A descriptive analysis of study characteristics details the author(s), the (year) and the type of publication; the study population and sample size; the research objectives; the research methods; and the sending and receiving places. A thematic analysis of these studies identified key themes, including study characteristics, typologies of transnational migrant grandparents, their family roles and contributions, the uses of information and communication technologies in supporting migrant grandparents’ transnational lives, benefits gained from migration, challenges faced and strategies employed in response. The article concludes that grandparents make significant contributions to transnational families and host economies, but their roles and challenges are overlooked in national and transnational (supra-national) policies. Future research should explore the ethics of migration programmes aimed towards migrant grandparents as well as effective measures to assist grandparents to age well in transnational mobility.

Our study aims to contribute to the existing body of research on age-related changes in decision-making by investigating susceptibility to the attraction effect across adulthood. Prior studies have produced inconsistent conclusions regarding the decision-making abilities of older individuals, with some portraying them as easily manipulated and risk-averse, while others suggest the opposite. To address this issue, we conducted two experiments using a novel paradigm of the roulette task: (1) in an online environment with 357 participants and (2) in a laboratory setting with 173 participants. The results were consistent and demonstrated the robustness of the attraction effect. However, no age differences in susceptibility to the attraction effect as a common decision bias were found. As predicted, older adults were more likely to commit simple decision-making mistakes, especially in the preliminary trials, which could have serious financial or societal consequences. Additionally, older adults exhibited more risk-seeking behaviours. Furthermore, we observed that the dynamics of decision competence (as indicated by a decrease in the selection of erroneous decoy options and an increase in decision fluency) were similar for both younger and older adults, suggesting preservation of the ability to optimise decision-making while becoming familiar with new tasks. These findings provide insight into the cognitive functioning of older adults and indicate that decision-making abilities in late adulthood may be more complex than commonly assumed.

Research on social robots in dementia care has focused on their effects, for example in relation to the patients’ wellbeing or the care-givers’ working environment. Such approaches to social robots treat them as stable objects with a singular function. Combining social gerontology with social studies of science, the current study offers a new angle by asking: How do patients and care-givers in care homes for older people establish a shared definition of the situation in interactions involving robot animals? Drawing on ethnography and multimodal conversation analysis of 211 minutes of video recordings in two care homes in Sweden, we demonstrate the embodied work by which participants in interactions establish activities with robot animals. In contrast to the ideal of transparency in social robotics, we show that a central affordance of the robots is their vagueness, which allows for their inclusion in playful interactions. Playful framings of the robots highlight their social functions and downplay care-giver–patient asymmetries. However, situations where patients resist a playful frame actualise a dilemma of social inclusion, on the one hand, and the right to not participate in play, on the other. Showing this, the article contributes to knowledge on how people age with technology; in particular, it draws attention to the limits of an ideal of transparency when social robots are included in dementia care.

Rapid demographic changes and heavy reliance on informal care pose significant challenges to meeting long-term care (LTC) needs in China. Understanding changes in unmet LTC needs across different times and places can inform future LTC system planning and care resource allocation, identifying emerging care needs and services gaps in different regions. Drawing on data from 6,030 urban and 5,070 rural residents in the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey 2005–2017/18, this study investigates variations in unmet LTC needs across different age groups, periods and birth cohorts among Chinese older adults and their place-based rural–urban differences. We applied the age-period-cohort interaction model to disentangle the three temporal processes, and found that, overall, rural older adults experienced higher risk of unmet LTC needs and had larger variation in age effects, yet the age, period and cohort effects on unmet needs among rural older people differed from their urban counterparts. Although ‘younger’ older adults (aged below 85) had fewer care needs than older adults, they had a higher risk of experiencing unmet needs. The risk of having unmet needs did not change significantly over the 12 years, though unmet LTC needs were more pronounced among more-recent cohorts than previous generations, especially in urban areas. The findings contribute to the social gerontology debate regarding changing patterns in unmet LTC needs, and provide crucial policy insights, underscoring the necessity of targeted interventions to address ‘younger’ older adults’ care needs and increased investmed in the formal LTC system to tackle the escalating care gap.

Understanding how to improve the physical and cognitive accessibility of visitor economy businesses and organisations wanting to offer nature-based outdoor pursuits for people with dementia is key to supporting their inclusion and agency. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand the experiences, needs and preferences of people with dementia participating in nature-based outdoor pursuits in their leisure time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 people with dementia and 15 family members and subjected to thematic analysis. Four themes related to inclusion for people with dementia and their family members reflected diversity in individual needs and preferences for engaging with nature-based outdoor pursuits, their own adaptations to maintain access including accommodating risk, how cognitive and physical accessibility can be supported by businesses, and which practical and psychosocial barriers prevent inclusion. Learning from people with dementia and their family members has helped bridge the gap to their inclusion in nature-based outdoor pursuits. Their insights will inform the development of such pursuits by businesses and organisations as well as future work into risk decision-making.

The literature has shown that, in developing countries, large cash transfers to older people improve the wellbeing of the recipients and their families. While social pensions have recently emerged in East Asia to deliver small cash benefits to older people, there is little consistent evidence of their effects. We examine the effects of the Basic Pension Scheme, a social pension in South Korea, on income and consumption poverty among older adults. We apply a difference-in-differences event study design and other complementary approaches to data covering the full period of program development from 2006 to 2021. The results show that the social pension decreases income poverty but not consumption poverty. While this study analysed the best data currently available, using better-quality data in future research would enable more robust analysis. Further research is also warranted to find how to improve the effectiveness of a non-contributory pension programme as a tool for reducing income and consumption poverty among older adults.

Issues of ‘disability’ and ‘ageing’ are usually approached separately in theorising, activism and policy making. Yet people with disabilities age and many people will experience disability if they live long enough. Human rights approaches to disability enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are not often applied to older people experiencing disability. This article presents findings of a systematic qualitative analysis of reports made by 28 European states to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the independent body that monitors CRPD implementation, focusing particularly on Article 19 CRPD (‘Living independently and being included in the community’). While states’ reports refer to older people or ageing in different contexts, their approach can be characterised as ambivalent. Reports tend to constitute older people experiencing disability as ‘older’ rather than ‘disabled’; they do not demonstrate a thorough engagement with disability experienced in older age, and display a limited focus on people ageing with lifelong disability. Several reports detail exclusions of ‘older people’ from disability supports to live in the community and some exclude impairments associated with ageing from definitions of what ‘disability’ is. The reports provide almost no evidence of consultation with organisations working on ageing. The article concludes that while the CRPD’s potential to contribute to realising rights for older people with disabilities is under-recognised among scholars and non-governmental organisations, the fact that states refer to older people in their reporting under the CRPD provides a starting point for more engagement.

As the population of Aotearoa New Zealand ages, informal family carers will play an increasingly important role in caring for older adults at home. Multi-generational living arrangements are a growing trend, particularly among Māori communities, where caring for older relatives within the family home is widespread. This article uses in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Māori whānau (extended family members) caring for kaumātua (older family members) at home to explore how carers experienced care coordination in the broader care collective. The findings centred on three interconnected factors that described the collective organisation of care: (1) whānau care as normal; (2) whānau care as collective coordination; and (3) whānau carer knowledge and needs as unseen. The findings show that although whānau care of kaumātua is highly valued, ‘structural holes’ within care systems contribute to challenges in care coordination. Despite extensive whānau support for kaumātua, primary carers often felt that their knowledge, preferences and self-care needs remained unseen and not translatable to those outside the everyday care situation. Rather than assuming an artificial binary difference between ‘collective’ and ‘individually oriented’ care contexts and cultures, analysing the cultural norms surrounding whānau care-giving confirms that collective care system members face similar and different challenges to carers with smaller caring capacities.

The ability and knowledge to manage financial tasks may be compromised in old age, especially when the need to navigate the care and social benefit systems increases. Managing financial tasks may consist of a variety of actions of both the older people themselves and their representatives, often family members. This study explored how financial tasks related to the care and everyday life of older people who need long-term care are managed by using the ideas of modalities of agency and distributed agency. We analysed interviews of 19 older persons and their family members with a qualitative case analysis. All the older persons who participated in the study distributed the agency in financial tasks among their family members, but to different levels and for different reasons. We identified three types of distributed agency – inevitable, assimilated and minimal distributed agency – in which the older persons’ knowledge about financial tasks and their ability to manage financial tasks differed. Within these types, the cases differed in terms of the know-how of the family members and the reasons why the older people’s knowledge about financial tasks or their ability to manage their financial tasks were diminished. We conclude that older persons with long-term care needs require help in regard to financial tasks, and the older people’s and their family members’ ability to manage financial tasks could be enhanced by making the benefit systems and online banking more user-friendly and by improving the help from care staff.

Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this research investigates how post-retirement employment influences older people’s expenditure in urban China. By broadening the understanding of post-retirement employment behaviour from a consumer welfare perspective, this study expands the literature on retirement consumption and provides theoretical explanations, empirical insights and policy recommendations. The findings reveal that post-retirement employment behaviour reduces urban retirees’ household expenditure and has a more significant effect on men than on women, but this effect diminishes as consumption levels rise. Increasing income, promoting social participation and improving subjective health outcomes are all potential channels through which post-retirement employment can affect consumption. Further analysis shows two main reasons why post-retirement employment reduces older people’s expenditure: first, the increase in subjective health levels resulting from post-retirement employment reduces healthcare expenditure; second, post-retirement employment does not promote social participation and self-rated health for all consumption levels and all genders of retirees – it also decreases expenditure. Preliminary evidence suggests that internet use positively moderates the negative impact of post-retirement employment on older people’s expenditure. These findings provide policy implications for retirement policies and the promotion of the silver economy.

Frailty is a common but complex phenomenon that is approached from theoretical and professional perspectives but rarely from the perspectives of older people and their essential stakeholders. Different or opposing perspectives on frailty at personal, organisational, and community levels can negatively affect care for frail older people. This systematic integrative review synthesises the perspectives on frailty of older people, health/social care professionals, informal caregivers, managers and policymakers, using thematic analysis. We use the Joanna Briggs Institute–Critical Appraisal Checklist to appraise the quality of 52 qualitative and mixed-method studies drawn from the PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, and Web of Science databases (inception–December 2023). Of these, 33 include the perspectives of older people, 27 of health/social care professionals, four of managers, and six of informal caregivers. Structuring the perspectives along six themes – ‘the multi-dimensional nature of frailty’, ‘the dynamics of frailty’, ‘the complexity of frailty’, ‘frailty in relation to age’, ‘frailty in relation to health’ and ‘frailty in relation to dependence’ – revealed substantive similarities in the conceptualisation of frailty between older people and professionals, e.g. regarding frailty’s dynamic and multi-dimensional nature. However, older people and professionals differ in their interpretations of frailty: older people take a personal view, while professionals take a more practical view. The identified discrepancies in perspectives may affect care relationships and care for frail older people. Therefore, we advocate a systems approach that incorporates multiple perspectives to form a comprehensive view of frailty and allows for a situation-specific shared understanding of frailty in older people.

Growing numbers of people help and support family members, friends or others due to long-term health problems, disability or older age–related needs. While care-giving can bring fulfilment and meaning to peoples’ lives, it can negatively affect individuals’ financial wellbeing. Much of the evidence in this area is quantitative, while the subjective, in-depth experience of how unpaid care decisions affect financial wellbeing remains relatively underexplored. This scoping review explores what is known about how unpaid carers experience and understand the financial consequences of providing care. It identified 35 studies containing qualitative evidence and, through thematic analysis, identified four overarching themes: (1) direct and indirect costs of caring; (2) social, cultural and institutional care and work decision-making; (3) the unequal cost of caring; and (4) personal finance and carer wellbeing. Findings indicate that unpaid caring affects financial wellbeing in multiple, overlapping ways. The financial consequences are experienced unequally, with systems, circumstances and contexts serving to exacerbate or reduce these negative effects. Crucially, our analysis reveals the paucity of qualitative research specifically focused on unpaid carers’ financial wellbeing. There is a significant gap in the literature regarding whether, and how, individuals understand the future financial implications of unpaid care-giving, or whether longer-term financial consequences are considered when making decisions about care. Future research designed to address this gap, with greater emphasis on the personal, social and structural influences on care-related financial decision-making, could offer important insights for developing policies and practices aimed at improving the financial wellbeing of carers as they age.

Gender and age are central organising principles of social relations, with socially constructed gendered and age-based norms influencing patterns of social behaviour, power and inequality. Despite recent literature highlighting the importance of subjective measures of equality, including as a significant predictor of wellbeing, there is a gap in studies focused on subjective equality in research on ageing. Drawing on an equality ranking exercise and life herstory interviews with 20 older-aged women (65+) in Aotearoa New Zealand, this article focuses on the intersectionality of age and gender, analysing the ways in which participants constructed their experiences of equality over the lifecourse from their standpoint as older-aged women. The analysis reveals a significant rise in subjective equality from childhood to older age, with more varied responses in childhood and a convergence of responses from adolescence onwards. Participants’ constructions of equality differed: age was the dominant construct of equality women ascribed to their childhood years, while gender inequality came to the fore during their teenage years. In early to mid-adulthood, women found ways to navigate gendered inequality in various life domains, while in older adulthood equality was constructed as freedom and life satisfaction. This trajectory suggests that the frames individuals use to make sense of equality and their personal experiences are not fixed; they are fluid and shift throughout the lifecourse.

Mutual support among residents in collaborative housing for older people presents an alternative care model to family or formal social care provided in individuals’ homes or specialised care facilities. This is particularly the case in cohousing, where residents commit to mutual support and exercise autonomy through self-governance. Cohousing also supports the ageing processes by fostering greater wellbeing and significantly lessening social isolation and loneliness. Further, it offers the potential for older people to collectively maintain greater agency in later life and manage age-related health decline. Despite a growing body of literature on ageing and collaborative housing, to date little research has explored how later-life transitions are negotiated among residents of collaborative housing. Drawing on longitudinal, qualitative research on collaborative housing communities in England between 2021 and 2023, this article examines age-related challenges residents face in cohousing, and how they respond to such changing care needs individually and collectively. Analysing data from two waves of fieldwork in three cohousing communities, it examines how the mutual-support functions of the communities act as an intermediary to facilitate communication with different parties, formal and informal care provision and decision-making. The intermediary role tends not to replace the need for formal social care or the involvement of family but provides a supportive buffer between the individual and the family and formal services. Despite the lack of built-in care services placing a potentially heavier burden on residents, the ‘intentional’ commitment to mutual support in cohousing contributes significantly to extending agency in later life.