Background: Most older adults prefer to age in place, and supporting older adults to remain in their own homes and communities is also favored by policy makers. Technology can play a role in staying independent, active and healthy. However, the use of technology varies considerably among older adults. Previous research indicates that current models of technology acceptance are missing essential predictors specific to community-dwelling older adults. Furthermore, in situ research within the specific context of aging in place is scarce, while this type of research is needed to better understand how and why community-dwelling older adults are using technology. Objective: To explore which factors influence the level of use of various types of technology by older adults who are aging in place and to describe these factors in a comprehensive model. Methods: A qualitative explorative field study was set up, involving home visits to 53 community-dwelling older adults, aged 68-95, living in the Netherlands. Purposive sampling was used to include participants with different health statuses, living arrangements, and levels of technology experience. During each home visit: (1) background information on the participants' chronic conditions, major life events, frailty, cognitive functioning, subjective health, ownership and use of technology was gathered, and (2) a semistructured interview was conducted regarding reasons for the level of use of technology. The study was designed to include various types of technology that could support activities of daily living, personal health or safety, mobility, communication, physical activity, personal development, and leisure activities. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze interview transcripts. Results: The level of technology use in the context of aging in place is influenced by six major themes: challenges in the domain of independent living; behavioral options; personal thoughts on technology use; influence of the social network; influence of organizations, and the role of the physical environment. Conclusion: Older adults' perceptions and use of technology are embedded in their personal, social, and physical context. Awareness of these psychological and contextual factors is needed in order to facilitate aging in place through the use of technology. A conceptual model covering these factors is presented.

/pdf/older-adults-reasons-for-using-technology-while-aging-in-3q8szgss9j.pdf

Older Adults' Reasons for Using Technology while Aging in Place

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)60435-8.pdf

Shaping cities for health: complexity and the planning of urban environments in the 21st century

The importance of chronic low-grade inflammation in the pathology of numerous age-related chronic conditions is now clear. An unresolved inflammatory response is likely to be involved from the early stages of disease development. The present position paper is the most recent in a series produced by the International Life Sciences Institute's European Branch (ILSI Europe). It is co-authored by the speakers from a 2013 workshop led by the Obesity and Diabetes Task Force entitled ‘Low-grade inflammation, a high-grade challenge: biomarkers and modulation by dietary strategies’. The latest research in the areas of acute and chronic inflammation and cardiometabolic, gut and cognitive health is presented along with the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying inflammation–health/disease associations. The evidence relating diet composition and early-life nutrition to inflammatory status is reviewed. Human epidemiological and intervention data are thus far heavily reliant on the measurement of inflammatory markers in the circulation, and in particular cytokines in the fasting state, which are recognised as an insensitive and highly variable index of tissue inflammation. Potential novel kinetic and integrated approaches to capture inflammatory status in humans are discussed. Such approaches are likely to provide a more discriminating means of quantifying inflammation–health/disease associations, and the ability of diet to positively modulate inflammation and provide the much needed evidence to develop research portfolios that will inform new product development and associated health claims.

/pdf/low-grade-inflammation-diet-composition-and-health-current-179rr3lehq.pdf

Low-grade inflammation, diet composition and health: current research evidence and its translation

https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/105339237/The_Lancet_Psychiatry_Commission_on_psychological_treatments_research_in_tomorrows_science.pdf

The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on psychological treatments research in tomorrow's science

The 21st century is witnessing a sea change in our thinking about ‘disability’. Nowhere are these developments more apparent than in the field of childhood disability, where traditional biomedical concepts are being incorporated into – but expanded considerably by – new ways of formulating ideas about children, child development, social-ecological forces in the lives of children with chronic conditions and their families, and ‘points of entry’ for professionals to be helpful. In this paper, we have tried to package a set of ideas, grounded in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (the ICF), into a series of what we have called ‘F-words’ in child neurodisability – function, family, fitness, fun, friends and future. We hope this will be an appealing way for people to incorporate these concepts into every aspect of clinical service, research and advocacy regarding disabled children and their families.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2011.01338.x

The 'F-words' in childhood disability: I swear this is how we should think!

The WHO definition of health as complete wellbeing is no longer fit for purpose given the rise of chronic disease. Machteld Huber and colleagues propose changing the emphasis towards the ability to adapt and self manage in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges

/pdf/how-should-we-define-health-gxz9na4jxu.pdf

H.E. van der Horst

Papers

How should we define health

Chronische vermoeidheid in perspectief

Handboek chronische vermoeidheid