Erik Eriksen is a remarkable individual. He has no college degrees yet is Professor of Human Development at Harvard University. He came to psychology via art, which explains why the reader will find him painting contexts and backgrounds rather than stating dull facts and concepts. He has been a training psychoanalyst for many years as well as a perceptive observer of cultural and social settings and their effect on growing up. This is not just a book on childhood. It is a panorama of our society. Anxiety in young children, apathy in American Indians, confusion in veterans of war, and arrogance in young Nazis are scrutinized under the psychoanalytic magnifying glass. The material is well written and devoid of technical jargon. The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man. Primitive groups and

Childhood and Society.

Established in 2006, TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited operates as the nodal point for Tata businesses in West Africa. TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited has a strong presence in Nigeria with investments exceeding USD 10 million. The company was established in Lagos, Nigeria as a subsidiary of TATA Africa Holdings (SA) (Pty) Limited, South Africa and serves as the hub of Tata’s operations in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa.

What About Us

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(07)61238-0.pdf

No health without mental health.

Background: Depression is a prevalent and disabling condition in older persons (≥60 years) that increases the risk of mortality and negatively influences quality

/pdf/depression-and-quality-of-life-in-older-persons-a-review-1ndnuv1p2t.pdf

Depression and Quality of Life in Older Persons: A Review

Implementing new practices requires changes in the behaviour of relevant actors, and this is facilitated by understanding of the determinants of current and desired behaviours. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) was developed by a collaboration of behavioural scientists and implementation researchers who identified theories relevant to implementation and grouped constructs from these theories into domains. The collaboration aimed to provide a comprehensive, theory-informed approach to identify determinants of behaviour. The first version was published in 2005, and a subsequent version following a validation exercise was published in 2012. This guide offers practical guidance for those who wish to apply the TDF to assess implementation problems and support intervention design. It presents a brief rationale for using a theoretical approach to investigate and address implementation problems, summarises the TDF and its development, and describes how to apply the TDF to achieve implementation objectives. Examples from the implementation research literature are presented to illustrate relevant methods and practical considerations. Researchers from Canada, the UK and Australia attended a 3-day meeting in December 2012 to build an international collaboration among researchers and decision-makers interested in the advancing use of the TDF. The participants were experienced in using the TDF to assess implementation problems, design interventions, and/or understand change processes. This guide is an output of the meeting and also draws on the authors’ collective experience. Examples from the implementation research literature judged by authors to be representative of specific applications of the TDF are included in this guide. We explain and illustrate methods, with a focus on qualitative approaches, for selecting and specifying target behaviours key to implementation, selecting the study design, deciding the sampling strategy, developing study materials, collecting and analysing data, and reporting findings of TDF-based studies. Areas for development include methods for triangulating data, e.g. from interviews, questionnaires and observation and methods for designing interventions based on TDF-based problem analysis. We offer this guide to the implementation community to assist in the application of the TDF to achieve implementation objectives. Benefits of using the TDF include the provision of a theoretical basis for implementation studies, good coverage of potential reasons for slow diffusion of evidence into practice and a method for progressing from theory-based investigation to intervention.

/pdf/a-guide-to-using-the-theoretical-domains-framework-of-2kpo61d5k8.pdf

A guide to using the Theoretical Domains Framework of behaviour change to investigate implementation problems

Interventions to change health-related behaviours typically have modest effects and may be more effective if grounded in appropriate theory. Most theories applied to public health interventions tend to emphasise individual capabilities and motivation, with limited reference to context and social factors. Intervention effectiveness may be increased by drawing on a wider range of theories incorporating social, cultural and economic factors that influence behaviour. The primary aim of this paper is to identify theories of behaviour and behaviour change of potential relevance to public health interventions across four scientific disciplines: psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. We report in detail the methodology of our scoping review used to identify these theories including which involved a systematic search of electronic databases, consultation with a multidisciplinary advisory group, web searching, searching of reference lists and hand searching of key behavioural science journals. Of secondary interest we developed a list of agreed criteria for judging the quality of the theories. We identified 82 theories and 9 criteria for assessing theory quality. The potential relevance of this wide-ranging number of theories to public health interventions and the ease and usefulness of evaluating the theories in terms of the quality criteria are however yet to be determined.

/pdf/theories-of-behaviour-and-behaviour-change-across-the-social-1fqtu75p77.pdf

Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review

Objectives: To investigate whether longstanding illnesses, social context, and current socioeconomic circumstances predict quality of life. Design: Secondary analysis of wave 1 of the English longitudinal study of aging. Missing data were imputed and multiple regression analyses conducted. Setting: England, 2002 Participants: Nationally representative sample of non-institutionalised adults living in England (n = 11 234, 54.5% women, age 65.1 (SD 10.2) years). Main outcome measure: Quality of life as measured by CASP-19, a 19 item Likert scaled index. Results: The quality of life was reduced by depression (β −0.265), poor perceived financial situation (β −0.157), limitations in mobility (β −0.124), difficulties with everyday activities (β −0.112), and limiting longstanding illness (β −0.112). The quality of life was improved by trusting relationships with family (β 0.105) and friends (β 0.078), frequent contacts with friends (β 0.059), living in good neighbourhoods (β 0.103), and having two cars (β 0.066). The regression models explained 48% variation in CASP-19 scores. There were slight differences between age groups and between men and women. Conclusions: Efforts to improve quality of life in early old age need to address financial hardships, functionally limiting disease, lack of at least one trusting relationship, and inability to move out of a disfavoured neighbourhood. There is the potential for improved quality of life in early old age (the third age) if these factors are controlled.

/pdf/quality-of-life-at-older-ages-evidence-from-the-english-25jwbo5yzh.pdf

Quality of life at older ages: evidence from the English longitudinal study of aging (wave 1)

BACKGROUND: Resilience is having good outcomes despite adversity and risk and could be described in terms of preserving the same level of the outcome or rebounding back to that level after an initial set back. Using the latter definition, resilience as "bouncing back", this paper aims (1) to identify those members of a panel survey who demonstrated resilience, and (2) to identify the characteristics of the resilient individuals and the predictors of their resilience. METHODS: The study subjects were the 3581 participants in the British Household Panel Survey, selected from waves 1-14, who satisfied three requirements: exposure to an adversity; availability of consecutive General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12 scores; aged 50 or more years. The primary outcome variable was resilience, operationalised as a GHQ-12 score that increased after exposure to adversity and returned to its pre-exposure level in the next (after 1 year) wave of the survey. The adversities were: functional limitation; bereavement or marital separation; poverty. RESULTS: The prevalence of resilience, as defined, was 14.5%. After adjusting for regression to the mean, the GHQ-12 score of the resilient dropped by a mean of 3.6 points in the post-adversity period. Women predominated among the resilient, with this gender difference stronger among older women than younger women. The resilient were more likely to have high social support than the non-resilient, but otherwise were not different socioeconomically. High social support pre-adversity and during adversity increased the likelihood of resilience by 40-60% compared with those with low social support. CONCLUSIONS: Resilience is relatively rare and favours older women. It is fostered by high levels of social support existing before exposure to adversity.

https://jech.bmj.com/content/jech/62/11/987.full.pdf

Mental health and resilience at older ages: bouncing back after adversity in the British Household Panel Survey

PURPOSE: This article examines resilience at older ages, focusing on the relationships between quality of life (qol) and adversity. Our objectives are to identify (a) the basis of adversity, (b) the characteristics of resilient individuals, and (c) the attributes that attenuate the full impact of adversity. DESIGN AND METHODS: Resilience is defined as flourishing despite adversity. Analysis is carried out in a subsample of the Boyd Orr cohort (aged between 68 and 82 years) using questionnaire data. Adversity was identified as circumstances that produce a significant average decrease in qol (CASP-19 scores). Participants were classified into resilient and vulnerable groups based on high or low qol (CASP-19 scores dichotomized at the median) in the face of significant adversity. Shared characteristics that define these outcomes are reported. Attributes that attenuate the negative impact of adversity were analyzed using stratified logistic regression. RESULTS: Adversity was typified by functional limitation; life getting worse in the domains of health, stress, and general living circumstances; and experiencing a negative life event. The resilient tended to report fewer multiple adversities. Indicators of protective attributes, which also characterized resilient outcomes relative to qol, included good quality relationships (5.105, confidence interval [CI] 95% 1.323-19.699), integration in the community (10.800, 95% CI 1.227-95.014), developmental coping (3.397, 95% CI 1.079-10.690), and adaptive coping styles (3.211, 95% CI 1.041-9.910). IMPLICATION: Overall results indicate that policies that offer access to protection and help minimize adversity exposure where possible will promote resilience.

Examining Resilience of Quality of Life in the Face of Health-Related and Psychosocial Adversity at Older Ages: What is “Right” About the Way We Age?

This mixed-methods study looks at the relationship between adversity and resilience. It examines the dynamics of protection in a sub-sample of the Boyd Orr cohort that are aged between 70 and 80 years of age (n = 139). We used a questionnaire and activity diaries to gather a range of quantitative data, and interviews using lifegrids to explore past and present experiences of adversity. Sampling of 32 individuals was based on resilient and vulnerable outcomes (16 cases respectively), measured quantitatively as good or poor quality of life (CASP-19) in the presence of one or more adversities such as ill health or stress. The analysis explored adversity and protection in relationships, retirement, and health. Participants with resilient outcomes drew upon social and individual resources in the face of adversity, in particular resources that stabilised life change by providing continuity. These included: constructing narratives that reinterpreted past adversity in light of recent ones; maintaining social roles and activities that had previously brought pleasure or a sense of mastery; relying on tried and tested coping strategies; support from close ongoing relationships. Participants with vulnerable outcomes, however, described more severe adversities, suggesting that resilience is also dependent on the degree and impact of this experience.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2008.01087.x

Zoe Hildon

Papers

Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review

Quality of life at older ages: evidence from the English longitudinal study of aging (wave 1)

Mental health and resilience at older ages: bouncing back after adversity in the British Household Panel Survey

Examining Resilience of Quality of Life in the Face of Health-Related and Psychosocial Adversity at Older Ages: What is “Right” About the Way We Age?

Understanding adversity and resilience at older ages