Objectives: This study addresses the gendered risks of loneliness and depression in later life from a social exclusion perspective. Exclusion from social relations (ESR) in older age is an unwanted situation associated with increased loneliness and depressive symptoms, with gender differences in the perception of solitude, and the evaluation of existing social networks, potentially accounting for the increased susceptibility of older women. Method: Secondary analyses was conducted in a sample of 60,918 participants in the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Older persons subjective perception of solitude (i.e. solitude satisfaction), and their satisfaction with established relations (i.e. network satisfaction), were examined in gender-stratified regression models, predicting loneliness and depressive symptomatology, controlling for network size, demographics, and health. Results: There was no convincing evidence for significant associations between solitude satisfaction (SoS) and loneliness among older men, nor between network satisfaction (NeS) and loneliness for both genders. Low SoS and low NeS were independently associated with more depressive symptoms and an increased probability of depression, especially among older women. This vulnerability could not be attributed to increased loneliness, as only among older women, low SoS was associated with lower levels of loneliness, and lower levels of loneliness was anaemically associated with more depressive symptoms. Conclusions: The perception of solitude, and the evaluation of social relations, are associated with gendered risks of depression among older persons who are challenged by objective and subjective ESR states.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of Higher Education, necessitating a rapid shift from in-person to remote teaching and learning. This study investigates the experiences of doctoral students in an online Sino-Nordic summer school on aging, implemented during the pandemic. A survey was conducted to collect and analyze data on participants experiences and perspectives. Findings reveal three thematic areas: doctoral students learning needs and preferences, contextual factors affecting their learning experiences, and their adaptations to online summer school. Student participants gained diverse insights and expanded their networks, but also faced challenges such as limited social interaction and scheduling conflicts. While some students embraced the online format, most preferred in-person participation as a supplementary or alternative approach in future summer schools. Recommendations for future improvements are creating an empowering learning environment, improving strategic planning and communication among organizing institutions, involving students and stakeholders in training design and implementation, maximizing the use of online features and tools, and optimizing time management.

Much research is conducted to evaluate digital-based solutions for health-care services, but little is known about how such evaluations acknowledge diversity in later life. This study helps fill this gap and analyses participation in the evaluation of a web-based mobile phone system for monitoring the post-operative progress of patients after day surgery. Participation is conceptualised as resulting from three processes: pre-screening, recruitment and self-selection. Based on field information and survey data, this study models (a) the (non-)participation in a sample of 498 individuals aged 60 and older that includes non-screened, non-recruited, decliners and participants in the evaluation, and (b) the individual decision to participate in a sample of 210 individuals aged 60 and older who were invited to take part in the evaluation. Increasing age enhances the likelihood of not being screened, not being recruited or declining the invitation. Those not recruited were most often ineligible because of technology-related barriers. Decliners and participants differed by age, gender, job, health status, digital skills, but not by social participation. Results suggest that highly specific groups of older people are more likely to be involved than others. Old-age diversity is not properly represented in digital health research, with implications for the inclusivity of new digital health technologies. This has implications for increased risks of old-age exclusion and exacerbation of social and digital inequalities in ageing societies.

PurposeDriven by the aim to increase the participation of older people in the labour force and to extend peoples working lives, the Swedish Parliament passed a bill in 1998 to increase the pension eligibility age from 60 to 61 years and establish a notional defined-contribution (NDC) plan. In this article, the authors investigate the impacts towards the prolongation of working lives expected from such an intervention.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply a multinomial probabilistic model based on Swedish registry data on the birth cohorts 1937-1938 (n = 102,826) and observe differences in exit behaviour between eligible and non-eligible individuals.FindingsThe authors find that the cohorts eligible to the pension reform exit the labour market at a later age compared to non-eligible cohorts at the 61-years cut-off. The authors also find that the effect persists in the long term. Furthermore, the authors find that both men and women are equally struck by the reform.Originality/valueWhile there exist many descriptive reports and theoretical analyses on the costs and benefits of pension reforms, this study is the first one to empirically analyse the effect of the first European NDC pay-as-you go pension plan on the potential exclusion of old-aged workers.

Purpose In this paper, the authors attempt to understand how labour market attachment during the ages of 30–59 influences individuals' transition out of the labour market. Design/methodology/approach Using high-quality Swedish register data, the authors follow individuals born in 1950 and observe their labour market attachment during mid-life and their exit from the labour market. Findings The authors find evidence that labour market attachment in different stages of the career is differently related to exit from the labour market. At the age of 30, as well as between the ages 50–59, low attachment is related with earlier exit from the labour market. On the contrary, low labour market attachment during the ages 40–49 is related with later exit from the labour market. However, regardless of age, lower labour market attachment increases the risk of work-related benefit receipt in the exit year. The authors also find evidence that gender, migration status and childhood socioeconomic disadvantages may represent obstacles to longer working lives, while high education is a consistent factor in avoiding early exit from the labour market. Originality/value This study provides insights on the link between labour market attachment in different stages of the career and the exit from the labour market as well as work-related benefits dependency in the year of exit.

Aim: We aimed to understand the interplay between retirement pathways and healthcare use in the postponed and structurally changing context of retirement.

Methods: Based on Swedish register data on income and healthcare use, we applied combined sequence and cluster analysis to identify typical pathways into retirement and analysed their relation to healthcare use developments.

Results: We detected five distinct pathways into retirement. Level of healthcare use was significantly higher for the pathway via disability pensions. We saw an overall increase in healthcare use across the retirement process that was related to age rather than to the different pathways.

Conclusions: Level of healthcare use at the beginning of the retirement process may be related to selection into different pathways of retirement. We did not find clear evidence across several healthcare measures that different pathways lead to different developments in healthcare use.

The involvement of older people in research on digital technologies is uneven. Some groups of older people, e.g. the older ones, are less likely to participate in research which evaluates new digital technologies, compared to their counterparts. This may bias research results and produce wrong research conclusions. In this work, we aim at understanding whether and how the uneven involvement of older people in research on digital technologies has an impact on the research results. Our example is an intervention study which evaluated a web-based system for monitoring the postoperative progress of individuals after day surgery, i.e. ‘Mobile Phone in Recovery after Ambulatory Surgery’ (MIRAS). We considered a sample of 717 individuals of age 50 years and older (mean age: 65) who underwent a day surgery at one of the MIRAS recruitment sites during the recruitment timeframe. This group included both MIRAS participants and those who were not recruited byMIRAS. Based on information on age, gender, recruitment status, and intervention results, we implemented a weighting procedure to adjust the intervention results for the over-representation and the under-representation of groups of older people in the MIRAS sample by age and gender. We found that weighted and unweighted intervention results differed one another. The unweighted intervention results were over-positive with regards to the efficacy of the intervention due to the under-representation of groups of older people who were older and men. Biased results generate inaccurate conclusions which, in turn, can inform inappropriate digitalisation strategies and policies.

European societies need to increase the participation in work over the life course to support the provision of qualified labour and to meet the challenges for social security systems under the condition of their ageing populations. One of the key ambitions is to extend people’s working lives and to postpone labour market exit and retirement where possible. This requires informed policies, and the research programme EIWO – ‘Exclusion and Inequality in Late Working Life: Evidence for Policy Innovation towards Inclusive Extended Work and Sustainable Working Conditions in Sweden and Europe’ – aims to push the boundaries of knowledge about late working life and the potential of its inclusive and equal prolongation via a theoretically driven, gender-sensitive combination of multi-level perspectives. EIWO takes a life course approach on exclusion and inequality by security of tenure, quality of work, workplaces, and their consequences. It identifies life course policies, promoting lifelong learning processes and flexible adaptation to prolong working lives and to avoid increased exclusion and inequality. Moreover, it provides evidence for policies to ensure both individual, company and societal benefits from longer lives. To do so, EIWO orientates its analyses systematically to the macro-political contexts at the European Union level and to the policy goals expressed in the respective official statements, reports and plans.

This report systematizes this ambitious approach. Relevant documents such as reports, green books and other publications of the European Commission (EC), the European Parliament (EP), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as those of social partners and research institutions, have been systematically scanned and evaluated. In addition, relevant decisions of European summits have been considered. The selection of documents claims completeness regarding relevant and generally available publication, while relevance is defined from the point of view of EIWO’s interests.

It is the aim of this report to provide a sound knowledge base for EIWO’s analyses and impact strategies and to contribute to the emerging research on the connection between population ageing and the European policies towards productivity, inclusiveness, equity, resilience and sustainability.

This report aims to answer the following questions:

1. How are EIWO’s conceptual classification and programme objectives reflected in the European Union’s policy programming?
2. How can EIWO’s analyses and impact benefit from a reference to current EU policy considerations, and how does this focus support the outline of policy options and the formulating of possible proposals to Swedish and European stakeholders?

The present report was written during early 2022; analyses were finalized in February 2022 and represent the status until this date.

Exclusion from social relations (ESR) in older age is associated with worse quality of life and adverse mental health outcomes. Recent evidence suggest that the perception of solitude and the evaluation of existing social networks modify the disadvantages of ESR among excluded older persons. This presentation takes a gender perspective on the topic, bringing together the quantitative evidence of the GenPath project. The results of the project suggest that over and above loneliness and objective ESR indicators, the perception of solitude and the evaluation of existing social relations modify the gendered risks of depression in older age. The findings also reveal a northwest to southeast gradient in objective ESR states, with the rates in southeast Europe to be pronounced among older women. It is concluded that objective and subjective factors at the micro and macro levels may shape gendered disadvantages among older persons who are challenged by ESR states.

Based on Swedish National Registry Data, this paper investigates the social structure of exclusion risks in late working life in Sweden by analyzing exit from working life, employment breaks, and late employment trajectories according to gender and education. Individuals born in 1950 (n = 107,830) are followed between the years 2010 and 2018. Results show that women with low education exit working life earlier and have a higher risk of employment breaks due to reduced working ability, while men with low education have a higher risk of employment breaks due to unemployment. Men in general and people with high education have a higher probability of moving to self-employment in late working life. We conclude that research and social policies require an understanding of multifarious late work trajectories to unearth the inequality of exclusion risks in the late phases of working life and the potential for interventions towards equal and inclusive prolongation.

This study examined from a gender-sensitive perspective the associations of exclusion from social relations (ESR) with the quality of life (QoL) of excluded older persons. Being satisfied with existing relations (i.e., network satisfaction) may be particularly important for the QoL of older persons with small networks, whereas the QoL of “network-less” older persons may be associated with their perception of solitude (i.e., solitude satisfaction). This study examined the moderating role of network satisfaction (NS) in the gendered associations between network size and QoL, as well as the gendered associations of solitude satisfaction (SS) with the QoL of older “network-less” persons. In addition, the comparative disadvantages in the QoL of “network-less” older persons with low-to-high SS, compared to the QoL of socially embedded persons with low-to-high NS were examined. Cross-sectional gender stratified secondary analyses of data from participants (N = 72.433) in the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) did not provide convincing evidence that a higher NS is particularly important for the QoL of older persons with smaller networks. Among older “network-less” persons, lower SS was associated with lower QoL, comparatively more so among older women. Older persons embedded in a social network with low NS, as well as older “network-less” persons with low SS, have comparatively the lowest levels of QoL. It was concluded that the subjective evaluation of social relations and the subjective evaluation of solitude are associated with gendered disadvantages in the QoL of older persons challenged by ESR.

Introduction - Many (older) workers experienced changes in their working life as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of them related to increased use of digital technologies. In this study, we aim at understanding older workers’ degree of affectedness as well as the experience of and satisfaction with technology-related changes at work during the COVID-19pandemic in Sweden.

Methods and Materials - Between June 2020 and December 2021, novel data on work during the COVID-19 pandemic was collected via a four-wave online survey (n=2901). Based on such data, which was collected in the Swedish regionÖstergötland, we modeled (a) the overall affectedness with technology-related changes at work in a sub-sample of workers aged 50 years and older, (b) the experience of specific types of technology-related changes at work in the same sub-sample, and (c) the satisfaction with technology-related changes at work in a sub-sample of 357 workers aged 50 years and older who reported to have experienced such changes.

Results - Our findings show how the experience with technology-related changes is structured along the lines of age, gender, education, occupation, and job status. Also, the satisfaction with technology-related changes proved to be unequally distributed among older workers with differences also between household and family types.

Conclusions - The results have implications for policies and practices to support equal and inclusive late working life in times of digitalisation of work.

Workplace digitalization created a sea change in work practices and it altered the situation of older workers. Digitalization entails the increased use of digital technologies, such as computers and online services. Older workers often possess limited digital skills, which may put their labor market participation at risk. Previous studies began exploring how older workers fare when their workplaces are digitalizing. However, the research field is still emerging and remains fragmented. This article comprises a systematic literature review that takes inventory of what we currently know about older workers in digitalizing workplaces. It demonstrates that older workers experience the digitalization of their workplaces in various areas, reaching from health monitoring to work arrangements. Interestingly, challenges and opportunities emerge in each area affected. This Janus-faced situation underlines the complexity of consequences, and it raises questions about social inequalities in these consequences. The work environment plays a crucial role in shaping how older workers experience workplace digitalization. It shapes which options for adaptation they have, and to which degree they can act on these options. This circumstance makes workplaces an excellent starting point for interventions. Country-characteristics likewise exert an influence. While characteristics such as retirement regulations are purposefully modified for intervention, other characteristics, such as culture, are not. This circumstance limits governmental options for shaping the situation of older workers in digitalizing workplaces. Future research should further explore the situation of older workers in digitalizing workplaces, paying special attention to the theoretical framework and to developments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although there is rich literature on factors that affect participation and exit patterns ofindividuals in late working life, the emphasis on individual decision making rather thanemployer behaviour. However, the employer’s decision to hire or terminate the contracts playimportant role in unemployment and exit of the older workers in late working life.This paper aims to understand the link between the organizational structure and the sector ofthe companies in the companies’ employing behaviour of the older employees. Using Swedishregistry data that involves all companies in Sweden that have at least one gainful employeebetween the years 1990-2018, this study investigates how do age, gender, educationcomposition, sector and the scale of the company affect its likelihood of hiring and terminatingemployment of older employees by age, gender, and education.This paper shows that the likelihood of entry and exit of older employees differ among thecompanies in different sectors as well as with different age and education composition. Thiscontributes to the inequality among the groups that are structurally distributed in differentsectors or type of companies in late working life.

Although there is rich literature on factors that affect participation and exit patterns of individuals in late working life, theemphasis on individual decision making rather than employer behavior. However, the employer’s decision to hire orterminate the contracts play important role in unemployment and exit of the older workers in late working life. This paperaims to understand the link between the organizational structure and the sector of the companies in the companies’employing behavior of the older employees. Using Swedish registry data that involves all companies in Sweden that have atleast one gainful employee between the years 1990-2018, this study investigates how do age, gender, educationcomposition, sector and the scale of the company affect its likelihood of hiring and terminating employment of olderemployees by age, gender, and education. This paper shows that the likelihood of entry and exit of older employees differamong the companies in different sectors as well as with different age and education composition. This contributes to theinequality among the groups that are structurally distributed in different sectors or type of companies in late working life.

This paper aims to contribute understanding the structure of age discrimination in late working life  by explaining the relationship between age, the duration of unemployment  and what follows unemployment. Using Swedish registry data, the duration of  unemployment  and re-employment status of age groups of 46-64 are examined. Results show that older employees are more likely to stay unemployed, less likely to find gainful employment and more likely to stay out of the labor market after unemployment.

Introduction

This text is a first full draft that includes all the planned sections and covers key aspects of late working life issues in Sweden.

Chapter 1 presents key statistical data for population structure and demographic processes in Sweden as well as labour market participation among the older groups of the population. It is mapping the main political economic discourses that frame late working life and brings in some historically important points for understanding the developments in the Swedish discourse. The aspects of the welfare regime and its transformations after the 1990s are included.

Chapter 2 briefly introduces the Swedish social model and discusses the roles of social partners and institutional context. It also informs about particularities regarding authorities and unique aspects of the Swedish social model. The most information-rich part is the presentation of the discourses and the positions of the main actors in the Swedish labour market. They actively contribute to shaping the political agenda and policy outcomes that translate into specific legislation.

Chapter 3 presents patterns and characteristics of current late working life in Sweden, and focusses on late labour market participation and exit, working conditions, sectoral distributions, and lifelong learning aspects. The main inequalities are discussed under these headings.

Chapter 4 is an account of the most influential policies for late working life in Sweden. It covers three main sections. Namely, retirement and pensions, disability insurance and policies related to the labour market inclusion. These policies are analysed regarding their impact on extending working lives as well as their potential to decrease inequalities in the labour market, in particular amongst older workers.

The text provides, finally, a brief overview of developments and policies regarding late working life in Sweden. Moreover, it sketches how these developments and policies affect inequalities in late working life. This is followed by an appendix containing additional data.

Exclusion from social relations (ESR) in older age is characterized by shortcomings in social relations and is likely to have broad and important negative consequences for quality of life (QoL). Many studies have emphasized the importance of the social network’s structure (e.g., social network size) and function for QoL in older age, yet their conjoint association with network satisfaction has been underexamined. Recent evidence suggests that older persons’ wellbeing may be affected by how satisfied they are with their social network, whereas dissatisfaction when facing ESR may be stratified by gender. This cross-sectional study set out to examine the modifying role of network satisfaction in the associations of ESR and QoL among 72,433 respondents in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The results indicate that, for older persons, having a social network, suboptimal network satisfaction and smaller network sizes are related to QoL. Those without social relations who are satisfied with a lack of relations are not in a disadvantaged position in terms of QoL compared to those who have a social network. Older “network-less” persons with suboptimal satisfaction levels due to a lack of relations are in the most disadvantaged position in terms of QoL. Men seem to be overrepresented among the “network-less” and at greater risk of having a low QoL. It was concluded that for both older men and older women, low QoL is more prevalent among those who have smaller or no social networks and suboptimal satisfaction levels, but not among those who are content with being “network-less”.

Being socially connected is a universal human need, but a substantial number ofolder men and women are or become excluded from these connections in later life. Exclusionfrom social relations (ESR) is unwanted as it undermines people’s ability to lead a healthy,active, and independent life. Policies to reduce this form of exclusion have been limited ineffectiveness, due in part to a broader lack of knowledge about the dynamics of socialexclusion in older ages and the intersection of social exclusion with gender constructions. Toadvance our understanding of ESR in later life, we develop a heuristic model based on theoriesand previous empirical studies. Considering the gendered constructing forces of ESR in olderage that can potentially lead to loneliness and reduced health and wellbeing, the modelidentifies individual drivers, such as biopsychosocial conditions, personal standards and life--course transitions, and macro-level drivers, such as norms and welfare state provisions. Thismodel can serve as a conceptual platform for further theoretical development and empiricalstudy on the gendered construction of ESR in later life. While our focus is on drivers of ESRand its outcomes, potential reversed effects are also discussed.

Während der COVID-19-Pandemie hat sich Schweden von Anbeginn auf Empfehlungen wie Kontaktreduzierung and Abstand konzentriert, aber trotz des Verzichts auf lockdownähnliche Maßnahmen standen und stehen die Menschen  wie überall vor großen Herausforderungen. Während altersbedingte Sterblichkeitsrisiken und die Rolle der stationären und ambulanten Pflege in Schweden wohlbekannt sind, ist weiterhin wenig über die Folgen insbesondere für die späte Erwerbstätigkeit bekannt. Ziel diese Beitrags ist es daher, die Auswirkungen und Pandemiefolgen in Schweden unter dem Gesichtspunkt sozialer Risiken im Bereich des Erwerbslebens und der Ungleichheit in Bezug auf Alter und Geschlecht vor den Hintergrund von Pandemie- und Gleichstellungspolitiken zu verstehen. Es werden Veränderungen und deren Bewertungen während der Pandemie und der damit verbundenen politischen Maßnahmen erörtert. Es wird vor dem Hintergrund der schwedischen Pandemiepolitiken gefragt a) Welche Veränderungen im Bereich der Erwerbsarbeit erleben Menschen unterschiedlichen Alters in Schweden? b) Wie zufrieden sind Menschen unterschiedlichen Alters mit den Veränderungen im Arbeitsleben und welches sind wichtigsten Herausforderungen? c) Hat die COVID-19-Pandemie im Hinblick auf Alter, Geschlecht einen ungleichen Einfluss auf das Erwerbsleben? 

Die Division Ageing and Social Change (www.ageing.se) der Linköping University , in Schweden hat hierzu eine Online-Umfrage mit bisher zwei Wellen durchgeführt (eine dritte Welle wird im Juni 2021 hinzugefügt). Die Stichprobenziehung erfolgte durch Online-Werbung in den größten Tageszeitungen Östergötlands mit 780.000 zufällig verteilten Seitenaufrufen im Juni und Dezember 2020 (n = 1.100 (617/483), 30-74 Jahre, gewichtet nach Alter, Geschlecht und Bildung). Die Studie wurde im Rahmen des Forschungsprogramms EIWO (www.eiwoproject.org; Forte dnr. 2019-01245) durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen Ergebnisse zu Veränderungen und deren subjektive Bewertung im Verlauf  der Pandemie: Ältere Arbeitnehmer sind anfangs allgemein weniger negativ von pandemiebedingten Veränderungen betroffen als jüngere. Auffallend sind hingegen starke Geschlechtsunterschiede hinsichtlich Auswirkungen und Bewertungen, die negativen Konsequenzen in der Gruppe der 65-Jährigen und Älteren sowie der Anteil und die Zusammensetzung der Gruppe, die von positiven Veränderungen berichtet.

Much research is conducted for evaluating digital-based solutions for healthcare among older people. However, some older people are less likely to be involved than others. We present an analysis of participation in the evaluation of a mobile-based system for monitoring post-operative progress after a day surgery in Sweden. We explore key factors associated with the unwillingness to participate and discuss the possible role of self-ageism in determining the decision not to participate. Based on field information and survey data, we compared participants and non-participants in a sample of 368 individuals aged 60 and older and modelled the individual decision to participate (or not) in the evaluation. Decliners and those who were willing to participate differ along the lines of (chronological) age, gender, job, health status, and digital skills. Age remains a significant factor explaining individual decision to participate even when controlling for other variables. Overall results indicate that very specific groups of older people are more likely to participate than others in digital health research. Age plays a major role in the decision to participate or not. Negative self-perception of being old with respect to digital health research could contribute to explaining the individual unwillingness to participate. 

Background: The use of digital technologies is increasing in health care. However, studies evaluating digital health technologies can be characterized by selective nonparticipation of older people, although older people represent one of the main user groups of health care. Objective: We examined whether and how participation in an exergame intervention study was associated with age, gender, and heart failure (HF) symptom severity. Methods: A subset of data from the HF-Wii study was used. The data came from patients with HF in institutional settings in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Selective nonparticipation was examined as resulting from two processes: (non)recruitment and self-selection. Baseline information on age, gender, and New York Heart Association Functional Classification of 1632 patients with HF were the predictor variables. These patients were screened for HF-Wii study participation. Reasons for nonparticipation were evaluated. Results: Of the 1632 screened patients, 71% did not participate. The nonrecmitment rate was 21%, and based on the eligible sample, the refusal rate was 61%. Higher age was associated with lower probability of participation; it increased both the probabilities of not being recruited and declining to participate. More severe symptoms increased the likelihood of nonrecruitment. Gender had no effect. The most common reasons for nonrecruitment and self-selection were related to physical limitations and lack of time, respectively. Conclusions: Results indicate that selective nonparticipation takes place in digital health research and that it is associated with age and symptom severity. Gender effects cannot be proven. Such systematic selection can lead to biased research results that inappropriately inform research, policy, and practice.

Die Themen Alter und Altern stehen seit längerer Zeit im Zentrum gesellschaftlichen Interesses, und dies wird mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit auch so bleiben (vgl. Schüller 1996; Niejahr 2004; Schirrmacher 2004; Wurm, Berner, und Tesch-Römer 2013 im Themenheft „Alternde Gesellschaft“ der Zeitschrift Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, sowie die Altenberichte der Bundesregierung). Für die sozial- und verhaltenswissenschaftliche Gerontologie ist es eine wesentliche Frage, welche Konsequenzen Gesellschaften wie Individuen aus der verlängerten Lebensdauer ziehen, die einerseits Ausdruck gesellschaftlichen Erfolges ist, zugleich aber auch gesellschaftliche wie individuelle Entwicklungsherausforderungen nach sich zieht. Sozial- und verhaltenswissenschaftliche Alterns- und Lebenslaufforschung undsoziale Gerontologie stellen dabei weniger eine Disziplin als vielmehr ein prototypisch multidisziplinäres Wissenschaftsfeld dar (Wahl und Heyl 2004), das vornehmlich durch die spezifische Beschäftigung mit thematischen Bereichen bestimmt ist. Ziel sozial- und verhaltenswissenschaftlicher Forschung ist es, sowohl die Bedingungen gelingenden Alterns von Individuen und Gesellschaften zu erforschen als auch Kenntnisse über jene Faktoren zu erlangen, die zu Lebenssituationen im Alter führen, in denen Hilfe und Unterstützung notwendig sind. Gegenstand sind dabei die Beschreibung von Alternsverläufen und Verteilungen sowie die Analyse von individuellen Voraussetzungen und sozialen Bedingungen vor dem Hintergrund bestehender Theorieangebote wie auch in der Anwendungsperspektive politikorientierter Alternsforschung.

Background

Healthcare services are being increasingly digitalised in European countries. However, in studies evaluating digital health technology, some people are less likely to participate than others, e.g. those who are older, those with a lower level of education and those with poorer digital skills. Such non-participation in research – deriving from the processes of non-recruitment of targeted individuals and self-selection – can be a driver of old-age exclusion from new digital health technologies. We aim to introduce, discuss and test an instrument to measure non-participation in digital health studies, in particular, the process of self-selection.

Methods

Based on a review of the relevant literature, we designed an instrument – the NPART survey questionnaire – for the analysis of self-selection, covering five thematic areas: socioeconomic factors, self-rated health and subjective overall quality of life, social participation, time resources, and digital skills and use of technology. The instrument was piloted on 70 older study persons in Sweden, approached during the recruitment process for a trial study.

Results

Results indicated that participants, as compared to decliners, were on average slightly younger and more educated, and reported better memory, higher social participation, and higher familiarity with and greater use of digital technologies. Overall, the survey questionnaire was able to discriminate between participants and decliners on the key aspects investigated, along the lines of the relevant literature.

Conclusions

The NPART survey questionnaire can be applied to characterise non-participation in digital health research, in particular, the process of self-selection. It helps to identify underrepresented groups and their needs. Data generated from such an investigation, combined with hospital registry data on non-recruitment, allows for the implementation of improved sampling strategies, e.g. focused recruitment of underrepresented groups, and for the post hoc adjustment of results generated from biased samples, e.g. weighting procedures.

Der demografische Wandel ist eine der großen aktuellen gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen. Niedrige Fertilität, zunehmende Migration und die Verlängerung der Lebensspanne verändern die Gesellschaft. Die Lebenserwartung hat im 20. Jahrhundert stetig um zwei bis drei Jahre pro Jahrzehnt zugenommen und steigt weiter. Das lange Leben bringt gesellschaftliche und individuelle Entwicklungschancen mit sich, geht aber zugleich mit bisher unbekannten Herausforderungen einher. Somit wächst der gesellschaftspolitische, wirtschaftliche und wissenschaftliche Bedarf nach Informationen über die Lebenssituationen Älterer, über die Pfade in das Alter und die Dynamiken in dieser Lebensphase. Entsprechendes Wissen und angemessene Altersbilder können durch Befragungen der betroffenen Personen generiert werden. Diese Umfragen stellen allerdings besondere Anforderungen an die wissenschaftliche Methodik.

Aim: It has been found by researchers that older adults are statistically underrepresented and associated with negative stereotypes in the mass media. Older adults are generally viewed as incompetent from stereotyped media content, which may make them socially excluded from a set of opportunities and resources. The media portrayals are conceived as value-expressive and constructing the image of older adults and ageing. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Norrköping municipality portrays citizens at different life stages in social media with a special emphasis on the use of age stereotypes in the photos used.

Method: The material consists of the photos collected from 32 Facebook accounts produced by municipal bodies during the entire year of 2018. The analysis is based on a categorization of various features of the photos in order to statistically describe the relation between signs, activities and contexts associated with distinct life stages. Further, the meaning of frequently-used symbols in the photographs is analysed.

Result: The study concludes that old age persons are numerically underrepresented in the material. A number of signs and activities in the photographs, and contexts beyond the photographs, that stereotypically corresponded to five distinct life stages (infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age) are identified. Old age is repetitively portrayed in the context of coffee drinking and foot bathing on Norrköping municipality’s Facebook page, while adolescence is depicted with practical training at high schools to an excessive degree. Besides, the result suggests that certain minorities of citizens did not show up in the municipal social media: people with disabilities, migrants, people with dementia and on forth.

Conclusion: The municipality communicates stereotypical images of life stages through associating with specific contexts in the photographic coverage. Therefore, communication professionals need to be aware of the stereotypical construction of life stages in the media.

The ability and disposition of ageing people to maintain their labour market activity and/or to retire from work structurally depend on pension systems, activation policies, ageism, changing for labor demand and economic shifts. Structural conditions are changing, but social change does not mature homogeneously and neither do the institutional shifts induced by it. Gains in opportunities and resources do not benefit all people, groups and even societies in the same way. Changes increase insecurities and life course inhomogeneity, create unequally distributed challenges and show asynchrony in shifts and outcomes. They generate new precarity in ageing and socially structured risks for exclusion in work and retirement and refer to existing later life inequalities by cohort, gender, region, education, class and ethnicity. From this perspective of ageing and social change, the paper deals with shifts in late work and retirement patterns and later-life outcomes under changing institutional conditions, focusing on gendered risks for economic exclusion and later life precarity in Sweden. Swedish registry data comprising individual work and health histories as well as employer, regional and neighborhood information on the total population 50+ ever living in Sweden 1990-2015 is used in a cohort sequential perspective. Analyses focus on gender inequalities and concentrate on occupational activities, retirement transitions and pension revenues under changing social conditions. Models find increasingly heterogeneous preretirement and transition patterns, new gender gaps and increasing risks of economic exclusion in retirement with disadvantaged groups as forerunners in overall relative declines in later-life economic positions.

Introduction The provision of healthcare services is not dedicated to promoting maintenance of function and does not target frail older persons at high risk of the main causes of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of a proactive medical and social intervention in comparison with conventional care on a group of persons aged 75 and older selected by statistical prediction.

Methods and analysis In a pragmatic multicentre primary care setting (n=1600), a prediction model to find elderly (75+) persons at high risk of complex medical care or hospitalisation is used, followed by proactive medical and social care, in comparison with usual care. The study started in April 2017 with a run-in period until December 2017, followed by a 2-year continued intervention phase that will continue until the end of December 2019. The intervention includes several tools (multiprofessional team for rehabilitation, social support, medical care home visits and telephone support). Primary outcome measures are healthcare cost, number of hospital care episodes, hospital care days and mortality. Secondary outcome measures are number of outpatient visits, cost of social care and informal care, number of prescribed drugs, health-related quality of life, cost-effectiveness, sense of security, functional status and ability. We also study the care of elderly persons in a broader sense, by covering the perspectives of the patients, the professional staff and the management, and on a political level, by using semistructured interviews, qualitative methods and a questionnaire.

Ethics and dissemination Approved by the regional ethical review board in Linköping (Dnr 2016/347-31). The results will be presented in scientific journals and scientific meetings during 2019–2022 and are planned to be used for the development of future care models.

This paper discusses research perspectives on older people’s economic exclusion in Europe as outlined within the EU COST Action CA1522 on Old-Age Social Exclusion (ROSEnet). Economic exclusion (EE) describes a process over the life course with comprehensive impact on ageing and old age. At the same time, older people’s EE is a state of marginalization in later life. As a process, it is linked to individual chances and decisions to participate in paid work, occupational activities and unpaid homework, work quality, consumption and life-styles, and retirement. EE has a basis in social class and origin, individual qualifications, changing education systems, and shifting labour markets, and it is inseparable from social policy regimes as well as from organisational policies and workplace practices. Thus, the concept is deeply rooted in economic approaches to the development of material wellbeing over the life-course and the capacity to address expected and unexpected changes in the level of material conditions and needs at different points in the life-course. Unlike traditional approaches to material wellbeing that tend to focus on the dimension of poverty and income, the concept of EE extends beyond financial aspects of material conditions to a broader perspective on individual lives. This presentation draws on international literature to shed light on the relationship between the standard economic concepts of material wellbeing and EE. The aim is to provide a knowledge synthesis of EE and its significance for individuals in later life and old age.

Aims – This research programme forms the basis for further development of the Division Ageing and Social Change (ASC) as a leading Swedish and European research institution in the field of ageing and later life. The programme defines the conceptual framework of the division as well as the structure of its research themes. In doing so, it forms a proposal for cutting-edge research on ageing and later life within the institutional context of the Department of Social and Welfare Studies at Linköping University. The programme highlights the opportunities and connecting possibilities inherent in multidisciplinary cooperation. This approach is consistent with the key requirements for innovative research on ageing and later life i.e. the need for scientific excellence plus the need for a reliable core unit within Linköping University. At the same time, the programme reflects the basic orientations of ASC’s professorships.

Conceptual basis – Research at ASC integrates analyses of social conditions with analyses of individual ageing processes. This is done within the theoretical framework of life-course research. The concept of the life-course as an institution, as a trajectory and as a lived biography within its macro-societal context is at the heart of ASCs agenda. It allows ASC to organize research from a truly multi-level perspective. ASC systematizes its multi-level- and life-course-oriented research on ageing and later life from two main angles. First, the structural and institutional dimensions of changing societies, populations and welfare systems that are related to changes in individual resources, performance and outcomes on all levels are emphasized. Second, ASC focusses on how the everyday life and health of older people are related to the social context of networks, families, local communities and local institutions and how they are embedded in macro environments such as economic and social security systems as well as their impact on these conditions.

Research themes – In researching ageing and later life from the multi-level perspective of the life-course, ASC devotes itself to three key research themes that are strongly interdependent. The first theme is ‘ageing and social structure’, and it focuses on the issues of social inequality, integration and exclusion within a changing welfare society. The second theme is ‘ageing between health and disease’ and has a focus on health behaviours, ageing with morbidities and disabilities, as well as support needs and care and care systems. The third theme is ‘ageing in context’, which deals with the changing social, technological and spatial environments of individual ageing and their impact on individual agency and autonomy. In general, ‘future ageing’ is a major focus of ASC’s research. ASC’s intent is to contribute to discussions on the future of later life in an ageing society by generating knowledge that facilitates social debate on how to configure and achieve a sustainable society for all ages in Sweden, Europe and beyond.

Agenda – Based on this comprehensive research program, ASC settles on a short-term research agenda that is adjusted on a yearly basis according to changes in scientific and societal debates, university needs and funding opportunities. The research agenda serves as a foundation for activity planning and for joint activities.