0000000000061904
AUTHOR
Riitta-liisa Heikkinen
showing 18 related works from this author
Activity as a predictor of mental well-being among older adults
2006
This eight-year follow-up study examines the roles of physical and leisure activity as predictors of mental well-being among older adults born in 1904-1923. As part of the Evergreen project, 1224 (80%) persons aged 65-84 years were interviewed at baseline (1988), and 663 (90%) persons in the follow-up (1996). Mental well-being factors including depressive symptoms, anxiety, loneliness, self-rated mental vigour and meaning in life were constructed using factor analysis. The predictors of mental well-being included physical and leisure activity, mobility status and number of chronic illnesses. We used a path analysis model to examine the predictors of mental well-being. At baseline, low numbe…
The Structure and Stability of Perceived Togetherness in Elderly People during a 5-Year Follow-Up
2004
The objective of this study was to study the structure andstability of perceived togetherness using cross-sectional and longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis models. Togetherness was measured with the self-administered Social Provision Scale (SPS). The sample consisted of 111 persons interviewed in connection with the Evergreen project’s 5-year follow-up at ages 80 and 85. One and two-factormodels were specified separately at two different pointsof measurement. The stability of the factor models’ structure and the level of latent factors was studied using longitudinal factor analysis models. The two-factor model fit the data better than the one-factor model. Perceived togetherness was …
Experienced health in older women with rheumatoid arthritis.
2007
ABSTRACT This study explored how older women with chronic illness and disability experience their own health. Data were collected in in-depth interviews with ten older women with rheumatoid arthritis. Data analysis and interpretation was carried out within a phenomenological-hermeneutic frame of understanding, which revealed five major themes: health as coping with everyday life, health as freedom, health as absence of inconvenience, health as togetherness and health as mental well-being. For older people with chronic illness and disability, good health found expression in general well-being. It was perceived as a state of equilibrium that the respondents sought to maintain through their ow…
Changes in Intensity of Physical Exercise as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults: An Eight-Year Follow-Up
2000
Abstract Background. Epidemiological research suggests that regular physical activity may be associated with reduced depressive symptoms. The present study examines the predictive value of physical exercise in relation to depressive symptoms among samples of adults aged 65+ during an 8-year period. Methods. The subjects (N = 663) who participated both at the baseline (1988) and the follow-up (1996) interviews were selected for the analyses. The dependent variable depressive symptoms was assessed by the Finnish modified version of Beck's 13-item depression scale. The independent variable was the intensity of physical exercise. Results. The intensity of physical exercise decreased among the o…
Ageing in an autobiographical context
2000
A cohort study was carried out in 1990 in Jyväskylä, central Finland among 80-year-old residents as part of the Evergreen project. A total of 262 people born in 1910 were interviewed. In addition to epidemiological data, tape-recorded narrative stories focusing on the ageing experience were collected from a subsample of 20 people (10 men and 10 women). A five-year follow-up was carried out with the same cohort in 1995. Out of the 20 people in the original subsample, 17 (8 women and 9 men) were still alive to describe their ageing experience at 85. The analysis proceeded along the hermeneutic circle in the form of dialogue, first with the elderly narrators and then with the tape-recorded mat…
The association of socio-economic factors with physical and mental capacity in elderly men and women
2000
The association of socio-economic factors with functional capacity has received less research attention than their association with diseases and mortality. However, functional capacity is an important measure of health and independence in the elderly. This study explores the associations of socio-economic factors with physical and mental capacity as measured in laboratory tests and on the basis of self-report. The data were drawn from the Evergreen project, comprising all persons aged 75 (N=388) and 80 (N=291) in Jyväskylä, central Finland. Women with a higher level of education showed better functional capacity on all indicators, among men higher education was only associated with better v…
Mental well-being: a 16-year follow-up among older residents in Jyväskylä.
2009
Abstract This study investigated changes in perceived depression, anxiety and loneliness during a 16-year follow-up among elderly Jyvaskyla residents born in 1914–1923. A further concern was with how perceived atmosphere in the formative environment was reflected in depression, anxiety and loneliness in old age. The first phase of the study took place in 1988 when interviews were conducted with 635 persons (241 men and 394 women). Depression and anxiety were assessed using the Finnish modified version of Beck's 13-item depression scale (RBDI), which was completed fully by 74% of the interviewees. Loneliness was assessed with a single four category item. In the second phase of the study in 1…
Depressive symptoms in late life: a 10-year follow-up
2003
The objectives of this study were to describe the changes occurring in depressive symptomatology over a 10-year period among 75-year-old residents of Jyväskylä, Finland. It also addressed the question of whether the mood disturbances detected were a permanent phenomenon or whether they had a more episodic nature. In addition, various associations with and predictors of low mood were studied. Depressive symptoms were screened with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).The cut-off point of 16 was used to distinguish depressed individuals from those classified as non-depressed. A baseline study was carried out in 1989 (n = 337). A 5-year follow-up was carried out with t…
Does Social Activity Decrease Risk for Institutionalization and Mortality in Older People?
2012
Objectives. Social inactivity predicts adverse health events, but less is known about how different dimensions of social activity are related to health. The aim of this study was to investigate collective (e.g., cultural and organizational activities) and productive (e.g., helping others) social activity as predictors of risk for mortality and institutionalization in old age. Method. A total of 1,181 community-living people aged 65–84 years at baseline were interviewed face to face as part of the Evergreen project, in Jyvaskyla, Finland in 1988. Time to institutionalization and mortality were analyzed in separate models for proportional hazard regression on mortality and competing risks ana…
Two approaches to the study of experiences of health and old age: the thematic interview and the narrative method
1994
This paper discusses two methods of data collection for the study of experienced health and old age: the thematic interview and the narrative method, both of which represent the interpretive research paradigm. Two applications of the method are described: the thematic interview was used in a study of patient experiences of health and nursing, and the narrative method in a study of experiences of ageing. The role and utility of the methods are discussed from the point of view of nursing research.
Perceived social support and mortality in older people.
2006
Objectives This study examines the effect of perceived social support on all-cause mortality at a 10-year follow-up as well as the plausible mediating factors in this association. Methods We measured perceived social support in 206 Finnish men and women aged 80 years old by using the Social Provision Scale, which consists of six dimensions: attachment, social integration, opportunity for nurturance, reassurance of worth, reliable alliance, and guidance. Results By using a theoretical framework that divided perceived social support into assistance-related and non-assistance-related support, we found that the risk of death was almost 2.5 times higher in women in the lowest tertile of non-assi…
The experience of ageing and advanced old age: a ten-year follow-up
2004
This paper presents, analyses and interprets expressions of the experience of advanced old age based upon the concepts of the French phenomenologist, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger. During 1990, 262 older residents of the city of Jyväskylä in central Finland were interviewed. They were born in 1910 and aged 80 years at the time. In addition to collecting epidemiological data, the narrative stories on the ageing experience of a sub-sample of 20 respondents (10 men and 10 women) were tape-recorded. A five-year follow-up was carried out with the same cohort in 1995, when 17 of the original sub-sample of 20 were still alive. Unlike five years previously, mos…
The impact of structural and functional characteristics of social relations as determinants of functional decline.
2004
Objectives This study examines whether aspects of social relations at baseline are related to functional decline at 5-year follow-up among nondisabled old men and women. Methods The investigation is based on baseline and follow-up data on 651 nondisabled 75-year-old persons in Jyvaskyla (Finland) and Glostrup (Denmark). The analyses are performed separately for men and women. Possible selection problems were considered by using three outcome measures: first, functional decline among the survivors (n = 425); second, functional decline, including death, assuming that death is part of a general decline pattern (n = 565); and third, mortality (n = 651). Social relations were measured at baselin…
Social relations in older adults: Secular trends and longitudinal changes over a 16-year follow-up.
2010
Abstract Drawing on population studies in Finland, we investigated secular trends and longitudinal changes in social relations. The cohort comparison data comprised on 974 persons aged 65–69 years from three cohorts born between 1919 and 1939 and interviewed in 1988, 1996 and 2004. Longitudinal analyses were conducted for 635 persons aged 65–74 years over a 16-year follow-up at three measurement points. Social relations were studied on the basis of frequency seeing one's offspring, perceptions of the sufficiency of these contacts, and by asking whom the participants considered as their closest person and how often and in how many tasks they helped someone. The cohort comparisons showed that…
Depressive symptoms in late life : Results from a study in three Nordic urban localities.
1995
The prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms among 75-year-olds were examined in three Nordic urban localities: Gothenburg, Sweden (n=446), Jyvaskyla, Finland (n=382) and Glostrup, Denmark (n=541). Depressive symptomatology was assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Prevalence figures for depressiveness seemed to be somewhat higher in Jyvaskyla than in the two other localities. Women had more depressive symptoms than men in all three areas. The lowest mean score was recorded for Danish men and the highest level of symptoms in Finnish women. The associations discovered in this Nordic comparative study between demographic characteristics and depre…
Patterns of Experienced Aging with a Finnish Cohort
1993
A cohort study of eighty-year old residents in Jyväskylä (pop. 66,000), central Finland, was carried out in 1990 as part of the EVERGREEN-project. A total of 262 persons born in 1910 were interviewed in the cohort study. The survey data produced a fairly accurate picture of the respondents' objective situation. In order to shed further light on how the respondents felt about growing old, tape recorded narrative stories were collected from a subsample of twenty persons (10 women and 10 men). The stories revealed the subjective meanings and evaluations attached by the individuals concerned to their own aging. Being members of the same culture and the same age cohort, they also shared the sam…
Factors related to carrying out everyday activities among elderly people aged 80
1994
The study was based on an epidemiological model in which performing activities of daily living (ADL) was the dependent variable. Variation in performing was explained by physical and mental health, and by physical performance. The population consisted of all 80-year-old residents (N = 291) of the city of Jyväskylä in central Finland; 90% of them agreed to take part in the interviews at home, while 72% took part in the laboratory examinations to determine health status and functional capacity. Difficulties in at least some PADL (Physical Activities of Daily Living) tasks were reported by 86.5% of the men, and 87.2% of the women; none said they could perform all IADL (Instrumental Activities …
Predictors of perceived togetherness in very old men and women: A 5-year follow-up study
2006
Abstract Although a considerable amount of research has been carried out on older adults’ social ties, most of it has focused on quantitative aspects and on cross-sectional samples. In this study, the subjective aspect of social interaction is described by the concept of perceived togetherness. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which different factors predict perceived togetherness in men and women over a 5-year period. It also addresses the question of whether it is possible to identify different subgroups in perceived togetherness. The data were collected with structured interviews and laboratory tests from 225 elderly people at ages 80 and 85. The results showed that the…