The trouble with vulnerability. Narrating ageing during the COVID-19 pandemic
In this paper, we have used the exceptional circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic as a window for investigating the ambivalent, stereotypical and often-incongruent portrayals of exceptional vulnerability and resilient self-management that define the self-constructions available for older adults. From the onset of the pandemic, older adults were publicly and homogenously presented as a biomedically vulnerable population, and the implementation of restrictive measures also raised concerns over their psychosocial vulnerability and wellbeing. Meanwhile, the key political responses to the pandemic in most affluent countries aligned with the dominant paradigms of successful and active ag…
Psychophysical burden and lack of support : Reasons for care workers’ intentions to leave their work in the Nordic countries
Long-term care of older adults is currently suffering from a shortage of trained personnel and high turnover rates. Care work is poorly paid, demanding, increasingly time-bound and both mentally and physically burdensome. In this study, we examined the individual, organisational and economic factors that predict professional care workers’ intentions to leave their current employment, using the NORDCARE survey data (2015, N = 3801) collected in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The respondents were mainly practical and assistant nurses. The analysis showed that the predictors of intentions to leave were similar in the four countries. The most consistent organisational predictors of leavin…
Health and self-perceived barriers to internet use among older migrants : a population-based study
Background:In older adults, including those with a migrant background, ill health is associated with less internet use. However, it is not known what are the specific self-perceived barriers to internet use among older migrants with different health conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between different health conditions and self-perceived barriers to internet use among older migrants.Methods:We used the Care, Health and Ageing of Russian-speaking Minority in Finland (CHARM) study, which is a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling Russian-speaking adults aged ≥50 years living in Finland (N=1082, 57% men, mean age 63.2 years, standard deviatio…