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Based on a brief analysis of Bulgaria’s benchmarks under the EU’s “Education and Training 2020” strategic framework, the article presents the state and trends of the adult learning sector and some new aspects in order to make progress. Discussed is the participation of the population aged 25 – 64 in formal or non-formal education and training, the situation of early school leavers is analysed. Based on the data analysed, it is made the conclusion that the adult learning sector in 2017 state is improving but the positive changes achieved are not large enough to ensure that the national targets set for the most important indicators – participation of adults in education and training and the number of early school leavers.
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The article is devoted to a problem of social work in Ukraine – the European Union help to internally displaced persons as a special category of citizens which appeared in Ukraine because of military conflict on Donbass, which is provided through educational work with social workers in new social, economical and political conditions. The aim of the article is to represent theoretical basis and methods of organization of educational work with social workers in the field of informative and explanatory work with internally displaced persons by the means of multidisciplinary brigades coming to the places of their compact residence. The authors of the article are the first ones to substantiate and explain scientific approaches to such kind of educational work (competent, family-centered, androgynous, activity, multidisciplinary, ‘help for self-help’) and taking it as basis explain content, forms and methods of social workers.
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The article analyses the contemporary role of the elderly in a village community through the lens of the local notions and practices related to “Islam“ and“communism“. These two ideological commitments can be found only among the elderly people. The members of the younger generations show respect but also stay at significant distance from religious practice. They unanimously consider communism as an ideology that is fading away. In spite of this lack of engagement, over the past three decades, the tensions between the local expressions of Islam and communism, as well as their numerous entanglements, have played a key role in shaping social relationships, moral reasoning and community cohesion in the village. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a village located in the southern part of the central Rhodope Mountains.
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With its fifth edition in 2019, the festival ‘Na Megdana na Drugata Bulgaria’ (At the Public Square and Gathering Point of the Other Bulgaria) establishes itself as one of the main events for Bulgarian emigrants in Europe. It gathers folklore enthusiasts and besides a dancing stage, it is a ground for new friendships, meetings, and exchange of expertise. The article examines the festival as a place of contact of informal migration-based groups of interest and as a trigger for developing an imagined community around symbols such as origin, clothes, music, dance and food. The ‘megdan’ is considered a community centre existing mainly in people’s mind but not as a geographic location. The article searches for the link between the event and the ways of preserving and transmitting cultural heritage in migration. The study was conducted in three stages: a preliminary online survey; fieldwork in the period May 10 – 12, 2019 in La Nucia, Spain; an additional digital data gathering.
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The starting point of our paper is that the capitalist socioeconomic system treats life-reproducing reproductive work and one of its forms, care as free resources, as individual responsibilities, placing their costs on families and households, especially women. The low level of state engagement and the emergence of for-profit market services further exacerbate the crisis of care as well as inequalities in care. In the paper, we first introduce grassroots cooperatives and initiatives in the field of elderly care and child care that revalue and reorganize care in a participatory, democratic and solidarity-based way in order to strengthen carers as well as those with care needs, and to improve the quality of their lives. These include workers’ (carers’) cooperatives, users’ cooperatives (cooperatives of people with care needs), multistakeholder cooperatives and mothers’ centers, the communities of women with small children. We then introduce political movements struggling for the systemic transformation of reproductive work and care. We argue that the institutions of care should be owned and controlled by communities, while the state should continue to play a coordinating, funding and regulatory role in meeting needs and recognizing care work.
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In the context of constant population aging, digital technologies are required especially for communication and geriatric care. However, before a large-scale deployment could be implemented, the general technological acceptance level should be assessed. The paper aims to descriptively analyze the perception of aging adults on mobile technology. Based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the variables considered are emotional attachment on technology, actual use, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and behavioral intentions. Methodologically, a set of semi-structured interviews have been conducted. The results show that although individuals love their mobile devices and although they perceive them as being useful, the devices are not easy to be used and there are numerous concerns regarding technology. Paradoxically, while they claim the like owning smart devices, they consider them too complex and intrusive.
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Ontario’s action plan for seniors recognizes that seniors have health and education needs, among other needs (Gouvernement de l’Ontario, 2017). To partially meet these needs, we have proposed an innovative gerontagogical approach by combining two existing concepts: narrative gerontology with digital storytelling. Thus, by this new concept of Digital Narrative Gerontology, we give seniors a special place for the elaboration of the message they wish to bequeath to other generations, by creating together their life testimonies in digital form easy to share, while mutually acquiring new digital skills and exploiting the benefits of narrative gerontology, such as well-being, aging well, resilience and wisdom, but also informal and intergenerational learning. Communication was important on two levels: between the elder and the researcher during the oral narration and the creation of the digital narration in a relationship of mutual trust as well as in the form of digital testimony with a key message to transmit, during the broadcast of the digital narration. This research also made it possible to respond to the curiosity of the elders for new matters in a reassuring framework, adapted to their level, while respecting their learning pace and the choices of knowledge that they wish to acquire. Seniors were proud to share their digital creation with those they had chosen, thus opening the space for discussions, exchanges, emotions and the open door to a new intergenerational “narrative” and social interactions - sources of learning.
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The increase of computer-mediated communication use and the aging population has led to a renewed interest in online communities and social networks for active aging and social support in daily living. However, a systematic understanding of the design recommendations in Senior Online Communities is still lacking in scientific documentation. The aim of this paper is to identify the design recommendations used in online communities that support active aging. In addition, this paper highlights some of the benefits of using online communities by older adults. Twenty-three papers published between January 2015 and May 2020 in English-language, peer-reviewed publications, met inclusion criteria. The review presents a set of recommendations for designing online communities to enhance older adults’ social interactions. A process that aims for “engagement” is suggested to strategically guide the design of Senior Online Communities: Interacting – Sense of Belonging (Role-playing, Storytelling, and Legacy) – Engaging.
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The role of media and communication technologies in increasing the quality of life of the elderly is today a key topic in academic and policy debates. This article discusses findings from a study into the way public policy frames the role of technologies in later life. The aim of our study was to critically investigate the policy discourses on ‘old age’ and on the role of digital ICT in fixing challenges associated with ageing. Our focus was on digital inclusion policies of the UK and Italy, two countries experiencing similar trends in population ageing but different ICT diffusion patterns. We found that an age-based understanding of digital technology use was quite common, as was an enthusiastic embracing of the role of digital ICT in the implementation of Active Ageing and Information Society goals. We also found that the understanding of the role of digital technology and its relationship to (old) age has been changing over the last decade, starting to reflect social complexity as ICT diffusion increases among older age groups.
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ociety is ageing at an unprecedented pace. In tandem, the number of technology-enabled solutions targeted at older adults continues to rise. It is therefore important to understand how to best communicate these solutions to seniors and facilitate use and adoption. To develop an understanding of what could be an improved strategy of communication and media content delivery for companies that provide older adults with technology-based solutions is the goal of this research. Aware of the potential stereotypes that may emerge towards the ageing population, this paper takes a special interest on ageism and gender to determine imbalances. With this in mind, this paper conducts an in-depth case study of the online presence of a company that developed a digital product for seniors that has been nominated for a Prize on Best Practice on Active and Healthy Ageing. Findings concerning the communication strategy of the company are extracted based on the analysis of their website and their five social media profiles. In total 120 posts were inspected, containing 120 text excerpts, 352 pictures, and 21 videos. Results show that the organisation sustains a continuous engagement with both seniors and the seniors’ organisations that use their product, privileging a relationship of close proximity. The representation of older adults is one that shows exceptionally happy and active seniors, who are surrounded by an aura of admiration. There seem to be no considerable differences with regards to gender.
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The question posed in the call “How the widespread of new technologies are changing the norms and practices of the later life?” was transformed in the main motivation to write the paper. LOCUS scientific research project addresses the subjects of Internet of Things, its impact in maintenaince and sustainability of Cultural Heritage and the important role of older generations to these operations. What the research team noticed is that sometimes it is the dissemination of technologies (and accompanying infrastructures) that promote their use and the creation of the need. And when the technologies do not exist, the infrastructures are compromised and/or nonexistent. It is considered that there is a before and an after period in the way in which the implementation of technological projects influences rural areas and older people. This also means that there is a high relevance in the second question of the call “How social actors, groups, institutions and mainstream media provide, spread or constrain ways of growing older via digital devices?” But also, a high importance of the project developed for the scientific knowledge advancement in the study areas (Communication, Technology, Sociology, Demography, Geography, etc.). The main conclusions of the paper are that digital technologies contributes to those Cultural Heritage maintenaince and sustainability, however, this is only possible with the mediation of oler people. Consequently, those people need to know or learn how to manage digital media and technology in order to contribute for the projects and technology development. Older people aim to participate in these projects and that also influences on their proficiency on technologies (on a win-win basis).
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Academic interests on the impact of media on individuals’ lives often highlight differences in knowledge across generations. The spread of disinformation and its potential impact on societies has added a new dimension to this process - the need to continuously improve media and information literacy (MIL). Thus, the older generations face greater challenges, as they need to acquire new skills more rapidly and on a larger scale. This article analyses interrelations between encouragement measures (implemented by media policy makers) and media literacy perception of middle-aged and older population in Latvia (aged 55 to 75). The research employs data of two national representative surveys (May 2019, 1017 respondents; August 2019, 1005 respondents) that include data on respondents’ perception of MIL and test their media literacy skills. The theoretical background of this paper is supported by literature that discusses age and generations in context of media and technology use (Aroldo, 2014), and the Ideological model of literacy (Street, 1984; 1994). Data shows that a higher proportion of middle-aged and older respondents, compared to other age groups, are not interested in MIL issues and evaluate their MIL competences as rather low, but in the everyday practice their ability to recognize and evaluate information is equivalent to that of other age groups.
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This article analyses the efforts for establishing and operating the first elders’ care institutionsin Albania during the monarchical regime of Ahmet Zogu and the fascist occupation. Based on archival documents, a detailed description is given of the Albanian authorities' efforts to found a care institution for the elderly, of the taxes collected for this purpose, of the negotiations between the central and the local institutions during the process, of the justifications encouraging the payments of those taxes made by the state representatives. In addition, a comparative analysis is offered of the main dimensions of social care with the social care conceptualized and provided by the Albanian state. The concept of social care is broader than that only for the elderly, but in this article, only social care for the elderly is considered. The basic concept of the Albanian state is that the main provider of elders’ social care is the family. Only a few individuals, who do not have families or stable incomes, should be taken care of by the state institutions and their care would be paid through special taxes.
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The study is in the field of зsychogerontology/psychogeriatrics, but it is in touch also with a range of humanitarian sciences. The study on self-evaluations, values and mental health has been cross-sectional and longitudinal. 708 persons (341 men and 267 women) aged 70 to 98 years, constituting a 20% random sample of the population 70 and over from 45 villages near Sofia were studied in 1971–1972. A test of self-evaluation of the personality and its social coherence is used along with nine psychological cognitive tests, an interview and a comprehensive medical and psychiatric examination. The group studied is homogeneous in ethnic, social-cultural and migration respect. In addition to the cross-sectional appraisal, a longitudinal assessment has been performed in intervals of 3, 5, 10, and a maximum of 16 years. Finally, an attempt at time-lag examination of old people 70 and over from two of the previous villages was performed in 2008, i.e. 36 years after the initial study – in different social and political conditions.
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The expansion of the financial intermediation and the diversification of the financial products for consumers generates enormous academic interest in the field of the financial education. The exponential development of the technology in the financial services also encourages the theory and policy to promote financial education. In this environment, consumers can hardly catch up with the expertise of the financial institutions. Thus, the information asymmetry widens, leading to significant adverse consequences for both consumers (indebtedness, financial exclusion, and financial losses) and financial intermediation (reduction of the client base, shocks on demand). The purpose of this study is, by analyzing the development of the personal finance theory, the regulatory framework and policy, to identify the issues and the risks in the context of the contemporary challenges. The article reveals the specifics of the students’ personal finances, which also defines the educational approaches and emphases to overcome the risks of low-quality education. Defined are the main guidelines of the training aimed at preventing excessive indebtedness at this early age, acquiring skills for choosing the most suitable financial products, diversifying personal income and promoting investment activity.
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