{"title":"The Barriers and Opportunities of Foreign Care Workers in Japan.","authors":"Yasufumi Kochi","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2555474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2025.2555474","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Japan is expanding acceptance of foreign care workers as its population ages. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 workers in Japanese care settings and analyzed their experiences qualitatively. Barriers-psychological, situational, and institutional-included difficulties with linguistic and cultural understanding, challenges in acquiring specialized terminology, insufficient career support, and weak daily living support systems. Opportunities included acquiring advanced care knowledge and skills and building trusting relationships with older adults. In building relationships with older adults across cultures, professional expertise was embodied beyond awareness and enhanced care quality. Findings suggest institutional and workplace reforms to leverage workers' strengths.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"1-31"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145240100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kathleen Abrahamson, Tetyana Shippee, Heather Davila, Greg Arling, Rosalie Kane
{"title":"Community Discharge Among Long-Stay Nursing Home Residents: The Discharge Planner Perspective.","authors":"Kathleen Abrahamson, Tetyana Shippee, Heather Davila, Greg Arling, Rosalie Kane","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2516260","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2516260","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Planning for discharge is common among nursing-home residents who enter the facility for a short-term rehabilitative stay. More challenging is community discharge among long-stay residents who have been in a nursing-home beyond the Medicare funded rehabilitation period. The current manuscript describes an analysis of interviews conducted with 42 nursing-home discharge planners in the context of a statewide policy to promote nursing-home to community discharge among long-stay residents. Identified themes from the analysis include a focus on newly admitted residents, starting early, multi-disciplinary planning, lack of available community services, financial concerns, and balancing resident safety with the desire to return home.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"1017-1033"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144250295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lena Rebecca Richardson, Sarah L Canham, Rachel Weldrick, Jill Hoselton, Alison Grittner, Christine A Walsh
{"title":"\"I Feel Like a Somebody Again\": Ethics of Care at a Shelter for Older Adults Fleeing Abuse in Canada.","authors":"Lena Rebecca Richardson, Sarah L Canham, Rachel Weldrick, Jill Hoselton, Alison Grittner, Christine A Walsh","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2468314","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2468314","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abuse against older adults is an under-researched pathway to older adult homelessness. This paper fills a gap through a secondary data analysis of qualitative interviews with five providers and 10 clients from a homeless shelter serving older adults fleeing abuse. Drawing on a feminist ethics of care framework, we explored the role of care in participants' experiences of shelter life and what aging in the right place meant to them, identifying three themes: 1) cultivating trust and relationship-building between providers and clients; 2) caregiving, mutual care, and collective care among clients; and 3) lack of care and processes of repair.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"933-955"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143473349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David R Hodge, Lin Jiang, Robin P Bonifas, Fei Sun
{"title":"Administrators in Chinese Faith-Based Nursing Homes Providing Dementia Care: Ascertaining Their Primary Stressors and Coping Strategies.","authors":"David R Hodge, Lin Jiang, Robin P Bonifas, Fei Sun","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2512065","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2512065","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Chinese population of older adults is the largest in the world and growing rapidly. Faith-based nursing homes are key players in the provision of care to the most vulnerable aging groups, including adults with dementia. Yet, little is known about the challenges administrators of these facilities encounter. The present study addresses this knowledge gap by identifying the primary stressors administrators of faith-based nursing home experience and the strategies they deploy to cope with the challenges. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 administrators located in 14 Chinese provinces. The findings indicate the two most prominent stressors are: managing residents with dementia, and procuring sufficient staff, followed by financial pressures, dealing with governmental regulations, and interacting with difficult family members. The most common coping strategy was operationalizing spiritual practices (e.g. prayer), followed by addressing the cited stressors (e.g. recruiting staff continuously) and using personalized strategies (e.g. walking in nature). The mean level of salience assigned to spiritual coping was 9.43 (<i>SD</i> = 1.40) on the 0-10 scale, indicating spirituality was a critical resource for most respondents. The findings underscore the importance of supporting administrators' spirituality to help mitigate burnout and maintain a high level of functioning in the face of significant challenges.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"997-1016"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144209884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender Identity, Sexuality, and LGBTI Perspectives in Swedish Dementia Care Policies.","authors":"Anna Siverskog, Linn J Sandberg","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2472971","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2472971","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study aims to explore articulations of gender identity, sexuality, and LGBTI perspectives in national as well as local dementia care policies and guidelines in Sweden. The analysis of the documents is influenced by Bacchi's WPR-approach. The analysis illustrates how there is a general silence on gender identity, sexuality, and LGBTI perspectives in policy. LGBTI perspectives tend to be addressed separately from people with dementia and most often present as potential grounds for discrimination. LGBTI people with dementia appear to be non-existent, and gender identity and sexuality irrelevant to dementia care and person-centered approaches, and by extension irrelevant to personhood.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"956-977"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143558351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adrian Landwehr, Laura Pollack, Svenja Schütt, Elisabeth Kals
{"title":"\"Telephone Angels\" Against Loneliness: Experimental Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Telephone Partnerships with Older Adults.","authors":"Adrian Landwehr, Laura Pollack, Svenja Schütt, Elisabeth Kals","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2450210","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2450210","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Loneliness affects many older adults. As part of the \"Telephone Angel\" project, telephone partnerships between volunteers and older adults affected by loneliness were designed to counteract experiencing loneliness. Volunteers (100 ≤ <i>N</i> ≤ 114) and older adults who are (22 ≤ <i>N</i> ≤ 45) and who are not (25 ≤ <i>N</i> ≤ 71) part of the project were surveyed twice. Concerning loneliness, telephone partnerships increased the sense of community (<i>d</i> = .38). Older adults' life satisfaction increased (<i>d</i> = .46) as well. Stigmatization increased between the survey periods for those inside and outside the project (.21 ≤ <i>d</i> ≤ .35).</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"911-932"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143013683","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Does Social Participation Affect the Associations Between Depression, Life satisfaction, and IADL Disability in Middle-Aged and Older Adults? A Longitudinal Mediation and Moderation Model.","authors":"Manman Peng, Pengfei Wang","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2525273","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2525273","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined the longitudinal associations and mechanisms between Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) disability and depression among middle-aged and older adults. Using data from three waves (2015, 2018, 2020) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a cross-lagged model was employed. It revealed that IADL disability predicted depression, with life satisfaction as a mediator. Social participation trajectory moderated these longitudinal associations, with a higher trajectory reducing negative effects of IADL disability on depression by enhancing life satisfaction. The findings suggest that promoting social participation to improve life satisfaction may help prevent depression associated with IADL disability.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"1034-1053"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144620880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thomas Noordink, Jesper Tijmstra, Lisbeth Verharen, René Schalk, Tine Van Regenmortel
{"title":"The Development and Validation of the Psychological Empowerment Scale for Older People.","authors":"Thomas Noordink, Jesper Tijmstra, Lisbeth Verharen, René Schalk, Tine Van Regenmortel","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2024.2441266","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2024.2441266","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Empowerment is a central paradigm in the care for older people. Social work requires measuring instruments to be able to meaningfully justify its efforts and interventions. This study aims at the validation of the Psychological Empowerment Scale for Older People, a measuring instrument build on this operationalization. The PESOP was administered to a large sample and completed by 398 older people in the Netherlands. The results provided evidence for a single-factor scale consisting of 17 items, with strong reliability and validity scores. The PESOP provides social work with a tool by which to measure the empowerment of older service users.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"889-910"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142830540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trajectories of Health Screening Uptake: Focusing on Perceived Barriers Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Korea.","authors":"Sunha Choi","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2511294","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2511294","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Health screening rates remain low even in countries like Korea with universal health coverage. This study examined how perceived barriers among nonusers in 2006 were associated with screening uptake in subsequent years (2008-2020) among 4,846 Koreans (45+), using Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging data. At baseline, 47.2% hadn't received recommended screenings. The most common perceived barriers were <i>unnecessary</i> (42.3%) and <i>lack of time</i> (21.7%). While the overall likelihood of health screening uptake increased over time, longitudinal trajectories differed by perceived barriers identified at baseline. Significant interactions between time and perceived barriers also underscored the need for tailored health promotion efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"978-996"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144152394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ceren Akar, Orhan Koçak, Umut Solmaz, Türkan Batur Başar
{"title":"Exploring Older Adults' Perceptions of Online Security and Privacy: A Phenomenological Study.","authors":"Ceren Akar, Orhan Koçak, Umut Solmaz, Türkan Batur Başar","doi":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2562403","DOIUrl":"10.1080/01634372.2025.2562403","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In today's digital era, older adults face unique challenges in adapting to technological advancements, particularly regarding online security and privacy. This study, conducted in Turkey, explores how older adults perceive and respond to digital threats. Using a phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants. Findings indicate strong concerns about personal data theft, distrust of data-sharing practices, and anxiety about digital mistakes. Participants rely on informal strategies to protect themselves. The study highlights the need for digital literacy programs and awareness campaigns, framed by the Digital Divide Theory, to strengthen older adults' confidence in navigating the digital world.</p>","PeriodicalId":47579,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gerontological Social Work","volume":" ","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145092742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}