Page 9 - Adelaide Journal of Social Work

Subjective Wellbeing/127
Concept Definition
As nations confront an ageing population with growing demands for appropriate
social and mental health services, a predominantly institutional care system has
shifted toward a range of supportive community care option for seniors (Berkman,
Sharma & Kaplan 2015).
For this study the major concept taken is healthy ageing. Here, healthy ageing can
be understood as “optimizing opportunities for good health, so that older people
can take an active part in society and enjoy an independent and high quality of life”
(Swedish Institute of Public Health 2006 - A Challenge for Europe). Ageing is not
necessarily a burden, and it does not necessarily decrease a person’s ability to
contribute to society, older people can make valuable and important contributions
to society and enjoy a high quality of life. But this depends on treating ageing as an
opportunity rather than a burden, and taking a so-called ‘assets-based approach’.
Showcasing practical examples of health promotion interventions and identifying
initiatives which ensure healthy ageing is an important activity to confirm that the
concept is implemented. Creating an age-friendly environment is one of the most
effective approaches to respond to healthy ageing needs.
The application of wellness as a concept has expanded over the last 50 years
across disciplines (Miller, 2005). In his pioneering work to develop wellness as a
concept, Halbert Dunn (1958, 1959) observed that while goals to extend life
expectancy were coming to fruition, older adults were not typically valued in our
society. The pursuit of wellness in older adults, he argued, would move our society
toward supporting not only longevity, but also vitality (Dunn, 1959). The concept
of wellness is commonly used in nursing, but its relevance to older adults remains
vague.
In a research “The Impact of Sustained Engagement on Cognitive Function in
Older Adults: The Synapse Project” the hypothesis that sustained engagement in
learning new skills that activated working memory, episodic memory, and reasoning
over a period of 3 months would enhance cognitive function in older adults was
tested (Kane & Kane, 1984). In three conditions with high cognitive demands,
participants learned to quilt, learned digital photography, or engaged in both activities
for an average of 16.51 hour a week for three months. Results at post-test indicated
that episodic memory was enhanced in these productive-engagement conditions
relative to receptive-engagement conditions, in which participants either engaged in
non-intellectual activities with a social group or performed low-demand cognitive
tasks with no social contact.

Adelaide Journal of Social Work, 4:1 (2017) : 127-137