Mobility or physical movement contributes to health and wellbeing in later life. Most studies have focused on the contribution of outdoor mobility to active ageing, but physical and cognitive impairments restrict the mobility of many older adults. This article aims to explore the gaps in the current literature on mobility in later life, and identify required innovations in the field through laying out key areas for future research. It discusses two, largely separate, areas of research, namely on mobility patterns and mobility experiences. The first focuses on quantitative and spatial research on outdoor mobility patterns in terms of routes, timing and transport modes. The second mainly concerns qualitative research on how older adults perceive mobility in their everyday lives. This article identifies three areas for future research on mobility in later life: (a) beyond outdoor movement; (b) diversity in mobility; and (c) the role of time in mobility. To conclude, addressing these areas jointly will contribute to further unpacking the concept of mobility as meaningful practice and to integrating quantitative and qualitative methods when studying mobility in later life. This will result in policy inputs on the mobility and wellbeing of our ageing population.

To gain insights into vulnerable lifecourses and give a voice to those often underrepresented in quantitative research, this study examines the life stories (past, present and future) of 19 financially excluded older adults using an adapted version of McAdams’ life-story interview scheme. Although these life stories demonstrate an accumulation of many disadvantages and an uncertain future because of current financial situations, the stories also reflect the generativity, resilience, coping strategies and agency of financially excluded older adults. We demonstrate how the experienced lifecourse is built around both negative and positive turning points and transitions which go beyond the classical education–work–retirement triumvirate, and how socio-cultural life scripts are used as a framework to build one's own life story in order to achieve continuity. The discussion highlights the potential for deploying the life-story method as a qualitative resource for providing individualised care.

Sports participation contributes to maintaining health and wellbeing in old age, hence a deeper understanding of its various determinants is necessary. Previous research has primarily focused on either the effects of individual resources or age-specific attitudes to sports participation. However, a deeper understanding of the inter-relationships between these variables is required to develop effective policies to promote sports participation in ageing societies. To address the hypothesised inter-relationships, we consider both individual resources as well as age-specific attitudes and behaviours in order to integrate them simultaneously in our analysis. Furthermore, the analysis will be differentiated according to the three social status groups. The sample contains 1,560 retired persons, aged 65 years and older, based on the fifth wave (2014) of the German Ageing Survey. Multiple Poisson regression models were estimated to test our hypotheses. After adjusting for demographic variables, greater individual resources are associated with more regular sports participation. The findings also reveal that positive age perception and healthy behaviours are related to sports participation. Slight mediation effects between the different variables can be observed. Furthermore, the effect structures vary across different social status groups. The findings show that both individual resources and age-specific behaviours and attitudes are independent determinants of sports participation in older age. Our results confirm slight inter-relationships between socio-economic resources and age-specific attitudes.

The social inclusion of people with dementia (PwD) is recognised as a global goal of legislation, societal initiatives and service provision. Ensuring the social inclusion of PwD in these areas implies that its dimensions and domains are clear and unambiguous. However, the concept of social inclusion as it is currently used by researchers and practitioners is often vague or acts as a container concept for a variety of different approaches. This paper reports on an integrative review that analysed qualitative and quantitative studies on social inclusion and exclusion of PwD. It focused not only on the empirical results of the included studies but also on the theoretical embedding and methodological approaches to the concept of social inclusion and exclusion. We find that empirical studies on the social inclusion of PwD are scarce and largely characterised by a lack of or inconsistent conceptualisation. Against this background, the operationalisation of the concept and the assessment of the individual aspects of social inclusion with standardised instruments seem to be premature. Substantial theoretical and methodological work is needed to guide research on the social inclusion of PwD. The empirical results show that relationships with other people and being integrated into social networks are essential aspects of social inclusion. Likewise, the strategies and attitudes of caring persons can help to create or reinforce exclusion.

Loneliness has become an issue of significant academic, public and policy focus. There has been much research on experiences of loneliness in later life and many accompanying interventions targeting lonely older people. However, there has been a dearth of research on the impact that loneliness can have on older men and the resulting implications for policy and practice. This paper aims to redress this by developing a theoretical framework to improve understanding of older men's constructions and experiences of loneliness. It draws on two qualitative empirical studies: the first explores older men's perceptions of masculinity and loneliness; and the second looks at the effectiveness of a service for older men which was designed to alleviate loneliness among older people more generally. The paper outlines the way in which older men often construct masculinity as an oppressive (hegemonic) requirement, but which can be reformed into ‘positive’ traits of ‘strength of mind’, ‘responsibility’, ‘caring’, ‘helping out’, ‘doing a favour’ and ‘giving something back’, with a consistent yet implicit assumption that enactment of these denotes a ‘proud’ masculine identity. Loneliness, on the other hand, is represented as a subordinate social role, both non-masculine and related to marginalising stereotypes of age. This results in the identification of two important implications for the way in which services can assist in the alleviation of loneliness in older men: that men are more likely to engage with a service that can facilitate the construction of a ‘proud’ masculine identity; and that services which deconstruct hegemonic masculinities, particularly by providing a space where men feel comfortable being emotionally tactile, are likely to be most effective at both alleviating loneliness and promoting overall wellbeing.

Neighbourhood environment has a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of older people. In recent years, the increase in older Chinese immigrants globally has attracted a growing amount of research which has investigated the health and wellbeing of these elderly residents. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic literature review of empirical findings on the health and wellbeing of older Chinese immigrants and the ways in which the neighbourhood environment impacts them. A systematic search was conducted using online databases where 52 articles met specific criteria and were subsequently reviewed critically. An inductive approach was undertaken to analyse the data extracted from the selected articles. The review was categorised according to the following themes: neighbourhood social environment, neighbourhood physical environment and place attachment. The findings show that the majority of research has investigated the health status of older immigrants, and in particular, the impacts related to the social environments in which they live. The literature review indicated that there is scope for future studies to investigate the impact of the physical neighbourhood environment on this group of people.

Whether encouraging successful ageing or labelling one as a stereotypical senior citizen, messages surrounding ageing pervade the daily lives of older adults. However, as a social status, age remains primarily in the background of older adults’ conversations, only being drawn into the focus when one is identified as older. This paper draws on interviews with members and staff of an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in the southeastern United States of America in order to examine the ways that they discuss age and ageing. These older adults’ ageing talk often focused on navigating away from negative ideas about age and avoiding labels deemed pejorative. Humour was occasionally used in identifying age, which carried potential for reinforcing as well as subverting ageism. Yet, members highlighted positive value in being older, particularly as demonstrated through participation in age-segregated education. Overall, these findings reflect the conflicting influences of deeply embedded ageist beliefs and personal desires to age successfully among this group of white, upper-middle-class, educated older adults. Ultimately, OLLI served as a protective environment for these privileged individuals, shielding the self from stereotypes otherwise present in ageing talk.

With a growing number of people reaching older age, the need for care provided in long-term care institutions is increasing. Although the goal is to deliver person-centred care that includes choice and flexibility opportunities, pre-scheduled mealtimes and set menus are still used. The aim was to explore how food choice and flexibility practices were perceived and performed by residents and staff at three care homes in Denmark. Three food journey interviews with eight residents (aged 83–96) and three focus groups with 12 people from the care and kitchen staff were conducted. Food choice and flexibility practices were mainly performed informally and selectively by the staff, and through personal practices by the residents, implying that many residents were excluded from food choice and flexibility opportunities. However, food choice and flexibility practices were also inhibited by the staff's time pressure and unfamiliarity with choice possibilities, and by the politeness of the residents. Our findings suggest that food choice and flexibility practices must be understood and performed broadly, and include various ways of listening and responding to the residents’ needs and preferences. The study highlighted the importance of incorporating the essential embodied knowledge and emotional know-how, inherent in food choice and flexibility practices, into formal and inclusive strategies concerning how to think and act in relation to the food and meal situation.

As consumer-directed care programmes become increasingly common in aged care provision, there is a heightened requirement for literature summarising the experience and perspectives of recipients. We conducted rapid evidence reviews on two components of consumer experience of home- and community-based aged care: (a) drivers of choice when looking for a service (Question 1 (Q1)); and (b) perceptions of quality of services (Question 2 (Q2)). We systematically searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases, and conducted manual (non-systematic) searches of primary and grey literature (e.g. government reports) across CINAHL, Scopus, PsychINFO, and Web of Science, Trove and OpenGrey databases. Articles deemed eligible after abstract/full-text screening subsequently underwent risk-of-bias assessment to ensure their quality. The final included studies (Q1: N = 21; Q2: N = 19) comprised both quantitative and qualitative articles, which highlighted that consumer choices of services are driven by a combination of: desire for flexibility in service provision; optimising mobility; need for personal assistance, security and safety, interaction, and social/leisure activities; and to target and address previously unmet needs. Similarly, consumer perspectives of quality include control and autonomy, interpersonal interactions, flexibility of choice, and safety and affordability. Our reviews suggest that future model development should take into account consumers’ freedom to choose services in a flexible manner, and the value they place on interpersonal relationships and social interaction.

What governs labour force participation in later life and why is it so different across countries? Health and labour force participation in older ages are not strongly linked, but we observe a large variation across countries in old-age labour force participation. This points to the important role of country-specific regulations governing pension receipt and old-age labour force participation. In addition to the statutory eligibility age for a pension, such country-specific regulations include: earnings tests that limit the amount of earnings when pension benefits are received; the amount of benefit deductions for early retirement; the availability of part-time pensions before normal retirement; special regulations that permit early retirement for certain population groups; and either subsidies or extra costs for employers if they keep older employees in their labour force. This paper asks two questions: Can we link a relatively low labour force participation at ages 60–64 to country-specific regulations that make early retirement attractive? and Can we link a relatively high labour force participation at ages 65–74 to country-specific regulations that make late retirement attractive? To answer these questions, we compared the experiences in a set of developed countries around the world in order to understand better the impact of country-specific rules and laws on work and retirement behaviour at older ages and, by consequence, on the financial sustainability of pension systems.

Physical activity is increasingly positioned as playing an important role in preventing and mitigating many of the decrements associated with biological ageing. As a result, public health messages encourage older people to remain active in later life. Despite this, physical activity participation rates among older adults are low. This may be in part related to the conventional approach to understanding physical activity participation as a product of motivation. We contend that this approach does not allow for a deeper exploration of the wider structural, historical and discursive contexts in which physical activity participation occurs. Therefore, we propose that physical activity can be reconceptualised as a career. Through a synthesis of findings from four studies exploring physical activity experiences in later life, we demonstrate that beginning and maintaining a physical activity career requires a disposition towards physical activity, the legitimation of physically active practices and dealing with contingencies. In addition, we demonstrate that maintaining a physical activity career requires investment and deliberation to adapt physical activity practices continually within an individual's own personal biography. As such, we conclude that current strategies to promote physical activity to older adults are unlikely to result in increased levels of participation. To promote physical activity to older adults an understanding of how structural, cultural and historical contexts influence participation is needed.