Centre for Policy on Ageing



Very-old rural adults — functional status and social support
Author(s)	Vira R Kivett, Michelle L Stevenson, Christine H Zwane
Journal title	Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol 19, no 1, March 2000
Pages	pp 58-77
Keywords	Health [elderly] ; Mental health [elderly] ; Self care capacity ; Mobility ; Informal care ; Rural areas ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	This 20-year follow-up study examined the physical, psychological and social outcomes and social supports of 49 survivors of an original sample of 418 older people who were aged 65+ in 1976 living in a rural part of North Carolina (NC). Most of them lived alone but received regular assistance. Families - especially adult children - were their primary social supports. Very few formal supports were used. Psychological well-being among the very old was good as expressed through life satisfaction and morale, despite multiple health problems and moderate levels of dependence on others for activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal data from this study support the need to rethink issues of social support, independence, and family relationships in very old age. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-000418404 A
Classmark	CC: D: CA: C4: P6: RL: 3J: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.