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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Promoting older women's health and well-being through social leisure environments
— what we have learned from the Red Hat Society | | Author(s) | Julie S Son, Deborah L Kerstetter, Careen M Yarnal |
| Journal title | Journal of Women & Aging, vol 19, nos 3/4, 2007 |
| Pages | pp 89-104 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Older women ; Health [elderly] ; Well being ; Group activities ; Clubs ; Social surveys ; International. |
| Annotation | Sue Ellen Cooper founded the Red Hat Society in 1998, with a mission to use age as a licence to be "silly" and build up relationships with other women. While this international organisation has no restrictions, it has a dress code: those aged 50+ are encouraged to attend events wearing red hats and purple outfits, while under 50s wear pink hats and lavender outfits. This study describes ways in which participation in this leisure organisation contributes to middle aged and older women's health and well-being. The authors analysed 1593 members' responses to a query about meaningful experiences garnered through participation in the Society. Results suggest that older women's lives have been enriched and changed by their experiences, with the women in this study citing multiple psychological health benefits from their participation in the Society. Main themes encapsulating these health benefits were creating happy moments, responding to transitions and negative events, and enhancing the self. These findings are related to research on positive psychology, social support and coping, transformative leisure processes, and social identity formation. Suggestions are made for applying these findings to leisure and health promotion programmes to enhance women's health and well-being. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-071210204 A |
| Classmark | BD: CC: D:F:5HH: HW: HY: 3F: 72 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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