School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
NORC at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Gerontologist. 2023 Jan 24;63(1):169-181. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnac074.
In the United States, Latino adults are a growing segment of the aging population who will need research-informed interventions to help them age successfully. Arguably, how Latino older adults and service providers understand "positive aging" serves as an important precursor for the cultivation of such interventions. This investigation explored whether Latino older adults' conceptualizations of positive aging aligned with those of service providers.
We compared how Latino older adults (n = 93) and service providers (n = 45) rated 85 positive aging statements produced by Latino older adults. These 85 items were used to generate a concept map, which displays those items thematically by clusters and overarching regions of meaning.
We found divergences at each level of the map-statements, clusters, and regions-which illuminate differences between how service providers and Latino older adults think about Latino positive aging. For example, whereas Latino older adults prioritized the cluster containing items related to internal well-being, service providers rated it seventh of 11 clusters. The region comprising clusters related to relationships garnered the highest agreement between groups, but also a notable departure; compared to Latino older adults, service providers rated community and social involvement as less important.
Understanding such differences can help providers tailor services consistent with the interests of Latino older adults. Future studies should examine the extent to which stakeholders believe various aspects of positive aging are modifiable.
在美国，拉丁裔成年人是不断增长的老年人口群体，他们需要基于研究的干预措施来帮助他们成功老龄化。可以说，拉丁裔老年群体和服务提供者如何理解“积极老龄化”，是培养此类干预措施的重要前提。本研究旨在探讨拉丁裔老年群体对积极老龄化的概念化是否与服务提供者的概念化一致。
我们比较了 93 名拉丁裔老年群体和 45 名服务提供者对 85 项由拉丁裔老年群体提出的积极老龄化表述的评分。这 85 项表述用于生成概念图，该图通过主题集群和总体意义区域展示这些表述。
我们发现，在地图表述、集群和区域的每个层面都存在差异，这些差异阐明了服务提供者和拉丁裔老年群体在思考拉丁裔积极老龄化方面的差异。例如，虽然拉丁裔老年群体将包含与内在幸福感相关的项目的集群置于首位，但服务提供者将其评为 11 个集群中的第 7 位。包含与人际关系相关集群的区域在群体之间获得了最高的共识，但也存在明显的分歧；与拉丁裔老年群体相比，服务提供者认为社区和社会参与的重要性较低。
了解这些差异可以帮助服务提供者根据拉丁裔老年群体的兴趣调整服务。未来的研究应检验利益相关者在多大程度上认为积极老龄化的各个方面是可改变的。
