Rodrigo Serrat

University of Barcelona | UB · Department of Cognition Development and Educational Psychology

Background and objectives This study analyzes critically existing knowledge concerning older people’s civic participation, pinpoints gaps in the literature, and proposes new directions for research. Research design and methods We conducted a scoping review of literature on older people’s civic participation. To conduct this review, we followed the...

Most studies on the benefits of late life civic engagement have focused exclusively on formal volunteering. Older adults' political participation is much more overlooked. The current paper explores the benefits of long-term participation in political organizations as described by actively engaged Spanish older people. We used an adaptation of McAda...

Civic engagement is one of the cornerstones of participatory democracy and fundamental to preventing old-age social exclusion. Even though civic engagement late-in-life has received considerable attention, there is a lacuna of research on older migrants’ civic engagement. This study aims therefore to examine potential predictors of civic engagement...

Narrative approaches have gained popularity as a way to understand the construction and development of political identities over a person’s life span. However, little is known about how lifetime activists remember and make sense of different types of political experiences. To overcome this gap, this study aims to explore thematic and structural fea...

Background and Objectives This study aimed to critically examine current knowledge on the role of personality in successful aging, considering McAdams’ (Hooker & McAdams, 2003; McAdams, 2015) three-level, six-foci model of personality. The aim was also to pinpoint knowledge gaps that research should address in the future. Research Design and Metho...

Civic engagement is increasingly relevant for healthy and active ageing and addressing social exclusion among older people. Current research focuses primarily on formal volunteering , overlooking other ways older people contribute to their families and communities. This study addresses these gaps by recognising civic engagement as multi-dimensional...

This study explored the role of social capital for non-institutionalised and institutionalised political participation among older adults compared to younger age groups using European Quality of Life Survey data (EQLS) from 2016 and 33 countries (n = 36,908). Multilevel logistic regression analysis was employed to assess the association between ind...

Studies about older people’s participation in artistic activities have increased. However, a deeper understanding of older artists’ adaptation to the ageing process is still lacking. The purposes of this study were to explore how older artists and craftspeople perceive age-related changes, and to examine their adaptations to these changes. We carri...

Research on older people's artistic participation has mainly focussed on its benefits. Fewer studies have addressed the antecedents of older peo-ple's artistic participation, especially barriers to artistic practices, and particularly those related with contextual factors. In this study, we examined which contextual barriers older artists perceive...

The objective of this chapter is to review the origin and historic development of the generativity concept, from its role within Erikson’s proposals to its subsequent development and more recent updates, including contributions from Kotre, McAdams, and others to the field. Methodological approaches to the study of generativity are also discussed, s...

Political participation, which is broadly aimed at generating and improving social and cultural practices, institutions, and values for assuring the continuity and well-being of current and future generations, has been considered as one potential way of expressing generativity. Although research on the relationships between political participation...

Political participation encompasses institutionalised activities such as attending meetings of a political organisation as well as non-institutionalised activities including contacting politicians, signing petitions or boycotting. Both forms of activities tend to be dependent upon birth cohort, political socialisation, and period effects like chang...

Although research into older people’s civic engagement has come a long way in the last decades, there are still some blind spots on this scholarship. Notably, the influence of neighbourhood features on in- or exclusion from civic activities, as well as the multifaceted nature of civic engagement and the dynamics of such processes across the life co...

Scholarship on old age social exclusion has identified civic engagement as a research area that deserves empirical attention. Research on older people’s civic engagement has in turn pointed out that experiencing life-course deficits in social capital, and/ or having had a life-course that does not resemble the continuity that social gerontology tak...

Civic engagement of older people remains an understudied topic in gerontological research, focusing for the biggest part on formal activities, such as volunteering and political engagement. This research proposes a more inclusive definition referring to multidimensional civic engagement which includes associational engagement, formal and informal v...

There is increasing interest across European contexts in promoting active social lives in older age, and counteracting pathways and outcomes related to social isolation and loneliness for men and women in later life. This is evidenced within national and European level policy, including the 2021 Green Paper on Ageing and its concern with understand...

Abstract: This study aims to explore the effects of childhood circumstances and conditions on the risk of exclusion from social relations in old age, using a life-course perspective and examining gender influence. Secondary analysis of SHARE. Weak and inconsistent consequences of the primary socialization context were found, however, in many cases,...

Research on older people’s artistic participation has increased. However, the inclusion of a life course theory and the examination of differences between men and women in artistic trajectories is still scarce. In this study, we explored how life course transitions influence the artistic trajectories of older people throughout the lifecycle, and an...

This study explores the reasons why older people participate in sports. A total of 463 senior athletes (M = 61.4, SD = 5.5) who are actively engaged in competitive sports disciplines participated in this study. The participants indicated their degree of agreement with reasons for practicing sport on a 4-point Likert scale with 20 items, developed o...

Active aging has been associated with both personal and social benefits. However, active aging encompasses a broad range of activities, including self-oriented and community-oriented ones. The aim of this study was to explore to what extent generativity is a key factor in differentiating between both types of activity, and to contribute to the theo...

Research on caregiving for persons with dementia has mainly focused on its negative impact on caregivers. However, while some studies have found that positive aspects of care can also be found among informal caregivers, little attention has been paid to these positive aspects among staff working in long-term care facilities. The aim of this is stud...

El estudio de la inteligencia humana ha ocupado la mente de grandes pensadores a lo largo de la historia de la humanidad. Responder al enigma de qué es la inteligencia y qué caracteriza a las personas inteligentes, sin embargo, no es una tarea sencilla. En este libro se exponen de forma breve, clara y didáctica las principales teorías que se han p...

This scoping review analyses existing literature on older adults’ participation in artistic activities. It identifes gaps in this research topic and suggests new directions for research. We followed the fve-step process defned by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) and extended by Levac et al. (2010). Four electronic databases were searched, and 129 peer-re...

Using a socioecological model as a theoretical framework, we aimed to explore the barriers to retain in competitive sport 463 senior athletes (aged 61.4 ± 5.5 years) actively engaged in sports disciplines from 4 European countries. Participants answered an open-ended question regarding perceived barriers to continued engagement in sports, and their...

Research on later-life generativity has promoted a new view of older persons that, far from the traditional images of disability, dependence and frailty, recognises their capacities, and potential to continue growing, while underlining their participation and contributions to families, communities and society. The goal of this study was to carry ou...

We explored post-traumatic growth (PTG) in older adults immediately after the forced lockdown in Spain during March to April, 2020, due to the COVID–19 pandemic. The study also tried to identify the variables that predict PTG, focusing on the experience of COVID, sociodemographic variables, and social resources. In total 1,009 people aged 55 years...

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for information-seeking, social contact and leisure activities is increasing in adults and older people. However, little is known about adults and older people who are already actively using ICTs to write a blog. The aim of this paper is to describe the benefits adults and older people ga...

Studies on older adults’ political participation have been scarce. Moreover, there is a lack of evidence concerning the experience and meaning of this participation from the perspective of those involved. This study aimed at exploring older adults’ personal narratives of political participation episodes. We conducted 40 life-story interviews with S...

Background and Objectives In the last decade, sport has been considered a tool in active aging to maintain physical fitness, improve mental wellbeing and form social relationships among older people. However, a thorough psychosocial understanding of the phenomenon of older athletes competing in sports events is lacking. Most research has focused on...

Objectives: The present study aims to explore the perception of common and best practices for dealing with resistance to eating of persons with dementia living in long-term care facilities. Methods: Forty-two staff members working in long-term care facilities were interviewed. They worked in four Spanish long-term care facilities; 21 were nursing a...

The aim of this study is to explore how staff manage apathy involving a person living with dementia (PLWD). Forty-two staff members working in four Spanish long-term care facilities were interviewed; 21 were nursing assistants and 21 technical staff. They read a vignette about a PLWD presenting apathy. Participants were asked (1) how a situation li...

Generativity is the task attached to middle-age in Erikson’s influential developmental theory. From this point of view, it has been defined as a concern for caring for and guiding the next generation and, in more general terms, for being productive and contributing to the well-being and improvement of families, communities and society as a whole. T...

Research on older people’s civic engagement has increased significantly in the last two decades, as have policy and practice initiatives aimed at promoting civic engagement among older adults. However, the growing interest of researchers and policy-makers in older people’s civic engagement has not been mirrored by a parallel effort to define what c...

Social exclusion in later life remains a major challenge for ageing societies. Despite widespread acceptance of its multidimensional nature, research and policy debates have tended to focus on exclusion from material resources or social relations, overlooking other recognised dimensions of social exclusion. In this context, exclusion from civic eng...

Living in a long-term care (LTC) institution provides older people experiencing health and social problems with a comprehensive range of support services that address their quality of life. Despite access to such services, challenges arise in relation to their participation in key activities both within and outside the institution. This chapter exa...

Studies on older adults' civic engagement have been dominated by a win-win narrative, which assumes that the activity is beneficial both for the individuals involved and for communities. However, civic engagement may also be a source of negative experiences. The aim of this study was to understand these experiences in greater depth through an analy...

This study is aimed at exploring to what extent staff perceive older residents in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) as still having sexual needs, and how they think care in relation to sexual issues could be improved. The sample was self-selected and comprised 2115 staff members (including managers, technical and care assistants) employed at 152 Sp...

Although the concept of “active aging” has been widely used as a framework to underpin an optimistic view of aging, few studies have focused on the activities it encompasses and what participants learn. The aim of this study was to explore and compare the learning outcomes acquired from different active aging activities. A sample of 448 people aged...

This study aimed to explore which kinds of residents’ sexual expressions cause the most discomfort to staff and to determine the situational circumstances that might be related to this perception of discomfort. The sample was made up of 1895 front-line care staff employed at 152 Spanish long-term care facilities. Participants’ answers to an open-en...

Objectives: To explore the extent to which staff members in long-term care facilities (LTCF) have experienced situations of sexual harassment, how they commonly and ideally manage the situation, and how their work position influences their responses. Design: Cross-sectional quantitative study, using the vignette technique. Method: A total of 2,196...

This study explores the difficulties that older lesbian, gay and bisexual residents may encounter when attempting to express their sexuality while living in long-term care facilities (LTCF), as perceived by staff. The sample was made up of 1714 staff members working in 152 Spanish long-term care institutions for older people. Answers to an open-end...

This study aims to explore attitudes towards age-discrepant relationships and examine the influence of variables such as gender, generation and culture on such attitudes. The sample was made up of 1,510 participants divided into three age groups (18–29, 60–69 and 70 years and over) from eight Latin American countries. Participants’ answers to two i...

The number of international migrants around the world has steadily increased, as has the number of people that belong to the older segments of our populations. Due to these demographic transformations, topics that have yet to receive scholarly attention have begun to receive the attention of research communities. This article aims to expand the soc...

Aims and objectives: To explore staff reactions to residents' behaviour consisting in exposing their genitals in public, and to differentiate between what is perceived as common practice (what most staff do) and best practice (the best possible approach). Background: The presence of inappropriate sexual behaviours (ISBs) in long-term care facili...

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of studies addressing older people's political participation. Much of this literature, however, can be criticised for neglecting important aspects of seniors’ political participation, such as its dynamics across the lifecourse, its gendered nature and the influence of the particular socio-politic...

In this paper, we argue that the capacity for narrative agency is significantly compromised in individuals with dementia due to at least three factors: (a) Dementia itself, which causes increasing difficulties in constructing and articulating coherent and meaningful stories, and sharing them with others; (b) cultural narratives about dementia, whic...

It is important to promote the use of Internet among older adults as it could help prevent isolation in later life and facilitates personal growth. However, older adults are usually depicted as mere consumers of Internet content rather than producers. This chapter presents data from a study on the motivations that lead older adults to write a blog....

Active aging is a concept used to describe and promote lifestyles that contribute to a healthy aging process. However, these lifestyles vary widely, and the concept of active aging encompasses many activities. This paper considers two axes to classify the range of activities that can contribute to active aging: the resources needed to carry out suc...

Objectives: The study had three objectives: (a) To determine how staff perceives the frequency of different sexual expressions in long-term care facilities for older people; (2) to quantify policies aimed at guaranteeing residents’ sexual rights in such institutions, and (3) to determine factors influencing the presence of these kind of policies. M...

The globalization of international migration means not only that the number of older people with a migratory lifecourse has increased over the past two decades but also that the diversity amongst them is challenging how gerontologists think about what migrantship means to old age. This presentation relies on an established typology of older migrant...

Addressing older people’s social exclusion is a major challenge for contemporary societies. However, policies designed to address it have tended to focus on poverty and unemployment. This paper explores the relationship between social exclusion and political participation from the perspective of those already holding responsible roles within senior...

The purpose of this research was to explore attitudes toward older lesbians and gay men disclosing their sexual preferences in eight Latin American countries. The sample consisted of 1,539 participants belonging to three age groups (18–29 years, 60–69 years, and 70 years and over). Their answers to two open-ended questions were content-analyzed, an...

The participation of older people in civil society organizations has received considerable attention in recent years due to its potential for contributing to the health and well-being of the individuals concerned and also for creating social and economic benefits for the community. However, much of the previous literature has focused on human and s...

El derecho a la libre expresión de la identidad y orientación sexual de las personas mayores que viven en entornos institucionales se ve sometido a una serie de desafíos específicos que lo ponen en riesgo. El objetivo del artículo es identificar y reflexionar sobre esos desafíos y reflexionar sobre medidas para atenuarlos o eliminarlos. Para ello s...

This study aims at exploring staff perceptions of common and best practices toward a situation in which an older resident discloses their non-heterosexual sexual identity, differentiating between gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. A total of 2,254 staff members from 96 Spanish long-term care facilities took part in the study. They were asked about wh...

Volunteering in later life is an important way of staying involved in one’s community and engaging in a meaningful activity that has a positive impact on others. Previous research has mainly described the antecedents and consequences of volunteering; the process and experiences associated with performing this role has been less studied. The aim of...

El concepto de envejecimiento activo se ha propuesto como una forma de describir y promover estilos que vida que contribuyan a un buen envejecer. Sin embargo, estos estilos de vida son muy diversos, y son muchas las actividades que pueden incluirse dentro del concepto de envejecimiento activo. El presente artículo propone una clasificación de esas...

Aims (of the paper): This study explores staff responses, in terms of common practices, toward partnered sexual relationships in long-term care facilities where one or both people involved have dementia. It also tries to determine personal and institutional factors influencing these responses. Background: Although some studies, mostly qualitativ...

Background Applying a person-centred care (PCC) approach is an aspiration for many services attending people with dementia (PwD). However, the implementation and assessment of PCC practices represent a challenge to health professionals. Aim To evaluate the impact on staff of a programme aiming to involve people with dementia (PwD) in their individu...

This study has dual aims. First, it aims to explore the relationship between generativity and political participation, a neglected aspect of civic participation. Second, using different dimensions of generativity in a mixed methods study, it also aims to contribute to the theoretical and methodological literature on generativity as a multidimension...

Objective: Although psychological factors have been explored in relation to other life transitions, their influence on retirement adjustment quality has been largely overlooked. This study assessed the contribution of personality traits and generativity before retirement in the prediction of hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing at two temporal points a...

It has been argued that older people's civic engagement has benefits for both individuals themselves and the community more broadly. Removing barriers to participation is, therefore, essential. However, the multi-dimensional nature of civic participation, as well as the different issues raised by recruitment and retention, complicate this. This stu...

Creating opportunities for inclusive participation by older people in local governance is made more complex by their diversity, which can shape who participates, in what ways and how effectively. Existing research, however, largely focuses on the impact of socio-demographic characteristics or of individual barriers on participation, without conside...

FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE AT: http://rdcu.be/mErX Understanding what older people learn from their civic participation is of critical importance both for individuals and organisations. This link has been neglected in prior research, and the evidence across diverse cultural contexts is particularly limited. However, the political context of older people’...

Aging population has increased a global concern to keep seniors active and healthy. Civic participation, in particular, has been highlighted for its social and community benefits, and its impact on elders’ health and well-being. To date, however, most studies have explored volunteering, with other types of civic activities, such as political partic...

Interest in the practice of narrative care with older adults is continuing to grow (Kenyon & Randall, 2015). Significant attention has been paid thus far to various formal interventions or programs that enhance the narrative development of individuals in later life by helping them to express and explore their unique life story. Comparatively little...

One of the challenges of population aging is to ensure that there are enough trained professionals to meet the changing, specific needs of aging populations. The aim of this study was to describe the number, geographical distribution, and general characteristics of gerontological training programs offered by Latin American universities and to analy...

This study examines the factors associated with participation in educational courses among Spanish older people. Data were drawn from the Survey on Older People 2010, carried out by Spain’s National Institute of Older People and Social Services and based on a nationally representative sample. Overall, only 7.4 percent of the sample participated in...

Introducción El envejecimiento poblacional plantea la necesidad de contar con profesionales especializados para atender las necesidades de las personas mayores. El objetivo de este trabajo es describir el número, las características y los contenidos impartidos por los programas de máster que se ofertan actualmente en España. Material y métodos Se i...

The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of narrative care in the attention of older people who receive care in institutions, underlining how its use provides a better understanding of the Person Centered Care (PCC) model and valuable strategies to put it into practice. To achieve this goal, firstly, we describe the relevance of a narra...

This study explored the motivations of Catalan older people to engage in political organizations. The sample consisted of 192 people aged 65 and over who were active members of three types of political organizations: neighborhood associations, political parties/trade unions, and single-issue organizations. Their answers to an open-ended question we...

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a multidimensional approach to older people’s participation in political organizations, by exploring and analyzing different explanatory models focused on the individual. Specifically, resources-based models, personality-focused models, as well as models addressing the motivations and barriers to participa...

AbstractThe purpose of the article is to ascertain if staff members of residential aged care facilities (RACF) perceive the need for training regarding residents? sexuality, and what, if any benefits from the training were perceived; and to compare perceived benefits of training between care assistants and professional/managerial staff. Interviews...

Older people’s civic participation contributes to community development while at the same time providing opportunities for personal growth in later life. One important dimension of civic participation that has been largely underexplored is informal learning. The aim of this study is to explore the learnings experienced by Spanish older people throu...

Aims and objectives: To explore staff attitudes and reactions towards masturbation in long-term care facilities. Background: Staff attitudes and reactions towards the expression of sexuality in long-term care facilities may be influenced by the nature of the sexual behaviour being expressed. Staff attitudes towards masturbation, a common sexual beh...

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this article is to shed light on the attitudes of older people living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) toward non-heterosexual sexual orientation. Forty-seven residents living in 5 RACFs located in Catalonia (Spain) were interviewed in relation to the way they would think and react if another resident...

This study aimed to investigate and compare the reactions of staff and residents of residential aged care facilities (RACFs) toward male–female sexual intercourse taking place in a private space within the facility. A total of 53 professionals and 47 residents from five RACFs located in Catalonia, Spain, were asked to reflect upon what they would t...

This study explores older people’s membership in political organizations by using data from the Survey on older people 2010, carried out by Spain’s National Institute for older people and social services. The objectives were to describe the extent of this kind of participation among Spaniards aged 65 and over, and to analyze the factors that are as...

Fifty-three staff members currently working in residential aged care facilities located in Barcelona, Spain, were asked about the way they would react if a resident told them that he/she felt sexually attracted and had maintained sexual relationships with another resident of the same gender. Acceptance of non-heterosexual sexual orientation was a f...

The purpose of this research was to explore residents’ attitudes toward masturbation in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). The sample consisted of 47 residents who were purposively selected from five RACFs in the city of Barcelona. Participants were asked to reflect upon what they would think, how they would react, and what possible reaction...

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo presentar una panorámica actual de la aplicación de un enfoque narrativo al estudio del envejecimiento. En primer lugar se delinea cuál es el objeto de conocimiento de la gerontología narrativa, que se extiende en un doble nivel interrelacionado: la identidad narrativa en la vejez por una parte, y los relato...

The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a new instrument to assess the regulation of anger and sadness in interpersonal situations, covering a wide range of emotion regulation strategies. Two studies were carried out, both of them using purposively selected samples. In Study 1 we created a set of items based on previous studies of...

This study explores the motivations and commitment to volunteering in a sample of Argentinian adults, and it analyzes the role of generativity. The sample consisted of 200 volunteers who were purposively selected from five volunteer organizations in the city of Córdoba (Argentina). Participants were assigned to three age groups: young volunteers (1...

Intergenerational relationships are increasingly recognized as an important field of practice and research. However, it has been argued that appropriate concepts and theories are still required to guide and consolidate the discipline. Although a number of concepts borrowed from the social sciences have been used with some success thus far, few atte...

La participación cívica de las personas mayores podría ser considerada como un ejemplo paradigmático del “buen” envejecer, ya que los mayores obtendrían importantes beneficios a nivel personal, al tiempo que contribuyen al desarrollo de sus comunidades. El objetivo de este artículo es explorar la utilidad del concepto Eriksoniano de generatividad,...

Aim: To explore and compare the views of both staff and residents about barriers to sexual expression in residential aged care facilities. Background: Although remaining sexually active in older age helps to preserve and promote well-being, the percentage of sexually active persons living in residential aged care facilities is low. Previous researc...

Introduction The purpose of this study is to determine the opinion of professionals working in residential aged care facilities on the regulation of sexuality in these settings. Materials and methods Fifty-three professionals from five residential aged care facilities located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona answered several questions regardi...

Introduction The purpose of this study is to determine the opinion of professionals working in residential aged care facilities on the regulation of sexuality in these settings. Materials and methods Fifty-three professionals from five residential aged care facilities located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona answered several questions regardi...

Background: This study explores whether staff perceptions and reactions to sexual situations involving one or two persons with dementia (PWD) reflect an extreme cautionary stance (an overprotective and paternalist style) or a person-centered model of care (focusing on understanding the residents’ perspective and their rights). Method: Fifty-three s...