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Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Health congruence paradox in older adults: Contribution of cognition and relational visits
Lydia C Abma1, Rachael A Timmermans1, Julie E Yonker1
1Calvin University, MI, United States.
Abstract:
The health congruence paradox can have important implications for those working with older adults as older adults' health understanding may be vague or directed toward health concerns other than those medically identified. Objective health was measured as diagnosed conditions from medical records. Two measures of subjective health were obtained through relational visits of university students, 1) health concerns older adults reported on a visit survey, 2) health concerns students reported during casual conversation. The results showed that community dwelling older adults with lower cognitive functioning ability were more susceptible to the health congruence paradox on the subjective measure of the survey report. Qualitative analysis of health concerns from subjective measures found older adults most concerned about health conditions impacting daily functioning, such as mobility and cognition, but not diagnosed hypertension. This mixed methods study confirmed the importance of understanding older adults' subjective health with measures easily obtained through relational visits with university students.
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