How can the ‘social capital’ inherent in social networks provide contacts through which older people access practical and emotional support? What is the relative importance of kin and non-kin, and of participation in organisations and informal ties such as contacts with neighbours? Following a brief contextualisation that draws on previous literature, this paper addresses these questions through analysis of British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data. It examines the extent to which people feel they can count on emotional and practical support from friends and relatives. A dependent variable was created that measures the outcome of the ‘social capital’ residing in a respondent's social network. Relatively poor support was found amongst elders who were childless or had been continuously without a partner; relatively rich support was found amongst those who had frequent contact with other people, who interacted frequently with neighbours, and who regarded their neighbourhood as a positive social environment. Being active in organisations had less effect on social support than informal social contacts. Amongst many different forms of organisational activity, the only ones that had a positive association with social support were being in contact with others through religious activities, and engaging in sports clubs. The social support of working-class elders, even those ‘well networked’ in formal or informal ways, was strengthened less by their social capital than was that of the professional and managerial occupational groups.

Through increased longevity, older people today live for many years in retirement. Research on the everyday lives of older women and men who are not in need of help from elder care is scarce. This paper reports an in-depth study of a small sample of such relatively healthy older people in Sweden. The aim of the study was to describe, analyse and interpret from a lifecourse perspective how older women and men experience everyday life. Twenty informants were recruited through advertisements and they were interviewed twice. They were aged 75 to 90 years at the first interview. The informants belong to the cohort that was born before the Second World War and they have witnessed and benefitted from both unprecedented economic growth and the development of the Swedish welfare state. Both the men and the women had been in paid work outside the home, and once retired they were determined to remain active. Even though many had found that their capacities had reduced, the informants spontaneously stressed the importance of continuing to be physically and mentally active. They saw life as meaningful because they sustained links in different ways with kin, friends and organisations. They wanted to remain active as long as possible, even when a decline in health reduced the range of activities that they could pursue.

The need for an understanding of ‘ageing in place’ as a progressive process has emerged among researchers in the field of environmental gerontology. The aim of this study was to explore this process, in relation to home modification services. Four older adults who had applied for home modification services in one Swedish municipality were included. Data were collected by open interviews with the participants in their homes on subsequent occasions, from before the modification had been installed until recognised stability in the situation relating to the home modification. In the analysis, the concept of place integration was used as a tool to explore the active relations that connect people and context over time. The main findings show that the participants used creativity and initiative to direct future situations towards increased possibilities for action. This indicates that services aiming to support people ‘ageing in place’ should be directed towards increasing possibilities for action rather than only facilitating activity performance. Furthermore, it can be concluded that if the service-users' creativity and efforts are recognised as resources in design and provision of services, services that aim to support individuals who are ageing in place have the potential to be empowering.

This study examined whether formal care services delivered to frail older people's homes in France and Israel substitute for or complement informal support. The two countries have comparable family welfare systems but many historical, cultural and religious differences. Data for the respondents aged 75 or more years at the first wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) were analysed. Regressions were examined of three patterns of care from outside the household: informal support only, formal support only and both formal and informal care, with the predictor variables including whether informal help was provided by a family member living in the household. The results revealed that about one-half of the respondents received no help at all (France 51%, Israel 55%), about one-tenth received care from a household member (France 8%, Israel 10%), and one-third were helped by informal carers from outside the household (France 34%, Israel 33%). More French respondents (35%) received formal care services at home than Israelis (27%). Most predictors of the care patterns were similar in the two countries. The analysis showed that complementarity is a common outcome of the co-existence of formal and informal care, and that mixed provision occurs more frequently in situations of greater need. It is also shown that spouse care-givers had less formal home-care supports than either co-resident children or other family care-givers. Even so, spouses, children and other family care-givers all had considerable support from formal home-delivered care.

Improving access to culturally-appropriate services and enhancing responses to the needs of older people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were among the aims of the National Service Framework for Older People (NSFOP) that was introduced in England in 2001. Progress in meeting the aims of the NSFOP was evaluated by a mid-term independent review led by the Healthcare Commission, the body responsible for regulating health-care services in England. This paper reports the consultation with older people that underpinned the evaluation. It focuses on the views and experiences of older people from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups and of the staff that work in BME voluntary organisations. A rapid appraisal approach was used in 10 purposively selected local councils, and plural methods were used, including public listening events, nominal groups and individual interviews. In total 1,839 older people participated in the consultations and 1,280 (70%) completed a monitoring form. Some 30 per cent defined themselves as of a minority ethnic background. The concerns were more about the low recognition of culturally-specific and language needs than for the development of services exclusively for BME older people.

Across the United Kingdom, new build and remodelled ‘extra care’ schemes are being developed in many areas on the assumption that they offer older people with care needs an alternative to residential care. This paper reports an evaluation by a multi-disciplinary team of 10 extra-care schemes remodelled from sheltered housing or residential care units. The evaluation audited buildings and identified social and architectural problems. No two schemes in the sample were alike; some aimed for a dependency balance and others set a dependency threshold for admission. The three criteria used for assessing eligibility were the number of paid care hours the older person had at home, their property status and the type of disability. This article focuses on the wide variation in assessing eligibility for an extra-care place and on some social consequences of remodelling. A number of tenants remained in situ during the remodelling process in six of the schemes. Building professionals were unanimous that retaining some tenants on site caused significant development delays and increased the remodelling costs. There was also a social price to pay. ‘Old’ tenants resented their scheme changing into extra care and were hostile towards ‘new’ tenants who had obvious needs for support. In some extra-care schemes, ‘old’ tenants were refusing to participate in meals and all social activities.

Much research on the impact of HIV and AIDS on older people fails to differentiate between age groups, and treats those aged from 50 years to the highest ages as homogeneous. The ‘oldest old’ or those aged over 75 years may be particularly vulnerable through declining health and independence as a result of the AIDS epidemic, which has forced some to take on roles that younger relatives would have performed had they lived. In this paper we describe the past and current experience of eight people in advanced old age living in rural Uganda who were informants for an ethnographic study of the impact of HIV and AIDS on households during 1991–92 and again in 2006–07. The aim of the study was to understand how they had coped with the impacts of the epidemic. From the eight case studies, it is concluded that family size, socio-economic status and some measure of good fortune in sustained good health enabled these people to live to an advanced age. While we recommend that targeted social protection is important in helping the poorest among the oldest, we suggest that sustaining respect for age and experience, and ensuring that older people do not feel discarded by family and society are as important as meeting their practical needs.