Retirement is a major life transition which is associated in public discourses with reduced economic productivity and a raft of personal vulnerabilities. Consequently, governmental, health and employment sectors have promoted ‘active’ planning of affordable and ‘healthy’ retirements. This study presents a qualitative exploration of retirement transition and preparation experiences among 52 men and women from rural and urban areas of North East England, United Kingdom. The sample was diverse in terms of social class, income level, health status and type of work exit. Health, finance, social relationships and third-age opportunities were required resources for a good transition into retirement, and a degree of planning was required to mobilise these resources. However, the degree of choice and control around the transition to retirement was highly variable and socially structured. The notion of planning was embedded as a normative practice, particularly in relation to finances, but the practice of planning was highly contingent primarily due to personal circumstances (ill-health, bereavement, relationships) and work exit (redundancy, work stress, changes to shift patterns or hours). The findings offer insights into the reasons why many people do not plan and indicate that many of the assumptions associated with retirement planning warrant further consideration both theoretically and practically.

Losing a spouse is among the most devastating events that may occur in people's lives. We use longitudinal data from 1,224 participants in the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) to examine (a) how life satisfaction changes with the experience of spousal loss; (b) whether socio-demographic factors and social and health resources moderate spousal loss-related changes in life satisfaction; and (c) whether extent of anticipation, reaction and adaptation to spousal loss are associated with mortality. Results reveal that life satisfaction shows anticipatory declines about two and a half years prior to (anticipation), steep declines in the months surrounding (reaction) and lower levels after spousal loss (adaptation). Older age was associated with steeper anticipatory declines, but less steep reactive declines. Additionally, younger age, better health, social participation and poorer partner health were associated with better adaptation. Higher pre-loss life satisfaction, less steep reactive declines and better adaptation were associated with longevity. The discussion focuses on the utility of examining the interrelatedness among anticipation, reaction and adaptation to further our understanding of change in life satisfaction in the context of major life events.

The concept of épreuve, literally translated as ‘challenge’, was developed by the French sociologist Danilo Martuccelli, who was inspired by Sartre's existential philosophy, phenomenological sociology and its concern for analysing modern experiences, and Charles Wright Mills’ conviction that it is necessary to relate personal problems to the social structures that generate or amplify them. The concept has been used in the sociology of ageing in France to characterise the épreuve of ageing and four domains of épreuve have been identified: activities, identity, autonomy and relationship to the world. This paper applies this template to a corpus of 27 interviews with people at mild to moderate stages of Alzheimer's disease, in order to characterise the épreuve of ageing with the disease. The épreuve of ageing during the earlier stages of the disease is similar to the experience of people who age without a cognitive disorder. However, as the disease progresses the analysis reveals that it tends to exacerbate issues: identity seems especially threatened, simultaneously raising the question of self-presentation and self-definition; although most interviewees strive to retain autonomy, a few delegate it to a close confidante with whom they build a relationship of strong dependence; and weakened communication accentuates the feeling that the world is foreign and strange.

Direct payments – cash for people eligible for adult social care and spent by them on care and support – are claimed to enable care to better reflect user preferences and goals which improve outcomes. This paper compares outcomes of older direct payment users and those receiving care via a managed personal budget (where the budget is spent on the recipients behalf by a third party). The study adopted a retrospective, comparative design using a postal questionnaire in three English councils with adult social care responsibilities in 2012–13. Included in the study were 1,341 budget users aged 75+, living in ordinary community settings. The overall response rate was 27.1 per cent (339 respondents). Three validated scales measured outcomes: EQ-5D-3L (health status), the Sheldon–Cohen Perceived Stress Scale and the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (social care-related quality of life). The study found that direct payment users appreciated the control conferred by budget ownership, but in practice, for many it did not ‘translate’ into improved living arrangements. It also found no statistically significant difference in outcomes between direct payment and managed personal budget users. The paper argues that despite policy and other guidance and research evidence about effective implementation of direct payments for older people, the absence of evidence for better outcomes may at least in part be attributable to values underpinning policies relating to personalisation and personal budgets.

Work occupies a central place in identity formation. Consequently, retirement places retirees in a new reality that compels them to redefine themselves and adopt a new identity. The present article examines how retirees shape their identity in the absence of work. An interpretive analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with retirees in Israel shows that although retirement and old age are not necessarily equivalent or interconnected, the retirees themselves draw parallels between them, and at the same time also deny this linkage, preferring to draw a distinction between them. The findings reinforce the argument presented in the literature, namely that in contemporary society it is difficult to identify with old age. They also propose a new perspective that reveals the negotiation retirees conduct with old age, age and body, and how identity is shaped by way of denial. In this negotiation the retirees construct their identity around two central, parallel axes: retirement and old age. It further emerges that it is precisely the efforts to mask and repress old age, which are usually made in the body domain, that attest to the existence and presence of old age in their identity. Denial of old age creates a dynamic, hybrid identity that enables retirees to simultaneously accept and reject old age.

This study explored aged care support workers’ perceptions of how their health was influenced by their job, highlighting similarities and differences of those working in community-based and institution-based care. Support workers working in two institution-based and three community-based aged care organisations were invited to participate. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with ten participants. Open-ended questions probed participants’ perceptions of their health as it related to their work. Data were analysed with the General Inductive Approach. Four central themes were identified, many of which related to mental, as opposed to physical health. ‘Love of the job’ described various sources of satisfaction for participants. These factors commonly overrode the negative aspects. ‘Stress’ encompassed the negative influences on all aspects of health. ‘Support’ described the positive influences on health, which supported participants in their job. ‘Physicality’ described the physical nature of the job and the positive and negative impact this had on participants’ health. Support workers perform numerous tasks, which often impact upon their health. Aspects of the job that may impact the health of the worker are improved communication and support from management, as well as recognition for support workers’ contribution to society. These could be targeted to enhance support worker health. Additional training and reduced time pressure may also represent aspects for improvement, to optimise support workers’ physical health.

Pension receipt in later life is determined by the way in which individuals' pension contributions and circumstances over the lifecourse interact with eligibility rules. Within the British context, such pensions relate to sources such as the State Pension, an occupational or private pension, and Pension Credit. Existing research shows that membership of certain ethnic groups is associated with a lower likelihood of receiving occupational or private pensions. Data from Understanding Society allows us to build on existing evidence by examining the factors associated with the receipt of three different kinds of pension income – State, occupational/private and Pension Credit – among older men and women from separate Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. The results show that belonging to certain BME groups reduces one's chances of receiving the State Pension or an occupational/private pension, but increases the chance of receiving Pension Credit. The gender-specific analysis shows that these results hold true for many BME groups of men, whereas among women, only Pakistani women are less likely than White British women to receive an occupational/private pension. Such findings provide up-to-date empirical evidence that ethnic inequalities in pension protection are still evident and contribute to the increasingly important debate in the United Kingdom and elsewhere regarding migrants' social security and welfare over the lifecourse and in later life.

Within the United Kingdom (UK), assisted living technologies are mostly provided through statutory health and social care services following assessment of individual need and application of eligibility criteria. This paper describes the first UK study to explore and develop business approaches and innovations required to make electronic assisted living technologies more accessible to consumers in their fifties and sixties. A robust mixed-method approach was used including a large sample size for a consumer survey, triangulation of methods and confirmation of research findings through validation workshops. This three-year study makes significant and original contributions to understanding consumer needs in this rapidly changing market and offers unique insights into the needs and wants of people aged 50–70. Analysis shows significant differences between consumer and business perceptions, indicating that marketing is not closely aligned to consumers' needs and is affecting the development of the market. New approaches to consumer-led business models are presented to improve information and marketing aimed at 50–70-year-old consumers. A ‘Broker/Independent Advisor’ business model showed most potential for meeting the needs of both consumer and business stakeholders. Findings support future development of an assisted living consumer market to meet growing levels of need and demand, and to offer greater consumer choice of mainstream technologies to enable people to age in place.

Using a qualitative approach, this article examines how the experiences of emotional loneliness are embedded in the everyday lives and relationships of older adults. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted in 2010 with older people who reported feeling lonely, often or all the time, during a cohort study in southern Finland. The research reveals the multifaceted nature of loneliness and its causes. Behind emotional loneliness, we identified lost and unfulfilled relationships, involving the loss or lack of a partner, the absence of a meaningful friendship, complex parenthood and troubling childhood experiences. Most of the interviewees have faced loneliness that only began in old age, but for some, loneliness has been present for nearly a lifetime.