Research and Reports
The ageing population in Australia and many other countries has become the subject of interest and research in many disciplines. Successful ageing depends not only on understanding the physical effects of ageing but also the mental well being of older people.
The papers here represent a small sample of current research and reports about older people, focussing particularly on the relationship between lifelong learning, volunteering, isolation, aged care and other factors, and physical and mental health particularly amongst isolated older people.
They will be of interest not only to older people themselves but to professionals and policy advisers in the fields of gerontology, adult learning, mental health and volunteering.
The following are draft versions. Please see the relevant publications directly before quoting.
A U3A without walls: Using the Internet to reach out to isolated older people.
Rick Swindell - Griffith University
Education and Ageing 15(2), 251-263. 2000.
Interactive online courses by and for older people.
Rick Swindell - Griffith University and Jean Thompson - Third Age Trust
Proceedings of the XXth Congress of the AIUTA. Quebec, Canada (14-16 September). 2000.
Background to U3A Online.
Dorothy Braxton - U3A ACT
This paper acknowledges the political background and developmental processes that led to the development of U3AOL. The paper was a foreword to the comprehensive evaluation report of the initial stage of the program's operation.
Older learners online. An evaluation of Internet courses for isolated older persons.
Swindell, R. and Vassella, K.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.431 103) 1999.
This is the full 103 page evaluation study which was compiled to evaluate the success of the initial pilot year of U3A Online.
New directions, opportunities and challenges for New Zealand U3As.
Rick Swindell - Griffith University
New Zealand Journal of Adult Learning. 27(1) 41-57. 1999.
U3As in Australia and New Zealand: society's $4 million bonanza.
Rick Swindell - Griffith University
Comparative Education 35(2) 235-247. 1999.
Go-getter, hamstrung and yesteryear managers of older Australians leisure-time organisations.
Rick Swindell and Claire Mayhew - Griffith University
Australasian Journal on Ageing, 17(1), 29-32. 1998.
An International Perspective of the University of the Third Age
Rick Swindell - Griffith University and Jean Thompson - Third Age Trust
Educational Gerontology, 21(5), 429-447. 1995
Educating the isolated ageing: Improving the quality of life of the housebound elderly ...
Swindell, R., and Mayhew, C. (1996). International Journal of Lifelong Education, 15(2), 85-93.
This study describes the first investigation of a virtual U3A for older people with sound minds who cannot easily leave their place of residence. Volunteer tutors from an Australian U3A were trained in teleconferencing techniques to teach a variety of courses to 18 ill and disabled people who were isolated and confined to their homes. Participants were randomly chosen from a list of 42 names provided by a caring agency and they ranged in age from 58-92 years old. A trained nurse visited participants before, during and after the 8-week course program to monitor health and well-being changes. Positive outcomes were recorded indicating that some older people with sound minds who cannot leave their homes are prepared to learn to use new technologies in order to engage in meaningful social and cognitively stimulating activities.
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