Network analysis of the relationships between depressive symptoms and social participation activities among Chinese older adults and its implications for nursing

Objective:Network analysis was used to explore the complex inter-relationships between social participation activities and depressive symptoms among the Chinese older population,and the differences in network structures among different genders,age groups,and urban-rural residency would be compared.Methods:Based on the 2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS),12,043 people aged 65 to 105 were included.The 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression(CESD)Scale was used to assess depressive symptoms and 10 types of social participation activities were collected,including housework,tai-chi,square dancing,visiting and interacting with friends,garden work,reading newspapers or books,raising domestic animals,playing cards or mahjong,watching TV or listening to radio,and organized social activities.R 4.2.1 software was used to estimate the network model and calculate strength and bridge strength.Results:21.60%(2,601/12,043)of the participants had depressive symptoms.The total social participation score was negatively associated with depressive symptoms after adjusting for sociodemographic factors.The network of social participation and depressive symptoms showed that“D9(Inability to get going)”and“S9(Watching TV and/or listening to the radio)”had the highest strength within depressive symptoms and social participation communities,respectively,and“S1(Housework)”,“S9(Watching TV and/or listening to the radio)”,and“D5(Hopelessness)”were the most prominent bridging nodes between the two communities.Most edges linking the two communities were negative.“S5(Graden work)-D5(Hopelessness)”and“S6(Reading newspapers/books)-D4(Everything was an effort)”were the top 2 strongest negative edges.Older females had significantly denser network structures than older males.Compared to older people aged 65e80,the age group 81e105 showed higher network global strength.Conclusions:This study provides novel insights into the complex relationships between social participation and depressive symptoms.Except for doing housework,other social participation activities were found to be protective for depression levels.Different nursing strategies should be taken to prevent and alleviate depressive symptoms for different genders and older people of different ages.

Social Work Involved in Targted Poverty Alleviation: From Individual Aid to System Change

The development of social work is to some extent a history of the struggle against poverty. Social work enabled targeted poverty alleviation aims to form a two–way force to implement targeted poverty alleviation policies in a bid to create a new situation featuring top–down policy guidance and bottom–up social engagement. Social work enabled targeted poverty alleviation addresses the bureaucratic defects of government dominance, upgrades the narrow conception of targeted poverty alleviation as individual aid, and pays more attention to the interactions between the poor and environmental elements and the interactions within and between systems from the perspective of eco–system. In practice, this type of poverty alleviation is manifested as social work driven integral specialized poverty alleviation. By organically combining the four systems of subjects, service objects, work processes and implementation results, it advances current targeted poverty alleviation from the mid–shallow level to the deep level. It is expected to fulfill the intrinsic policy objectives of targeted poverty alleviation and explore a supporting system for realizing the modernization of national governance system and capacity in rural areas.

Social Participation of Older Persons Based on Human Rights:Conception Renewal and Action Plan

Equal participation and the promotion of social integration are essential parts of human rights protection. The theory of the right to social participation of older persons from the perspective of age stratification hardly explains the real difficulties older persons face in participating in social life. Life course theory reveals that social participation is an intermediate link between individuals and the social environment, so it is a means for individuals to achieve specific objectives as they age. In this light, there are three main interpretations for expressions of social participation of older persons throughout history, namely participation in health-oriented toward treatment of physiological aging, participation in production oriented toward human resources development of older persons, and full participation based on human rights. In the context of mainstreaming human rights and active aging, full participation based on human rights should become the main concept of relevant academic exploration and policy practice. To this end, we should establish the principle of protecting the rights of the elderly to social participation and integration, examine the participation process from the perspective of dynamic development, and construct the participation protection mechanism in light of China’s conditions.

Research on Cultural Consumption and Urban Integration of Floating Population

This paper examined the relationship between cultural consumption and the floating population’s integration into host cities based on data from China’s Seventh National Population Census and the 2018 China Migrants Dynamic Survey(CMDS).The findings indicate that improving the floating population’s consumption level and quality,especially the quality of development-oriented cultural consumption,can significantly improve the level of their integration.Moreover,development-oriented cultural consumption has a positive effect on the floating population’s integration and social participation,while entertainment-oriented cultural consumption facilitates their integration mainly by improving their sense of well-being.These findings could guide policymakers in developing targeted cultural consumption policies,implementing specific regional industry adjustments,and expanding domestic consumption demand.

College English Teaching Based on the Theory of Core Competencies

The core competencies of college students can influence their further learning,employment,and personal development.This paper explores college English teaching from the three aspects of core competencies:cultural foundation,self-development,and social participation.Adapting to the challenges posed by the new era for the cultivation of foreign language talents,the paper aims to improve students’cultural literacy,independent learning,the ability of problem discovery and problem solving,and critical cultural thinking,so as to make them more competitive in employment and entrepreneurship.

Older adults’social participation and social relationship and association with partner’s cognition:a latent profile analysis

Older adults’social participation and social relationship may be affected by their partners’cognitive function.In 3,722 cognitively intact married/partnered Health and Retirement Study respondents,latent profile analysis identified three social participation profiles(Limited overall social participation(prevalence:69%);Frequent volunteer participation(10%);Frequent non-volunteer participation(21%)),and three social relationship profiles(Social support from all relationships(68%);Mixed social support and strain from all relationships(18%);Social strain from partner with support from other relationships(14%)).Spouse/partner’s cognition was not significantly associated with social participation profiles.Impaired cognition in spouses/partners increased older adults’likelihood of perceiving social strain from their partners with support from other relationships.Frequent volunteer and non-volunteer participation and perceiving social support from all relationships predicted better self-rated health and lower odds of depressive symptoms.These findings highlight the need of community programs that promote social connectedness for older adults living with cognitively impaired spouses/partners.

“Family-bound”or“Pulled by Work”?—A Study of Chinese Women’s Social Participation and the Factors Influencing It

On the basis of an analysis of data from the Chinese Social Survey(CSS)2015,and with male social participation as the reference,we undertook an empirical study of Chinese women’s current social participation and the factors affecting it along the two dimensions of“marriage and family life”and“employment and income status,”as well as the basic characteristics of individuals.Our findings show that in general women display a lower level of social participation than men.In terms of type of social participation,women are more likely to take part in policy-supported activities or serve as volunteers for public interest activities but less likely to participate in the activities of particular“action organizations”or the expression of opinion.Women’s social participation is affected by many factors,including basic individual characteristics,marital status and family life,and employment and income status.A further gender comparison finds that female social participation tends to be more affected by marriage and family life,whereas male social participation is more closely related to employment and income status.We conclude that although more Chinese women have stepped out of the bonds of“home and family,”their social participation“outside the family”is family-bound in a way that is quite different that of men.Hence if we are to pursue gender equality at the level of social participation,it remains necessary to give women greater assurances in terms of marriage and family life by encouraging the realization of their self-worth and facilitating their social development,so as to coordinate and alleviate the double pressures of family and work,thus making women’s social participation an important force and enhancing their all-round development.

The challenge of applying governance and sustainable development to wildland fire management in Southern Europe

This paper discusses participatory processes in wildland fire management （WFM）. Participation is an essential element of both the European Sustainable Development （SD） Strategy and the White Paper on Governance. Governance end SD have thus become an interconnected challenge to be applied to WFM （as a sub-area in forest policy）, amongst other policies. An overspread weakness in WFM is lack of real participation of stakeholders. Absence of （or deficient） participation can seriously impair contribution of this group to WFM in high-risk areas and runs counter governance and the SDS. Further, this weakness might prevent an efficient use of fire as a land management tool （prescribed burning, PB） and as a technique for fighting wildfire （suppression fire, SF）. Even though these fire practices have been well known in many different places, they have been increasingly neglected or Prohibited over time in Southern Europe. At present, forest and fire fighting administrations are turning their eyes back on them and analyzing the benefits of using fire in relation to preventive and suppressive actions. Therefore, participatory and diffusion mechanisms （the latter adopting the shape of national and international experts＇ networks） are required in order to solve the so- called fire paradox： that is, the need to move from a one-dimensinnal perception of the negative impacts of fire to a more sophisticated one that also stresses its positive effects. Governance, based on broad social participation, and diffusion, through fire networks, are of utmost importance in order, first, to diminish long-standing suspicion amongst different interests as to the use of fire and, secondly, to diffuse best practices associated with PB and SF. Most importantly, the ELI should exercise its environmental leadership so that these new fire practices and sustainable WFM are diffused across the international arena.

Differentiated payments for environmental services schemes: A methodology proposal

Payment schemes for environmental services face serious budget constraints in Mexico. Payments are equally distributed among forest owners, and the governmental agencies that make payments to beneficiaries do not evaluate the amount of environmental services produced by forested areas. This lack of evaluation could lead to economic and environmental deficiencies that restrict the possible benefits of such programmes. In general, these programmes do not achieve their conservation objectives, and local beneficiaries are not involved in the design or application of these programmes. Similarly, the Payments for Hydrological Environmental Services(PHES) programme of the State of Mexico, Mexico, makes equal payments to beneficiaries of forested areas considering tree density. The objective of the present work was to create a methodology for determining differentiated payments schemes for hydrological environmental services, prioritising areas that contribute the most to groundwater recharge and promote the participation of society. In the Nevado de Toluca Natural Protected Area, the environmental criteria of forest type, tree density and aquifer overexploitation as well as social participation were considered in a multi-criteria analysis implemented in a Geographic Information System. A methodology was developed to determine differentiated payments based on specific forest characteristics that influence the potential capacity of forests to recharge groundwater reserves in addition to the level of social participation. In particular, social participation is key as it could ensure the viability of PHES programmes as conservation alternatives in forested areas with high groundwater recharge potential.

Study of Problems in the Development of Non-profit Organizations in Urban Communities

With the continuous advancement of construction of urban communities and the continuous development of the needs of community residents in China,non-profit organizations in various urban communities have developed rapidly and have increasingly played an important role in social and economic life. At present,the development of non-profit organizations in urban communities is still faced with many problems,such as difficulty in raising funds,lack of incentives that results in low enthusiasm for volunteering and low participation of community residents,etc. It is urgent and practical significance to study,analyze and solve the problems faced by non-profit organizations in urban communities. That article focuses on the analysis and discussion of the problems facing the development of non-profit organizations in urban communities,and proposes countermeasures to solve the problems.

The impact of social participation on older people’s death risk:an analysis from CLHLS

This study uses nested Cox proportional hazard models to analyze data from five waves(2002,2005,2008,2011,2014)of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.We found that secular social participation and religious participation both contributed to statistically lower death risk among older respondents.These associations still held after controlling for a wide range of covariates.In particular,secular social participation predicted a greater decrease in death risk and had interactive effects with gender and age-group.Female and young-old adults enjoyed more health benefits from participating in secular social activities than their male or old-old counterparts,respectively.This interactive effect was not observed regarding the impact of religious participation on death hazard.

Lifestyles of Older Adults in Castilla-La Mancha(Spain):Influence of Sex,Age,and Habitat

This paper presents the quantitative research results of a comprehensive study titled“Current Profle of Older Adults in Castilla-La Mancha(Spain).”The study aims to understand and describe the characteristics of individuals aged 65 and above within this autonomous region,with a focus on the variables of sex,age,and habitat.A cross-sectional approach was employed,utilizing quantitative methods to collect data.To gather information,a customized questionnaire was developed to address the study objectives,covering various aspects such as sociodemographic factors,living conditions,leisure activities,social participation,and cultural interests.The survey was conducted via telephone,ensuring representation by employing gender quotas,age-group stratifcation,and considerations for habitat size.A representative sample of 1,065 participants was included in the study.The fndings reveal a degree of homogeneity in the lifestyles of older adults,with discernible variations infuenced by factors such as sex,habitat,and age.These results shed light on the diverse habits and experiences of older adults,emphasizing the signifcance of habitat conditions,social participation,and the aging process.