This viewpoint discusses ageing from a unique perspective. This paper aims to explore ageing through the lens of families and familial bonds in the digital era. The viewpoint highlights the crucial role of digital technologies in fostering family ties, creating bonds that transcend age and redefine ageing in the era of digital connectedness. This paper’s approach is a viewpoint that decodes ageism in family structures and our society. The viewpoint discusses various theories and helps to understand ageism through different theoretical lenses. Decoding ageing and ageism that motivates digital belongingness among older adults is a transformative way of looking at ageing. The findings of this discussion pinpoint the prevalent nature of ageism in our society and our families. Ageism is subtle, unintentional, deeply embedded in our families and reflected in our conversations and conduct. The discussion highlights such contexts and also pinpoints how technology can bridge the gap between generations, safeguard cultural heritage vis-à-vis and redefine ageing. The discussion offers a fresh perspective on ageing, and that is its originality. It discusses the crucial need to look at the ageist mindset and think of age and ageing from different perspectives. The reflections will encourage all society’s stakeholders to promote structures that honour and value the contributions of the older people around us. An inclusive society can only be built when we celebrate ageing as a journey of personal growth and a pathway to belonging.

This study aims to examine how psychological contracts among senior assistant nurses are shaped by the expectations they hold of each other in the elderly care sector. A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on transcribed semistructured interviews with 15 experienced health-care employees (assistant nurses and health-care assistants) from a large public organization in Sweden. The findings show that values emphasizing uniformity in workload, responsibility and rewards are central to assistant nurses’ psychological contracts. They are expected to care for coworkers and recipients, uphold professional caregiving ideals and ensure fair work distribution. However, these expectations are frequently breached due to role conflicts, workload imbalances and a lack of cohesion within teams, leading to frustration and perceived injustice – issues that are often overlooked by employers. Despite these challenges, factors such as job satisfaction, workplace acceptance, coworker support, task autonomy and adherence to caregiving principles help mitigate the impact of breaches. To increase psychological contract fulfillment, health-care employers can, for example, oversee workload so that work tasks are distributed evenly between employees, enhance role clarity, initiate workplace dialogue concerning responsibilities and prevent conflicts by increasing the line manager’s presence in day-to-day work. Amid ongoing workforce shortages, high turnover rates and an aging population, organizations face increasing challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled personnel. This challenge is particularly pressing in the health-care sector, where shortages of qualified staff are expected to intensify in the coming years. This study concludes by arguing that psychological contract research needs to move beyond the employee–employer focus and pay greater attention to the role of collectively shared norms, ideals and expectations, particularly in team-centric workplaces or contexts where collective ideals are strong.

Maria (pseudonym) is a transgender woman born and raised in Portugal during the Estado Novo, a repressive regime that harshly discriminated against LGBTQIA+ people. Maria is currently 65 years old and started her transition in her early 50 s. This study aims to examine Maria’s life trajectory and how she accomplished her (late) coming out and (happy) transition. The authors adopted McAdams’ (1985) methodology for analyzing life stories, which divides a person’s life into chapters. Maria identified four chapters in her life trajectory: (a) “‘Who am I?’ A childhood and adolescence of secrecy and self-doubt”; (b) “Finding comfort in conforming to cis/heteronormativity”; (c) “Coming out: A sense of relief and authenticity”; and (d) “‘Finally being who I am’—a woman respected and satisfied with life.” Maria’s awareness of her “finite lifespan” and “time left” influenced her coming out and transition. Her constraints earlier in life heightened the significance and immediacy of time horizons and the opportunity to experience an authentic gender identity before she dies. This study uniquely highlights age as a privilege in the transgender transition process, showing how awareness of a finite lifespan can drive late-life coming out and transition. Maria’s story challenges traditional aging narratives, demonstrating resilience and the potential for finding meaning and purpose, despite lifelong adversity.

This paper aims to analyze the impact of the pandemic on the practices of older people in an urban and rural context in Russia and to highlight the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic for planning the future of older people, depending on their urban or rural context. On the basis of 50 qualitative interviews with the urban and rural older people (aged 63–90 years) in Russia, the authors analyzed how they experienced the pandemic. When selecting the sample, the authors took into account possible differences in the characteristics of the experience of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed on those living in both urban and rural areas. The method of interview analysis is thematic coding. Self-isolation in rural areas was milder and allowed older people to carry out their usual daily activities and maintain communication. Urban older people faced severe spatial isolation and the inability to carry out their usual daily activities, which had a negative impact on their physical and psychological condition. Both urban and rural residents experienced difficulties in accessing medical care and medicines. A general striking trend during the pandemic was the rapid digitalization (communication, information search, etc.). There was an increase in intergenerational and local solidarity, volunteer associations in the city and the local community in the village. This study shows that due to different regulations and law enforcement, the pandemic period was more easily experienced by older people in rural areas than in the city as they were able to maintain their usual lifestyle. At the same time, the pandemic exposed a serious problem with the medical infrastructure in rural Russia. The empirical materials show unexpected/new pandemic effects, such as the growth of intergenerational solidarity and the development of a volunteer movement and local communities to help older people.

Evidence-based hydration care for older people is essential to health and wellbeing. However, practices vary, leading to negative outcomes for older people, particularly in relation to increased incidence of morbidity and mortality. As a discrete work package situated within a larger study to enhance hydration care for older people in care homes, the purpose of this part of the study was to develop a hydration competency framework to support an evidence-based approach to practice. An overview of the literature informing hydration care was undertaken to establish best practice, resulting in the generation of a series of competency statements. Using a co-production approach, these statements were reviewed and assimilated into a hydration competency framework that was piloted across two care home sites. Revision and refinement of the framework was undertaken in response to feedback from the co-production group, until consensus was reached to agree the final iteration. The hydration competency framework has three core domains relating to: understanding the individual daily hydration requirements of older people; assessing the individual daily hydration requirements of older people; implementing person-centred care to maintain and monitor the daily hydration requirement needs of older people. Each domain is comprised of competency statements that reflect the current evidence base informing best practice for hydration care for older people. The hydration competency framework provides an innovative tool that can be used to support care home staff to deliver evidence-based hydration practices and positively enhance care outcomes for older people.