title: I wonder if robots will take care of me when I am old: Positive aging representations of professionals working in health promotion services.
abstract: How the social and institutional context is structured and represented by its actors has an impact on positive aging representations. This qualitative study explores professionals' views on positive aging, how they promote positive aging in their practice and what disparities occur between their discourses and the actual practice of promoting positive aging. Interviews were conducted with professionals from different active aging promotion services and analyzed with thematic coding. Findings show professionals hold negative views on aging while trying to promote positive views in their work, illustrating an existing theory-practice gap. Strategies used in practice can be integrated in existing agency models and inform interventions and active aging policies.
authors.affiliation: Free University Berlin, Germany catrinelcraciun@yahoo.com.|Jacobs University, Germany.|Babes-Bolyai University, Romania.
authors.forename: Catrinel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Craciun
authors.affiliation: Free University Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Flick
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012371:Robotics
keywords: health promotion services; positive aging representations; professionals; qualitative research