Butler's three constructs of ageism in Australasian Journal on Ageing

Factors influencing self-management of depression in older adults: a qualitative study

“…Contrary to the common view that older adults are not motivated to, or capable of, learning new ways to look after themselves (Malta & Doyle, 2016;Ouchida & Lachs, 2015), participants in the current study were actively engaged in their treatment and described individual strategies they had developed to self-manage their depression.…”

“…Improved screening for symptoms of depression in older adults is needed (Mitchell et al, 2011;Xiang et al, 2018), while the erroneous view by older adults and GPs that depression is a normal part of ageing should be addressed (Haralambous et al, 2009;Ludvigsson et al, 2015). There is also a prevailing attitude by GPs that older adults are less functional or capable of actively participating in optimising their health and quality of life (Blancato & Ponder, 2015;Malta & Doyle, 2016), both of which are requirements of effective self-management. A consequence of these views is that older adults are frequently not offered the information or support that is relevant to their actual needs, and to facilitate the self-management of depression (Cramm et al, 2012;Holm, Lyberg, Lassenius, Severinsson, & Berggren, 2013).…”

“…The erroneous view of depression as a normal part of ageing also serves as an obstacle to effective diagnosis and management (Ludvigsson, Milberg, Marcusson, & Wressle, 2015;Xiang, Danilovich, Tomasino, & Jordan, 2018). There is also a common belief that older adults are not motivated to or capable of learning new ways to look after themselves (Malta & Doyle, 2016;Ouchida & Lachs, 2015). Because much of the current research into depression in older age focuses on issues of prevalence, diagnosis and treatment, less is known about the personal experience of living with depression in older age (Ludvigsson et al, 2015).…”

Understanding Australian medical student attitudes towards older people

“…Little would appear to have been published regarding these attitudes in Australia. A recent editorial in this journal discussed Butler's constructs of ageism . Butler, a US physician, in 1969 used this term to describe prejudice by the younger generation towards those in the community who are older .…”

“…One of the most important constructs of ageism is the attitudes of health professionals. Of the eight Australasian Journal of Ageing articles on health professional attitudes recently identified by the editors, not even one examined medical student attitudes . This constitutes a significant knowledge gap for Australian educators and clinicians involved in undergraduate geriatric medical education.…”