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During the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, older adults are particularly excluded from in-person society. This essay presents current discussions around self-perceptions and external perceptions of aging during this health crisis. Viewing older adults primarily as members of a risk group hinders recognition of the individuality of millions of older adults worldwide. Social workers should remain aware of the diverse aspects of aging when working with older adults during this pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a pattern of physical distancing worldwide, particularly for adults aged 65+. Such distancing can evoke subjective feelings of negative self-perception of aging (SPA) among older adults, but how this pandemic has influenced such SPA is not yet known. This study, therefore, explored SPA at different time phases of the COVID-19 pandemic to explain the pandemic's impact on SPA among older adults. The analysis employed a sample of 1,990 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 to 95 (mean age = 72.74 years; 43% female) in Switzerland. Data collection from different older adults within one study occurred both before and after Switzerland's first confirmed COVID-19 case. The descriptive analysis revealed that negative SPA increased, and positive SPA decreased, after the Swiss government recommended physical distancing. After the Federal Council decided to ease these measures, negative SPA slightly decreased and positive SPA increased. According to the multivariate analysis, individuals interviewed after the lockdown were more likely to report greater levels of negative SPA and lower levels of positive SPA. Age, income, and living alone also correlated with SPA. The results suggest that the pandemic has affected older adults' subjective views of their own aging, and these findings help illustrate the pandemic's outcomes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a pattern of everyday physical distancing worldwide, particularly for adults aged 65+. Such distancing can evoke subjective feelings of loneliness among older adults, but how this pandemic has influenced that loneliness is not yet known. This study, therefore, explored the association between subjective loneliness and different time phases of the COVID-19 pandemic to explain the pandemic's impact on loneliness among older adults. The analysis employed a sample of 1,990 community-dwelling older adults aged 65–95 (mean age = 72.74 years; 43% female) in Switzerland. Data collection occurred both before and after Switzerland's first confirmed COVID-19 case. Regression models allowed the researchers to determine the binary and multivariate effects of different pandemic time phases on loneliness. The descriptive analysis revealed that loneliness increased after the Swiss government recommended physical distancing and slightly decreased after the Federal Council decided to ease these measures. According to the multivariate analysis, women, lower-income individuals, individuals living alone, individuals with no children, individuals unsatisfied with their contact with neighbors, and individuals interviewed after the physical distancing recommendations were more likely to report greater loneliness. The results suggest the pandemic has affected older adults' subjective evaluations of their subjective loneliness, and these findings help illustrate the pandemic's outcomes.

Although information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as smartphones, tablets, and the internet have all become increasingly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, we often forget that not everyone has access to the internet or uses ICT devices. Individuals on the wrong side of the digital divide are often older adults living in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), such as "old–old" adults, who often have various functional impairments. To shed light on the initial situation shortly before the pandemic, three data sources from Switzerland were used in this study to answer the following questions: (1) Do older adults want to have internet access if and/or when they move into a LTCF? (2) What form does ICT use take (specifically internet, smartphone, and tablet use) among LTCF residents, and what need do they have for ICT support? (3) What is the state of LTCFs' ICT infrastructure and residents' level of involvement in the decision-making process related to acquiring new technologies? Community-dwelling older adults in this study reported a desire to have internet access when moving into LTCFs, and 21% of LTCF residents reported using the internet just before the pandemic began. Internet access and ICT infrastructure in LTCFs, in general, are both limited, however, and LTCF managers seldom involve older adults in the ICT decision-making process. While modern ICT usage has reached the long-term care sector, the results of this study show that compensating for a lack of physical social contacts by relying on digital solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be the sole solution. The current pandemic has reminded us that a digital gap exists and that non-use of ICTs during the pandemic can produce additional feelings of social isolation.

ZusammenfassungDer Begriff der sozialen Exklusion hat in den Sozialwissenschaften eine erstaunliche Karriere erfahren. Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrags steht die empirische Untersuchung der zeitdiagnostischen Verwendung des Konzepts. Aus dieser leiten wir vier Thesen ab, die in diesem Beitrag mit dem Fokus auf das Exklusionsempfinden empirisch geprüft werden: Erstens, dass aufgrund der Prozesse des ökonomischen Strukturwandels größere Bevölkerungsgruppen von sozialer Exklusion in mehreren Dimensionen (Arbeitslosigkeit, Armut, soziale Isolation) betroffen sind, die bei diesen in einem subjektiven Exklusionsempfinden kulminieren. Damit wird unterstellt, dass soziale Exklusion zur Hauptspannungslinie der gegenwärtigen Gesellschaft geworden ist. Zweitens wird angenommen, dass soziale Exklusion nicht eindeutig in klassischen sozialstrukturellen Kategorien zu verorten ist, sondern in breite Teile der Gesellschaft diffundiert ist. Drittens wird sozioökonomischer Prekarisierung und sozialer Isolation eine zentrale Rolle für die Entstehung eines subjektiven Exklusionsempfindens zugesprochen. Hier wird allerdings, viertens, vermutet, dass dieses vermittelt über die subjektive Wahrnehmung der objektiven Lage auf das Exklusionsempfinden wirkt. Wir prüfen diese Thesen des Konzepts auf der Basis von Umfragedaten, wobei wir das Exklusionsempfinden als abhängige Variable verwenden. Dabei wird deutlich, dass erstens soziale Exklusion nicht in weite Teile der Gesellschaft diffundiert ist und damit keineswegs als Hauptspannungslinie der Gesellschaft betrachtet werden kann, zweitens sich ein erhöhtes Exklusionsempfinden in unterschiedlichen, aber klar benennbaren sozialen Gruppen feststellen lässt. Darüber hinaus zeigen unsere Analysen, dass das subjektive Exklusionsempfinden sowohl in sozialer Isolation als auch in sozioökonomischer Prekarisierung begründet ist, allerdings deutlich vermittelt über deren subjektive Wahrnehmung.

Older adults face significant barriers when accessing the Internet. What can be done to address these barriers? This article analyses existing strategies to tackle the age-related digital divide on three different levels: research, policy and practice. It analyses (1) scientific conceptualisations that are used when studying Internet use and non-use in later life, (2) policies that address older adults' Internet (non-)use in Austria and (3) characteristics of older Austrian non-users of the Internet based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, wave 6). Analysis shows that Austrian policy tends to emphasise the individual responsibility to learn digital technologies, while placing a lower priority on structural issues, such as investments in infrastructure. However, SHARE data shows that only a small percentage of older non-users of the Internet is in fact reached with such interventions. Thus, this article suggests that policy needs to base its strategies on more refined understandings of Internet use and non-use in later life as well as a more nuanced image of the older non-user. A perspective of critical-cultural gerontology, as laid out in this article, highlights that technology adoption is a domestication process that takes place in the everyday lives of older adults, and it is these processes that interventions that tackle the age-related digital divide should take as a starting point.

The objective of Working Group (WG) 4 of the COST Action NET4Age-Friendly is to examine existing policies, advocacy, and funding opportunities and to build up relations with policy makers and funding organisations. Also, to synthesize and improve existing knowledge and models to develop from effective business and evaluation models, as well as to guarantee quality and education, proper dissemination and ensure the future of the Action. The Working Group further aims to enable capacity building to improve interdisciplinary participation, to promote knowledge exchange and to foster a cross-European interdisciplinary research capacity, to improve cooperation and co-creation with cross-sectors stakeholders and to introduce and educate students SHAFE implementation and sustainability (CB01, CB03, CB04, CB05). To enable the achievement of the objectives of Working Group 4, the Leader of the Working Group, the Chair and Vice-Chair, in close cooperation with the Science Communication Coordinator, developed a template (see annex 1) to map the current state of SHAFE policies, funding opportunities and networking in the COST member countries of the Action. On invitation, the Working Group lead received contributions from 37 countries, in a total of 85 Action members. The contributions provide an overview of the diversity of SHAFE policies and opportunities in Europe and beyond. These were not edited or revised and are a result of the main areas of expertise and knowledge of the contributors; thus, gaps in areas or content are possible and these shall be further explored in the following works and reports of this WG. But this preliminary mapping is of huge importance to proceed with the WG activities. In the following chapters, an introduction on the need of SHAFE policies is presented, followed by a summary of the main approaches to be pursued for the next period of work. The deliverable finishes with the opportunities of capacity building, networking and funding that will be relevant to undertake within the frame of Working Group 4 and the total COST Action. The total of country contributions is presented in the annex of this deliverable.