Innovations for an Aging Society through the Lens of Patent Data

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

An aging population creates fertile ground for devising innovations for older adults. By using patents as a proxy for inventive activity, this study sets the stage for understanding the latest innovations being designed for the older population. Insights will pave the way for a better understanding of inventions that could render society more age-friendly on the innovation front.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

To identify the latest innovations targeted at the older population, we collected all patents (N = 326) issued in 2021, specifically those issued between January 5th and December 28th. Upon removing irrelevant data, 120 patents were retained in the data set. Both inductive and deductive modes of reasoning informed our content analysis of the data.

RESULTS

Three themes surfaced. About half (49.2%) of the patents focused on "Preventive Health, Safety, and Independence" (Theme 1). About 38.3% pertained to "Anti-Aging" (Theme 2) and 12.5% were about the "Pathologization of Old Age" (Theme 3).

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This is the first study that evaluates the state of innovations for an aging population. While there are inventions aimed at optimizing the well-being of older adults, there are also those designed due to beliefs that see old age as a problem to solve. As the world experiences a demographic shift, it is imperative that collective ingenuity be harnessed to build a society conducive to all facets of the aging experience.

Age Advocacy on Twitter Over 12 Years

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Discussions on age-related issues have begun taking place in earnest, but exactly what dominates public consciousness about these issues is a topic that has yet to kindle scholarly attention. This study analyzes tweets uploaded by age advocacy organizations that have attracted the highest levels of engagement on Twitter.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We collected 403,426 tweets from 53 accounts. These tweets were posted over 12 years, from 2009 to 2021. After applying our exclusion criteria and collating the top 1% of tweets with the highest levels of engagement, 2,054 tweets were retained for analysis. Both inductive and deductive approaches informed our qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

Five themes emerged. "Issues Related to Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia" (Theme 1) formed the majority of tweets (62%; N = 1,278). Theme 2 "Rising Health Care or Retirement Costs" was the second largest theme (25%; N = 506). Seven percent of the tweets were on "Reframing Aging and Combating Ageism" (Theme 3; N = 138). "Matters Affecting Caregivers" surfaced in Theme 4 (4%; N = 81). Two percent of the tweets were on "Intersectional Concerns" (Theme 5; N = 51).

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

As age advocacy organizations step up to engage the public constructively in matters regarding later life, there is a compelling need to quell public anxiety about old age and to sensitize society to the struggles confronted by older adults. In undertaking the range of activities needed to do so, age advocacy organizations should consolidate efforts even as they rethink existing strategies to effectuate change.

Media attention toward COVID-19 across 18 countries: The influence of cultural values and pandemic severity

BACKGROUND

Current media studies of COVID-19 devote asymmetrical attention to social media, in contrast, newspapers have received comparatively less attention. Newspapers are an integral source of current information-that are syndicated and amplified by social media to a wide global audience. This is the first-known study to investigate the impact of cultural values and pandemic severity on media attention towards COVID-19. Findings lay the groundwork for targeted public health communications that are culturally nuanced.

OBJECTIVE

We investigated the impact of cultural values and pandemic severity on Media Attention towards COVID-19 across 18 countries.

METHODS

We tracked the global volume of COVID-19 coverage (to measure media attention) over 8 months in a news media database of 12 billion words with 30 million articles from over 7,000 news media sites. Predictors of Media Attention towards COVID-19 came from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (incidence and mortality) and Hofstede's Cultural Values.

RESULTS

Media attention toward COVID-19 increased 55 times over 8 months. Higher rates of new cases and deaths predicted this exponential increase. Countries with higher power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, were associated with increased media attention, controlling for covariates.

CONCLUSIONS

Cultural values play a significant role in the news media's attention toward COVID-19, controlling for pandemic severity. We provided a framework to design targeted public health communications that are culturally nuanced.