IN BRIEF
DISAPPEARING ACCENTS The UK media reports that English accents are becoming alike. Linguistic researchers have also observed this ‘levelling’. Researchers will study levelling (and its opposite, divergence) in three north-western localities – Liverpool, Skelmersdale and St Helens – in order to investigate the relationship between linguistic and geographical, social and perceptual factors in language change.
ESRC Grant Number RES-061-25-0458
LEISURE BUS SERVICES Researchers will work with organisations that provide bus services for leisure trips to identify the best ways of measuring performance. The project will devise survey templates and a software package to help input the data and produce reports on performance indicators. Findings will help funding bodies compare performance over different time periods and evaluate the value of these bus services. ESRC Grant Number RES-192-22-0026
JURORS’ VIEWS ON DNA DNA evidence that places a suspect at a crime scene is frequently perceived to be irrefutable by jurors. Indeed, anecdotal evidence suggests that jurors are increasingly expecting DNA evidence, even in cases where it would be of little or no value. Researchers will evaluate how best to present DNA evidence to facilitate juror reasoning and decision-making. ESRC Grant Number RES-000-22-4169
Balance is key to mobility in older people
WHILE MAINTAINING MOBILITY plays a significant part in healthy ageing, a new study highlights a high degree of inactivity even among an ‘elite’ sample of fit and healthy older people aged between 72 and 92 years. “Mobility is hugely important in terms of older people being able to remain independent,” explains Dr Lynn McInnes. “Reduced mobility can restrict a person’s social life as well as limiting their access to shops, leisure and other activities. People fear not being able to look after themselves and being a burden on others. Often a cause of this dependence is a decline in mobility.”
Researchers set out to examine the actual mobility patterns of older people using innovative methods such as location-aware technologies and an accelerometer taped to their thigh for a seven-day period. The sample of participants came from the North East Age Research longitudinal study, which began in 1983. A total of 86 participants completed all the tests involved in this research.
Findings reveal a fairly high degree
of inactivity, with participants spending 70 per cent of the day sitting or lying, 22 per cent standing and only seven per cent walking. The study further reveals that even its sample of fairly
4 SOCIETY NOW AUTUMN 2010 i Contact Dr Lynn McInnes, Northumbria University
Email
lynn.mcinnes@
northumbria.ac.uk Telephone 0191 227 3238 ESRC Grant Number RES-352-25-0023 Part of the New Dynamics of Ageing Programme
fit older people did not travel far from their home: the mean furthest distance travelled away from home was just over four miles per week.
“These findings highlight the importance of providing effective transport networks and a good range of local services to meet older people’s needs,” Dr McInnes explains. “Being able to stay mobile is crucial to older people’s wellbeing, as loss of mobility means the loss of so many other things from their lives such as the ability to go shopping, meet friends and pursue hobbies and interests.” In the course of the study, researchers discovered that balance – specifically the ability to stand on one leg – is an excellent predictor of a person’s overall mobility. “This is an exciting finding because balance is something that can be worked on with the help of physiotherapy,” she points out. “We believe that physiotherapy interventions that are aimed at improving older people’s balance could have a highly beneficial effect on maintaining their mobility.” n
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