Gerontology: Health and Ageing
This programme focuses on researching pathological and normative ageing and disabilities. It includes the study of generative activities in older age and the determinants and impact of older people involvement in volunteering tasks or as political activists. Furthermore, this programme tackles the field of aging with disability and dependence, including quality of life, interactions between caregivers and care receiver, both in institutional and community contexts. Finally, it addresses long-term residential settings policies and practices, particularly those addressed to guarantee residents’ rights and opportunities for participating.
Principal Investigators
Feliciano Villar
Full Professor
Technologies & Methods
- Empirical studies with data from SHARE (survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe)
Research Team
Montserrat Celdran
Associate Professor
Vanesa Viñas
Early Stage Researcher
Active Projects
Envejecer en los márgenes: hacia una visión más inclusiva del envejecimiento activo
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PID2020-116117GB-I00. Feliciano.
Grup d’Investigació en Gerontologia (GIG)
Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR). 2021 SGR 00250. Feliciano.
Selected publications
Cannella, V., Villar, F., & Serrat, R. (2023). Competing at age 55 and over. Reasons why older athletes participate in sport. Educational Gerontology, 49(10), 866–880. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2023.2174725
Chacur-Kiss, K., Villar, F., & Serrat, R. (2023). Life course transitions and their impact on the artistic trajectories of older artists. Educational Gerontology, 49(11), 994–1007. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2023.2193516
Domènech-Abella, J., Gabarrell-Pascuet, A., García-Mieres, H., Mortier, P., Felez-Nobrega, M., Cristóbal-Narváez, P., Vilagut, G., Olaya, B., Alonso, J., & Haro, J. M. (2023). Loneliness during the last phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: A longitudinal study of group-based trajectories, risk factors, and consequences in mental health. Psychiatry Research, 326, 115327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115327
Faris, L. H., Gabarrell-Pascuet, A., Felez-Nobrega, M., Cristóbal-Narváez, P., Mortier, P., Vilagut, G., Olaya, B., Alonso, J., Haro, J. M., López-Carrilero, R., & Domènech-Abella, J. (2023). The Association Between Substance Use Disorder and Depression During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain and the Moderating Role of Social Support: a Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 21(2), 1157–1167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00651-7
Felez-Nobrega, M., Werneck, A. O., Bauman, A., Haro, J. M., & Koyanagi, A. (2023). Active school commuting in adolescents from 28 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia: a temporal trends study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 20(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-022-01404-y
Jacob, L., Gyasi, R. M., Oh, H., Smith, L., Kostev, K., López Sánchez, G. F., Rahmati, M., Haro, J. M., Tully, M. A., Shin, J. Il, Yon, D. K., & Koyanagi, A. (2023). Leisure‐time physical activity and sarcopenia among older adults from low‐ and middle‐income countries. Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 14(2), 1130–1138. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcsm.13215
Mazzoli Smith, L., Villar, F., & Wendel, S. (2023). Narrative-based learning for person-centred healthcare: the Caring Stories learning framework. Medical Humanities, 49(4), 583–592. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2022-012530
McGrath, J. J., Al-Hamzawi, A., Alonso, J., Altwaijri, Y., Andrade, L. H., Bromet, E. J., Bruffaerts, R., de Almeida, J. M. C., Chardoul, S., Chiu, W. T., Degenhardt, L., Demler, O. V, Ferry, F., Gureje, O., Haro, J. M., Karam, E. G., Karam, G., Khaled, S. M., Kovess-Masfety, V., … Zaslavsky, A. M. (2023). Age of onset and cumulative risk of mental disorders: a cross-national analysis of population surveys from 29 countries. The Lancet Psychiatry, 10(9), 668–681. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00193-1
Mediavilla, R., Felez-Nobrega, M., McGreevy, K. R., Monistrol-Mula, A., Bravo-Ortiz, M.-F., Bayón, C., Giné-Vázquez, I., Villaescusa, R., Muñoz-Sanjosé, A., Aguilar-Ortiz, S., Figueiredo, N., Nicaise, P., Park, A.-L., Petri-Romão, P., Purgato, M., Witteveen, A. B., Underhill, J., Barbui, C., Bryant, R., … Ayuso-Mateos, J. L. (2023). Effectiveness of a mental health stepped-care programme for healthcare workers with psychological distress in crisis settings: a multicentre randomised controlled trial. BMJ Mental Health, 26(1), e300697. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2023-300697
Megido, M. J., Celdrán, M., Ferrer, A., Roca, M., Pujol-Ribera, E., & Zabaleta-del-Olmo, E. (2023). Grandchildren of grandparents with Alzheimer’s disease: Exploratory study of the impact of the disease on their relationships. Dementia, 22(4), 838–853. https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012231162882
Mensah, G. A., Fuster, V., Murray, C. J. L., Roth, G. A., Mensah, G. A., Abate, Y. H., Abbasian, M., Abd-Allah, F., Abdollahi, A., Abdollahi, M., Abdulah, D. M., Abdullahi, A., Abebe, A. M., Abedi, A., Abedi, A., Abiodun, O. O., Ali, H. A., Abu-Gharbieh, E., Abu-Rmeileh, N. M. E., … Roth, G. A. (2023). Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and Risks, 1990-2022. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 82(25), 2350–2473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2023.11.007
Olaya, B., Moneta, M. V., Plana-Ripoll, O., & Haro, J. M. (2023). Association between mental disorders and mortality: A register-based cohort study from the region of Catalonia. Psychiatry Research, 320, 115037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.115037
Pinazo-Hernandis, S., Zacares, J. J., Serrat, R., & Villar, F. (2023). The Role of Generativity in Later Life in the Case of Productive Activities: Does the Type of Active Aging Activity Matter? Research on Aging, 45(1), 35–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/01640275221122914
Portillo-Van Diest, A., Vilagut, G., Alayo, I., Ferrer, M., Amigo, F., Amann, B. L., Aragón-Peña, A., Aragonès, E., Asúnsolo Del Barco, Á., Campos, M., Del Cura-González, I., Espuga, M., González-Pinto, A., Haro, J. M., Larrauri, A., López-Fresneña, N., Martínez de Salázar, A., Molina, J. D., Ortí-Lucas, R. M., … Mortier, P. (2023). Traumatic stress symptoms among Spanish healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a prospective study. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 32, e50. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796023000628
Serrat, R., Chacur-Kiss, K., & Villar, F. (2023). Ageing Activisms: A Narrative Exploration of Older Adults’ Experiences of Political Participation. Sociological Research Online, 28(1), 73–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804211025310
Serrat, R., Chacur-Kiss, K., Villar, F., & Peiró-Milian, I. (2023). For the Sake of Myself, My Colleagues and My Community: Exploring the Benefits of Political Participation in Later Life. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 66(7), 908–923. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2023.2191129
Villar, F., & Westerhof, G. J. (2023). A conversational, small-story approach to narrative care for people with dementia living in care institutions: Strategies and challenges. Journal of Aging Studies, 64, 101105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2023.101105
Zhang, Y., Pratap, A., Folarin, A. A., Sun, S., Cummins, N., Matcham, F., Vairavan, S., Dineley, J., Ranjan, Y., Rashid, Z., Conde, P., Stewart, C., White, K. M., Oetzmann, C., Ivan, A., Lamers, F., Siddi, S., Rambla, C. H., Simblett, S., … Dobson, R. J. B. (2023). Long-term participant retention and engagement patterns in an app and wearable-based multinational remote digital depression study. Npj Digital Medicine, 6(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-023-00749-3