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Public Attitudes to Ageing

Focus groups

Topic guide

1) Introduction - 5 mins

• Introduce self and Ipsos MORI
• Explain purpose of the research:

Ipsos MORI has been commissioned by the Scottish Executive to conduct a programme of research among the general public looking at issues relating to Scotland's ageing population. The research will inform a new strategy being launched by the Scottish Executive, A Strategy for a Scotland with an Ageing Population. In addition to these discussion sessions, the Executive have just conducted a survey of 1,000 people to gather opinions towards ageing.

• Emphasise
• • We are not expecting people to have given a lot of thought to the subject. We will be talking to a range of people, of all ages, in different locations across Scotland.
  • Ipsos MORI's independence and guarantee of confidentiality.
• Explain group should last around 1hr 30 minutes. Check everyone is ok with this. Tell participants where the nearest fire exits are etc…and where the nearest toilets are.
• Request permission to tape record (can be turned off at any point)
• Participant introductions

WARM UP - 10 minutes

• What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about getting older? PROBE FOR POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES
• How would you define the term 'older people'? How old is an 'older person'? Has that changed? Why?
• Do/did you look forward to getting older? Why? Why not?
• How does being retired compare to what you expected? What is better? What is worse?
• How do you feel society views older people? PROBE FOR positives and negatives e.g. are they valued and are they a burden etc
• The proportion of people aged 75 and over is projected to rise by 75% from 0.37 million in 2004 to 0.65 million in 2031. Were you aware of this issue?
• What will the impact of this change be? What things will be affected?
• What are the benefits/risks which will arise from an ageing society?
• 'Some people say Scotland will be a much better place when there are lots more older people who bring common sense and a lifetime's experience to work and social affairs. Do you agree or do you think it will be a worse place?'

EXPECTATIONS AND PLANNING FOR OLD AGE - 15 minutes

• To what extent have you thought/did you think about what your life will/would be like when you have retired/retired? Why/Why not?
• • If not, how far ahead do you tend to think? Why do you think this is?
• Omnibus finding - roughly 3 in 5 of those younger than state pension age have given serious thought to what life will be like when they retire. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• What kind of life do you REALISTICALLY hope to be leading when you have retired? PROBE for where will you be living, who will you be living with, what will you do with your time - work, hobbies, look after children etc
• Omnibus finding - roughly three quarters of those younger than state pension ageexpect to have a happy and fulfilling retirement. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why? Why do you think such a large proportion did not say yes to this?
• • Is there anything which might prevent you from living your life the way you want to? PROBE for money, attitudes (ageism)
  • Do you have any specific worries about getting older PROBE FOR financial, health problems, loneliness, not being able to support family
  • How could these things be addressed?
• What, if anything, did you do/have you done/are you doing to prepare for old age? PROBE FOR: Pension/savings, lifestyle (e.g. healthy eating, exercise), name on housing waiting list
• • When did you do these things? Why have you done this/these things; Why have you not done anything?
  • What would you have done differently?
• Would you like/have liked more information about the things you need to think about as you get older?
• • What information would you like?
• To what extent do you feel it is your responsibility to prepare for old age? To what extent is it the government's responsibility?
• • What is the balance currently? What should it be?

SOCIETY AND OLDER PEOPLE - 10 minutes

• Do you feel that older people are treated better or worse than other groups?
• Do you think that what it means to be an older person has changed through time? E.g. are they treated better/worse etc?
• What is 'ageism'?
• Is it ever okay to be ageist? If so, when?
• Have you ever experienced ageism? What happened? How did you feel?
• Has anyone you know ever experienced ageism? What happened? How did that affect them? How does that affect society?

Contribution - 10 minutes

• What can old people contribute to society?
• What is a 'contribution'?
• Could they make more contribution?
• Is there anything that prevents them from making a contribution? PROBE FOR health, negative attitudes (ageism), skills
• What could be done about this? PROBE for individual, government responsibility
• What would you like to do to contribute to society?
• What stops you from doing these things?
• What could the government do to help you do these things?

Work - 10 minutes

• Thinking about retirement - do you know what the state pension age is?
  (Currently 60 for a woman born before April 1950 and 65 for a man, gradually increasing between 2010 and 2020 so it will be 65 for women born after 1955) What do you think it should be?
• Do you feel there should be a specific cut off age at which people stop working? Why? Why not?
• When would you personally like to retire? Why then?
• When do you think you actually will stop working? Why then? How do you feel about that?
• Do you feel most people stop working when they want to? If not, why is this and what might be done to change this situation?
• What changes will be needed to help people work longer? Feel better about working longer? What could the government do?
• What do you think would be the main advantages/disadvantages of people working longer?
• Do you think there are benefits/disadvantages to helping people work longer?
• What if you had to stop/had stopped earlier? Later? What would be different?
• Do you know what income you will have when you stop work? Have you thought about it? What made you think about it? /Why do you think you haven't thought about it?
• Omnibus finding - roughly 7 in 10 of those younger than state pension age expect to have enough money to live on when they retire. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• What will you do when you stop working/what do you do? What would you like to do?
• What sort of quality of life do you expect to have when you retire?
  How do you think you can achieve this?

Services for older people theme - 10 minutes

• What services do older people need? PROBE IF NECESSARY for transport, social work, healthcare, etc
• How will this change in the future? Will any new services be required?
• What is your impression of these services?/What services do you use?
• Which of these services are currently 'good'?
• What would you expect of these services? What level of help would you expect?
• How could these services be improved?
• RANKING EXERCISE of Omnibus result - Factors influenced by the Scottish Executive that make for a happy old age plus any other services they mention:

Affordable, accessible housing

Health and community care services

Respect between older and younger generations

Community safety

Health promotion

Affordable accessible transport

Businesses providing products and services designed for older people

• Why is this most important etc?

Health and well-being theme - 10 minutes

• Give them omnibus survey finding: roughly three quarters of people below state pension age expect to be fit and healthy in later life. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• Do you expect to be fit and healthy when you are older? Why?
• Is there anything health-related that you are particularly worried about happening when you are older?
• What are you currently doing to ensure you will be fit and healthy when you are older?
• Did you do anything to try and be healthy in your old age?
• Are you as fit and healthy as you expected to be?

Housing, transport and surroundings theme - 10 minutes

Public Attitudes to Ageing

Depths with disabled participants - prioritise 'contribution', 'health' and 'housing'

Topic guide

1) Introduction - 2 mins

• Introduce self and Ipsos MORI
• Explain purpose of the research:

Ipsos MORI has been commissioned by the Scottish Executive to conduct a programme of research among the general public looking at issues relating to Scotland's ageing population. The research will inform a new strategy being launched by the Scottish Executive, A Strategy for a Scotland with an Ageing Population. In addition to these discussion sessions, the Executive have just conducted a survey of 1,000 people to gather opinions towards ageing.

• Emphasise
• • We are not expecting people to have given a lot of thought to the subject. We will be talking to a range of people, of all ages, in different locations across Scotland.
  • Ipsos MORI's independence and guarantee of confidentiality.
• Explain interview should last around 1hr. Check they are ok with this.
• Request permission to tape record (can be turned off at any point)

WARM UP - 5 minutes

• What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about getting older? PROBE FOR POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES
• How would you define the term 'older people'? How old is an 'older person'? Has that changed? Why?
• Do/did you look forward to getting older? Why? Why not?
• How does being retired compare to what you expected? What is better? What is worse?
• How do you feel society views older people? PROBE FOR positives and negatives e.g. are they valued and are they a burden etc
• The proportion of people aged 75 and over is projected to rise by 75% from 0.37 million in 2004 to 0.65 million in 2031. Were you aware of this issue?
• What will the impact of this change be? What things will be affected?
• What are the benefits/risks which will arise from an ageing society?
• Some people say Scotland will be a much better place when there are lots more older people who bring common sense and a lifetime's experience to work and social affairs. Do you agree or do you think it will be a worse place?'

EXPECTATIONS AND PLANNING FOR OLD AGE - 5 minutes

• To what extent have you thought/did you think about what your life will/would be like when you have retired/retired? Why/Why not?
• • If not, how far ahead do you tend to think? Why do you think this is?
• Omnibus finding - roughly 2 in 5 of those younger than state pension age have given serious thought to what life will be like when they retire. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• What kind of life do you REALISTICALLY hope to be leading when you have retired? PROBE for where will you be living, who will you be living with, what will you do with your time - work, hobbies, look after children etc
• Omnibus finding - roughly 9 in 10 of those younger than state pension age expect to have a happy and fulfilling retirement. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why? Why do you think such a large proportion did not say yes to this?
• • Is there anything which might prevent you from living your life the way you want to? PROBE for money, attitudes (ageism)
  • Do you have any specific worries about getting older PROBE FOR financial, health problems, loneliness, not being able to support family
  • How could these things be addressed?
• What, if anything, did you do/have you done/are you doing to prepare for old age? PROBE FOR: Pension/savings, lifestyle (e.g. healthy eating, exercise), name on housing waiting list
• • When did you do these things? Why have you done this/these things; Why have you not done anything?
  • What would you have done differently?
• Would you like/have liked more information about the things you need to think about as you get older?
• • What information would you like?
• To what extent do you feel it is your responsibility to prepare for old age? To what extent is it the government's responsibility?
• • What is the balance currently? What should it be?

SOCIETY AND OLDER PEOPLE - 5 minutes

• Do you feel that older people are treated better or worse than other groups?
• Do you think that what it means to be an older person has changed through time? E.g. are they treated better/worse etc.
• What is 'ageism'?
• Is it ever okay to be ageist? If so, when?
• Have you ever experienced ageism? What happened? How did you feel?
• Has anyone you know ever experienced ageism? What happened? How did that affect them? How does that affect society?

Contribution - 10 minutes

• What can old people contribute to society?
• What is a 'contribution'?
• Could they make more contribution?
• Is there anything that prevents them from making a contribution? PROBE FOR health, negative attitudes (ageism), skills
• What could be done about this? PROBE for individual, government responsibility
• What would you like to do to contribute to society?
• What stops you from doing these things?
• What could the government do to help you do these things?

Work - 5 minutes

• Thinking about retirement - do you know what the state pension age is?
  (Currently 60 for a woman born before April 1950 and 65 for a man, gradually increasing between 2010 and 2020 so it will be 65 for women born after 1955) What do you think it should be?
• Do you feel there should be a specific cut off age at which people stop working? Why? Why not?
• When would you personally like to retire? Why then?
• When do you think you actually will stop working? Why then? How do you feel about that?
• Do you feel most people stop working when they want to? If not, why is this and what might be done to change this situation?
• What changes will be needed to help people work longer? Feel better about working longer? What could the government do?
• What do you think would be the main advantages/disadvantages of people working longer?
• Do you think there are benefits/disadvantages to helping people work longer?
• What if you had to stop/had stopped earlier? Later? What would be different?
• Do you know what income you will have when you stop work? Have you thought about it? What made you think about it? /Why do you think you haven't thought about it?
• Omnibus finding - roughly 7 in 10 of those younger than state pension age expect to have enough money to live on when they retire. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• What will you do when you stop working/what do you do? What would you like to do?
• What sort of quality of life do you expect to have when you retire?
  How do you think you can achieve this?

Services for older people theme - 5 minutes

• What services do older people need? PROBE IF NECESSARY for transport, social work, healthcare, etc
• How will this change in the future? Will any new services be required?
• What is your impression of these services?/What services do you use?
• Which of these services are currently 'good'?
• What would you expect of these services? What level of help would you expect?
• How could these services be improved?
• RANKING EXERCISE of Omnibus result - Factors influenced by the Scottish Executive that make for a happy old age plus any other services they mention:

Affordable, accessible housing

Health and community care services

Respect between older and younger generations

Community safety

Health promotion

Affordable accessible transport

Businesses providing products and services designed for older people

• Why is this most important etc?

Health and well-being theme - 10 minutes

• Give them omnibus survey finding: roughly three quarters of people below state pension age expect to be fit and healthy in later life. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• Do you expect to be fit and healthy when you are older? Why?
• Is there anything health-related that you are particularly worried about happening when you are older?
• What are you currently doing to ensure you will be fit and healthy when you are older?
• Did you do anything to try and be healthy in your old age?
• Are you as fit and healthy as you expected to be?

Housing, transport and surroundings theme - 10 minutes

Public Attitudes to Ageing

Depths with participants aged 85+

Prioritise 'contribution', 'services' and 'health'

Topic guide

1) Introduction - 2 mins

• Introduce self and Ipsos MORI
• Explain purpose of the research:

Ipsos MORI has been commissioned by the Scottish Executive to conduct a programme of research among the general public looking at issues relating to Scotland's ageing population. The research will inform a new strategy being launched by the Scottish Executive, A Strategy for a Scotland with an Ageing Population. In addition to these discussion sessions, the Executive have just conducted a survey of 1,000 people to gather opinions towards ageing.

• Emphasise
• • We are not expecting people to have given a lot of thought to the subject. We will be talking to a range of people, of all ages, in different locations across Scotland.
  • Ipsos MORI's independence and guarantee of confidentiality.
• Explain that the chat should last around 1 hour
• Request permission to tape record (can be turned off at any point)

WARM UP - 5 minutes

• What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about getting older? PROBE FOR POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES
• How would you define the term 'older people'? How old is an 'older person'? Has that changed? Why?
• Do/did you look forward to getting older? Why? Why not?
• How does being retired compare to what you expected? What is better? What is worse?
• How do you feel society views older people? PROBE FOR positives and negatives e.g. are they valued and are they a burden etc
• The proportion of people aged 75 and over is projected to rise by 75% from 0.37 million in 2004 to 0.65 million in 2031. Were you aware of this issue?
• What will the impact of this change be? What things will be affected?
• What are the benefits/risks which will arise from an ageing society?
• 'Some people say Scotland will be a much better place when there are lots more older people who bring common sense and a lifetime's experience to work and social affairs. Do you agree or do you think it will be a worse place?'

EXPECTATIONS AND PLANNING FOR OLD AGE - 5 minutes

• To what extent did you think about what your life would be like when you retired? Why/Why not?
• • If not, how far ahead did you tend to think? Why do you think this is?
• Omnibus finding - roughly 2 in 5 of those younger than state pension age have given serious thought to what life will be like when they retire. What do you think of this? How would you have answered this before you retired? Why?
• What kind of life do live now that you are retired? PROBE, who do you live with, what do you do with your time - work, hobbies, look after children etc
• Omnibus finding - roughly 9 in 10 of those in the state pension age feel happy and fulfilled with their life. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why? Why do you think such a large proportion did not say yes to this?
• • Is there anything which prevents you from living your life the way you want to? PROBE for money, attitudes (ageism),
  • Did you have any specific worries about getting older PROBE FOR financial, health problems, loneliness, not being able to support family
  • Have any of these things been realised?
• What, if anything, did you do to prepare for old age? PROBE FOR: Pension/savings, lifestyle (e.g. healthy eating, exercise), name on housing waiting list
• • When did you do these things? Why did you do these things; Why did you not do anything?
  • What would you have done differently?
• Would you have liked more information about the things you need to think about as you get older?
• • What information would you have liked?
• To what extent do you feel it is your responsibility to prepare for old age? To what extent is it the government's responsibility?
• • What is the balance currently? What should it be?

SOCIETY AND OLDER PEOPLE - 5 minutes

• Do you feel that older people are treated better or worse than other groups?
• Do you think that what it means to be an older person has changed through time? E.g. are they treated better/worse etc.
• What is 'ageism'?
• Is it ever okay to be ageist? If so, when?
• Have you ever experienced ageism? What happened? How did you feel?
• Has anyone you know ever experienced ageism? What happened? How did that affect them? How does that affect society?

Contribution - 10 minutes

• What can older people contribute to society?
• What is a 'contribution'?
• What would you like to do to contribute to society?
• What stops you from doing these things?
• What could be done about this? PROBE for individual, government responsibility
• What could the government do to help you do these things?

Work - 5 minutes

• Thinking about retirement - do you know what the state retirement age is?
  (Currently 60 for a woman born before April 1950 and 65 for a man, gradually increasing between 2010 and 2020 so it will be 65 for women born after 1955) What do you think it should be?
• Do you feel there should be a specific cut off age at which people stop working? Why? Why not?
• When did you retire? Would you have liked to have retired earlier/later (maybe worked part-time?) Why/why not?
• Do you feel most people stop working when they want to? If not, why is this and what might be done to change this situation?
• What changes will be needed to help people work longer? Feel better about working longer? What could the government do?
• What do you think would be the main advantages/disadvantages of people working longer?
• Do you think there are benefits/disadvantages to helping people work longer?
• What if you had to stop/had stopped earlier? Later? What would be different?
• How does your income in retirement compare to what you expected it to be?
• Omnibus finding - roughly 3 in 10 of those who have reached state pension age expect do not feel they have enough money to live on. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• What do you do now that you have retired? Is there anything you would like to do but can't?
• How would you describe your quality of life?

Services for older people theme - 10 minutes

• What services do older people need? PROBE IF NECESSARY for transport, social work, healthcare, etc
• How will this change in the future? Will any new services be required?
• What services (for older people) do you use?
• Which of these services are currently 'good'?
• How could services that are not so good be improved?
• RANKING EXERCISE of Omnibus result - Factors influenced by the Scottish Executive that make for a happy old age plus any other services they mention:

Affordable, accessible housing

Health and community care services

Respect between older and younger generations

Community safety

Health promotion

Affordable accessible transport

Businesses providing products and services designed for older people

• Why is this most important etc?

Health and well-being theme - 10 minutes

• Give them omnibus survey finding: roughly 7 in 10 people of state pension age feel fit and healthy. What do you think of this? How would you have answered? Why?
• Did you expect to be fit and healthy when you are older? Why?
• Did you do anything to try and be healthy in your old age?
• Are you as fit and healthy as you expected to be?

Housing, transport and surroundings theme - 5 minutes

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