Dr Serena Sabatini
About
Dr Sabatini has a PhD in Psychology (University of Exeter) on the topic of Awareness of age-related change and its associations with cognitive, mental, and physical health and well-being in later life. After obtaining her PhD, she worked as Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Exeter for the Improving the Experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life program which explores how psychosocial and medical factors relate to the experiences of people with dementia and their carers. She then worked as Postdoctoral Researcher at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland), with focus on the Corona Immunitas project which studies the spread of COVID-19 infection and its impact on the physical, mental, and cognitive health of the Swiss population. She then moved for one year at the University of Nottingham as Economic and Social Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow where she investigated the bidirectional relationships between self-perceptions of ageing and health-related behaviours and health. She is currently a Lecturer in Psychology and conducting research on self-perceptions of ageing, dementia, and caregiving.
Publications
Background: This study investigated the cross-sectional associations of personal and general views on aging, number of non-communicable diseases, and their interactions as cross-sectional predictors of vigorous physical activity. Methods: Participants were 1699 individuals aged 50 years and over (Mean age = 67.79) and living in the community in the UK; 70.8% were women. Participants completed measures assessing Awareness of Age-Related Gains and Losses (AARC-Gains; AARC-Losses; indicators of personal views on aging), Expectations Regarding Aging (ERA; indicator of general views on aging), vigorous physical activity in the last month, non-communicable disease status, and sociodemographic questions. Linear regression models were used. Results: After having adjusted for age, sex, education, marital status, and working status, higher AARC-Gains, lower AARC-Losses, more positive ERA, and fewer non-communicable diseases were cross-sectionally associated with greater likelihood of engagement with vigorous physical activity (Adjusted models Odds Ratio (OR) of 1.08; 0.86; and 1.06, respectively). The interactions of AARC-Gains and AARC-Losses with number of non-communicable diseases as cross-sectional predictors of likelihood of engagement with vigorous physical activity were not statistically significant. The interaction between ERA (i.e., General Views on Aging) and number of non-communicable diseases was a statistically significant cross-sectional predictor of likelihood of engagement with vigorous physical activity (OR = 0.99; p = 0.044). Conclusions: Having more positive and less negative views on aging may prompt vigorous physical activity engagement. Moreover, positive general views of aging may be particularly important for physical activity among those who have one or more non-communicable diseases. Although we cannot infer causality, promoting positive views on aging and decreasing negative views on aging could help fostering active aging, especially among those with physical health conditions.