Roberta Sultana
University of Malta
Roberta Sultana
Roberta has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Occupational Therapy (2003). She holds a postgraduate diploma (2006), a master’s degree (2017) and a PhD in Gerontology and Geriatrics (2025), all from the University of Malta. Her PhD focuses on the intersections of ageing, gender and care work with a special focus on ageing men carers. Roberta has been working as an occupational therapist in the field of ageing for the past twenty-two years. She brings genuine passion and dedication to every aspect of her work. Apart from clinical work, she engages in research where she is a research supporting officer within the Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies and within the Department of Information and Communication Technology at the University of Malta. Moreover, Roberta is keen on sharing her knowledge and skills through lecturing and supervision of students.
FURTHER INFORMATION
| Countries | Malta; |
|---|---|
| Topics | Access to care; Age-friendliness; Ageing in place; Assistive Technologies; Gender and care; LTC Systems; Outcomes for unpaid/informal carers; Support for unpaid carers; Technology and LTC; |
| Methods | Focus groups; Longitudinal qualitative studies; Mixed methods; Qualitative studies; |
| Role | Research; |
| Interest Groups | Ageing and Place; Integrated Long-Term Care; Qualitative Research; |
| ORC.ID | https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1902-865X |
| GOOGLE SCHOLAR | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ucz6I4YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao |
| Research interests | My research interests centre on age, gender, masculinities, care work, and long-term care. I am interested in how ageing is experienced and understood as a gendered process, and in particular how masculinities shape older men’s identities, roles, and relationships in later life. Within care work, my interests span both informal caregiving by family members and formal care provision, with attention to the ways care remains gendered in who provides it, how it is valued, and how it is recognised in policy. These interests extend to long-term care systems more broadly, including how services are organised, accessed, and experienced by older persons and their families, and how policy responds to the needs of both care recipients and carers in ageing societies. |
| Key publications | Comas-Herrera, A., Salehi, N., Chaverri-Carvajal, A., Aaltonen, M., Akkan, B., Bottery, S., Browne, J., Cheshire-Allen, M., Dunham, M., Dunsmore, M., Erdoğan Cansu, C., Famira-Mühlberger, U., Fenech, M. A., Forma, L., Fransz-Myers, M., Grigoras, V., Gubert, E., Hamandi, A., Hlebec, V., . . . Zalakain, J. (2026). Public coverage of Long-Term Care in the post-COVID period: Strengthening systems vs cost-containment. Public Policy & Aging Report, 36(1), 14–23.
Azzopardi, M., Sultana, R., & Fenech, M. A. (2026). The overlooked dimension: Physiotherapists’ perceptions of spirituality and religion in older person care. Journal of Ageing and Longevity, 6(2), Article 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/jal6020037
Xuereb, R., Sultana, R., & Fenech, M. A. (2026). Motivations, benefits and barriers among older Maltese persons participating in hospital volunteer work. Studies in Social Wellbeing, 5(1), 36-71.
Sultana, R., Calasanti, T., & Formosa, M. (2025). Old husbands caring for their wives in Malta: Enduring gender stereotypes and cultural masculinities. In M. K. Shankardass (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of contemporary ageing issues: Global and country narratives (pp. 628–639). Routledge India.
Sultana, R., & Formosa, M. (2023). The invisibility of old men carers in Malta’s ageing care policy. Societas.Expert, (3), 41–46.
Sultana, R., & Agius, A. (2019). Pathways to residential respite care in Malta: A qualitative study. International Journal on Ageing in Developing Countries, 4(2), 91–107.
|