Aging Successfully: Home

Ageing and Memory are two cultural processes that establish their own relationships with time. They affect our ways of living, in the present, and for a future, as we move through life. This book focuses on the cultural mediations of ageing and memory, teasing out their complex and largely unpredictable relationships and interconnections. Its overall purpose is to explore different practices, commodities, daily routines, sounds, images and technologies that configure memory and ageing and shape our experiences of living in time and with time. By covering a variety of phenomena, from biopics, music by elderly, and artefacts among other, this edited collection considers the cultural stuff that ageing and memory are made of and interconnected in singular ways, for and by particular people, in specific socio-historical locations.

Our understandings of both ageing and spirituality are changing rapidly in the twenty-first century, and grasping the significance of later life spirituality is now crucial in the context of extended longevity. Spiritual Dimensions of Ageing will inform and engage those who study or practise in all fields that relate to the lives of older people, especially in social, psychological and health-related domains, but also wherever the maintenance and development of spiritual meaning and purpose are recognised as important for human flourishing. Bringing together an international group of leading scholars across the fields of psychology, theology, history, philosophy, sociology and gerontology, the volume distils the latest advances in research on spirituality and ageing, and engages in vigorous discussion about how we can interpret this learning for the benefit of older people and those who seek to serve and support them.

Spiritual Growth and Care in the Fourth Age of Life explores the spiritual dimension of ageing and investigates the role of pastoral and spiritual care in helping the frail elderly cope with end-of-life issues. Focusing on the experience of nursing home residents and anecdotes gathered in interviews, MacKinlay sensitively presents the struggles facing older people in need of care, such as loss of independence and privacy. Her findings show that despite ill health, loneliness and depression, older people near the end of their lives find meaning and support in (re)discovering their spirituality, and that this is not just the experience of those in care facilities, but of older people more generally. The book includes a useful chapter on spiritual assessment, providing carers with information on how to recognise the need for care. This book will be of interest to nurses, care workers, pastoral support professionals and anyone else working with older people.

Changing Seasons: A Language Arts Curriculum for Healthy Aging is a language-based, interdisciplinary program that increases interaction and communication skills among older adults. Featuring simple step-by-step lesson plans and interactive activities, Changing Seasons is a practical guide for caregivers and health care professionals to ensure individuals sustain their quality of life as they age. Each activity reveals new, creative, and fun ways to encourage individuals to speak, think, and write, sparking imagination and engagement with others. This new revised edition recognizes the growing importance of technology in communication, and incorporates many lessons learned during pandemic isolation, as communication was often limited to screens. Included is a new chapter that incorporates eight lessons on utilizing videoconferencing platforms. Though technology may evolve, communication will remain key to a sense of community and companionship--whether in person or online. Changing Seasons provides a roadmap to promoting meaningful interactions.

Winner of the 2021 Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity Award from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Finalist for the 2021 American Book Fest Best Book Awards Aging is one of the most compelling issues today, with record numbers of seniors over sixty-five worldwide. Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life examines a diverse array of cultural works including films, literature, and even art that represent this time of life, often made by people who are seniors themselves. These works, focusing on important topics such as housing, memory loss, and intimacy, are analyzed in dialogue with recent research to explore how "stories" illuminate the dynamics of growing old by blending fact with imagination. Gray Matters also incorporates the life experiences of seniors gathered from over two hundred in-depth surveys with a range of questions on growing old, not often included in other age studies works. Combining cultural texts, gerontology research, and observations from older adults will give all readers a fuller picture of the struggles and pleasures of aging and avoids over-simplified representations of the process as all negative or positive. 

Distilling a vast amount of research in a style that is engaging, conversational, and even personal and witty, this book opens readers' eyes to the complexity and significance of the humble knee

Food for Thought: Nutrition and the Aging Brain" presents and analyzes the research on nutrition's impacts on the aging brain, on possibly-declining cognitive abilities, and on changing emotional dispositions. With 40 pages of references, the depth of coverage of the underlying science makes the book appropriate for scientists in fields such as nutrition, geriatrics, and psychology. However, the book was also designed to be understandable for lay readers wanting a deeper understanding than can be found in typical books on food-brain relationships.

"Almost all older adults face a predicament in later life: their possessions. Ekerdt has estimated, based on national survey questions of my design, that 35 to 40 million persons aged 60+ hold the opinion that "I have more things than I need." The downsizing problem has spawned an entire industry of clutter manuals and elder-moving services. But for most older adults, divestment is not so simple. Ekerdt presents a unique, conceptual framing, casting the entirety of one's possessions as borne across time as a "convoy of material support." More than mere incidentals, possessions enact the life course and create our ideas about ourselves. For older adults, the material convoy is central to well-being. At the same time, this accumulated infrastructure is a potential obstacle to a more vital, independent way of life. Ekerdt's conclusions about the meaning and management of possessions are drawn from interviews with elders and family members in over 125 diverse U.S. households. In Downsizing he brings fresh observations about how the process goes, how people accomplish it, and the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social tasks that it entails"-- Provided by publisher.

Dance, Ageing and Collaborative Arts Based Research contributes a critical and comprehensive perspective on the role of the arts--specifically dance--in enhancing the lives of older people. The book focuses on the development of an innovative arts-based program for older adults and the collaborative process of exploring and understanding its impact in relation to ageing, social inclusion, and care. It offers a wide audience of readers a richer understanding of the role of the arts in ageing and life enrichment, critical contributions to theories of ageing and care, specific approaches to arts-based collaborative research, and an exploration of the impact of Sharing Dance from the perspective of older adults, artists, researchers, and community leaders. Given the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of this book, it will be of interest across health, social science, and humanities disciplines, including gerontology, sociology, psychology, geography, nursing, social work, and performing arts.

Seniors today find themselves living in a time when rapid changes in health care delivery have made vital decisions about when and how best to obtain medical treatment difficult and confusing to navigate. At the same time, seniors proportionately need more health care services, have a higher incidence of chronic disease, and take more medications than any other demographic--and yet have the lowest rate of health literacy. In this short, easy-to-read book designed as a concise but effective healthcare guide, Dr. Harold Kennedy, with more than 60 years of experience practicing medicine, guides readers through the healthcare maze faced by many seniors. While the information in this book is not intended to diagnose or treat ailments, it will give readers a valuable foundation of health literacy, crucial in making good decisions regarding their health and medical care services, and that of their loved ones. Written expressly to help persons aged 60 years and older, Aging and Health for the US Elderly: A Health Primer for Ages 60 to 90 is essential reading for all older Americans. Chapter topics include health risk factors; social determinants of disease; best practices; and up-to-date prevention, surveillance, and wellness, with special chapters tailored specifically for women and for men. Coverage also includes an overview of the U.S. health care system, both its history and the current state of affairs.  Scientific validity of the evidence is provided by more than 180 references.

Current demographic developments and change due to long life expectancies, low birth rates, changing family structures, and economic and political crises causing migration and flight are having a significant impact on intergenerational relationships, the social welfare system, the job market and what elderly people (can) expect from their retirement and environment. The socio-political relevance of the categories of 'age' and 'ageing' have been increasing and gaining much attention within different scholarly fields. However, none of the efforts to identify age-related diseases or the processes of ageing in order to develop suitable strategies for prevention and therapy have had any effect on the fact that attitudes against the elderly are based on patterns that are determined by parameters that or not biological or sociological: age(ing) is also a cultural fact. This book reveals the importance of cultural factors in order to build a framework for analyzing and understanding cultural constructions of ageing, bringing together scholarly discourses from the arts and humanities as well as social, medical and psychological fields of study. The contributions pave the way for new strategies of caring for elderly people.

Nursing homes provide care to about 1.4 million nursing home residents--a vulnerable population of elderly and disabled individuals. CMS, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), defines standards nursing homes must meet to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. This book reviews the abuse of residents in nursing homes.

Not only does this book offer insights into how to better serve all seniors, but it also provides complete step-by-step instructions for dozens of exciting and engaging programs that can be held both onsite and offsite.While serving the senior population is a standard service in public libraries, it has traditionally focused on in-house programs and homebound services. On the Go with Senior Services is different. With this inspiring and practical guide, your library can rejuvenate its in-house services with new programs and also take them on the road--to retirement and assisted living communities, adult day care programs, and nursing homes and rehab centers. With such diversity in the senior population, this book describes strategies for designing senior programs that fit your community's needs. It offers a trove of templates for programs that range from crafts, word games, pop culture, pets, holidays, humor, mysteries, technology, and music. It offers tips and suggestions on how to interact with seniors, including those who may have a variety of physical and cognitive needs. There are also guidelines for working with individuals suffering from dementia. A robust list of further resources is provided. The growing population of seniors presents librarians with new challenges and opportunities, and this book is a valuable guide to navigating and embracing them.

The cornerstone of this book is the physical activity and mobility in the elderly as an essential aspect of life. The ageing population due to the current demographic developments is associated with the necessity of maintaining physical function for avoiding the loss of independence and autonomy but also to keep a good health state. Physical function is the capacity of an individual to perform the physical activities of everyday life, and it reflects motor function and control, physical fitness, and habitual physical activity. Many changes may involve physical function during ageing or may be the result of hospitalisation or the comorbidity. The multidimensional evaluation of geriatrics of these functions may represent the first step for an adequate rehabilitation plan even in more common conditions of an elderly palliative context. Also, in this last setting, the feasibility of preserving physical activity has shown some significant benefits. In this book, particular attention has found the assessment of physical function through the use of specific tools and scales. Some tools may be used as a screening. In the chapter about falls in the elderly, for example, some tools are necessary for the evaluating of risks. This approach helps to prevent falls and their consequences on physical activity and mobility. The readers can find the analysis of the physical activity in many geriatric patterns such as falls, sarcopenia, chronic diseases, ICU acquired weakness and more prevalent fractures in the elderly. The concluding recommendations refer to the proposals to use in daily practice derived from many current guidelines and world health organisation.