On average, people in Europe are living longer, and are in better health. Despite this, however, a significant degree of health inequality is emerging among different socioeconomic groups. Assessment-of-need procedures and eligibility rules define the target population in 'need-of-care', and represent a compulsory gateway for olderadults in order to receive home-care benefits, either in-kind or in-cash. In this context, the economic relevance of formal long-term care has been growing and the rates of care-dependent older people in need of long-term care are estimated to increase in the forthcoming decades. The authors of this volume compare micro-data from SHARE (the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) and ELSA (the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing) across Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and United Kingdom's England and Wales, where eligibility rules are care-blind. They critically review long-term care regulations in Europe, offering a detailed taxonomy of the role and the characteristics of vulnerability-evaluations and eligibility criteria. This book is of interest to academics in health economics and social policy, managers in the health sector, policy makers and professionals interested in the design, implementation and evaluation of long-term care policies. It could also be used to support different courses in the fields of ageing, health economics and policy evaluation.

Can traditional arts improve an older adult's quality of life? Are arts interventions more effective when they align with an elder's cultural identity? In The Expressive Lives of Elders, Jon Kay and contributors from a diverse range of public institutions argue that such mediations work best when they are culturally, socially, and personally relevant to the participants. From quilting and canning to weaving and woodworking, this book explores the role of traditional arts and folklore in the lives of older adults in the United States, highlighting the critical importance of ethnographic studies of creative aging for both understanding the expressive lives of elders and for designing effective arts therapies and programs. Each case study in this volume demonstrates how folklore and traditional practices help elders maintain their health and wellness, providing a road map for initiatives to improve the lives and well-being of America's aging population.

This book examines the process of population aging in China and its unique features, considers the social progress implied in China becoming a society with an aging population, and assesses the tremendous risks and challenges involved. Based on the development of pension security systems around the world, the book studies the status quo and future requirements of the Chinese pension security system from the perspectives of capital, service and spirit, and puts forwards a three-pillar pension security system that is in conformity with China's current situation - and reflects the developmental trend that, in future, social security will likely transform from material security into comprehensive security. In addition, the book analyzes the Chinese pension security system. While integrating international perspectives, its main focus is on statistical analysis, combining theory with practice, and qualitative with quantitative analysis. As such, the book not only offers a "wi ndow" for the world on the status and evolution of China's pension security system, but also an opportunity for international academic dialogues.

This book creates a value proposition in geriatric care - a promise of value to be delivered to improve care and to provide specific benefits to healthcare systems. It describes strategies and understanding of the incentives, barriers encountered in promoting changes in the healthcare systems, and discusses numerous examples and outcomes. Drawn from many fields such as medicine and science, sociology, politics, business and economics, the book helps guide the introduction of geriatric principles into mainstream medical care with the goal of improving the care and quality of life of older persons in all healthcare systems.

This comprehensive resource offers a detailed framework for fostering resilience in families caring for their older members. Its aim is to improve the quality of life for both the caregivers themselves as much as for those they support. Robust interventions are presented to guide family members through chronic and acute challenges in areas such as emotional health, physical comfort, financial aspects of care, dealing with health systems, and adjusting to transition. Examples, models, interviews, and an extended case study identify core concerns of caregiving families and avenues for nurturing positive adaptation. Throughout, contributors provide practical applications for therapists and other service providers in diverse disciplines, and for advancing family resilience as a field. Included in the coverage: Therapeutic interventions for caregiving families. Facilitating older adults' resilience through meeting nutritional needs. Improving ergonomics for the safety, comfort, and health of caregivers. Hope as a coping resource for caregiver resilience and well-being. Perspectives on navigating care transitions with individuals with dementia. Planning for and managing costs related to caregiving. Family Caregiving offers a new depth of knowledge and real-world utility to social workers, mental health professionals and practitioners, educators and researchers in the field of family resilience, as well as scholars in the intersecting disciplines of family studies, human development, psychology, sociology, social work, education, law, and medicine.

Using the convergence of the impact of globalization and political turmoil in Ghana on Ghanaian women as a backdrop, this book examines the migration of the women to the US and their decisions to care for upper middle class white seniors who elected to stay in their homes to be cared for by private caregivers. The book explores the attraction of domestic care work, the women's perceptions of their job, their relationships with their clients, and the dynamics of their relationships with their immediate families and families left behind in Ghana. It also analyzes the women's interactions with the immigrant community from their remote work sites. The book examines widely-held beliefs about domestic work as undervalued, under-remunerated, and relegated to marginalized immigrant women of color. While admitting that these problems exist, the women whose stories are told in the book did not believe that their brand of care work, which they called private practice, was undervalued or underpaid. They also did not think that racism played a role in the concentration of immigrant women of color in domestic care work as widely believed, although, again, the women admitted that there was racism in American society. By doing so, the women symbolically placed themselves beyond the institutional barriers that constrain the lives of women of color in American society. And while it addresses common themes like exploitation, abuse, restriction of movement, etc. that other studies of immigrant live-in caregiving address, this book stands out in two major ways. First is its truly transnational character. It links the women's background in Ghana to their immigration history and how these two influenced their choice as well as perceptions of care work and then loops their experience of care work back to expectations in Ghana. Second, the book validates the women's voices as a product of their cultural background, thus making the case that the women's choices and experiences were informed by conditions in the US and the cultural baggage the women brought with them. The book argues that private care work satisfied women's financial expectations, and with that, leverage in their families.

This new edited volume seeks to meet the growing need for ways to support people with dementia across the whole course and trajectory of dementia care, with a wide scope of expertise. The book addresses how practitioners and carers can apply psychosocial interventions - which take into consideration the individual, social and environmental aspects of a person's life - across this trajectory, right from the earliest stages through to practice in care home settings. Divided into four sections, each covers a different context in which people with dementia can be supported: at home; in community settings; family and carer support; and those in care homes and hospitals. In addition, there is a distinct focus throughout on evidence-based practice and its implementation in real-world settings. This book is essential reading for any practitioner and caregiver wanting to support people with dementia.

This book provides a critical engagement with the intensified struggles to be found within elderly care provision. Various social and political processes, including the forces of globalisation and the de-gendering of care, have changed how we might understand this national and global political concern. Emerging discourses such as neoliberalism have also reframed elderly care to increase existing tensions at the individual, national, and transnational level. Dahl argues that in order to grasp these new realities of care we need a new analytical framework that redirects us to new sites of contestation. Dahl approaches these issues from a post-structuralist and radical feminist position, while drawing from feminist sociology, feminist political science, nursing philosophy and feminist history. In particular, Struggles In (Elderly) Care highlights how the predominantly feminist theorization of care has been dominated by a sociological bias that could be improved using insights from political science concerning concepts of power and struggle, and the importance of the state and governance. This book will be of interest to researchers in sociology, gerontology, nursing, and feminist studies.

Written by key researchers and practitioners in the field, this book presents an overview of gerontology appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. It includes seminal chapters on theory, methodology, physiological processes, health, culture, dying and bereavement, cognitive processes and intellectual abilities, personality, assessment, clinical issues and competency, caregiving, and public policy issues. Each chapter includes review questions and a list of additional reference sources.

This in-depth description of life in a nursing/care home for 70 residents and 40 staff highlights the daily care of frail or ill residents between 80 and 100 years of age, including people suffering with dementia. How residents interact with care assistants is emphasised, as are the different behaviours of men and women observed during a year of daily conversations between the author, patients and staff, who share their stories of the pressures of the work. Living Before Dying shows a world where, in extreme old age, people have to learn how to cope with living communally.

The author has specialised in working with adult abuse and the manual is set out in the way she recommends that training be presented. There are chapters on older people, black and minority ethnic people and younger adults, as well as on investigations and case conferences.' - Nursing Standard 'Working with Elder Abuse is a forthright and detailed training manual - the manual is a blend of theory, exercises, and further readings and it is anticipated that it will be used by staff trainers providing formal training as well as by supervisors who will work through it with their staff teams. The manual is clearly written, practical and realistic without being condescending. It clearly benefits from being written by someone who is herself a full time staff trainer on elder abuse and has tested and honed the suggested training materials through frequent use. The emphasis on experiential learning, drawing upon the experience of the training participants and exploring attitudes as well as knowledge is evident. This approach allows the potential user to feel comfortable with replicating the training modules and adpating them to fit other situations and content... Working with Elder Abuse is an excellent training guide. The care that has been taken in detailing all training steps, without burying the reader/trainee in duplicative content, makes one eager to utilize the manual immediately. This manual belongs on every trainer's shelf. It can be used equally well both as a self-training guide and to train large groups, and offers much that can be adapted for use with other content areas.' - Journal of Teaching in Social Work 'This book achieves its stated aim. As a manual for use in training, it provides a wealth of well presented material that may be used by trainers who have a background knowledge in the field. The material is presented in a logical and user friendly way. It can be recommended to those who have to raise awareness of this issue among the staff groups in the title.' - Registered Homes 'Pritchard (a well known and highly regarded contributor to the field) draws on her experience as a trainer to facilitate the empowerment of so called unqualified staff in confronting their own feelings when facing `victims and abusers'... Of all writers on elder abuse, she is grounded in practicability, underpinned by a clear grasp of the training needs of front-line staff. This handbook successfully integrates theory and exercises and should be on the shelves of all trainers. It will be indispensable for staff groups.' - Community Care 'This book pulls no punches. It discusses sensitive issues, such as sexual abuse, frankly in everyday language and is essential reading for managers and assistants about abuse. NVQ students will find it useful and NVQ assessment centres would be well advised to buy copies.' - Nursing Times 'A welcome addition to the available texts on elder abuse. Working with Elder Abuse by Jacki Pritchard is beautifully presented and easily accessible - large well spaced print, eye-catching headings, and interesting symbols signalling training tools such as handouts. The language is clear and fluid.' - Action on Elder Abuse Bulletin 'The language is clear and definitions and exercises are easy to understand. The text is well laid out, and there is a lack of jargon -This will be a very helpful book for all who are concerned about elder abuse and should contribute towards the reduction of such abuse in the future as well as giving confidence to trainers, managers, care staff and all who are involved in care of the elderly.' - Christian Council on Ageing 'Jacki Pritchard has produced a valuable addition to the training literature... For the beginner, this book is highly recommended.' - Baseline `The training manual is long overdue. The A4 format of the book and the permission to photocopy certain pages as handouts is very welcome... Residential and day-care issues are well covered with plenty of exercises... The straightforward language and the way that practical issues are addressed is effective... The manual is an excellent resource which managers, supervisors and trainers will find invaluable.' - Ageing and Society This practical training manual is written for home care, residential and day care staff, who need to be able to recognise elder abuse, but may not be trained to do so. Its large format, range of exercises and photocopiable worksheets makes it a valuable source of training material not only for training teams, but also for managers who train staff and teams on site. Each chapter contains exercises, a reading list and a simple discussion of the theory behind each of the key areas covered by the manual. These include: defining elder abuse recognizing elder abuse what to do when working with elder abuse case conferences long term work with victims and abusers abuse in institutions issues for managers case studies

Based on seventeen months of ethnographic research among Indonesian eldercare workers in Japan and Indonesia, this book is the first ethnography to research Indonesian care workers' relationships with the cared-for elderly, their Japanese colleagues, and their employers. Through the notion of intimacy, the book brings together sociological and anthropological scholarship on the body, migration, demographic change, and eldercare in a vivid account of societal transformation. Placed against the background of mass media representations, the Indonesian workers' experiences serve as a basis for discussion of the role of bodily experience in shaping the image of a national "other" in Japan.

Social Security (comprising Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI)) is the largest single program in the federal governments budget. In 2010, annual outlays for the program exceeded annual revenues (excluding interest) credited to the combined trust funds. A gap between those amounts has persisted since then, and in fiscal year 2015 outlays exceeded tax revenues by almost 9 percent. As the baby-boom generation retires over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects, the gap will widen between amounts credited to the trust funds and payments to beneficiaries. This book considers 36 policy options that are among those commonly proposed by policymakers and analysts as a means of restoring financial security to the Social Security program. Furthermore, this book presents additional information about CBOs long-term projections for Social Security in the form of 15 exhibits that illustrate the programs finances and the distribution of benefits paid to and payroll taxes collected from various groups of people.

In this book, leading authors in the field discuss developments of Ambient Assisted Living. The contributions have been chosen and invited at the 8th AAL Congress, Frankfurt/M. The meeting presents new technological developments which support the autonomy and independence of individuals with special needs. The 8th AAL Congress focusses its attention on technical assistance systems and their applications in homecare, health and care.

Life changes dramatically for the entire family when the decision is made to move a person who has dementia from home to community care. Rachael Wonderlin, a gerontologist, dementia care expert, and popular dementia care blogger, helps caregivers cope with the difficult behaviors, emotions, and anxieties that both they and their loved one may experience. Writing from her own practice and drawing on the latest research in gerontology and dementia, Wonderlin explains the different kinds of dementia, details the wide range of care communities available for people who have dementia, and speaks empathetically to the worry and guilt many families feel. "Do not let anyone make you feel like you have taken the 'easy way out' by choosing a dementia care community," she writes. "You are still going to deal with a lot of challenging behaviors, concerns, and questions regarding your loved one's care." When Someone You Know Is Living in a Dementia Care Community is an accessible guide offering answers to such questions as: * How do I choose a place for my loved one to live?* What can I find out by visiting a candidate memory-care community twice?* What do I do if my loved one asks about going home?* How can I improve the quality of my visits?* What is the best way to handle conflict between residents, or between the resident and staff?* How can I cope with my loved one's sundowning?* What do I do if my loved one starts a romantic relationship with another resident? An indispensable book for family members and friends of people with dementia, When Someone You Know is Living in a Dementia Care Community touches the heart while explaining how to make a difficult situation better.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health, ICT4AgeingWell 2015, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in May 2015. The 11 full papers and two invited papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 45 submissions. The papers cover five main topic areas, covering different aspects, including Ambient Assisted Living, Telemedicine and E-Health, Monitoring, Accessibility and User Interfaces, Robotics and Devices for Independent Living and HCI for Ageing Populations.

The study of death has the capacity to bring together a range of policy areas. Yet death is often overlooked within policy debates in the UK and beyond, and within gerontology. Bringing together a range of scholars engaged in policy associated with death, this collection provides a holistic account of how death factors in social policy. Within this, issues covered include inheritance, palliative care, euthanasia, funeral costs, bereavement support, marginalised deaths and disposal practices. At the heart of the book, the volume recognises that the issues identified are likely to intensify and expand over the next twenty years, as death rates continue to rise.

This book documents the state of the art in the field of ambient assisted living (AAL), highlighting the impressive potential of novel methodologies and technologies to enhance well-being and promote active ageing. The coverage is wide ranging, with sections on assistive devices, elderly people monitoring, home rehabilitation, ICT solutions for AAL, living with chronic conditions, robotic assistance for the elderly, sensing technologies for AAL, and smart housing. The book comprises a selection of the best papers presented at the Fifth Italian Forum on Ambient Assisted Living, which was held in Catania, Italy, in September 2014 and brought together end users, technology teams, and policy makers to develop a consensus on how to improve provision for elderly and impaired people. Readers will find that the expert contributions offer clear insights into the ways in which the most recent exciting advances may be expected to assist in addressing the needs of the elderly and those with chronic conditions.

The elderly, the frailaareaour society. They are our parents and grandparents, our carers and neighbours, and they are every one of us in the not-too-distant futurea...They are not a growing cost to be managed or a burden to be shifted or a horror to be hidden away, but people whose needs require us to change' In Dear Life, using vivid and moving case studies, Karen Hitchcock show what care for the elderly and dying is really like u both the good and the bad. With honesty and deep experience, she looks at end-of-life decisions and over-treatment, frailty and dementia. Throughout she argues against the creeping tendency to see the elderly as a 'burden' u difficult, hopeless, expensive and homogenous. We must plan for a future when more of us will be old, Hitchcock argues, with the aim of making that time better, not shorter. An we must change our institution and society to meet the needs of an ageing population. Dear Life is a landmark book by one of Australia's most powerful writers.

Five years after the publication of Eldercare 101, it's time to update and revise this important toolbox of critical resources and guidance that assists families and eldercare professionals with the navigation of the advanced aging of loved ones and/or clients based on the Six Pillars of Aging WellbeingTM. In this second edition, Mary Jo Saavedra adds salient new content that reflects the ever-changing landscape of aging in today's culturally-shifting, technological, and pandemic world. The book's online resources have been updated and supplemented with many new tech products on the market that support elders, including Saavedra's forthcoming holistic digital platform. Eldercare 101, Updated Edition will include input from six returning collabroators and twenty new contributors, ensuring that this essential content is up-to-date and accurate.