As we grow older, our need to be engaged in interesting activities does not diminish and is vital to our quality of life. How to Make Your Care Home Fun examines the need for activities for elderly people in care and offers a practical programme of entertaining activities that can be used in nursing and residential homes, day centres, rehabilitation centres and hospices. As well as suggesting a programme of activities for older people in care homes including arts and crafts, role-playing, gardening and cooking, it also takes the stance that 'activity nursing' should be integral to all personal care plans and not simply regarded as an add on to medical care. The author also examines how care homes are run and regulated in the light of recent legislation and considers the services provided by care homes and areas of potential deficiency. The book offers a wide selection of activities that can be used with people of all abilities and have greatly improved quality of life for elderly people in care. Highlighting the value of nursing that caters for an individual's physical, mental and emotional needs, this book is an ideal resource for care home professionals and anyone who is responsible for the well-being of elderly people in care.

The many significant technological and medical advances of the 21st century cannot overcome the escalating risk posed to older adults by such stressors as pain, weakness, fatigue, depression, anxiety, memory and other cognitive deficits, hearing loss, visual impairment, isolation, marginalization, and physical and mental illness. In order to overcome these and other challenges, and to maintain as high a quality of life as possible, older adults and the professionals who treat them need to promote and develop the capacity for resilience, which is innate in all of us to some degree. The purpose of this book is to provide the current scientific theory, clinical guidelines, and real-world interventions with regard to resilience as a clinical tool. To that end, the book addresses such issues as concepts and operationalization of resilience; relevance of resilience to successful aging; impact of personality and genetics on resilience; relationship between resilience and motivation; relationship between resilience and survival; promoting resilience in long-term care; and the lifespan approach to resilience. By addressing ways in which the hypothetical and theoretical concepts of resilience can be applied in geriatric practice, Resilience in Aging provides inroads to the current knowledge and practice of resilience from the perspectives of physiology, psychology, culture, creativity, and economics. In addition, the book considers the impact of resilience on critical aspects of life for older adults such as policy issues (e.g., nursing home policies, Medicare guidelines), health and wellness, motivation, spirituality, and survival. Following these discussions, the book focuses on interventions that increase resilience. The intervention chapters include case studies and are intended to be useful at the clinical level. The book concludes with a discussion of future directions in optimizing resilience in the elderly and the importance of a lifespan approach to aging.

The newly revised edition of this popular resource provides caregiving staff with easy-to-understand and powerfully effective ways to prevent, reduce, or eliminate the challenging behaviors of care recipients. Nearly 80% of long-term care residents exhibit some level of difficult behaviors stemming from a wide range of factors including depression, personal distress, declining physical function, or dementia. Care staff will learn how to use this book's proven intervention tools and strategies to identify and satisfy the basic human needs that underlie challenging behaviors, as well as encourage and reinforce positive behaviors. With detailed vignettes illustrating the successful implementation of each recommended technique for addressing common challenging resident behaviors, this new edition also focuses on empowering caregivers to cope with the stress of their roles. Presented in a user-friendly style for anyone working in long-term care settings, this book serves as both a self-study tool and a resource for in-service training. Resources for staff include: Downloadable handouts that summarize core content as well as strategies and models for intervention. Exercises that help staff put concepts into practice. Intervention and behavior tracking forms. Stress-management techniques that help staff with their own reactions to challenging resident behavior. A 5-step treatment plan using a preventative approach. Whether used as a self-help tool, a curriculum for in-services, a training guide for students, or a reference for mental health professionals, Caring for People with Challenging Behaviors, Second Edition is an essential read for anyone working in long-term care. The simple and practical techniques presented will raise the quality of life for care recipients and can transform the overall culture of care. NEW to the second edition! New chapter on the benefits of advance directives over behavior contracts. More intervention strategies and stress-management techniques. Downloadable exercises, forms, posters, and 40 handouts. Additional case studies and instructional displays. 2015 National Mature Media Award (Merit Award Winner)

Use poetry and the arts to encourage and facilitate communication with people with dementia in a fun and unique way! Dementia Arts guides readers in incorporating poetry, music, and other arts into activity programming to increase interaction and encourage amusement and joy in dementia care. Author Gary Glazner, founder of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project and Institute for Dementia Education and Arts (IDEA), demonstrates how anyone-not just poets or artists-can incorporate creative verbal expression into activities of daily living (as well as day-to-day activities) in an effortless, economical, and enjoyable way. Using simple techniques that build on poetry as a communication tool, you can achieve positive outcomes with people in all stages of dementia, as well as those with challenging behavior. A fun and engaging read, Dementia Arts is perfect for professional and family caregivers, and truly provides the ""recipe"" for communication success through poetry and art.

This well-established and accessible text has been completely revised in this expanded fifth edition. Each chapter has been updated, often extensively, to reflect current thinking, and an important new chapter on death, dying and bereavement has been added. Providing a comprehensive overview of the psychological processes of ageing, the text examines what constitutes older age, and presents the latest theory and research in a variety of domains, including intellectual change in later life; ageing and memory; ageing and language; ageing, personality and lifestyle; and mental health and ageing. Consideration is given to the problems inherent in measuring the psychological status of older people, and the author looks to the future to answer the question "what will constitute 'being old'?" This new edition is essential reading for all those working or training to work with older people, and a key text for students.

The first of its kind, this volume is a critical companion for service providers who work with African American, American Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican elders and their families in nursing homes and other settings addressing placement issues. These groups are likely to use nursing homes in larger numbers as cultural shifts, such as higher divorce rates and increased outside-of-home employment for females, transform traditional family dynamics. Contributors are experienced social workers, and most belong to the specific ethnic or racial group that is the focus of their chapter and have also provided nursing home services to this group. They provide a wealth of demographic, historical, cultural, and practice information crucial to understanding and providing services to older adults and their families.

Many nursing home residents experience physical and/or cognitive debilitation and increased dependence as older adults, and cultural and situational differences create variations in how these changes are experienced and addressed. In this volume, contributors touch upon all of these areas as well as ways in which prejudice and discrimination have shaped intergenerational and other relationships for members of specific ethnic and racial groups. Little has been written about the characteristics, needs, and experiences of racially and ethnically diverse nursing home residents and their families and requirements for culturally competent social work practice. Written by social workers for social workers and other service providers, this book fills a gap in a rapidly growing area of gerontological service and provides a truly comprehensiveexamination of cultural and practice phenomena.

The demographic and social structure of most industrialized and developing countries are changing rapidly as infant mortality is reduced and population life span has increased in dramatic ways. In particular, the oldest-old (85+) population has grown and will continue to grow. This segment of the population tends to suffer physical and cognitive decline, and little information is available to describe how their positive and negative distal experiences, habits, and intervening proximal environmental influences impact their well-being, and how social and health policies can help meet the unique challenges they face. Understanding Well-Being in the Oldest Old is the outcome of a four-day workshop attended by U.S. and Israeli scientists and funded by the U.S.-Israel Bi-National Science Foundation to examine both novel and traditional paradigms that could extend our knowledge and understanding of the well-being of the oldest old. This volume engages social scientists in sharing methods of understanding, and thereby possibly improving, the quality of life of older populations, especially among the oldest old.

A comprehensive and practical guide to dementia, this book is essential reading for anyone who has a friend or relative with the condition. This updated edition reflects new guidance on approaches to supporting people with dementia, focussing especially on the UK, and includes quotes from people with dementia as well as from family carers. The book explores each stage of the journey people with dementia face and explains how it affects the person, as well as those around them both at home and in residential settings. It shows how best to offer support and where to get professional and informal assistance. Focussing on the progressive nature of dementia and the issues that can arise as a result, it gives practical advice that can help to ensure the best possible quality of life both for the person with dementia and the people around them.

What you do really does matter! This book is a must read for nursing home administrators, directors of nursing, and others in leadership positions in long-term care. It offers practical, commonsense, easy-to-implement approaches that will yield immediate positive results. It also serves as a wake-up call to leaders who doubt their impact and as an affirmation to leaders who struggle daily to do a good job. Let Meeting the Leadership Challenge in Long-Term Care open the door to new possibilities and set your organisation on a better course. Too often long-term care leaders feel overwhelmed by regulatory, financial, and corporate constraints and succumb to the myth that staff turnover is an inevitable cost of doing business. This book debunks this myth, revealing the powerful link between staff satisfaction and successful organisational performance that delivers high quality, high census, good surveys, and a healthy bottom line. Based on extensive on-the-ground experience with implementing and guiding hundreds of nursing homes through successful organisational transformations, the authors offer advice and wisdom that can make your organisation more successful, efficient and stable, whether it is currently struggling or thriving. Just a few of the take-home lessons from your this constructive guide include how to Get and keep the right staff, including how to identify ""triple crown winners"" Reduce staff stress and promote solid teamwork Build a positive chain of leadership that brings out the best in the staff Convert money now spent on turnover into resources to support stability Improve corporate support with an instructive ""Stop Doing List"" Use quality improvement and culture change practices to achieve high performance Increase staff, family, and resident satisfaction Make a meaningful impact as a leader Watch these benefits unfold right before your eyes in one of the most unique features of this book: a journal documenting administrator David Farrell's experience turning around a nursing home that was by all measures doing poorly. Through his difficulties, triumphs, tragedies, and everyday experiences, see how better outcomes are attainable by focusing on leadership practices that make a difference. Widely recognised as experts in the long-term care field, the authors of Meeting the Leadership Challenge in Long-Term Care combine their years of experience in nursing home leadership and management to create a resource that can transform how long-term care facilities are run. 2012 National Mature Media Award (Bronze Award Winner)

Includes colour illustrations This practical reference draws together the combined expertise of a wide range of health professionals in managing this condition. Their work is soundly based on recent research into its pathology manifestations and treatment to develop appropriate management strategies. Part of the value in this book lies in its reference to patient perspectives and how they can contribute to the most effective care.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Ambient Assisted Living, IWAAL 2011, held in Torremolinos-Malaga, Spain, in June 2011 as a satellite event of IWANN 2011, the International Work-Conference on Artificial and Natural Neural Networks.. The 30 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. They are organized in topical sections on mobile proposals for AAL, applications for cognitive impairments, e-health, smart and wireless sensors, applied technologies, frameworks and platforms, and methodologies and brain interfaces."

A distinguished team of contributors from the fields of medicine, philosophy and law address some of the issues which arise over the provision of care for dependent elderly patients. Some of the chapters are concerned with the challenge of achieving good quality medical care, the chronic inadequacies of policy making in the UK context, and the prospects for improvement in the medium term. Other chapters look at some of the threats to dependent elderly patients posed by longer-term social and ideological trends which find expression in proposals for age-limits to health care, advocacy of living wills and euthanasia, arguments for withdrawing tube-feeding from certain categories of patient, and certain proposals for resource allocation. This interdisciplinary volume will have a wide appeal to those involved in care of the dependent elderly, to health policy analysts and health care economists, and to bioethicists.

Almost forty percent of American adults age sixty-five and over spend some time in a nursing home, and residents in nursing homes will be increasingly diverse racially and ethnically because of changing demographics. The decision to place a family member in a nursing home is often extremely difficult, especially when the family belongs to a group with a strong tradition of filial responsibility. Despite these realities, little has been written about the stresses families of diverse cultural backgrounds experience in making this challenging decision.

This book describes the experiences of seventy-five African American and Afro-Caribbean, white Jewish, and Latina/o residents and their relatives and friends who have been their caregivers. Integrating original qualitative research with quantitative data and theoretical perspectives and findings from other studies, Patricia Kolb not only presents new perspectives on how caregiving varies across racial and ethnic backgrounds but also dispels numerous stereotypes about nursing home placement among diverse groups.

Creating dementia-friendly communities can give people with dementia the chance to continue meaningful lives with reciprocal personal relationships. Underpinning successful dementia-friendly communities is an awareness of people with dementia as active citizens and the importance of supporting engagement in community life. This book offers an overview of the dementia-friendly communities movement, showing the many benefits of this approach. It describes community initiatives from across the globe, such as Dementia Friends, memory cafes, and creative engagement with the arts through organizations like TimeSlips. This compassionate book tells another story about dementia, away from negative stereotypes. This alternative approach claims people can retain a sense of dignity, hold onto hope, sustain meaningful relationships, and live with a sense of purpose with support from their communities.

Dementia not only affects the person presented with the diagnosis, but their family and friends too. This book provides practitioners with strategies to support the whole family and understand their dementia journey both pre- and post-diagnosis. This is facilitated through a series of activities and reflective prompts. There is also a dedicated chapter offering structured exercises for health and social care practitioners and students. The book introduces the Lawrence family, where Peter has been diagnosed with dementia, and provides perspectives from each family member, allowing practitioners to become acquainted with the lived experience of everyone involved. The reflective questions allow readers to become actively engaged to maximise their knowledge and understanding, and to better contextualize what the dementia experience feels like for family and friends. With its focus on the all-important lived experience of the whole family during the diagnostic process and beyond, this is essential reading for any practitioner working with people with dementia.

The ageing of the population is a demographic phenomenon, a social problem and a policy issue. The increase in the numbers of aged and in the costs of supporting and caring for them have also brought increases in family care, in deinstitutionalisation of aged care services and in issues of quality and outcomes of care and consumer rights. The growing recognition of the feminisation of ageing also has significant social and policy consequences. In this 1998 book, Diane Gibson synthesises a wide range of material to provide an overview of these issues and policy responses worldwide. The book then looks in-depth at Australia, a country typical in the problems it faces, and a world leader in many of its solutions. Gibson also offers a more conceptual examination of theoretical implications and practical consequences. She elucidates debates in ways which will set new standards for aged care policy and practice worldwide.

Detailed knowledge and specific awareness of delirium is crucial in elderly care, due in part to the overlap with delirium and dementia. This introductory reference guide can be used by professionals and students to expand their understanding and skills in delirium care to better respond to the needs of people under their care. There are also detailed chapters on quality improvement and educational initiatives which will be of great help to the delirium workforce in delivering improved care. Setting out clear and accessible learning objectives, Rahman provides the essential information needed to improve care for those with delirium. Showing how to identify and correctly diagnose delirium, this book addresses different aspects of care including the management of delirium and the various interventions available, as well as ethics and safeguarding. It will also empower patients and carers to better understand delirium, and engage in the discourse of their care. As a widespread yet underrepresented issue, this book is a vital and much-needed resource.

This text highlights good practice in elderly care and identifies useful approaches, with examples of where these exist. There is consideration of issues involved in the new Community Care Act, especially the assessment of need and access to services. The overall empha sis is on the quality of health care, the relevant contributions of clinical audit, and other quality assurance initiatives.;It should be of interest to geriatricians and other staff involved in health care of the elderly.

The Gift of Generations is a comparative study of aging and the social contract in Japan and the United States. By using original, systematically comparable data collected in these countries, the book explores the different cultural definitions of vulnerability and giving, and the ways they shape and constrain the social strategies of routinizing helping arrangements. The book succeeds in interweaving the theory and practice of the social contract by developing the concept of symbolic equity.

Long-term memory endures and short-term memory becomes tenuous in old age. We are our memories. Linking an old person to their experience has been shown to reaffirm 'the self'. If this is done skillfully, sensitively and without intrusion, the benefits are twofold. First, and most important, the old person becomes less anxious, cut off and confused and , in linking to the past, is more able to participate in the present. Second, it may only be possible for those who care for confused old people to understand their worries and pre-occupations if their past lives are known and respected. These experienced authors in reminiscence work provide a detailed, practical guide that is filled with anecdotes and information. The contents cover; the definition of old age; reminiscence work using oral history and group work; communication; reminiscence work projects; building resource banks and cultural information. Reminiscence work is practised by many social and health care disciplines, for example, social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, residential care workers and volunteers. This book should be of interest to nurses working with older people; occupational therapists; social workers; and clinical psychologists.

Mary Ellen Geist decided to leave her job as a CBS Radio anchor to return home to Michigan when her father's Alzheimer's got to be too much for her mother to shoulder alone. She chose to live her life by a different set of priorities: to be guided by her heart, not by outside accomplishment and recognition.
The New York Times wrote a front page story about Mary Ellen on Thanksgiving 2005. It was one of the most e-mailed stories for the month. Mary Ellen also kept a blog of her experiences, which received an enormous response from readers on WCBS880.com. Through her own story and through interviews with doctors and other women who've followed the "Daughter Track"--leaving a job to care for an aging parent--Geist offers eye-opening advice. She shares emotional insights on how to encourage interaction with the loved one you're caring for; how to determine daily tasks that are achievable and rewarding; how the personality of the patient affects the caregiving and the progression of the disease; as well as invaluable advice about how the reader can take care of themselves while accomplishing the Herculean task of constant caregiving to others.
Geist's years in journalism allow her to report on Boomers' caretaking dilemmas with professional objectivity, and her warm voice brings compassion and insight to one of the most difficult stituations a son or daughter may face during his or her life.

An exploration of the emotional toll a transition into assisted living can have, as well as an offering of practical knowledge and advice on how to make wise choices during this difficult time While acknowledging the intense experience of grief and bereavement that surrounds the relinquishment of independent living, this book explores how to ensure that those going into care retain their identity and are not reduced to peripheral status as "patient" or "resident." This book is written both for those preparing to enter residential care and for those--professionals, volunteers, pastors, family members, and friends--who can offer support to ease the struggle of transition. Covering practical details from how to choose a home to what to pack when moving, it will help facilitate a smooth transition at an emotional time of upheaval.

"Longer lifespans and the needs of the oldest old are challenging the senior living industry to find bold and compassionate solutions to combine programs and services with housing. Victor Regnier's latest research provides a thoughtful and insightful roadmap that arrays new ways of thinking from small-scale settings to community based options. International case studies offer possible solutions with the best thinking from around the globe...all with Vic's unique perspective of extracting themes and concepts that are broadly applicable and essential to addressing the needs of those that live on life's fragile edge." --David Hoglund, FAIA "Supporting the independence of the oldest-old is a tough problem Victor Regnier addresses in his latest book on aging and housing. Like previous work, Victor relies on the best practices of northern Europeans to outline a three-prong approach. First, providing extremely comprehensive home care services in an "apartment for life" setting. Second, reforming the conventional nursing home by exploring small group style accommodations. Third, combining new technology with community based services to age in place. Case studies document the experiences of others in making these programs work here and abroad. The magnitude of the 90+ and 100+ population increases in the next 50 years make it clear how important it is to address this concern today." --Edward Steinfeld Darch "The movement of health care from the institution to the home is a theme that Regnier identifies as one of the most important lessons in rethinking the issue of how to support the ever growing and increasingly aged older population here and abroad. He examines simple but profound approaches we can take in making long-term care a more humane proposition. Familiar themes like humanizing technology and optimizing the impact of the natural environment are brought together with clear policy thinking about what we need to do. The timing is good because the impact of this growing segment of society will have major repercussions on health care for the next 50-70 years." --Stephan Verderber, Ph.D. A comprehensive guide to designing housing for the world's aging population The dilemma of helping older people maintain their independence through better housing with services is growing. This book presents innovative solutions for those who create and provide housing for the world's increasingly longer-living population. By focusing on three specific housing and service arrangements, it offers alternatives that provide greater freedom of choice than the current living arrangements that exist today. It presents selected examples of housing and service solutions from the US, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands to stimulate thinking about the possibilities of community-based service models. Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population looks at a trio of options for housing the "oldest-old: " the Dutch Apartment/Condo for Life Model (AFL); decentralized Small/Green Houses; and the provision of enhanced personal and health care for people who want to stay in their own home. It offers unique and eye-opening chapters covering: what older people want; what age changes affect independence; demographics and living arrangements; how long-term care is defined; concepts and objectives for housing the frail; care giving and management practices that avoid an institutional lifestyle; innovative case studies; programs that encourage staying at home with service assistance; therapeutic use of outdoor spaces; how technology will help people stay independent; and more. Based on the author's numerous conversations with other experts, as well as his examinations of high quality settings from Northern Europe and the US Building case study examples showcase innovative and compassionate solutions In-depth coverage of three major systems that work Examines successful programs such as PACE, Friendly Cities, NORC, and the "Village to Village Network" to demonstrate the progress made in helping older, frail people stay in their own homes for as long as possible Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population: Redefining Assisted Living for the Mentally and Physically Frail is an important book for those who create, design, and manage assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as for those who set policies regarding health, and personal care for our world's aging society.

This thoughtful and compassionate account addresses some of the difficult ethical and medical issues raised in the provision of health care for the dependent elderly patient. Care of the dependent elderly is subject to conflicting priorities arising from the demands of patients, their relatives, the fair allocation of medical and financial resources, and the medical ethos to prolong life. A distinguished team of contributors, selected from the fields of medicine, philosophy, ethics, and law, discuss and critically evaluate these issues. This volume will provide a focus for further debate and interest in this important subject.

The literature on depression in old age has tended to be dominated by the medical model with its focus on symptoms and treatment. This report breaks new ground by adopting a psycho-social approach one that explores depression in the context of the everyday lives of older people. Commissioned by Help the Aged, this report: reviews the nature and scope of the evidence base around depression and older people; evaluates current policy and practice responses; and identifies gaps in the evidence base and areas for further work. Finding that older people with depressive disorders are largely invisible within health and care services and that many fail to seek or receive effective treatment, the report also: recognizes the importance of daily hassles in undermining older peoples mental well-being; highlights the importance of mental health promotion; argues for the need for an holistic approach to older peoples services which balances physical with mental needs; and prioritizes the socia