The prospect of caring for elderly relatives who may be too old, fragile, or forgetful to manage on their own looms large for millions of women and men who are unprepared for the difficulties such an experience can bring. Written by a daughter of aging parents, this book takes an honest, unflinching look at aging in America, weaving together personal stories with current medical information to trace exactly how social and health care policies are affecting daily lives. Judith Steinberg Turiel addresses such topics as healthy aging and independent living; mental impairment brought on by Alzheimer's, other dementias, and depression; women as caregivers; health care rationing; the power of prescription drug makers; end-of-life care; and prospects for Medicare. Her book clearly demonstrates the pressing need for quality health care for people of all ages - through universal, publicly funded health insurance.

This groundbreaking book is based on the findings of the first major study on spiritual reminiscence work with people with dementia. Carried out over a decade, the study confirmed spiritual reminiscence to be an effective means of helping people with dementia to find meaning in their own experience, and interact in meaningful ways with others. The authors present the evidence for the efficacy of spiritual reminiscence with this group, and drawing on examples demonstrate its many benefits, as revealed by the study, including the affirmation of identity and worth whilst promoting resilience and transcendence; reducing levels of depression; and giving people with dementia a voice with which to express grief, despair, joy, wisdom, insight and humour. Specific practice issues are addressed, including how to maximise communication and nurture connections during sessions; the role of symbol, ritual and liturgy and how to design an effective spiritual reminiscence program. Transcripts of sessions are included throughout the book as examples, providing unprecedented insight into how people with dementia experience spiritual reminiscence, and encouraging reflective practice. The book closes with a set of suggested questions and discussion topics which can be used as the basis of a six week program. Providing theory and the latest research as well as a wealth of practical information and examples to guide practice, this book will be of interest to dementia care practitioners and activity coordinators, pastoral carers, aged care chaplains, practical theologians, students, academics and researchers.

Focusing on theoretical, policy and practice issues which are increasingly identified as key priorities, the contributors to this important book examine the ways in which dementia care is evolving around the globe. They explore the latest theory underpinning dementia care, the applications of this theory in dementia care research and how this research is influencing and shaping practice. Written by practitioners, policy influencers and researchers who draw on case studies from the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, France, India and Malta, the book forms the basis for a worldwide dialogue of interdisciplinary initiatives and ideas. Insights into how policy and regional and national dementia strategies are developed, and the range of innovative approaches that can be taken in practice, mark a positive step towards ensuring that the needs of people with dementia around the world are met, both now and in the future. This book makes essential reading for practitioners, researchers, policy makers and students in the field of dementia care.

*Winner in the Health and Social Care category at the 2012 British Medical Association Book Awards* Risk is central to professional practice, assessment and decision-making in dementia care. Yet theories of risk are often complex and difficult to translate into everyday practice. This book outlines some of the key issues in risk perception, assessment and management in dementia care in a way that is both practical and accessible to a wide range of practitioners. It develops an approach to risk that promotes choice for people with dementia whilst also acknowledging the complex challenges care providers face. The authors provide an overview of the legislative framework currently in place, and of the ethical dilemmas which may emerge in practice. Frameworks for informed and balanced decision-making are offered, and the importance of including the person with dementia, their family, and care providers in decision-making is emphasised. Throughout the book, case studies are used to illustrate effective negotiation and practical solutions to risk dilemmas in practice. This book highlights principles of good practice for managing risk in dementia care, and presents a rounded approach that will help practitioners negotiate some of the complex issues this entails.

This publication presents a study on the availability and provision of long-term care (LTC) in Sri Lanka. It discusses findings from the analysis and offers recommendations for the development of LTC systems in the country. Contributing to the development of an in-depth knowledge base on LTC, the publication explores the need for and supply of care, regulatory and policy frameworks, service provision, quality management, human resources, and financing. It is one of six country diagnostic studies-the others on Indonesia, Mongolia, Tonga, Thailand, and Viet Nam-prepared under the ADB technical assistance 9111: Strengthening Developing Member Countries' Capacity in Elderly Care.

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.

Caring for a parent whose health is in decline turns the world upside down. The emotional fallout can be devastating, but it doesn't have to be that way. This is an empathic guidance from an expert who's been there can help. Through an account of two sisters and their ailing mother - interwoven with no-nonsense advice - The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers helps family members navigate tough decisions and make the most of their time together as they care for an aging parent. The author urges readers to be honest about the level of commitment they're able to make, and emphasizes the need for clear communication with each other and their aging parent. While acknowledging their guilt, stress, and fatigue, he helps caregivers reaffirm emotional connections worn thin by the routine of daily care. This compassionate book will help families everywhere avoid burnout and preserve bonds during one of life's most difficult passages.

Aging and Social Policy in the United States guides students through an exploration of social policies and policymaking that address the needs of older adults and their families. It situates the experiences of older adults in the context of their environment, examining social welfare policies that affect the rights and interests of older adults. The book begins with an introductory unit, providing a foundation for the book, defining key terms, describing how to analyze the impacts of a policy on a population, and examining the ways in which policy is positioned within societal assumptions. Utilizing the life course perspective, the middle three units of this book situate individual biological and psychological challenges of aging in the context of how they are addressed by individuals, families, and societies, identifying the strengths and challenges of existing and proposed social policies at each of these levels. The concluding unit provides comparative insights as to how aging issues are addressed in a sample of countries around the world. Aging and Social Policy in the United States provides undergraduate and graduate students with critical knowledge and perspectives on the complexities of addressing the needs of an aging population.

The correlation between 'disengagement' and illness in people with dementia living in long-term care settings is becoming more widely recognised, and developing and adapting front-line staff responses to the changing needs of individuals is a crucial factor in addressing this problem. This book presents a complete practical framework for whole person assessment, care planning and review of persons with dementia or signs of dementia (including those with learning disabilities) who are in need of, or already receiving, health and/or social support. The book provides photocopiable assessment forms, guidelines for carrying out the assessment, and suggestions for tailored interventions based on the profile that emerges from the assessment process. The authors also include a clear explanation of the five theoretical components of dementia that are considered in the assessment: health, biography, personality, neurological impairment and social psychology. This good practice guide will provide a step up to the challenge of providing person centred care as a minimum standard rather than just an ideal. Care workers in residential settings and social workers assessing clients for their support requirements will find this an essential resource.

Dementia is a particularly cruel and teasing disease for which there is no known cure. No vaccine... and no escape, once it takes a hold. My book is a personal, yet hopefully objective, and sociological, reflection on all aspects of caring for my much-loved Mum throughout the steadily worsening stages of her final (5) years of life... until the Dementia finally reeled in its 'prey.' If it makes a positive difference to just one sufferer, it will not have been written in vain.

-- "Social Work"

With longevity and declining fertility rates, the population of older persons (60 years and above) is globally growing faster than the general population. The percentage of the elderly in India for example has been growing at an increasing rate in recent years and the trend is likely to continue in the coming decades. The share of population over the age of 60 years is projected to increase from 8 percent in 2015 to 19 percent in 2050. By the end of the century, the elderly will constitute nearly 34 percent of the total population in the country. In this book we aimed to identify trajectories of health and their associations with lifestyle factors in a nationally representative cohort study of middle-aged and older Indians. We discuss self-rated health status, age discrimination, major injuries, recurrent falls, perceived everyday discrimination, elder abuse, hypertension, diabetes, angina pectoris, stroke, arthritis, back pain or problems, oral health problems, cataract, edentulism, hearing loss, tobacco use, alcohol use, loneliness, health care discrimination, weight discrimination, religiosity and well-being. We hope that the findings may aid public policy and programmes for middle-aged and older adults in India.

This acclaimed text promotes healthy aging by demonstrating how health practitioners, program developers, and policymakers can prevent or manage disease and make large-scale improvements toward health and wellness in the older adult population. The eighth edition encompasses major new research that substantially updates previous recommendations. It provides important new content on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the ACA; clinical preventive services; global aging; sexual health; saving for retirement; long-term care alternatives; and much more.Accessible and comprehensive, this text is supported by abundant tables, figures, and illustrations. It describes practical strategies-including model community and government initiatives-that have proven markedly successful, as well as health-promotion tools, resource lists, assessment tools, and checklists. New trends such as green burials, LGBT aging, yoga, and dancing exercise regimens are also covered. Additionally, each chapter features key terms, learning objectives, summary, and thought-provoking questions. An improved instructor package includes upgraded PowerPoints, a new test bank, sample syllabi, chapter summaries, discussion questions, chapter exams, and more. Purchase includes access to the ebook for use on most mobile devices or computers. New to the Eighth Edition: Updated research findings, demographics, figures, and statistics regarding health/social/medical trends/exercise/weight management New content on global aging, sexual health, and substance abuse New information on medical screening recommendations, cancer treatments, complementary and alternative medicine, and more New findings regarding mental health and older adults Significant updates to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the ACA Expanded section on global health and older adults Upgraded instructor support package Key Features: Provides an interdisciplinary view of how practitioners, program developers, and policymakers can improve health and wellness in older adults Describes successful community and government model programs and initiatives Delivers health-promoting tools, resource lists, checklists, and assessment tools Offers key terms, learning objectives, critical-thinking questions and reflection boxes Includes a robust instructor package

A massive restructuring of health care in virtually all the wealthy nations of the West has offloaded services and costs from governmental responsibility into home care services and onto families -- a burden borne primarily by women. This restructuring has profoundly altered not only the practice of social work but also its representation in language and theory. As this volume demonstrates, many of the consequences social workers must face are made more difficult by the dominance of a market discourse that excludes a social justice framework.

The authors aim not to prescribe specific guidelines for practice but "to challenge current arrangements and explanations" in order to open the discourse and generate alternatives so that people receiving care might have fuller and more satisfying lives. Written by social work theorists and specialists from the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand, the chapters focus on topics of long-term care as they affect vulnerable groups -- women in particular -- as they age. Subjects include constructing community support, aging and caregiving in culturally diverse families, changing demographics of widowhood, and the new millennium's challenges for social work on aging and disability.

"Alice was always beautiful-Armenian immigrant beautiful, with thick, curly black hair, olive skin, and big dark eyes," writes Dana Walrath. Alice also has Alzheimer's, and while she can remember all the songs from The Music Man, she can no longer attend to the basics of caring for herself. Alice moves to live with her daughter, Dana, in Vermont, and the story begins. Aliceheimer's is a series of illustrated vignettes, daily glimpses into their world with Alzheimer's. Walrath's time with her mother was marked by humor and clarity: "With a community of help that included pirates, good neighbors, a cast of characters from space-time travel, and my dead father hovering in the branches of the maple trees that surround our Vermont farmhouse, Aliceheimer's let us write our own story daily-a story that, in turn, helps rewrite the dominant medical narrative of aging." In drawing Alice, Walrath literally enrobes her with cut-up pages from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She weaves elements from Lewis Carroll's classic throughout her text, using evocative phrases from the novel to introduce the vignettes, such as "Disappearing Alice," "Missing Pieces," "Falling Slowly," "Curiouser and Curiouser," and "A Mad Tea Party." Walrath writes that creating this book allowed her not only to process her grief over her mother's dementia, but also "to remember the magic laughter of that time." Graphic medicine, she writes, "lets us better understand those who are hurting, feel their stories, and redraw and renegotiate those social boundaries. Most of all, it gives us a way to heal and to fly over the world as Alice does." In the end, Aliceheimer's is indeed strangely and utterly uplifting.

Every day ten thousand baby boomers turn 65, and by 2030 more than 20% of US residents will be 65 or older. Mental health professionals must become familiar with the unique needs of this growing population. Using the APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Older Adults and the Pikes Peak Model for Training in Professional Geropsychology, this book shows mental health providers how to expand their practice in order to treat older adults. Chapters describe tools and techniques for assessing and treating common conditions that practitioners encounter when working with older adults, including depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and prescription drug misuse. Clinical case examples demonstrate how to deliver interventions while avoiding common interactional pitfalls. Includes expert recommendations for assessment tools, additional readings, and online resources.

Despite the stereotype of older adults primarily abusing alcohol, clinical practice insights indicate that the baby-boom generation frequently abuses the same substances as younger adults-including alcohol, benzodiazepines/z-drugs, cannabis, opioids, tobacco (nicotine), and neurostimulants. Old and High exposes this hidden epidemic and emphasizes the importance of understanding psychotropic substance abuse as a community health problem. Further, the book identifies the unique cultural values, social values, and risks that baby-boom adults have with respect to substance abuse and misuse to give students and clinical professionals in psychology, social work, gerontology, nursing, and medicine a foundation for working with this population. Readers will learn how to integrate current neuroscience findings with contemporary psychotherapy techniques and harm-reduction interventions to help older adults achieve successful recovery from substance abuse problems. Considering that we will likely observe an increase in rates of substance abuse as the baby-boom generation continues to age-and live longer than previous groups-there will be a major need to better understand the unique risk factors and treatment approaches for working with older adults.