Music for Life: Music Participation and Quality of Life of Senior Citizens presents a fresh, new exploration of the impact of musical experiences on the quality of life of senior citizens, and charts a new direction in the facilitation of the musical lives of people of all ages. Authors Fung and Lehmberg clearly define the issues surrounding music education, music participation, quality of life, and senior citizens, discussing the most relevant research from the fields of music education, adult learning, lifelong learning, gerontology, medicine, music therapy, and interdisciplinary studies. At the heart of the book is Evergreen Town, a retirement community in the southeastern U.S.A., that serves as the backdrop for three original research studies. The first of these is in two phases, a survey and a focus group interview, that examines the histories and rationales for the music participations and non-participations of community residents. The second and third case studies take an in-depth look at a church choir and a bluegrass group, two prominent musical groups in the community, and include the perspectives of the authors themselves as group members and participant-observers. Fung and Lehmberg conclude with a challenge for the profession of music education: to act on this research and on the current advances in the field, to enable all people to benefit from the richness of music as a substantial contributor to quality of life.

Against the background of Socrates' insight that the unexamined life is not worth living, Reading Our Lives: The Poetics of Growing Old investigates the often overlooked inside dimensions of aging. Despite popular portrayals of mid- and later life as entailing inevitable decline, this book looks at aging as, potentially, a process of poiesis: a creative endeavor of fashioning meaning from the ever-accumulating texts - memories and reflections-that constitute our inner worlds. At its center is the conviction that although we are constantly reading our lives to some degree anyway, doing so in a mindful matter is critical to our development in the second half of life.
Drawing on research in numerous disciplines affected by the so-called narrative turn - including cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and the psychology of aging - authors Randall and McKim articulate a vision of aging that promises to accommodate such time-honored concepts as wisdom and spirituality: one that understands aging as a matter not merely of getting old but of consciously growing old.

This unique book provides one of the first and certainly the most practical approach to considering the needs of this population. It addresses important issues such as choice, partnership and community development in order that health promoters can work with and alongside older people to ensure that their health needs are addressed. The text contains numerous examples of good practice and is intentionally interactive, encouraging practitioners to reflect upon and question the assumptions that they make about the health and life-quality expectations for which older people have the potential. Its pragmatic and practical approach encourages the reader to then address these issues in their own practice.The content appeals to a global market as the elderly population increases worldwide Explores attitudes of professionals and older people to their health and to each other Provides practical strategies and approaches Identifies how existing models and theories can be adapted to reflect the changing needs of older people Addresses issues of special relevance including physiological changes, sexual health and mental health

The Baby Boomer generation is facing a time of heightened uncertainty. Blessed with unprecedented levels of education, health, and life expectancy, many hope to contribute to society after their retirement. Yet they must also navigate ambiguous career exits and retirement paths, as established scripts for schooling, parenting, and careers continue to unravel. In Encore Adulthood, Phyllis Moen presents the realities of the "encore" life stage - the years between traditional careers and childraising and old age. Drawing on large-scale data sets and interviews with Boomers, HR personnel, and policymakers, this book illuminates the challenges that Boomers encounter as they transition from traditional careers into retirement. Beyond data analysis, Moen discusses the personal impact for Boomers' wellbeing, happiness, and health when they are unable to engage in meaningful work during their encore years, as well as the potential economic loss that would occur when a large, qualified group of people prematurely exit the workforce. Moen concludes with proposals for a range of encore jobs that could galvanize Boomers to take on desirable and sought-after second acts, emphasizing meaningful work over high-paying jobs and flexibility over long hours. An important analysis of an understudied and new life stage, Encore Adulthood makes an important contribution to the existing scholarship on careers, work, and retirement.

Adult cognitive development is one of the most important yet most neglected aspects in the study of human psychology. Although the development of cognition and intelligence during childhood and adolescence is of great interest to researchers, educators, and parents, many assume that this development stops progressing in any significant manner when people reach adulthood. In fact, cognition and intelligence do continue to progress in very significant ways. In this second edition of Developmental Influences on Adult Intelligence, K. Warner Schaie presents the history, latest data, and results from the Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS). The purpose of the SLS is to study various aspects of psychological development during the adult years. Initiated in 1956 and focusing on a random sample of 500 adults ranging in age from 25 to 95 years old, the SLS is organized around five questions: Does intelligence change uniformly throughout adulthood, or are there different life-course-ability patterns? At what age and at what magnitude can decrement in ability be reliably detected? What are the patterns and magnitude of generational differences? What accounts for individual differences in age-related change in adulthood? Can the intellectual decline that increases with age be reversed by educational intervention? The first edition of the book provided an account of the SLS through the 1998 (seventh wave) data collection and of the associated family study through the 1996 (second wave) data collection. Since that time, Schaie and his collaborators have conducted several additional data collections. These include a further longitudinal follow-up in 2005/06, a longitudinal follow-up and 3rd data collection for the family study in 2003/04, and acquisition of a 3rd generation sample in 2002. Hence, virtually all of the content from the first edition has been updated and expanded, and three new chapters are included on Health Behaviors and Intellectual Functioning, Biological Influences on Cognitive Change, and Prediction of Individual Cognitive Decline. This new edition is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners specializing in adult development, aging, and adult education, as well as students and faculty in developmental, cognitive, and social psychology, psychiatry, nursing, social work, and the social sciences interested in issues of human aging.

Loneliness in Older Adults: Effects, Prevention, and Treatment analyzes loneliness as a complex phenomenon, taking into account the most recent contributions from neuroscience, psychology, medicine and sociology. This volume describes this phenomenon from an interdisciplinary point of view, with special emphasis on older people from a plural and heterogeneous perspective: older people in general, older immigrants, older women, older LGTBI, etc. Faced with the impact of this emerging issue, this book provides a comprehensive knowledge of loneliness, contributing scientific knowledge to the practice of evidence. Tools are also provided for professionals, providing intervention protocols with debates and proposals, and effective digital resources to combat it. Tables, images, and tools guide students, academics, and professionals step-by-step in solving the cases raised, through an integrated practice. There is no work that develops this theme from such a plural and pragmatic perspective, covering all the dimensions of loneliness in each of the thematic axes: psychological, neurological, social, and health. Readers are provided feedback for all the knowledge for a comprehensive scientific knowledge based on evidence and given the necessary instrumental skills related to being social and the functioning of our brain. This book is aimed at a very plural audience of researchers, academics and professionals in the social and behavioral sciences including psychologists, sociologists, social workers, anthropologists, and also professionals in the health sciences, among others.

A deliciously funny and sage guide to midlife - an unscientific, flaws-and-all account of one woman's adventures and misadventures through the dark comedy of the wilderness years.

Through her own experiences as a fifty-something woman, and those of her three sisters, her indomitable mum and rebellious auntie, Charlotte tackles the big questions every woman seeks answers to at this time of our lives - chiefly: How the hell am I going to get over being young in a world obsessed with youth?

Written with warmth, wisdom and irreverence this guide to midlife is perfect for readers of Nora Ephron, Caitlin Moran and India Knight.

Aging and Creativity examines the effects of aging on creative functioning, including age-related changes in cognition, personality, and motivation that affect performance or output. The book reviews and summarizes both lab-based and real-world-based studies. Changes in working memory, speed of processing, learning efficiency, and retrieval from long-term memory are all discussed as factors influencing creativity, as are health changes and changes in social roles with later age. The book concludes with practical implications of age effects on creativity for older people in work and everyday life.

Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, Ninth Edition, provides a comprehensive synthesis of the latest research findings in the science of aging. The complexities of population dynamics, cohort succession and policy changes modify the world and its inhabitants in ways that must be vigilantly monitored. Completely revised, this edition not only includes the foundational, classic themes of aging research, but also a rich array of emerging topics and perspectives that advance the field in exciting ways. New topics include families, immigration, social factors and cognition, caregiving, neighborhoods and built environments, natural disasters, religion and health, and sexual behavior, among others. This book will serve as a useful resource and an inspiration to those searching for ways to contribute to the aging enterprise.

Bestselling writer and psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom puts himself on the couch in a “candid, insightful” memoir​.

Irvin D. Yalom has made a career of investigating the lives of others. In this profound memoir, he turns his writing and his therapeutic eye on himself.

He opens his story with a nightmare: He is twelve, and is riding his bike past the home of an acne-scarred girl. Like every morning, he calls out, hoping to befriend her, "Hello Measles!" But in his dream, the girl's father makes Yalom understand that his daily greeting had hurt her. For Yalom, this was the birth of empathy; he would not forget the lesson.

As Becoming Myself unfolds, we see the birth of the insightful thinker whose books have been a beacon to so many. This is not simply a man's life story, Yalom's reflections on his life and development are an invitation for us to reflect on the origins of our own selves and the meanings of our lives.

In 1963, Betty Friedan's transcendent work, The Feminine Mystique, changed forever the way women thought about themselves and the way society thought about women. In 1993, with The Fountain of Age, Friedan changes forever the way all of us, men and women, think about ourselves as we grow older and the way society thinks about aging. Struggling to hold on to the illusion of youth, we have denied the reality and evaded the new triumphs of growing older. We have seen age only as decline. In this powerful and very personal book, which may prove even more liberating than The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan charts her own voyage of discovery, and that of others, into a different kind of aging. She finds ordinary men and women, moving into their fifties, sixties, seventies, discovering extraordinary new possibilities of intimacy and purpose. In their surprising experiences, Friedan first glimpsed, then embraced, the idea that one can grow and evolve throughout life in a style that dramatically mitigates the expectation of decline and opens the way to a further dimension of "personhood." The Fountain of Age suggests new possibilities for every one of us, all founded on a solid body of startling but little-known scientific evidence. It demolishes those myths that have constrained us for too long and offers compelling alternatives for living one's age as a unique, exuberant time of life, on its own authentic terms. Age as adventure! In these pages, film producers and beauticians, salespersons and college professors, union veterans and business tycoons, former (and forever) housewives, male and female empty-nesters and retirees, have crossed the chasm of age... and kept going. They have foundfulfillment beyond career, bonding that transcends youthful dreams of happily-ever-after, and a richer, sweeter intimacy not tied to mechanical measures of sexual activity, but to deep and honest sharing. While gerontologists focus on care, illness, and the concept of age as deterio

Evidence-Informed Approaches for Managing Dementia Transitions provides evidence-informed approaches and future directions for supporting a higher quality of life for people living with dementia. Through a person-centered lens, this book equips care providers to better help people living with dementia align their expectations and hopes with the trajectories they can expect in their journey. It highlights the various transitions that those with dementia will experience and describes best practices for optimal adjustment to each. Topics covered include problem identification, driving cessation, loss of financial autonomy, acute hospital admission, moving to assisted living residences and long term care homes, and palliative and end of life care. This is a must have reference for researchers, clinicians, and mental health professionals (psychologists, counsellors, social workers, mental health nurses) as well as policy makers and other health and social care providers working with individuals with dementia.

Senior adult ministry isn't what it used to be. The comfortable assumptions and outdated programs that were the basis for local church ministry are being challenged. Baby boomers are hitting middle age and retirement. And their own parents are living longer. Authors Win and Charles Arn have updated and supplemented Catch the Age Wave with ideas, examples and advice to help the local church leader start and maintain a senior adult program. In addition, they have added practical program ideas to use in any local church setting. New challenges for a new day. Catch the Age Wave won't let you miss the boat.