The challenges faced by individuals and families at the end of life are still incredibly diverse, and many behavioural interventions and clinical approaches have been developed to address this great diversity of experiences in the face of dying and death, helping providers to care for their clients. Perspectives on Behavioural Interventions in Palliative and End-of-Life Care is an accessible resource that collates and explores interventions that can be used to address a wide range of behavioural, psychological, social and spiritual issues that arise when people are facing advanced chronic or life-limiting illness. With perspectives from experienced clinicians, providers, and caregivers from around the world, this book offers a strong foundation in contemporary evidence-based practice alongside seasoned practice insights from the field. Its chapters explore: Interventions to enhance communication and decision making The management of physical and mental health symptoms Meaning-Centred Psychotherapy for cancer patients Dignity Therapy Interventions embracing cultural diversity and intersectionality. Together with Perspectives on Palliative and End-of-Life Care: Disease, Social and Cultural Context, the book provides a foundation for collaborative international and interprofessional work by providing state-of science information on behavioural interventions addressing mental health and wellness. It is of interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates in the fields of mental health, medicine, psychology and social work, and is essential reading for healthcare providers and trainees from psychosocial and palliative medicine, social work and nursing.

Significant improvements in lifestyle and medical science are leading to an ever increasing elderly population in the United States and other developed nations. The U.S census bureau estimates that the number of people over 65 will nearly double by 2030, and that the elderly will comprise nearly one-fifth of the world's entire population within the next 20 years. In Animal Models of Human Cognitive Aging, Jennifer Bizon, Alisa Woods, and a panel of international authorities comprehensively discuss the use of animal models as a tool for understanding cognitive changes associated with the aging process. The book provides substantive background on the newest and most widely used animal models in studies of cognition and aging, while detailing the normal and pathological processes of brain aging of humans in relation to those models. Additional chapters comprehensively review frontal cortical deficits and executive function in primates as related to humans, and the use of transgenic modulation in mice to model Alzheimer's and other age-related diseases. Groundbreaking and authoritative, Animal Models of Human Cognitive Aging provides a valuable resource for Neuroscientists, Gerontological Scientists and all aging medicine researchers, while serving as a primer for understanding current brain aging studies.

Population aging is a matter of global concern. It often occurs in tandem with changes in the health profile of the population. In Africa, many countries are already facing a high burden of communicable diseases. However, as more and more children survive childhood and move on to adult years and old age they are also more likely to experience health problems associated with the aging process. Population aging in Africa is occurring in the context of high levels of poverty, changing family structures, an immense disease burden, fragile health systems and weak or poorly managed government institutions. This book shows that aging is likely to lead to increased social and economic demands for the continent. However, most national governments in Africa have not begun to address the issue of how to respond effectively to the needs of the older population. This will require a better understanding of the socio-economic and demographic situation of the older population in Africa. This book fills the gaps that exist by exploring the social realities of population aging in Africa. It also focuses on the policy and programmatic responses, gaps and future challenges related to aging across the continent.

This book looks at the symbolic side of globalization, development, and aging. Many of the dimensions that are discussed represent updates of past debates but some are entirely new. In particular, globalization is accompanied by subtle social imagery that profoundly shapes the way institutions and identities are imagined. The process of aging and persons sense of identity is no exception. The underlying assumptions that pervade globalization inform how critical dimensions of aging are discussed and institutionalized. The application of marketplace imagery, for example, may impact attempts for holism in how aging is studied and the prospects for human agency during the aging process. This book offers a special look into how temporality, technology, normativity, and empiricism structure the symbolic side of globalization and influence dominant images of the aging process. Current debates about globalization and aging are expanded by helping readers see the social imagery that is both subtly behind globalization and at the forefront of shaping the aging experience.

Between longer life expectancies and declining birth rates, Europe's elder population is growing into a sizable minority with considerable impact on nations, health systems, and economies-in other words, global implications as well as local and regional ones. Those investing in the health of older adults need a double perspective: the social and clinical complexity of aging and the larger forces shaping these experiences. Aging in European Societies examines aging trends across the continent, analyzing individual and collective variables that affect the lives of older adults, and drawing salient comparisons with other parts of the world. An interdisciplinary panel of experts provides theory, research, and empirical findings (with examples from the UK, Cyprus, Sweden, and others) in key areas such as family and social supports, physical and cognitive changes, dependence and autonomy issues, and living arrangements. The book's wide-net approach offers insights into not only aging, but aging well. And of particular importance, it details approaches to defining and measuring the elusive but crucial concept, quality of life. Included in the coverage: The potential for technology to improve elders' quality of life. Dementia and quality of life issues. Changes in functional ability with aging and over time. Family networks and supports in older age. Factors influencing inequalities in quality of life. Late-life learning in the E.U. Gerontologists, sociologists, health and cross-cultural psychologists, and public health policymakers will welcome Aging in European Societies as a springboard toward continued discussion, new directions for research, and improvements in policy and practice.

The time has come to further challenge biomedical and clinical thinking about dementia, which has for so long underpinned policy and practice. Framing dementia as a disability, this book takes a rights-based approach to expand the debate. Applying a social constructionist lens, it builds on earlier critical perspectives by bringing together concepts including disability, social inclusion, personhood, equality, participation, dignity, empowerment, autonomy and solidarity. Launching the debate into new and exciting territory, the book argues that people living with dementia come within the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and therefore have full entitlement to all the rights the Convention enshrines. A human rights-based approach has not to date been fully applied to interrogate the lived experience and policy response to dementia. With the fresh analytical tools provided in this book, policy makers and practitioners will will gain new insights into how this broader perspective can be used to further promote the quality of life and quality of care for all those affected by dementia.

This book highlights (1) the significance of reciprocity for the maintenance of self-esteem in old age and (2) the negative implications for the well-being of dependent older people when that significance goes unrecognized and, as a consequence, opportunities to give back to society, as well as take from it, are not facilitated by those in a position to do so. The discussion draws on research undertaken in the UK and Southern India into the extent to which having the self-perception of being valued in the world is important to older people in receipt of care support and whether, in their experience, this is recognized by others. The author presents an analysis of theoretical insights from leading thinkers across a broad range of literature and from several disciplines, including social theory, social work, philosophy, and gerontology. The author also gives voice to the perspectives of those dependent older people not often heard because of marginalizing and disempowering processes that contribute to their having little opportunity to be heard in the first place. The emphasis of this book is on aspiration to a meaningful life and continuing personal growth as offering a challenge to dominant discourses the equate old age with decline.

In the popular imagination, retirement promises a well-deserved rest-idle days spent traveling, volunteering, pursuing hobbies, or just puttering around the house. But as the nature of work has changed, becoming not just a means of income but a major source of personal identity, many accomplished professionals struggle with discontentment in their retirement. What are we to do-individually and as a culture-when work and life experience make conventional retirement a burden rather than a reprieve? In Retirement and Its Discontents, Michelle Pannor Silver considers how we confront the mismatch between idealized and actual retirement. She follows doctors, CEOs, elite athletes, professors, and homemakers during their transition to retirement as they struggle to recalibrate their sense of purpose and self-worth. The work ethic and passion that helped these retirees succeed can make giving in to retirement more difficult, as they confront newfound leisure time with uncertainty and guilt. Drawing on in-depth interviews that capture a range of perceptions and common concerns about what it means to be retired, Silver emphasizes the significance of creating new retirement strategies that support social connectedness and personal fulfillment while countering ageist stereotypes about productivity and employment. A richly detailed and deeply personal exploration of the challenges faced by accomplished retirees, Retirement and Its Discontents demonstrates the importance of personal identity in forging sustainable social norms around retirement and helps us to rethink some of the new challenges for aging societies.

Over the last two decades, many changes have happened to the social welfare policies of various industrial countries. Citizens have seen their pensions, unemployment benefits, and general healthcare policies shrink as "belt tightening" measures are enforced. But in contrast, long-term care has seen a general growth in public financing, an expansion of beneficiaries, and, more generally, an attempt to define larger social responsibilities and related social rights. The aim of this book is to describe and interpret the changes introduced in long-term care policies in Western Europe. The volume argues that recent reforms have brought about an increasing convergence in LTC policies. Most of the new programs have developed a new general approach to long-term care, based on a better integration of social care and health care. The book explores increasing public support given to family care work (in the past, the family would take care of the elderly or infirm) and increasing growth and recognition of a extended social care market (by which care has shifted from a moral obligation based on family reciprocity to a paid, professional activity). A new social care arrangement has therefore been developing in Western countries, based on a new mix of family obligations, market provision, and public support. In order to understand such changes, this analysis will take into account the social and economical impact of these reforms.

This book examines the key aging processes in seven countries (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, China, Nepal, and South Africa) and the main policies that have been, and are being, developed to deal with this rapid change in the demographic profile. It addresses the problems that are identified as well as the positive aspects of aging within each of these contrasting societies. Thus it makes a significant contribution to the major debates about growing old across the globe.

Ageing, meaning and social structure is a unique book advancing critical discourse in gerontology and makes a major contribution to understanding key social and ethical dilemmas facing ageing societies. It confronts and integrates approaches that have been relatively isolated from each other, and interrelates two major streams of thought within critical gerontology: analyses of structural issues in the context of political economy and humanistic perspectives on issues of existential meaning. The chapters, from a wide range of contributors, focus on major issues in ageing such as autonomy, agency, frailty, lifestyle, social isolation, dementia and professional challenges in social work and participatory research. This volume should be valuable reading for scholars and graduate students in gerontology and humanistic studies, as well as for policy makers and practitioners working in the field of ageing.

Drawing on the experiences of older trans people and those transitioning later in life, this is a definitive guide to ageing as a trans and/or non-binary person. It covers the key health concerns and social issues affecting older trans people, including care homes, pensions, inheritance and funeral planning, as well as hormone use and physical changes, isolation and dementia. Kermode also provides guidance for professionals looking to better meet the needs of these individuals and highlights the important factors that need to be considered at an institutional level to provide the best care for people across the gender spectrum.

In recent years the field of cognitive aging has flourished and expanded into many different disciplines. It is probably, therefore, inevitable that some of the research has become very narrow, primarily focused on "counting and classifying the wrinkles of aged behavior," rather than addressing more broad, general, and important questions. Timothy Salthouse's main goal in this book is to try to identify some of the major phenomena in the field of cognitive aging, and discuss issues relevant to the investigation and interpretation of them. He does not attempt to provide a comprehensive survey of the research literature on aging and cognition because many excellent reviews are available in edited handbooks. His principal aim is rather to stimulate readers to think about the big questions in cognitive aging research, and how they might best be answered.

Due to improvements in health and healthcare, the elderly population is expanding rapidly within the developed world. However, more and more elderly people require some form of psychological support at some point in their later years. The types of problems faced by this population are quite distinct and often more complex than those faced by younger adults, and throw up many new challenges - in both assessment and treatment. Though there are books available that focus individually on assessment or treatment, few have combined the two into a single framework. Within this book Knight and Pachana argue that psychological assessment needs to be more tightly integrated with therapy, especially with older adult clients. Using the Contextual Adult Lifespan Theory for Adapting Psychotherapy (CALTAP) as a framework for applying our knowledge about developmental, social contextual, and cohort/generational factors that influence age differences in response to psychological assessment and therapy, they present an integrated framework for psychological assessment and therapy with older adults. This text is valuable for practitioners looking for a solid theoretical basis for the practice of assessment and therapy with older clients, students in graduate courses looking at later lifespan issues, and educators looking for material to enhance generalist psychotherapy courses with a lifespan perspective.

'God's purpose for us is to show, as we get older, that he gives us his strength and, through our experiences of him, his wisdom,' says Ian Knox. 'God is not finished with us. In our later years we are not only to be blessed, but to be a blessing and bring a blessing.' As we get older, some of us grow more frenetic in our anxiety to demonstrate that the force is still with us. Others withdraw, often quite abruptly. What is God's view of ageing? The Bible has much to say, and many stories to tell, about those who did great things, those who did ordinary things well, those who prayed, those who used their gifts, those who suffered, those who went right to the end - and those who, in later years, got it absolutely wrong. How are we going to face the prospect of ageing? Will we subside, give up? Or shall we view retirement as a gift from God, an opportunity to reach out to others? Our older years are full of possibilities, not least of which is that of helping others find Christ.

America grows older yet stays focused on its young. Whatever hill we try to climb, we're "over" it by fifty and should that hill involve entertainment or athletics we're finished long before. But if younger is better, it doesn't appear that youngest is best: we want our teachers, doctors, generals, and presidents to have reached a certain age. In context after context and contest after contest, we're more than a little conflicted about elders of the tribe; when is it right to honor them, and when to say "step aside"?
In LASTINGNESS, Nicholas Delbanco, one of America's most celebrated men of letters, profiles great geniuses in the fields of visual art, literature, and music-Monet, Verdi, O'Keeffe, Yeats, among others - searching for the answers to why some artists' work diminishes with age, while others' reaches its peak. Both an intellectual inquiry into the essence of aging and creativity and a personal journey of discovery, this is a brilliant exploration of what determines what one needs to do to keep the habits of creation and achievement alive.

This book investigates the experiences of older people who remain at home with care. It examines the transition points for the important life changes faced by family members who take on a greater care-giving role. The book draws on demographic analyses and qualitative fieldwork to explore the shift from independence to increasing dependence, and suggests that this transition constitutes movement into a new stage of life, that of an Age of Supported Independence. Applying the anthropological concept of rites of passage in their analysis, the authors focus on the changes in everyday living within the spatial environment of the home, the temporal organization of daily life, and the reshaping of relationships. They suggest that many older people - as well as the family members who become carers - remain in a state of 'liminality': unable to make sense of their new situation and experience and, despite assumptions that ageing-in-place sustains social connectedness, excluded from their communities.

In the 1990s providing mental health services to the elderly and particularly to elderly Native Americans had been an issue of some concern for the last several decades. Despite this, many public decisions made at the time were based on inadequate data. Due to this lack of data, there had been little research devoted to determining the factors associated with mental health among elderly Native Americans. Instead, the growing body of mental health research had "been based on limited samples, primarily of middle-majority Anglos." Originally published in 1994, the purpose of this research was to utilize existing data to close the gap in our understanding of mental health among elderly Native Americans.

With the longest life expectancy for men and the second longest for women, Hong Kong typifies our planet's aging population. The daily lives of its older adults closely match the advantages and disadvantages experienced by urban elders in other developed countries. For these reasons, Hong Kong's elderly serve as a salient guide to older people's social, psychological, and healthcare needs-concerns of increasing importance as the world grows older. Aging in Hong Kong examines this emblematic population as a case study specifically in comparison with their counterparts in the West, shedding light on diverse, interrelated currents in the aging experience. Referencing numerous international studies, the book contrasts different health service arrangements and social factors and relates them to a variety of health outcomes. Its wide-ranging coverage documents health and illness trends, reviews age-friendly policy initiatives, relates health literacy to patients' active role in their own care, and discusses elders as an underserved group in the division of limited health funding and resources. This multiple focus draws readers' attention to policies that need revisiting or retooling as chapters analyze major life areas including: Living environment. Retirement and post-retirement employment issues. Financial asset management. Health literacy regarding aging issues. Elder-positive service delivery models. Ageism in the prioritization of healthcare. End-of-life issues. By assembling such a wealth of data on its subject, Aging in Hong Kong puts ongoing challenges into clear focus for gerontologists, sociologists, health and cross-cultural psychologists, public health policymakers, and others involved in improving the quality of elders' lives.

It has been ten years since the National Hormone and Pituitary Program (then called the National Pituitary Agency) sponsored a symposium on human growth hormone (hGH). Numerous advances have occurred during this period. This book does not attempt to summarize past achievements. Rather, it deals with the contemporary issues in hGH research. A discussion of the present state of the art, of necessity, includes a review of the past. Some of the topics herein discussed include the following: 1. Growth hormone releasing factor (GRF). In 1973, the growth hormone inhibitory factor (somatostatin) had recently been discovered. The search for a releasing factor in humans led to its discovery not in the pituitary but in a pancreatic tumor that secreted growth hormone. The advances are discussed in this book. The current hope is that GRF will eventually become an effective therapeutic agent for idiopathic hypopituitarism in childhood and adolescence. 2. Biosynthesis of hGR by recombinant DNA technology. Current advances are discussed. Although hGH is not yet an approved drug, it will eventually become one. This will broaden our horizons in terms of hGH effectiveness in disorders other than hypopituitary dwarfism. The current experience with this type of hGH in both the Vnited States and Europe is reviewed by several authors.

Taken over the course of more than a year of exclusive access, this work applies large format still life photography to the context of a unique prison community, E Wing at Kingston Prison in Portsmouth. For eight years this was Britain's only wing dedicated to holding elderly lifers: murderers, rapists, paedophiles and other violent criminals aged from their late 50s to over 80 years old. "Still Life: Killing Time", is not simply a reportage about a particular prison. Elements of metaphor, abstraction and documentary explore the experience of long term incarceration and the passage of time, and touch on how ageing and physical decline affect the prison environment. The claustrophobia of these close up, deliberate and regular compositions reflects both the nature of the place and the experience of working in E Wing.The recurring motifs - bars, squares, boxes, grids - show the segmentation and ordering of time and space that is fundamental to prison life, while the details of the inmates' possessions, notice-boards, walls, tables and bedsides suggest their state of mind and how they adapt to long term incarceration and getting old in an institution.

China, which is fast on its way to becoming the most powerful economic force in the world, has four unique characteristics that distinguish it from other countries in Asia: (1) The proportion of aging population is growing faster than that of Japan (the country previously recognized as having the fastest rate) and much faster than nations in western Europe. (2) An early arrival of an aging population before modernization has fully taken place, with social policy implications. It is certain that China will face a severely aged population before it has sufficient time and resources to establish an adequate social security and service system for older people. (3) There will be fluctuations in the total dependency ratio. The Chinese government estimates are that the country will reach a higher dependent burden earlier in the twenty-first century than was previously forecast. (4) The government s fertility policy (single child per family) and its implementation has a strong influence on the aging process. Fewer children are being born, but with more elderly people a conflict arises between the objectives to limit population increase and yet maintain a balanced age structure (Peng and Guo 2001). The intersection of these fourfold factors means that the increased aging population is giving rise to serious concerns among Chinese social policy makers. There is a chronic lack of good resource materials that attempt to make sense of social policy in its relationship to examining the problems and possibilities of human aging grounded in an analysis of economic of social policy in China and impact on rural and urban spaces. Such analysis of China will be covered by conceptual, theoretical, and empirical approaches. The book will also discuss substantive topics of housing, community care, family care, pensions, and mental health. The book brings together a truly world class array of researchers to provide discussions of critical implications of aging social policy and the economic impact in China."

Why do people age differently? Research in the field of gerontology has indicated that there are large individual differences in personality, cognitive functioning, physical health, and psychological well-being, as well as in the quality of life in the later years. It is this variability and the reasons why people age differently that this book explores. Thoughtfully written, Aging presents an overview of what is known about genetic and environmental influences on aging. Beginning with an overview of family, adoption, and twin designs, author Cindy S. Bergeman examines such topics as the research in the area of longevity and health, cognitive functioning, personality, and psychopathology; and social support, life events, and measures of the family environment. The book concludes with a summary of the field of gerontological behavioral genetics. This book will stimulate discussion and future work about the origins of individual differences in later life and will be invaluable to professionals and practitioners in the fields of developmental psychology, psychology, aging, family studies, and nursing.

Kornhuber and Deecke first recorded and reported the Bereitschaftspotential in 1964. The aim of this book is to bring together in a single volume some of the important research on the Bereitschaftspotential and other movement-related cortical potentials and to highlight and address some of the pertinent questions relating to the Bereitschaftspotential and to identify the key issues for future investigation in this field. This book represents a unique compilation of information about the Bereitschaftspotential and related cortical potentials and techniques for measuring preparatory processes in the brain. The book will be of interest to motor physiologists, psychologists and neurologists working in clinical or research laboratories.