How well do the places where we live support the wellbeing of older adults? The Canadian population is growing older and is reshaping the nation's economic, social and cultural future. However, the built and social environments of many communities, neighbourhoods and cities have not been designed to help Canadians age well. Bringing together academic research, practitioner reflections and personal narratives from older adults across Canada, this cutting-edge text provides a rare spotlight on the local implications of aging in Canadian cities and communities. It explores employment, housing, transportation, cultural safety, health, planning and more, to provide a wide-ranging and comprehensive discussion of how to build supportive communities for Canadians of all ages.

Synthesizing a vast body of empirical research and organizing it around a comprehensive conceptual model, this book is recognized as the definitive reference on adult attachment. The authors explain how what began as a theory of child development is now used to conceptualize and study nearly all aspects of social functioning across the lifespan, including mental representations of self and others, emotion regulation, personal goals and strivings, couple relationships, caregiving, sexuality, psychopathology, psychotherapy, and organizational behavior. The origins and measurement of individual differences in adult attachment are examined, as is the question of whether and how attachment patterns can change. New to This Edition: *Reflects major advances, including hundreds of new studies. *Clarifies and extends the authors' influential model of attachment-system functioning. *Cutting-edge content on genetics and on the neural and hormonal substrates of attachment. *Increased attention to the interplay among attachment and other behavioral systems, such as caregiving and sexuality. *Expanded discussion of attachment processes in counseling and psychotherapy. *Additional coverage of leadership, group dynamics, and religion.

A typically pessimistic view of aging is that it leads to a steady decline in physical and mental abilities. In this volume leading gerontologists and geriatric researchers explore the immense potential of older adults to overcome the challenges of old age and pursue active lives with renewed vitality. The contributors believe that resilience capacities diminishing with old age is a misconception and argue that individuals may successfully capitalize on their existing resources, skills and cognitive processes in order to achieve new learning, continuing growth, and enhanced life-satisfaction. By identifying useful psychological resources such as social connectedness, personal engagement and commitment, openness to new experiences, social support and sustained cognitive activity, the authors present a balanced picture of resilient aging. Older adults, while coping with adversity and losses, can be helped to maintain a complementary focus on psychological strengths, positive emotions, and regenerative capacities to achieve continued growth and healthy longevity.

This book presents studies of the main conditions that affect health and well-being of old people. Considering the present scenario of COVID-19, the effects of this viral infection on individuals older than 65 years are also discussed. The content enables professionals of health and government for the present and future actions in this important area. Readers go through the changes occurring in organs and tissues that can interfere with susceptibility to infections, low response to vaccines, cancer, and loss of cognition during the aging process. A discussion of the central role played by the immune system in the age-related diseases and how the immunity can be impaired during the ageing process is presented. Possibilities to circumvent these conditions via healthy habits in diet, physical exercise, and new pharmacological interventions are part of the content. This book discusses how human healthy longevity is dependent, at least in part, of a functional immune system. Chapters were written for researchers in the field of aging and is especially suited for those interested in the study of immunosenescence and inflammaging affecting the health of old individuals.

In many countries across the Asia Pacific region, people are adapting to the new demographic shift, but there is nonetheless much concern. This book documents the various educational approaches rendered by both public and private sectors to enable elderly individuals in their own countries to re-engage in society more inclusively, to stay longer in the labour market, and to become less dependent on the state or their families. In order to produce active, healthy, and productive aging citizens, the experiments showcased by this book highlight how adaptive action is needed across many policy areas, with emphasis on shaping structural differences in the composition and organisation of higher education systems that can better foster lifelong learning among elderly citizens. The book is a great venue to underline the interplay of the theory and practices of vastly complex challenges.

This book provides deep insights into concerns related to the well-being in older women across the globe. Written by experts in the field, it explores social roles, health, quality of life/well-being, as well as concerns related to abuse and neglect, impacting the health of older women. It discusses important conditions for the holistic health of older women from different perspectives and provides practical guidelines towards improving the overall status of older women's well-being in society. The chapters analyze the wider implications of older women's experiences as family members, drivers of economies and members of a diverse population worldwide. Covering a focus which is applicable to countries across continents, whether developed or developing, the book has an overall appeal to academicians, health care, policy makers as well as researchers in areas such as aging, gerontology, social work and psychology.

What 'kind' of community is demanded by a problem like dementia? As aspects of care continue to transition from institutional to community and home settings, this book considers the implications for people living with dementia and their carers. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and case studies from Canada, this book analyses the intersections of formal dementia strategies and the experiences of families and others on the frontlines of care. Considering the strains placed on care systems by the COVID-19 pandemic, this book looks afresh at what makes home-based care possible or impossible and how these considerations can help establish a deeper understanding necessary for good policy and practice.

This book integrates the economics of aging and insight based on political economy and explores generational conflict in the context of governmental spending. This problem is general, as the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted: lockdowns protect the elderly, but hurt the young. Policies to address global warming impose taxes on the elderly, but would bring benefits largely in the future. This book addresses intergenerational problems by placing its focus on budget allocation, taxation, and regulation. By using Japanese and US data, the authors conduct statistical analysis of whether regions with aging populations may adopt policies that generate benefits during a short period of time instead of policies that could benefit current young generations for an extended period of time. If the policy preferences of voters depend on their age, and if policy adoption by a government reflects public opinion, the change in demographic composition in a region may affect governmental policies. In an aged society, the elderly are pivotal voters. Budgets may be reallocated from policies favored by younger generations, such as education, to policies the elderly prefer, such as welfare programs. This generates an intergenerational externality problem: voters with short life expectancy do not take into consideration long-term benefits. Moreover, the current tax bases may be replaced by other tax bases that do not harm the elderly. The results reported in the book largely support these hypotheses. Evidence also shows that the gender and racial composition and institutional factors, including the extent of fiscal decentralization, are important in anticipating effects of population aging in other countries.

This book discusses the contemporary medico-social, psychological, legal, and therapeutic concerns related to people affected by dementia as a patient or as a caregiver. It provides global emerging responses to dementia. It highlights different dimensions of dementia in terms of issues, concerns, policies, and strategies all around the globe. The contributing authors present issues from cross-cultural education visible in dementia studies and discuss the power of music, art therapy, artistic collaborations, and many innovative practices in dealing with dementia. Written by international specialists from various disciplines, the chapters include challenges and emerging issues related to the role of family caregivers, the concern with vulnerability to elder abuse and neglect, and the role of technology in dementia care. The book provides a diverse perspective to dementia care not covered in such a broad way by any other books on the topic. This book is intended for academics from a wide range of fields such as sociology, geriatrics, community medicine, public health, clinical psychology, social work all of which, collectively, bear on the problem and the solutions for better dementia care.

This edited volume is a compilation of 30 articles discussing what constitutes food for health and longevity. The aim is to provide up-to-date information, insights, and future tendencies in the ongoing scientific research about nutritional components, food habits and dietary patterns in different cultures. The health-sustaining and health-promoting effects of food are certainly founded in its overall composition of macronutrients and micronutrients. However, the consumption of these nutrients is normally in the form of raw or prepared food from the animal and plant sources. The book is divided into four parts and a conclusion, and successfully convenes the well-established information and knowledge, along with the personal views of a diversified group of researchers and academicians on the multifaceted aspects of nutrition, food and diet. The first part reviews the scientific information about proteins, carbohydrates, fats and oils, micronutrients, pro- and pre-biotics, and hormetins, along with a discussion of the evolutionary principles and constraints about what is optimal food, if any. The second part discusses various kinds of foods and food supplements with respect to their claimed benefits for general health and prevention of some diseases. The third part brings in the cultural aspects, such as what are the principles of healthy eating according to the traditional Chinese and Indian systems, what is the importance of mealing times and daily rhythms, and how different cultures have developed different folk wisdoms for eating for health, longevity and immortality. In the part four, various approaches which are either already in practice or are still in the testing and research phases are discussed and evaluated critically, for example intermittent fasting and calorie restriction, food-based short peptides, senolytics, Ayurvedic compounds, optimal food for old people, and food for the prevention of obesity and other metabolic disorders. The overreaching aim of this book is to inform, inspire and encourage students, researchers, educators and medical health professionals thinking about food and food habits in a holistic context of our habits, cultures and patterns. Food cannot be reduced to a pill of nutritional components. Eating food is a complex human behavior culturally evolved over thousands of years. Perhaps the old adage "we are what we eat" needs to be modified to "we eat what we are".

This book demonstrates that population structure and dynamics can be reconstructed by stochastic analysis. Population projection is usually based on age-structured population models. These models consist of age-dependent fertility and mortality, whereas birth and death processes generally arise from states of individuals. For example, a number of seeds are proportional to tree size, and amount of income and savings are the basis of decision making for birth behavior in human beings. Thus, even though individuals belong to an identical cohort, they have different fertility and mortality. To treat this kind of individual heterogeneity, stochastic state transitions are reasonable rather than the deterministic states. This book extends deterministic systems to stochastic systems specifically, constructing a state transition model represented by stochastic differential equations. The diffusion process generated by stochastic differential equations provides statistics determining population dynamics, i.e., heterogeneity is incorporated in population dynamics as its statistics. Applying this perspective to demography and evolutionary biology, we can consider the role of heterogeneity in life history or evolution. These concepts are provided to readers with explanations of stochastic analysis.

The Handbook of Gerontology Research Methods offers a clear understanding of the most important research challenges and issues in the burgeoning field of the psychology of aging. As people in developed countries live longer, so a range of research methods has evolved that allows a more nuanced understanding of how we develop psychological and neurologically. Allied to this is an increasing concern with the idea of well-being, a concept which places cognitive performance and development within a more socially grounded context. With contributions from a range of top international scholars, the book addresses both typical and atypical aging, highlighting key areas such as physical and cognitive exercise, nutrition, stress, diabetes and issues related to death, dying and bereavement. Successful ageing is emphasised throughout the text. Each chapter concludes with a series of practical tips on how to undertake successful research in this area. This unique collection is the first book to provide both a concise overview of the major themes, findings and current controversies in this growing field, as well as an understanding of the practical issues when researching older adults which may impact on research outcomes, intervention, policy and future directions. Designed for both students and researchers interested in the psychology of aging, but also highly relevant for students or researchers in related fields such as health psychology and social care, the Handbook of Gerontology Research Methods is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand more about the psychology of aging.

This open access book addresses the current debate on extended working life policy by considering the influence of gender and health on the experiences of older workers. Bringing together an international team of scholars, it tackles issues as gender, health status and job/ occupational characteristics that structure the capacity and outcomes associated with working longer. The volume starts with an overview of the empirical and policy literature; continues with a discussion of the relevant theoretical perspectives; includes a section on available data and indicators; followed by 25 very concise and unique country reports that highlight the main extended working life (EWL) research findings and policy trajectories at the national level. It identifies future directions for research and addresses issues associated with effective policy-making. This volume fills an important gap in the knowledge of the consequences of EWL and it will be an invaluable source for both researchers and policy makers.

Fifty year olds fear what sixty-five will look like, while thirty year olds dread fifty, and twenty year olds thirty. The fears of aging are like one long cascading domino effect of the fears of aging. And there is something to worry about, though it isn't what you'd expect: research shows that having a bad attitude toward aging when we're young is associated with poorer health when we're older. But many eighty year olds would tell people old age is better than they think. In fact, worries tend to peak in midlife, according to the "U-Bend" studies (so-called because the pattern of well-being throughout the lifespan resembles a "U") that show that the older we get, the greater our sense of well-being. In the words of philosopher William May, we learn to "travel light." Over the course of a lifetime of crises and accomplishments, we learn who we are and what our character strengths and virtues are. And we discover we may actually like ourselves. Here, Jimmie Holland and Mindy Greenstein explore positive aging and the role of character strengths and virtues along the way. They touch on compassion, empathy, kindness, justice, beauty, optimism, and hope in the context of community, experience, and culture. They go on to explore self-control, humor, courage, and wisdom, and what elderly people can teach the young. Lighter as We Go-a joint venture by an eighty-five year old and a fifty year old-explores what it means to travel light, and the fascinating process of getting there.

This book focuses on the emerging global old age care industry developing as a response to tackle the "old age care crisis" in richer countries. In this global industry, multiple actors are involved in recruiting, skilling and placing migrant care workers in different spheres of the receiving country's old age care system. This book delves into the analysis of these actors and the multiple levels influencing their activities. Accordingly, it examines the significance of old age care regimes and policies as well as intermediaries and promoters for initiating, shaping and perpetuating old age care arrangements based on migrant labor and the relationships within them. Particular emphasis is placed on the risks and implications of these arrangements for the well-being and the social protection of the different actors involved. The book analyzes these processes and structures from a global perspective including different countries and regions of the world.

This book analyzes the development of medical big data projects in Japan.Japan is experiencing unprecedented population aging, and labor productivity has decreased accordingly. Big data analysis of the Japanese medical real-world database (RWD) has the potential to tackle this issue.To allow readers to gain an understanding of Japanese medical big data analysis, the book discusses the original Japanese system that generates medical RWDs in the hospital medical records system, the nationwide standardized health checkup system, and the public medical insurance system in Japan.After introducing four major big data projects in the healthcare-medical field in Japan, the book explains the importance of creating information standards to maintain data quality and to analyze medical big data. It enables readers to analyze which standards are installed in which RWDs, how the standards are maintained, and which issues are prevalent in Japan.This book also describes the ethical processes involved in big data projects involving medical RWDs in Japan.

For humankind, the most irreducible idea is the concept of life itself. In order to understand that life is essentially an infinite process, transmitted from generation to generation, this book takes the reader on a fascinating journey that unravels one of our greatest mysteries. It begins with the premise that life is a fact-that it is everywhere; that it takes infinite forms; and, most importantly, that it is intrinsically self-perpetuating. Rather than exploring how the first living forms emerged in our universe, the book begins with our first primordial ancestor cell and tells the story of life-how it began, when that first cell diversified into many other cell types and organisms, and how it has continued until the present day. On this journey, the author covers the fundaments of biology such as cell division, diversity, regeneration, repair and death. The rather fictional epilogue even goes one step further and discusses ways how to literally escape the problem of limited recourse and distribution on our planet by looking at life outside the solar system. This book is designed to explain complex ideas in biology simply, but not simplistically, with a special emphasis on plain and accessible language as well as a wealth of hand-drawn illustrations. Thus, it is suitable not only for students seeking for an introduction into biological concepts and terminology, but for everyone with an interest in the fundamentals of life at the crossroad of evolutionary and cell biology.

This two-volume set constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2022, held as part of the 24th International Conference, HCI International 2022, held as a virtual event, during June-July 2022. ITAP 2022 includes a total of 75 papers, which focus on topics related to designing for and with older users, technology acceptance and user experience of older users, use of social media and games by the aging population, as well as applications supporting health, wellbeing, communication, social participation and everyday activities. The papers are divided into the following topical sub-headings. Part I: Aging, Design and Gamification; Mobile, Wearable and Multimodal Interaction for Aging; Aging, Social Media and Digital Literacy; and Technology Acceptance and Adoption: Barriers and Facilitators for Older Adults Part II: Intelligent Environment for Daily Activities Support; Health and Wellbeing Technologies for the Elderly; and Aging, Communication and Social Interaction.

This book brings together two major trends influencing economic and social life: population ageing on the one side, and migration on the other. Both have assumed increasing importance over the course of the 20th and into the 21st century. The book offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on the challenges posed by the globalisation of the life course to welfare states' old age and family policies. Through a variety of case studies, it covers a wide range of migration scenarios: those who migrate in later life; migrants from earlier years who age in place; and old people who hire migrant caregivers. It shows how both local and global economic inequalities intersect to frame interactions between ageing, migration, and family support. Across a wide variety of situations, it highlights that migration can both create risks for older people, but also serve as an answer to ageing-related social, economic, and health risks. The book explores tensions between national and global contexts in experiences of migration across the life course. As such this book offers a fascinating read to scholars, students, practitioners, and policy makers in the fields of aging, migration, life course, and population health.

Since Mentor, Telemachus' advisor in Homer's Odyssey, gave name to the figure of the "wise teacher," fictional representations of mentoring have permeated classic and contemporary cultural texts of different literary genres such as fiction, poetry, and life writing. The contributions of this volume explore wisdom in old age through a series of narratives of mentorship which, either from a critical or a personal perspective, undermine ageist views of later life.

Deficiencies in old age care are some of the most pressing human rights concerns in mature welfare states. This book radically challenges the ethics of viewing care as a tradeable commodity and introduces a novel framework for understanding and analysing social care through the concept of ailment. Providing examples from the British and Finnish welfare states, it demonstrates how ailment shapes societies from the micro to the macro level. Addressing the marketisation and financialisation of care, the authors bring to light increasing inequalities in care. This book argues that ailment is part of human life and society, and therefore the politics of care should begin with a politics of ailment.

More people are extending their working lives through necessity or choice in the context of increasingly precarious labour markets and neoliberalism. This book goes beyond the aggregated statistics to explore the lived experiences of older people attempting to make job transitions. Drawing on the voices of older workers in a diverse range of European countries, leading scholars explore job redeployment and job mobility, temporary employment, unemployment, employment beyond pension age and transitions into retirement. This book makes a major contribution and will be essential reading within a range of disciplines, including social gerontology, management, sociology and social policy.

Enhancing the Wellbeing and Wisdom of Older Learners: A Co-research Paradigm examines how lifelong learning, becoming wise, and sharing wisdom are integrally linked to older people's wellbeing. The book highlights appropriate learning styles and pedagogies for older people, including research models emphasising participation, and offers recommendations for research in lifelong learning with the potential to effect change. Focusing upon a collaborative action research project, 'Sagaciation', chapters explore the involvement of older learners in the design and delivery of the scheme, which enabled them to expand their knowledge and skills, and to fully engage as critical and creative voices in a supportive and welcoming environment. The book offers an account of the process of the action research, as well as its findings. The project is set into the context of leading academic thinking on fields such as the growth of an ageing population, the rise of literature on ageing, negative and positive constructions of ageing, social gerontology, the wellbeing and health of older people, and educational gerontology. This book challenges negative representations of older people as a burden by offering a paradigm of hope, resilience, and sagacity within education and beyond. It will appeal to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of adult education, lifelong learning, gerontology, mental health and wellbeing, and the sociology of education, as well as to policymakers and those working with older people