This book provides a fresh and even-handed account of the newly modernized AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) - the 40-million member insurance giant and political lobby that continues to set the national agenda for Medicare and Social Security. Frederick R. Lynch addresses AARP's courtship of 78 million aging baby boomers and the possibility of harnessing what may be the largest ever senior voting bloc to defend threatened cutbacks to Social Security, Medicare, and under-funded pension systems. Based on years of research, interviews with key strategists, and analyses of hundreds documents, "One Nation under AARP" profiles a largely white generation, raised in the relatively tranquil 1950s and growing old in a twenty-first century nation buffeted by rapid economic, cultural, and demographic change. Lynch argues that an ideologically divided boomer generation must decide whether to resist entitlement reductions through its own political mobilization or, by default, to empower AARP as it tries to shed its 'greedy geezer' stereotype with an increasingly post-boomer agenda for multigenerational equity.

This sensitive and compassionate book provides older people who are nearing the end of life and their loved ones, as well as the professionals who work with them, with a greater depth of understanding of spiritual issues surrounding death and dying. Illustrated with the experiences of many older people, it explores important themes such as grief and loss; fear; pain, distress and suffering; acceptance; transcendence; prayer; the healing of relationships; and intimacy, and shows that the final journey towards death can be one of the most spiritually meaningful times in the life of an older person - a time in which there is still hope, and in which the person who is dying and their loved ones can grow spiritually, strengthened by the difficult times they face together. Spiritual issues for older people with dementia who are nearing the end of life are also explored, as are ethical and moral issues in death and dying, and the ways in which bereaved partners and relatives may come to terms with the loss of a loved one. This concise and accessible book will be a valuable resource for those in the caring professions and a rich source of guidance and support for older people who are nearing the end of life and their families.

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.

Introduction to Senior Transportation focuses on an issue that is a growing concern-the community mobility needs of older adults. Surpassing the coverage available in existing gerontology textbooks, it enables the reader to understand and appreciate the challenges faced by older adults as they make the transition from driving to using transportation options (many of which were not designed to meet their particular needs). It considers the physical and cognitive limitations of older adult passengers, the family of transportation services, the challenges providers face in meeting the assistance and support needs of senior passengers, and the transportation methods that do and do not currently meet the needs and wants of senior passengers. This textbook addresses the educational and professional development needs of faculty, students, and practitioners working in the fields of aging, aging services, and transportation. The book has been class-tested and features innovative, practical learning tools that appeal to students and practitioners. It complements any introductory course in gerontology, human development and aging, or human factors, and will enhance the curriculum of programs in the social behavioral sciences as well as traffic safety, transit engineering, and community planning.

The teacher and gerontological social work scholar Mercedes Bern-Klug joins experts on nursing, law, medicine, sociology, and social work to provide a thorough understanding of nursing home palliative care. Their broad definition of palliative care treats comfort care as appropriate across the illness experience, not just at the end of life.

Because a majority of nursing home residents are older adults facing multiple, advanced chronic conditions, this book is grounded in the provision of palliative care-especially palliative psychosocial care. Yet its practice recommendations can also be applied to other long-term care settings, such as assisted living. The contributors combine scholarship with practical wisdom in each chapter, mixing reviews of scholarly literature with insights gleaned from clinical practice. Chapter topics comply with the eight domains of palliative care developed by the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care. Some focus on care of the resident, while others concern the resident's family. A special section addresses self-care for nursing home staff members, and another discusses nursing home rituals to mark the death of a resident. Bern-Klug concludes with an overview of the factors that will shape the future of palliative care for advanced chronic illness.

In this timely collection, contributors from a number of disciplines discuss neoliberal visions of success, and the subsequent effects they have on the construction of the lifecycle. Frequently mentioned in popular political discourse, the notion of neoliberalism is often deployed as shorthand for the consensus that austerity is necessary and the hard-working individual can survive it. This volume unpicks and interrogates the term by engaging with the interface between the political ubiquity of neoliberal forms and its lived experience in neoliberal societies, cutting across a multiplicity of factors including gender, age, and access to education. Impressive in its wide scope and analysis, Interrogating the Neoliberal Lifecycle presents an informed discussion not only of the limits of the neoliberal paradigm but also of possible alternatives.

Impelled by the realization that his undergraduate students seem unaware of their place in a personal or societal trajectory over time, Achenbaum has written a book that will capture the attention of students and others alike. He states, "Life's Uncertain Voyage attempts to grapple with major issues associated with societal aging from a historical perspective." Grounding his assessment in literature, philosophy, and history, Achenbaum looks at the demographics of our aging society and the impact on employment and markets, education, health care, religion and spirituality, and political action. The book "ends by challenging the Baby Boomers to be trailblazers as members of particular networks and as citizens of the world." The reviewer says, "Researchers have been aware for some time that the 'aging experience' is not uniform and the population of elders markedly diverse. The 'Uncertain [Voyage]' will be distinctive in offering an extended and tightly knit exploration of these phenomena and [...] in doing so with the perspective of a masterful historian." This book will be read by students and professionals in adult development and aging (psychology and gerontology); some general readers may also be interested.

The psychology of aging usually focuses upon cognitive changes, with a particular focus on dementia and other forms of cognitive decline. But getting older is about more than simply changes to the brain and related health issues. Changes to our social and emotional lives are also hugely significant as we adapt across our lifespan. The second edition of Aging and Development is the only textbook available that responds to the growing interest in social, personal and emotional development in older age. Ideally suited to complement texts on cognitive change, the book provides a holistic developmental perspective on aging. It highlights a range of issues, including the development of personal meaning and spirituality, improvements in emotional control, uses of reminiscence and life review, the importance of healthy attitudes to aging, as well as the maintenance of close personal relationships. It does not avoid the difficult issues of late life decline, but illustrates how even in circumstances of physical and mental frailty a positive sense of self can be created and enhanced. Fully updated to provide the most cutting-edge overview on this burgeoning topic of interest, Aging and Development includes a glossary and list of useful websites both on the study of gerontology and the psychology of aging. It will be essential reading for all students of developmental psychology, as well as anyone either training to work or already working with older people.

This edited volume studies gut microbiota peculiarities in elderly, in senescence-related and environmental-related alterations of gut microbiota in chronic diseases. Aging, as a physiological process mediated through several regulatory pathways and transcription factors, is generally speaking associated to a relentless functional decline and increasing risk of chronic diseases. Growing data on gut microbiota quali-quantitative changes in aging gut, and the opportunity to study by advanced NGS and metabolomic technologies, now offers novel horizons to link such changes to disease risks and to theoretically the weapons for gut microbiota intervention as an effective therapeutic tool. Chapters are divided into clear sections, starting with the aging perspective, then moving from chronic diseases to neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. The final parts focusses on interventions. Contributors are well-reputed and dedicated scientists in clinics and experimental medicine from 4 different continents who have provided their contribution keeping the polar star on aging as a guide while investigating their gut microbiota in occurrence and progression of disease together with proposed preventing, monitoring and therapeutic interventions. In the wide offer of books on gut microbiota, this age-thematic volume will be a valuable source of updated information for a wide group of readership including gerontologists, geriatricians, medical specialists of several fields, PhDs, basic scientists and public/private research entities focused on potential intervention in and through gut ecosystem. This book will stimulate a large number of basic scientists and clinicians to review their once organ (or cellular line)-specific knowledge and widen either their pathophysiological mechanisms understanding while providing novel ways to prevent, monitor and treat diseases from eyes to bones.

Providing an integrated and thorough representation from current research and contemporary society, Family Ties and Aging shows how pressing issues of our time-an aging population, changing family structures, and new patterns of work-family balance-are negotiated in the family lives of middle-aged and older adults. Focusing on key questions such as "How do current trends and social arrangements affect family relationships?" and "What are the implications of what we know for future research, theory, practice, and policy?", authors Ingrid Arnet Connidis and Amanda E. Barnett explore groups and relationships that are typically overlooked, including the unique family situations of older single and childless persons, sibling ties, older lesbian and gay adults, and new forms of intimate relationships. The Third Edition is thoroughly updated to include the latest research and theoretical developments, recent media coverage of related issues, and new information on intimate relationships in later life and elder neglect/abuse.

Since its independence in 1945, Indonesia has experienced decades of rapid social change that have affected every area of life and have reached even the most remote parts of the country. The impact on the experience of the population has been equally significant, especially for those individuals who are over the age of 60 today and have lived through much of this period. This book concerns older members of the Minangkabau ethnic group, one of Indonesia's many local cultures. The Minangkabau have an ancient matrilineal social structure that is embodied in their local law and customs (adat) and that, in the view of many Minangkabau, is under increasing pressure in the modern context. Today's older Minangkabau are deeply affected by these challenges to the traditional way of life which relate to fundamental social patterns, such as the nature of the long-established tradition of leaving their region of origin to work elsewhere (marantau) and the structure of relationships within the extended family, as well as the potential value of traditional practices in modern society. The gap between their expectations that were formed early in their life and the realities of life in modern Indonesia often create serious problems of cultural consonance that represent a personal challenge for which there is no precedent and no established strategy to address. This book is based on a long-term study of older Minangkabau in modern Indonesia with a focus on cultural consonance. It profiles the members of one family from a village in the highlands of West Sumatra whose members now live in cities across Indonesia as well as in their village of origin. The challenges but also the opportunities experienced by these individuals, and members of the older Minangkabau population in general, are characteristic of similar social change experienced across Indonesia in recent decades and illustrate the nature of culture shift in the rapidly urbanizing and modernizing context of modern Indonesia.

Wisdom Mind is an empirically-supported mindfulness intervention program for older adults - those who are cognitively healthy, as well as those who may be experiencing subjective cognitive decline. While mindfulness is already known to benefit a wide variety of individuals, the unique strengths of this program are the ways in which it is tailored specifically to older adults. Session content is contextualized within the developmental concerns of older adults (such as cognitive slip-ups, loss, and grief). Content is further informed by a clinical-neuropsychological perspective, which incorporates both restitution (scaffolding mindfulness practices in a sequence of increasing difficulty) as well as compensation (strategies to promote learning and integration). Designed to be used alongside the companion Participant Workbook, this session-by-session Facilitator Guide provides detailed information on how to deliver the program, as well as the reasoning behind why certain practices and strategies are provided at different times and in different ways. As such, it will be of interest to seasoned mindfulness instructors and those new to the practice, as well as to a range of mental health and healthcare professionals. A companion website provides downloadable meditation audio recordings that facilitators and participants can access throughout the program; scripts are also provided for those facilitators who wish to create their own recordings.

Some groups participate in politics more than others. Why? And does it matter for policy outcomes? In this richly detailed and fluidly written book, Andrea Campbell argues that democratic participation and public policy powerfully reinforce each other. Through a case study of senior citizens in the United States and their political activity around Social Security, she shows how highly participatory groups get their policy preferences fulfilled, and how public policy itself helps create political inequality.

Using a wealth of unique survey and historical data, Campbell shows how the development of Social Security helped transform seniors from the most beleaguered to the most politically active age group. Thus empowered, seniors actively defend their programs from proposed threats, shaping policy outcomes. The participatory effects are strongest for low-income seniors, who are most dependent on Social Security. The program thus reduces political inequality within the senior population--a laudable effect--while increasing inequality between seniors and younger citizens.

A brief look across policies shows that program effects are not always positive. Welfare recipients are even less participatory than their modest socioeconomic backgrounds would imply, because of the demeaning and disenfranchising process of proving eligibility. Campbell concludes that program design profoundly shapes the nature of democratic citizenship. And proposed policies--such as Social Security privatization--must be evaluated for both their economic and political effects, because the very quality of democratic government is influenced by the kinds of policies it chooses.

People are leading significantly longer lives than previous generations did, and the proportion of older people in the population is growing. Residential care for older people will become increasingly necessary as our society ages and, we will require more of it. At this moment in time, the rights of older people receive attention at international and regional levels, with the United Nations, the Organization of American States and the African Union exploring the possibility of establishing new conventions for the rights of older persons. This book explores the rights of older people and their quality of care once they are living in a care home, and considers how we can commence the journey towards a human rights framework to ensure decent and dignified care for older people. The book takes a comparative approach to present and future challenges facing the care home sector for older people in Africa (Kenya), the Arab world (Egypt), Australia, China, England, Israel, Japan and the USA. An international panel of experts have contributed chapters, identifying how their particular society cares for its older and oldest people, the extent to which demographic and economic change has placed their system under pressure and the role that residential elder care homes play in their culture. The book also explores the extent to which constitutional or other rights form a foundation to the regulatory and legislative structures to residential elder care and it examines the important concept of dignity. As a multi-regional study of the care of older person from a human rights perspective, this book will be of excellent use and interest, in particular to students and researchers of family and welfare law, long-term care, social policy, social work, human rights and elder law.

Written for a broad range of mental health professionals, this book explains why depression can be challenging to treat in older adults and describes the most effective interventions. Noted geriatric psychiatrist Gary J. Kennedy draws on extensive clinical experience and research to present current best practices in pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, other psychosocial and lifestyle interventions, and electroconvulsive therapy. Depressive disorders complicated by psychosis, mania, dementia, and bereavement are addressed in detail, as is suicide prevention. Kennedy emphasizes the importance of integrating care across service settings and building strong partnerships with patients and their families. Quick-reference tables throughout the book distill critical elements of intervention. See also the author's award-winning Geriatric Mental Health Care: A Treatment Guide for Health Professionals, which provides a framework for treating the most frequently encountered psychiatric problems in this population.

Focusing on mental health rather than mental illness, this book adopts a lifecourse approach to understanding mental health and wellbeing in later life. Well-respected author and scholar Alisoun Milne explores the influences of lifecourse experiences, structural inequalities, socio-political context, history, gender and age related factors and engages with new ways of thinking about preventing mental ill health and promoting mental health in later life. Drawing together material from a number of different fields, the book analyses the meaning and determinants of mental health among older populations and offers a critical review of the lifecourse, ageing and mental health discourse for students, professionals, policy makers and researchers.

A moving portrait of a father and daughter relationship and a case for late-stage creativity from Emily Urquhart, the bestselling author of Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family, and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes. "The fundamental misunderstanding of our time is that we belong to one age group or another. We all grow old. There is no us and them. There was only ever an us." - from The Age of Creativity It has long been thought that artistic output declines in old age. When Emily Urquhart and her family celebrated the eightieth birthday of her father, the illustrious painter Tony Urquhart, she found it remarkable that, although his pace had slowed, he was continuing his daily art practice of drawing, painting, and constructing large-scale sculptures, and was even innovating his style. Was he defying the odds, or is it possible that some assumptions about the elderly are flat-out wrong? After all, many well-known visual artists completed their best work in the last decade of their lives, Turner, Monet, and Cezanne among them. With the eye of a memoirist and the curiosity of a journalist, Urquhart began an investigation into late-stage creativity, asking: Is it possible that our best work is ahead of us? Is there an expiry date on creativity? Do we ever really know when we've done anything for the last time? The Age of Creativity is a graceful, intimate blend of research on ageing and creativity, including on progressive senior-led organizations, such as a home for elderly theatre performers and a gallery in New York City that only represents artists over sixty, and her experiences living and travelling with her father. Emily Urquhart reveals how creative work, both amateur and professional, sustains people in the third act of their lives, and tells a new story about the possibilities of elder-hood.

Discover brain training activities, scientific revelations, and tips to help unlock your mind's potential! Packed with cognitive exercises, logic puzzles and mind maps, this brain activity book offers a balanced, clear, colourful and practical guide to keeping your brain fit. Inside the pages of this scientifically based brain fitness programme, you'll find: - Clear visual explanations on how the brain works, how it recalls memories, and how and why it forgets - Practical advice on how to monitor and maintain a healthy brain function - Step-by-step mental exercises and activities to help train your brain - from sudoku to learning a language Packed with expert advice, brain tests, and a range of exercises to stimulate your memory and mental agility, The Brain Fitness Book will equip you with everything you need to keep your brain working to its maximum potential. It includes puzzles, sensory exercises and step-by-step introductions to activities from playing the guitar to beginning yoga and tai chi. Discover how to achieve a brain-healthy lifestyle! This empowering guide highlights the role of quality sleep, a healthy diet and physical exercise to help you look after both your physical and mental well-being. Our mental fitness is just as crucial as our body's, with regular training your brain helps you to be less prone to age-related decline, as well as conquering stress, anxiety, and the risk of depression. The Brain Fitness Book is the perfect gift or purchase for anyone interested in maintaining mental health and cognition.

'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.

Traditional training in counseling and psychotherapy makes minimal distinctions on the ages of the client and therapist in the treatment process. Therapy Over 50: Aging Issues in Psychotherapy and the Therapist's Life highlights how therapy is frequently a very different process for the older client and therapist. Specifically, this book explores: a) how therapists over 50 (or approaching that life transition) experience, struggle, and enjoy doing therapy in ways that are different from when they were younger (this includes their special challenges, adaptations, fears, and joys); and b) the landscape related to working clinically with aging clients, and those approaches and strategies that work best with this population. The text also includes both current research and classic literature on the subject of aging issues in therapy, as well as current excerpts from interviews the authors will conduct with some of the most notable aging figures in the fields of counseling, social work, marriage and family therapy, and clinical psychology.

From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon's CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers." On frequently traveled routes between seasonal jobs, Jessica Bruder meets people from all walks of life: a former professor, a McDonald's vice president, a minister, a college administrator, and a motorcycle cop, among many others-including her irrepressible protagonist, a onetime cocktail waitress, Home Depot clerk, and general contractor named Linda May. In a secondhand vehicle she christens "Van Halen," Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects more intimately. Accompanying Linda May and others from campground toilet cleaning to warehouse product scanning to desert reunions, then moving on to the dangerous work of beet harvesting, Bruder tells a compelling, eye-opening tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy-one that foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, she celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these quintessential Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive. Like Linda May, who dreams of finding land on which to build her own sustainable "Earthship" home, they have not given up hope.

This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the challenges women may face as they navigate the multiple roles that they carry. Attention is given to the unique cultural identities that women embody and suggestions are provided to help counselors acknowledge the various aspects of each client's intersectional identity. In addition to theory, we provide suggestions for practical application of relevant interventions and strategies for helping women achieve their goals. A foundation is provided that explore the multiple layers of development that occur during adolescence, adulthood, midlife, and older adulthood. Women face numerous challenges related to identity development and relationships. These challenges can generate psychological and emotional distress that lead women to seek professional assistance in finding solutions to their issues. With more choices than in generations past, women can face unexpected and unanticipated challenges and barriers to their individual and relational development. This book is organized around contemporary developmental and relational rites of passage women experience in adulthood. Traditional rites of passage include birth, menarche, marriage, and death. These events still hold significance but women's lives today follow expanded and complex trajectories. Numerous transitions, such as attending college, navigating employment opportunities and the relational challenges that women face in various areas of life, are presented and addressed in this book from a clinician's perspective providing practitioners with insight and practical knowledge. In this book, we cover choices related to such topics as career, relationships, parenthood, and support networks. We also explore the struggles that women face including abuse, depression, anxiety, feelings of low self-worth, loss, and addictions. Best practices in counseling women are highlighted and utilized in case study examples. The relationships created by women impact their lives and this book helps the reader to gain insight into how women can take ownership for their relationships and choices.

Healthy Ageing and Aged Care takes an inter-disciplinary approach to supporting older people within the community and in care. It represents current Australian policies and practices and takes a holistic view of the older person, and emphasises the positive aspects of the ageing process, maintaining that people age in healthy ways and continue to be an integral part of their families and communities. This is one of the rewarding aspects of working with older people-assessing accurately and collaboratively putting in place strategies that can maintain the person's quality of life. The goal is for students to be able to develop those skills by engaging with the material in this book.