This book promotes an understanding of ageism, discrimination and mistreatment of older adult workers, incorporating an international human rights perspective. The impact of ageism on the mistreatment of older adult workers has not to date been examined in depth through the lens of international human rights instruments, nor has discrimination against older adults in the workplace been framed as a form of elder abuse for research and policy making purposes. This book presents a multi-disciplinary exploration of these themes as they affect work and retirement of older adults. It reflects the view that older people who choose to work into old age should be able to do so in enabling work environments that promote dignity and are free of abuse. The contributing authors come from many disciplines, including law, psychology, social work, business, and international affairs. Many are members of the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA), a non-governmental organization with consultative status at the United Nations, and have devoted their professional careers to increase awareness and understanding of elder abuse in order to prevent it. The editors hope that broadening the framework within which elder abuse in the workplace is understood will stimulate further research, policy and program development to address this troubling social problem.

Most scholars do not consider the long-term nature of caregiving, but rather focus on a specific developmental period (e.g., old age) or a specific disability (e.g., cancer). Yet the most important lessons about caregiving may occur at any age, regardless of disabilities or other limitations. Caregiving is a lifelong process. It begins in a mother's womb, continues throughout the lifespan, and ends after death. Caregiving Across the Lifespan emphasizes caregiving as a process that occurs throughout one's life. It discusses infant care, the developmental needs of children and adolescents, the many caregiving issues in adulthood and mid-life, and finally end-of-life care and bereavement. Key coverage includes: Examining caregiving issues across a developmental perspective. Caregiving from infancy through early childhood through end of life. Mid-life and multigenerational bonds and responsibilities. Caregiver identity in older adults. Family caregiving at the end of life. This must-have volume offers a wealth of insights and ideas for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students across the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and education policy makers.

This book investigates sociological, demographic and geographic aspects of aging in rural and nonmetropolitan areas of the United States. Population aging is one of the most important trends of the 20th and 21st centuries, and it is occurring worldwide, especially in more developed countries such as the United States. Population aging is more rapid in rural than urban areas of the U.S. In 2010, 15 percent of the nonmetropolitan compared to 12 percent of the metropolitan population were 65 years of age and older. By definition rural communities have smaller sized populations, and more limited healthcare, transportation and other aging-relevant services than do urban areas. It is thus especially important to study and understand aging in rural environments. Rural Aging in 21st Century America contributes evidence-based, policy-relevant information on rural aging in the U.S. A primary objective of the book is to improve understanding of what makes the experience of rural aging different from aging in urban areas and to increase understanding of the aged change the nature of rural places. The book addresses unique features of rural aging across economic, racial/ethnic, migration and other structures and patterns, all with a focus on debunking myths about rural aging and to emphasize opportunities and challenges that rural places and older people experience.

Primer of Geriatric Urology provides a review of the demographics of our aging urologic population and their unique needs. Chapters review alterations that must be considered in the initial evaluation of the aging patient, and follow with practical suggestions for development of the management plan, whether by counseling, medication, invasive procedure or foregoing procedures. Complications, especially likely in the elderly, are also discussed. The volume also provides a review of the use of necessary adjunctive services such as home care or hospice in the context of Medicare in the USA. An important chapter provides hints on urology practice in a nursing home. The volume concludes with analysis of specific geriatric entities seen in urology practice. Primer of Geriatric Urology will be of great value to urologists, residents, fellows and allied health professionals including physician's assistants and nurse practitioners who treat urologic patients. Additionally, this book will also be of interest to primary care providers who treat elderly patients with urologic problems.

This book provides a description of cognitive impairment in the elderly population through the lens of Thai Traditional Medicine as it is practiced in northern Thailand. It provides an overview of Thai Traditional Medicine and the memory loss presented in elderly dementia. Some medicinal plants used by traditional Thai healers to treat cognitive decline and memory issues in the elderly are reviewed. Medicinal Plants of Northern Thailand for the Treatment of Cognitive Impairment in the Elderly provides readers with the detailed description of the in vitro screening of ten plants and those results. The bioactivity of these single plants exemplifies the success of using an ethnobotanical filter to identify plants with cognitive enhancing activity.

This volume highlights research issues specific to geriatric oncology in the field of carcinogenesis and cancer prevention and treatment, based on the biologic interactions of cancer and age. It conveys a sustainable way of thinking about cancer and aging.

Some of the most serious consequences of aging are its effects on skeletal muscle. 'Sarcopenia', the progressive age-related loss of muscle mass and associated muscle weakness, renders frail elders susceptible to serious injury from sudden falls and fractures and at risk for losing their functional independence. Not surprisingly, sarcopenia is a significant public health problem throughout the developed world. There is an urgent need to better understand the neuromuscular mechanisms underlying age-related muscle wasting and to develop therapeutic strategies that can attenuate, prevent, or ultimately reverse sarcopenia. Significant research and development in academic and research institutions and in pharmaceutical companies is being directed to sarcopenia and to related health issues in order to develop and evaluate novel therapeutics. This book provides the latest information on sarcopenia from leading international researchers studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying age-related changes in skeletal muscle and identifies strategies to combat sarcopenia and related muscle wasting conditions and neuromuscular disorders. The book provides a vital resource for researchers and practitioners alike, with information relevant to gerontologists, geriatricians, sports medicine physicians, physiologists, neuroscientists, cell biologists, endocrinologists, physical therapists, allied health and musculoskeletal practitioners, strength and conditioning specialists, athletic trainers, and students of the medical and biomedical sciences.

This book aims to provide an up-to-date review of the literature in each of the major areas relating to the management of older urological cancer patients, and makes recommendations for best practice and future research. The authors come from a broad geographic spread including the UK, mainland Europe and North America to ensure a worldwide relevance.

A ground-breaking new volume and the first of its kind to concisely outline and explicate the emerging field of whole person care process, Whole Person Care: A New Paradigm for the 21st Century organizes the disparate strains of literature on the topic. It does so by clarifying the concept of 'whole person' and also by outlining the challenges and opportunities that death anxiety poses to the practice of whole person care. Whole person care seeks to study, understand and promote the role of health care in relieving suffering and promoting healing in acute and chronic illness as a complement to the disease focus of biomedicine. The focus is on the whole person -- physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. Using concise, easy-to-read language, the early chapters offer practitioners a thorough understanding of the concepts, skills and tools necessary for the practice of whole person care from a clinician-patient interaction standpoint, while the last two chapters review the myriad implications of whole person care for medical practice. An invaluable resource for all areas of medical practice and for practitioners at all stages of development, from medical students to physicians and allied health providers with many years of experience, Whole Person Care: A New Paradigm for the 21st Century will have a profound impact on western medical practice in North America and elsewhere.

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.

This volume will be a reliable source on the management of the elderly with renal disease. There is an ever-increasing proportion of the aging population affected by renal disease and hypertension, and physicians are faced with atypical clinical presentations of renal disease in the aged as compared to younger people. This volume combines the fields of nephrology and geriatrics and presents a multidisciplinary approach to the topic.

Food or calorie restriction has been shown in many short-lived animals and the rhesus monkey to prolong life-span. Life-long nutrition studies are not possible in humans because of their long survival. Studies over two to six years in healthy adult humans have, however, shown that a 20% reduction in food or calorie intake slows many indices of normal and disease-related aging. Thus, it is widely believed that long-term reduction in calorie or food intake will delay the onset of age-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, and so prolong life. Over the last 20 or more years there has been a progressive rise in food intake in many countries of the world, accompanied by a rising incidence of obesity. Thus our increasing food and calorie intake has been linked to the rising incidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in early adult life. It is accepted that overeating, accompanied by reduced physical exercise, will lead to more age-related diseases and shortening of life-span. The answer is to reduce our calorie intake, improve our diet, and exercise more. But calorie restriction is extremely difficult to maintain for long periods. How then can we solve this problem? Edited by a team of highly distinguished academics, this book provides the latest information on the beneficial effects of calorie restriction on health and life-span. This book brings us closer to an understanding at the molecular, cellular and whole organism level of the way forward.

For many, caring for a chronically ill family member is "the right thing to do", but it is also often a source of emotional hardship, physical stress, and social isolation. In response, skill-building, coping, and psychoeducational programs have emerged to help caregivers meet the changes and challenges in their - as well as the patients' - lives. Education and Support Programs for Caregivers reveals the diversity of the caregiver population as well as their experiences and needs, and it introduces an empirically solid framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating caregiver programs. The book synthesizes current trends, exploring the effectiveness of different types of programs (e.g., clinic, community, home based) and groups (e.g., peer, professional, self-help), and how supportive programs lead to improved care. Coverage includes: Improving service delivery of education and support programs to underserved caregivers. Cultural, ethnic, and gender issues in conducting caregiver education and support groups. Utilization patterns (e.g., a key to understanding service needs). E-health, telehealth, and other technological developments in caregiver services. Evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of programs. Recommendations for future practice, training, policy, and advocacy. Education and Support Programs for Caregivers offers a wealth of insights and ideas for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students across the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and education policy makers.

Atlas of Rheumatoid Arthritis is a high-quality educational initiative, written by leaders in the field of rheumatology, containing a collection of approximately 150 relevant images, with extended descriptive captions and a comprehensive bibliography. The Atlas of Rheumatoid Arthritis will provide clinicians with a visual guide to rheumatoid arthritis, focusing on assessment, diagnosis and treatment, including newer research into the signalling pathways involved in the pathogenesis of RA, before focusing on the treatment of RA. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common and most serious of the inflammatory arthritic disorders, and it dominates clinical rheumatological practice. Effective, early treatment is vital as this can slow the course of the disease and reduce joint damage. RA is usually treated using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), most commonly methotrexate. The newest treatments target the disease-causing immune elements specifically and directly.

Measurement of Wound Healing will update the knowledge base and promote the use of measurements in order to improve both understanding of wounds and their management. This book will feature well used vascular measurements, pathological measurements, imaging measurements and so on. There will be chapters on techniques/measurements that have much promise. This book is led by 3 experienced clinician scientists from different backgrounds who have successfully worked together on projects.

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.

Caring for people with disabilities often becomes an all-encompassing responsibility for one or more family members. To manage the multifaceted demands, caregivers must possess strong multitasking skills, including the ability to assist with daily life tasks; provide emotional support; help with financial affairs; mediate and advocate with health care providers. Maintaining balance within their own lives can become incredibly challenging for caregivers. More often than not, providing care for family members or loved ones occurs at the expense of the caregivers' well-being. And for caregivers who themselves have disabilities, it further complicates matters. Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability addresses concerns that have been long familiar to the caregiver population and examines the current state of family care for individuals with disabilities. With a lifespan perspective, this concise reference reviews the literature on specific problems of caregivers and explores which care strategies are effective, promising, or lacking in available resources and support interventions. Contributors also explore the more fluid and subjective aspects of caregiving, such as feelings, spirituality, and family roles. Suggestions for future policy improvements, particularly within the public health sector, are discussed as well. Topics covered include: * Family dynamics and caregiving for people with disabilities. * Parent caregiving of children with disabilities. * Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and caregiving. * Educational, training, and support programs for caregivers. * Emerging technologies to aid caregivers. * Developing partnerships between caregivers and health care providers. Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, policy makers, and graduate students across such disciplines as clinical psychology, nursing, social work, public health, medicine, and social and education policy.

This is the first work to take a comprehensive look at the application of Magnetic Resonance (MR) techniques in the diagnosis, follow-up and therapy monitoring of dementing illnesses. The authors present an overview of MR findings in neurodegenerative and vascular disorders leading to dementia. In doing so, they also discuss other diseases that lead to cognitive and/or behavioural deterioration, such as infectious inflammatory disorders, toxic encephalopathies, inborn errors of metabolism of adult onset and post-traumatic, post-radiotherapy and post-chemotherapy conditions. This authoritative, well-written and richly illustrated reference work is indispensable for anybody working in the field.

This volume discusses the current state of research findings related to healthy brain aging by integrating human clinical studies and translational research in animal models. Several chapters offer a unique overview of successful aging, age-related cognitive decline and its associated structural and functional brain changes, as well as how these changes are influenced by reproductive aging. Insights provided by preclinical studies in mouse models and advanced neuroimaging techniques in humans are also presented."

"Aging, Health, and Longevityin the Mexican-Origin Population"creates a foundation for an interdisciplinary discussion of the trajectory of disability and long-term care for older people of Mexican-origin from a bi-national perspective. Although the literature on Latino elders in the United States is growing, few of these studies or publications offer the breadth and depth contained in this book.

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Current projections indicate that by 2050 the number of people aged over 80 years old will rise to 395 million and that by this date 25-30% of people over the age of 85 will show some degree of cognitive decline. Palliative care for older people: A public health perspective provides a comprehensive account of the current state of palliative care for older people worldwide and illustrates the range of concomitant issues that, as the global population ages, will ever more acutely shape the decisions of policy-makers and care-givers. The book begins by outlining the range of policies towards palliative care for older people that are found worldwide. It follows this by examining an array of socio-cultural issues and palliative care initiatives, from the care implications of health trajectories of older people to the spiritual requirements of palliative care patients, and from the need to encourage compassion towards end-of-life care within communities to the development of care pathways for older people. Palliative care for older people: A public health perspective is a valuable resource for professionals and academics in a range of healthcare and public health fields to understand the current state of policy work from around the world. The book also highlights the social-cultural considerations that influence the difficult decisions that those involved in palliative care face, not least patients themselves, and offers examples of good practice and recommendations to inspire, support, and direct healthcare policy and decision-making at organisational, regional, national and international levels.

Immunosenescence is a unique, multi-disciplinary approach to the understanding of immune aging. It addresses the topic from the biological, as well as the psychological, social and behavioral perspectives. It is, thus, a valuable and timely addition to the literature in this area. Contributors include experts in the field, reviewing the state of the art in research.

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.

Assisting someone with Alzheimer's disease or another illness that causes dementia is incredibly demanding and stressful for the family. Like many disabling conditions, Alzheimer's disease leads to difficulty or inability to carry out common activities of daily life, and so family members take over a variety of tasks ranging from managing the person's finances to helping with intimate activities such as bathing and dressing. Key coverage in Caregiving for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders includes: Early diagnosis and family dynamics Emotional needs of caregivers Developmentally appropriate long-term care for people with Alzheimer's Family caregivers as members of the Alzheimer's treatment Team Legal and ethical issues for caregivers Faith and spirituality The economics of caring for individuals with Alzheimer's disease Cultural, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic issues of minority caregivers Advances in Alzheimer's disease research Caregiving for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders offers a wealth of insights and ideas for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students across the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and education policy makers.