Mit Unterstutzung der Robert Bosch Stiftung behandelte die Heidelberger Akademie das Thema "Alter und Altern" in einer Reihe von drei wissenschaftlichen Kolloquien. Das erste zur umfassenden Frage "Was ist Alter"? fand 2006 statt, das zweite, das den Naturwissenschaften einschliesslich der Medizin und den Technikwissenschaften gewidmet war, folgte 2009. Beide Kolloquien sind bereits in je einer beim Springer Verlag erschienenen Publikation dokumentiert.
Bei dem dritten Symposium dieser Reihe sollten sich die Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften dem Thema stellen. Es wurden hierzu Fragen aus der Soziologie, der Rechtswissenschaft und der Politikwissenschaft diskutiert. Die Beitrage hierzu sind in diesem Band niedergelegt.
Die Heidelberger Akademie versteht ihre Konferenzserie als einen Versuch, die Diskussion aus der Fixierung auf einige wenige Fragen herauszufuhren, und mochte hervorheben, dass Wissenschaft in der ganzen Vielfalt ihrer Disziplinen etwas zur Altersdebatte beitragen kann. "

"Public Health and Aging" was published to critical acclaim almost fifteen years ago. Much has changed in public health since then. Thomas R. Prohaska, Lynda A. Anderson, and Robert H. Binstock now offer a completely new and updated overview of the field in "Public Health for an Aging Society". This comprehensive survey discusses research, policy, and practice; managing and preventing diseases; promoting mental and physical health; and maintaining quality of life for an aging society. The fields of public health and aging have grown increasingly complex. Given the interdependency of issues posed by an aging society, the editors of this volume expand the traditional scope and treatments of public health and aging by adopting a social-ecological perspective that incorporates individual, family, community, societal, and environmental concerns. Chapters address the most critical public health issues facing an aging society, including Medicare and family caregiving, and introduce many new and emerging concepts, such as emergency preparedness, technology in aging, translational research, genomics, and environmental influences on health and health practices. The emergence of an aging society in the United States has far-reaching consequences for every generation. This book provides the latest information and future directions for the public health of this growing population. Students and practitioners will find "Public Health for an Aging Society" an invaluable resource both in the workplace and the classroom.

Caring for an elderly family member can be overwhelming. But fulfilling life experiences are still possible for both caregivers and their loved ones, despite the stress and fatigue of caregiving. Even an elderly spouse, parent, or other family member who is significantly impaired or increasingly dependent can enjoy simple pleasures and share their joy and wisdom. In this book, Ann Kaiser Stearns explores the practical and personal challenges of both caregiving and successful aging. In her engaging, conversational tone, Stearns shares stories and lessons from many resilient caregivers. She couples findings from the latest research with powerful insights and problem-solving tips to help caregivers achieve the best life possible for those they care for-and for themselves as they age. Topics include* improving the quality of life for the one giving and the one receiving care* distinguishing normal aging from early warning signs * understanding caregiver sadness, resentment, guilt, and grief* using strategies and skills to minimize an impaired elder's distress and emotional outbursts and the caregiver's own anxieties about growing old* finding resources to aid in the care of the loved one and protect the caregiver from stress overload * moving forward after the death of a loved one to have a meaningful life of one's own * overcoming ageist stereotypes and deciding what kind of "old person" one will be* making life easier for those who someday will care for us Redefining Aging will help readers think differently about caregiving and their own aging. It will also help them empathize with and interact positively with their elderly loved ones while imagining a positive future for themselves.

Noch vor gar nicht allzu langer Zeit galt ein Mensch jenseits der 60 als "alt." Heute wissen wir, dass mit "66 noch lange nicht Schluss" ist. Dank immer neuer Erkenntnisse der modernen Medizin ist es den meisten Menschen vergonnt, sich mit den kleinen und grosseren Beschwerden des Alterns anzufreunden und das Leben bei zufriedenstellender Gesundheit zu geniessen. Das geht freilich nicht ohne entsprechende Information. Dieser Ratgeber zeigt sehr anschaulich, wie wir lernen konnen mit den unablassig voranschreitenden korperlichen und seelischen Veranderungen umzugehen und dabei unser Wohlbefinden bis ins hochste Alter zu erhalten. Anleitungen zur Selbsthilfe, ein Uberblick uber marktgangige Artikel, Fitness-Angebote und Pharmaka, sowie aktuelle Themen, wie Liebe und Sexualitat im Alter, Hormonersatztherapie oder Schonheitsoperationen werden ebenso ausfuhrlich vorgestellt. Ein Buch fur einen unbeschwerten Lesegenuss mit vielen Informationen aus erster Hand."

Aging affects neurological function leading to neurological disease As society grows older, so do the neurological problems associated with aging. These can be new neurological deficits due to the aging process itself, or the effect of aging on already existing neurological conditions. Neurologists will spend increasing amounts of time managing patients with age-related neurological complications. Geriatric Neurology brings together the wisdom of world-leading experts. They have crafted a new textbook to define this emerging subspecialty from basic science through clinical assessment and medical management to social aspects of patient care. Geriatric Neurology covers: * The aging brain in neurology * Assessment of the geriatric neurology patient * Neurological conditions in the elderly * Therapeutics for the geriatric neurology patient * Management issues beyond therapeutics Comprehensive in scope but with practical focus for effective patient care, Geriatric Neurology provides top-of-class guidance for the management of elderly patients with neurological disorders.

Written and compiled by gerontological nursing leaders, NGNA Core Curriculum for Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses provides a broad overview of advanced elder care nursing. In easy-to-read form, the book presents not only thorough coverage of practice and illness management but also a wide range of professional information: + Theoretical foundations, including aging and developmental theories as well as nursing and health promotion models + Role development issues such as educational preparation, credentialing, standards of practice, and role functions + Patient education, educational program development, and staff development + Gerontological advanced practice nursing in collaboration, consulting, and research + Leadership and health service delivery issues + Health policy and legal and ethical topics + Professional issues As a basis for curriculum development or departmental standards of practice, an organizing framework for preparing for gerontological nursing certification, or simply as a shelf reference, NGNA Core Curriculum for Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses is a must-have for advanced clinicians and students in gerontological nursing.

This book will help all health professionals involved in the rehabilitation of older people to provide their patients with the highest possible quality of life and autonomy. Expanded and rewritten by a diverse team of authors, the text is suitable for doctors in all specialties that see older patients, as well as nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, dietitians, speech and language therapists/pathologists, physician associates/assistants, healthcare assistants, and many others including patients, family members and students. The book is written in an accessible, no-jargon style and provides a patient-centred perspective on recent advances in the field of rehabilitation - an increasingly important aspect of care for older people. Clear explanations of relevant concepts: ageing, frailty, comprehensive assessment, rehabilitation Broad coverage of all aspects of rehabilitation including different settings Explanations of input from multiple health professionals Problem-based section that highlights solutions to common issues during rehabilitation Specialty-specific areas of rehabilitation such as stroke rehabilitation, cancer rehabilitation, post-operative rehabilitation, trauma, rehabilitation in the community Practical section explaining how to plan discharge safely, run a care planning meeting, organize home supports, continue rehabilitation at home Evidence-based but accessible writing, complemented by practical clinical wisdom Aimed at a broader audience - applicable to all health professionals who see older patients Resources for patients and their caregivers Multiple-choice questions to test knowledge

Die standige Zunahme der Lebenserwartung und des Anteils alterer Menschen an der Gesamtbevolkerung sowie die sprunghafte Entwicklung auf dem Gebiet der Alterspsychiatrie haben die Herausgeber veranlasst, die neuesten Ergebnisse dieser Wissenschaft in einem Handbuch zusammenzufassen. Angesichts der Tatsache, dass die Alterspsychiatrie eine interdisziplinare Wissenschaft ist, wird das Thema durch eine grossere Zahl von Beitragen kompetenter Autoren dargestellt. In den einzelnen Beitragen werden physiologische und psychopathologische Veranderungen, die sich aufgrund des Alterns ergeben, ebenso ausfuhrlich behandelt wie Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation gerontopsychiatrischer Erkrankungen. Dieses Handbuch stellt eine umfassende Informationsquelle auf dem Gebiet der Alterspsychiatrie dar."

Detailed Review of Nutritional Therapies Used to Combat Elderly Health Issues The combination of the aging baby-boomer generation and their increased longevity has been fortunately met with increased research and greater understanding of health promotion and disease prevention in the elderly. Handbook of Nutrition in the Aged: Fourth Edition shares these groundbreaking insights and serves as a guide to better understand health problems that occur in aging adults and the nutritional therapies that are proven to fight and prevent them. Addresses Requirements for Optimum Health of Aging Physiological Systems This sharply focused work recognizes the special nutrition hurdles associated with the aged, particularly the decline of nutrient intake that compromises health. As a globally relevant text, this fourth edition is extensively revised, updated, and expanded to reflect the latest research in nutrition and aging. New chapters to this edition include information on: Arthritis Cognition Nutrition and the geriatric surgery patient Nutrition supplementation in fracture care Coffee and hypertension Asian medicine This book is a valuable tool not only for geriatricians and gerontologists, but also for dieticians, nutritionists, and aging researchers. It provides all the necessary information for assisting the growing aging population in maintaining a healthy quality of life.

The graying of the U.S. population draws increasing focus to historically unattended segments of society, including sexual and gender minorities. In this first comprehensive volume to address the challenges of aging in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex populations, this text presents what is currently known about aging GLBT individuals and what services are needed to support them.

The editors first provide an introductory overview comparing caregiving in GLBT and normative aging communities. In chapters devoted to the issues of each alternative sexuality and gender identity community, top experts in the field discuss biomedical, psychological, social/sexual, spiritual, socioeconomic, and service topics related to that community's aging needs.

GLBT populations face unique challenges as they age. Despite the often severe difficulties they encounter, many live out their final years with the dignity and grace that all of us deserve. With a combination of the latest biological and social science research, moving case studies and first-person accounts, practical advice for health professionals, and research literature citations, this book represents a major step forward in addressing concerns of aging GLBT populations.

Integrating research, practice, and policy, this text is for students and professionals in gerontology, medicine, social work, psychology, nursing, public health, and related fields who wish to learn more about the life experiences and concerns of sexual- and gender-minority-identified older patients.

A practical and clarifying approach to aging and aging-related diseases Providing a thorough and extensive theoretical framework, The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index of Aging-Relatedness addresses the surprisingly subtlenotion with consequential biomedical and public health relevance of what it means for acondition to be related to aging. In this pursuit, the book presents a new quantitative methodto examine the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to mortality anddisease incidence in a population. With input from evolutionary biology, population genetics, demography, and epidemiology, this medically motivated book describes an index of aging-relatedness and also features: * Original results on the asymptotic behavior of the minimum of time-to-event random variables, which extends those of the classical statistical theory of extreme values * A comprehensive and satisfactory explanation based on biological principles of the Gompertz pattern of mortality in human populations * The development of an evolution-based model of causation relevant to mortality and aging-related diseases of complex etiology * An explanation of how and why the description of human mortality by the Gompertz distribution can be improved upon from first principles * The amply illustrated analysis of real-world data, including a program for conducting the analysis written in the freely available R statistical software * Technical appendices including mathematical material as well as an extensive and multidisciplinary bibliography on aging and aging-related diseases The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index of Aging-Relatedness is an excellent resource for practitioners and researchers with an interest in aging and aging-related diseases from the fields of medicine, biology, gerontology, biostatistics, epidemiology, demography, and public health.

Gerontological nursing remains a critical specialty area for the profession of nursing, especially as the older adult population grows. The Fifth Edition of Gerontological Nursing: Competencies for Care takes a holistic approach and teaches students how to provide quality patient care for the older adult, preparing them to effectively care for this population. Students and faculty appreciate the practical approach as well as the author's logical organization of competency-based content both of which are a hallmark of this text. Following the framework outlined by the AACN's recommended baccalaureate competencies and curricular guidelines for the care of older adults, the text guides students through the core foundations of gerontological nursing as a specialty. The Fifth Edition emphasizes these essential competencies coupled with the management of geriatric syndromes that impact this population including falls, sleep disorders, depression/anxiety, and elder abuse. Key Features: * Practical information on dementia for nurses and caregivers * Expanded content on fall prevention * New content on COVID-19 and telehealth care * "Healthy Aging Tips" found throughout the text * Updated research highlights * Critical thinking and personal reflection exercises * Video case studies in the form of author-conducted interviews accessible via Navigate Premier Access

The scientific study of aging is a relatively nascent field of inquiry. Although philosophic and literary reflections on what it means to grow older appear in the earliest historical records, the systematic study of aging began in earnest about a century ago. Scholarly interest in the topic has accelerated in recent decades, due in part to rapid population aging in developed nations. As a result, the study of aging has been incorporated into many disciplines, emphasizing concepts, theories, and methods to elucidate the antecedents and consequences of growing older. Although each discipline has key concepts and empirical generalizations about aging, there is little agreement across disciplines about the intellectual core of gerontology. Each discipline brings its own intellectual heritage and perspective to the study of aging, but the question posed by author Ken Ferraro is whether there is an emergent perspective or way of thinking about aging that transcends the disciplines. Biologists, psychologists, and sociologists may claim an interest in gerontology, but do they have a common image of aging or a set of principles to guide their research? Do they share a paradigm-a fundamental image of aging-that incorporates concepts and empirical generalizations from multiple disciplines? And when disciplinary approaches to gerontology clash, which approach or conceptualization of aging is likely to emerge as part of the paradigm? Although biologists, psychologists, and social scientists share an interest in the study of aging, they are distinctive in how they conduct their research. The Gerontological Imagination provides an integrative paradigm of aging that makes it the first book to identify intellectual common ground among scholars studying aging. Ferraro identifies an underlying set of principles that constitute a paradigm for the study of aging: causality, life course analysis, multifaceted change, heterogeneity, accumulation processes, and ageism. The proposed paradigm provides an efficient way to identify and interpret essential ideas, findings, models, and theories across multiple disciplines that study aging.

Dementia is an illness that raises important questions about our own attitudes to illness and aging. It also raises very important issues beyond the bounds of dementia to do with how we think of ourselves as people - fundamental questions about personal identity. Is the person with dementia the same person he or she was before? Is the individual with dementia a person at all? In a striking way, dementia seems to threaten the very existence of the self. This book brings together philosophers and practitioners to explore the conceptual issues that arise in connection with this increasingly common illness. Drawing on a variety of philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Hume, Wittgenstein, the authors explore the nature of personal identity in dementia. They also show how the lives and selfhood of people with dementia can be enhanced by attention to their psychosocial and spiritual environment. Throughout, the book conveys a strong ethical message, arguing in favour of treating people with dementia with all the dignity they deserve as human beings. The book covers a range of topics, stretching from talk of basic biology to talk of a spiritual understanding of people with dementia. Accessibly written by leading figures in psychiatry and philosophy, the book presents a unique and long overdue examination of an illness that features in so many of our lives.

It is increasingly important for physicians who treat older persons, and for researchers on aging, to understand how molecular biology informs clinical expressions of aging and age-related conditions such as osteoporosis, diabetes, osteoarthritis, frailty, cancer, and dementia. Dr. David Hamerman translates basic scientific concepts into precepts of clinical practice and sheds light on the links among biology, natural aging, longevity, and disease.

Exploring the connections between disease and the science behind it, Geriatric Bioscience addresses how mechanisms of inflammation, cytokine expression, and stress responses influence disease and how preventive gerontology in the practice of medicine could compress morbidity. Hamerman also discusses cutting-edge therapies such as cyclo-oxygenases, bisphosphonates, statins, cytokine inhibitors, and hormone therapies.

Examining the science of geriatrics and converting its concepts into clinical applications, this groundbreaking work provides clinicians and researchers with a solid foundation for a greater understanding of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of age-related diseases as well as recommendations for promoting healthy aging.

This guide is structured to assist physicians in the management of those hypertensive patients who present with specific comorbidities, such as diabetes, systolic dysfunction, obesity, renal disease, or previous cardiac events, often associated with hypertension. The clinical cases contained in this book have been selected to provide a paradigmatic set of scenarios frequently encountered in daily clinical practice, and will serve as an easy-to-access tool in applying general guidelines to individual patients, particularly in the choice of the most appropriate antihypertensive therapy. Treatment of hypertension with associated clinical conditions require specific therapies and combinations of drugs, which are necessarily different from one comorbidity to another. By discussing exemplary cases that may better represent clinical practice in a "real world" setting, and analyzing step by step the diagnostic and therapeutic process, this book will assist cardiologists and physicians in selecting the diagnostic tools and forms of treatment best suited to the individual patient and the particular cardiovascular risk profile.

Global ageing, in both developed and undeveloped countries, has made the need for high-quality knowledge and research on anaesthesia for the elderly increasingly important. The second edition of Anaesthesia for the Elderly Patient offers the anaesthetist guidance on the evaluation and management of elderly patients that present at hospital for surgery and anaesthesia. Containing 15 chapters on key topics such as emergency anaesthesia, orthopaedic surgery, and neurosurgery, as well as a new chapter on 'Anaesthesia for Non-Theatre Environments', this book ensures the reader is fully prepared for the clinical challenges they may face when working with this ever-growing vulnerable group. Part of the Oxford Anaesthesia Library series, this second edition of Anaesthesia for the Elderly Patient offers a fully up-to-date comprehensive introduction to the major clinical issues facing anaesthetists working with elderly patients. All chapters are fully updated and content is presented in a concise and easy to read format, with helpful key points listed at the start of each chapter.

Older adults increasingly rely on family members or friends (i.e., informal caregivers) for needed care and support as they age. Family caregivers typically assume their caregiving role willingly and reap personal fulfilment from helping a loved one, developing new skills, and strengthening family relationships. For these benefits, however, caregivers often sacrifice their own health and well-being. Depression, anxiety, poor physical health, and compromised immune function are more common among family caregivers than in adults not providing such care. The REACH OUT Caregiver Support Program offers a multi-component, tailored, and flexible intervention for caregivers of people with dementia that is focused on the evidence-based therapeutic strategy of problem solving. This practical volume is designed to guide clinicians through the process of implementing REACH OUT (Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health: Offering Useful Treatments) and to provide them with necessary tools to share with caregivers, with the goal of enhancing caregiver physical and mental health. Five common risk areas (home safety, caregiver health, social support, challenging behaviors, and emotional well-being) are described in the manual, and interventions are outlined that respect the nuances of each risk area. By beginning with an individualized risk assessment and being flexible to the needs and issues of the caregiver, the REACH OUT intervention helps clinicians identify risk areas and provides caregivers with tailored action plans to reduce risk and promote well-being.