Ageing with Dignity in Hong Kong and Asia

Ageing with Dignity in Hong Kong and Asia

Author: Vincent Tin Sing Law

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-09-12

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 9811930619

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This book advocates the application of holistic and humanistic approaches in elderly care and services to achieve the goal of ageing with dignity in Hong Kong and Asia. It responds to the needs of an increasing ageing population that has to deal with related health needs in long-term care, community health and social services, particularly for chronic conditions and psychosocial support. The book consists of three sections on policy and development of aged care, holistic and humanistic care for older adults, and capacity building for ageing with dignity, respectively. Topics include the latest initiatives in aged care, appropriate services and delivery models, lifestyle modification, psychosocial and environmental considerations, professional development, technologies, and social capital. The chapters review and discuss these issues within a global context, illustrated by examples from Asian countries, underpinned by locally based empirical research. Contributors include academics and practitioners from diversified professional backgrounds that include medicine, nursing, pharmacy, traditional Chinese medicine, dietetics, and allied health. The book traverses into territories in the social sciences, life sciences, and sports sciences, while also touching on areas of business and administration, hospitality, law, public policy, and information technology in connection with public health. The contents serve as a topical reference for tertiary studies in ageing and related disciplines such as well-being and are also useful to policymakers, community and public health practitioners, health executives and interns working in areas of policy and practice pertinent to care development, health delivery models, planning, quality, ethics, better health promotion, professional training, and monitoring for older adults.


Aging in Hong Kong

Aging in Hong Kong

Author: Jean Woo

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-09-06

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1441983546

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


Global Age-friendly Cities

Global Age-friendly Cities

Author: World Health Organization

Publisher: World Health Organization

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 9241547308

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The guide is aimed primarily at urban planners, but older citizens can use it to monitor progress towards more age-friendly cities. At its heart is a checklist of age-friendly features. For example, an age-friendly city has sufficient public benches that are well-situated, well-maintained and safe, as well as sufficient public toilets that are clean, secure, accessible by people with disabilities and well-indicated. Other key features of an age-friendly city include: well-maintained and well-lit sidewalks; public buildings that are fully accessible to people with disabilities; city bus drivers who wait until older people are seated before starting off and priority seating on buses; enough reserved parking spots for people with disabilities; housing integrated in the community that accommodates changing needs and abilities as people grow older; friendly, personalized service and information instead of automated answering services; easy-to-read written information in plain language; public and commercial services and stores in neighbourhoods close to where people live, rather than concentrated outside the city; and a civic culture that respects and includes older persons.


Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-05-14

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0309671035

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Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.


Active and Healthy Aging and Quality of Life: Interventions and Outlook for the Future, volume II

Active and Healthy Aging and Quality of Life: Interventions and Outlook for the Future, volume II

Author: Shekhar Chauhan

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2024-09-10

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 2832554172

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The continuous growth of older populations, as a consequence of demographic changes, is a huge global challenge. The growing proportion of older adults not only burdens the healthcare system, specifically, in developing countries but also posits a challenge at the household level, specifically, in nuclear and one-person households. For societies as a whole to avoid costly and negative effects, it is crucial to increase their knowledge of how to promote good health among older adults, so that they can live longer and enjoy a better quality of life. Active aging is the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation, and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. An active and healthy life has remained one of the most important aspirations for all people, both young and older adults alike. This ambition has become a genuine possibility for many due to a rising life expectancy among people of diverse attributes across the world. While celebrating longer life and more financial security in later life than ever before, we need to challenge how these aspirations can be sustained, through our own behavioral responses and through public policy, institutional reforms, and innovations. The challenge is to identify, recommend, and promote strategies and interventions that stimulate and sustain the activity, independence, and health of people of all ages, especially older adults, and, in the process, promote the well-being and quality of life of people and make public welfare systems more sustainable.


Sustainable Development Goal 3

Sustainable Development Goal 3

Author: Ben Y. F. Fong

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-12-24

Total Pages: 57

ISBN-13: 100054429X

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Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to develop a better and sustainable future for the world, and the goals are part of an action plan to address poverty, hunger, health, gender equity and various pressing world issues. One of these goals looks at health and wellness. Ageing populations have become a crucial issue worldwide, and this short monograph explores ageing and how the consequences of an ageing population may affect our healthcare system through a case study on Hong Kong’s population. The book looks at several critical health issues related to ageing. The elderly, particularly those with low socio-economic status, rely more on acute-centric care rather than primary care. The book suggests that secondary care service may only be effective to a limited extent as a healthcare measure and an optimum healthcare system should be one that focuses on primary care. The authors put forth a compelling argument for disease prevention and screening schemes and explain how they are more cost-effective and beneficial to society and the system. This thoughtful book will provide beneficial insights into the relationship of ageing and Sustainable Development Goals in the context of health and wellness for policymakers and healthcare professionals. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.


Age-Friendly Cities and Communities

Age-Friendly Cities and Communities

Author: Tine Buffel

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2018-01-17

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1447331311

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This important book provides a comprehensive survey of different strategies for developing age-friendly communities, and the extent to which older people themselves can be involved in the co-production of age-friendly policies and practices.


Planning for Greying Cities

Planning for Greying Cities

Author: Tzu-Yuan Stessa Chao

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-06

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1315442868

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Planning for Greying Cities: Age-Friendly City Planning and Design Research and Practice highlights how modern town planning and design act as a positive force for population ageing, taking on these challenges from a user-oriented perspective. Although often related to 'healthy city' concepts, the contexts of age-friendly cities and communities (AFCC) were not emphasized until the early 2000s. Planning for Greying Cities is the first book to bring together fundamental and cutting-edge research exploring dimensions of age-friendly cities in different spatial scales. Chapters examine the ageing circumstances and challenges in cities, communities, and rural areas in terms of land use planning, urban design, transport planning, housing, disaster resilience, and governance and empowerment, with international case studies and empirical research results of age-friendly environment studies. It is essential reading for academics and practicians in urban planning, gerontology, transport planning, and environmental design.


Health Promotion in Health Care – Vital Theories and Research

Health Promotion in Health Care – Vital Theories and Research

Author: Gørill Haugan

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-03-11

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 3030631354

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This open access textbook represents a vital contribution to global health education, offering insights into health promotion as part of patient care for bachelor’s and master’s students in health care (nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiotherapists, social care workers etc.) as well as health care professionals, and providing an overview of the field of health science and health promotion for PhD students and researchers. Written by leading experts from seven countries in Europe, America, Africa and Asia, it first discusses the theory of health promotion and vital concepts. It then presents updated evidence-based health promotion approaches in different populations (people with chronic diseases, cancer, heart failure, dementia, mental disorders, long-term ICU patients, elderly individuals, families with newborn babies, palliative care patients) and examines different health promotion approaches integrated into primary care services. This edited scientific anthology provides much-needed knowledge, translating research into guidelines for practice. Today’s medical approaches are highly developed; however, patients are human beings with a wholeness of body-mind-spirit. As such, providing high-quality and effective health care requires a holistic physical-psychological-social-spiritual model of health care is required. A great number of patients, both in hospitals and in primary health care, suffer from the lack of a holistic oriented health approach: Their condition is treated, but they feel scared, helpless and lonely. Health promotion focuses on improving people’s health in spite of illnesses. Accordingly, health care that supports/promotes patients’ health by identifying their health resources will result in better patient outcomes: shorter hospital stays, less re-hospitalization, being better able to cope at home and improved well-being, which in turn lead to lower health-care costs. This scientific anthology is the first of its kind, in that it connects health promotion with the salutogenic theory of health throughout the chapters. the authors here expand the understanding of health promotion beyond health protection and disease prevention. The book focuses on describing and explaining salutogenesis as an umbrella concept, not only as the key concept of sense of coherence.