New policy responses are needed to address the many challenges posed by the ageing of populations throughout Europe, in terms of social security systems, health care, family formation, employment and education. A group of specialists has been established to examine all the aspects of the life of dependent elderly persons, including the needs of carers, care systems for sufferers from dementia, dependent elderly persons' integration in society, their participation in the life of the community and the prevention of dependence. This report argues in favour of providing integrated, multi-disciplinary, fair and accessible services which focus on individuals and respect their views in a spirit of solidarity between the generations at family, local community and national levels.
"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/
Family caregiving affects millions of Americans every day, in all walks of life. At least 17.7 million individuals in the United States are caregivers of an older adult with a health or functional limitation. The nation's family caregivers provide the lion's share of long-term care for our older adult population. They are also central to older adults' access to and receipt of health care and community-based social services. Yet the need to recognize and support caregivers is among the least appreciated challenges facing the aging U.S. population. Families Caring for an Aging America examines the prevalence and nature of family caregiving of older adults and the available evidence on the effectiveness of programs, supports, and other interventions designed to support family caregivers. This report also assesses and recommends policies to address the needs of family caregivers and to minimize the barriers that they encounter in trying to meet the needs of older adults.
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.
This volume sets out the critical role and application of evaluation in identifying and developing good practice in a range of dementia care settings. It discusses the evaluation of care at different levels, covering evaluation methods, ethics, use of technology and the user's role in the evaluation process itself.
This handbook presents an overview of studies on the relationship of active ageing and quality of life. It addresses the new challenges of ageing from the paradigm of positive ageing (active, healthy and successful) for a better quality of life. It provides theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, including scientific knowledge as well as practical experiences about the good ageing and the quality of later life around the world, in order to respond to the challenges of an aged population. The handbook is structured in 4 sections covering theoretical and conceptual perspectives, social policy issues and research agenda, methods, measurement instrument-scales and evaluations, and lastly application studies including domains and geographical contexts. Chapter 5 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com./div
Aging is a process that encompasses virtually all aspects of life. Because the speed of population aging is accelerating, and because the data needed to study the aging process are complex and expensive to obtain, it is imperative that countries coordinate their research efforts to reap the most benefits from this important information. Preparing for an Aging World looks at the behavioral and socioeconomic aspects of aging, and focuses on work, retirement, and pensions; wealth and savings behavior; health and disability; intergenerational transfers; and concepts of well-being. It makes recommendations for a collection of new, cross-national data on aging populationsâ€"data that will allow nations to develop policies and programs for addressing the major shifts in population age structure now occurring. These efforts, if made internationally, would advance our understanding of the aging process around the world.
Aging society is an urgent global issue that challenges almost all human societies in the world. When nations evolve into aging societies, they must establish and implement policies and approaches to meet the needs of the elderly population, such as elderly services, long-term care, health care policies, institutional facilities, illness and healing processes, financial support, and retirement life and leisure. The fundamental purpose of this book is to help students and readers develop their knowledge on worldwide elderly issues. To accomplish this goal, the text incorporates 18 chapters from different countries with a variety of aging topics, which are divided into continents including Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and the Oceanic Islands. Specific chapters from the following countries/regions are included: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, China, Japan, Israel, Singapore, Thailand, Austria, United Kingdom, Estonia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Uruguay. By sharing these regions’ and nations’ elderly issues and their particular solutions to the challenges, it provides readers with global views on current aging processes, policies, and strategies. The book effectively helps readers understand that the increase of the elderly population is a major development of the 21st century. The text further helps comprehend the importance of improving the elderly population’s overall quality of life as well as valuing the contribution they can make to their communities and society. The reader will gain insights about why global elderly issues are critical, and how the lives of elderly have been impacted and influenced by different policies, societies, and cultures in which they live. The book is designed as a college text for study of aging issues with a global perspective. Also, any readers interested in topics of the elderly will find the book to be a most beneficial resource.
INTRODUCTION The last century has witnessed a rapid increase in the population of the elderly people in the developed and industrialized countries. This phenomenon is not restricted to the western world only, but many countries such as ours are now feeling the impact of this transition. This situation could be attributed to a combination of factors, such as increase in age, longevity, and decreased death rates due to advancement in the field of medicine, improvement of life expectancy at birth, and enhancement in the average span of life. India ranks fourth in terms of absolute size of elderly population. In India, the family is traditionally regarded as the primary source of social, economic, psychological, and physical support for the aged. According to the Hindu philosophy and tradition, it is the duty of the younger members to look after the elderly persons, and take care of them. Older persons often have multiple needs for support. Functional, financial, emotional, social, and environmental needs often cluster. These are often provided by immediate family (spouse, co-resident sons, daughters and daughters-in-law) members and intimate friends and proximate. Traditionally, the task of caring for elderly in Indian families is predominantly by women, be it the spouse, daughter or daughter-in-law. But as the role of the family and especially, of women is changing to meet the new demands created by economic transitions, the family's ability and commitment for caring for its older members is diminishing. The traditional sense of duty and obligation of the younger generation towards their older generation is being eroded. As more and more women are becoming active in their own careers and beginning to work full time, the task for caring for the aged is becoming more difficult. The older generation is caught between the decline in traditional values on one hand, and the absence of adequate social security system on the other (Gormal, 2003),
