Successful Aging And Adaptation With Chronic Diseases

For many people growing old means facing one or more chronic diseases. Successful Aging and Adaptation with Chronic Diseases reviews, coalesces, and expands what we know about how older adults successfully experience the aging process and how they feel about and live with chronic illnesses. Questions considered include: How do older adults approach and deal with everyday-life when affected by multiple health problems? What kind of impact do they feel diseases have on their successful aging? How do existent models and theories of coping address these issues? Presenting research funded by the AARP Andrus Foundation, this book brings together contributions by originators in the field, including Robert Kahn and Ann Whall. This volume is sure to be a seminal reference point for future research.

The many significant technological and medical advances of the 21st century cannot overcome the escalating risk posed to older adults by such stressors as pain, weakness, fatigue, depression, anxiety, memory and other cognitive deficits, hearing loss, visual impairment, isolation, marginalization, and physical and mental illness. In order to overcome these and other challenges, and to maintain as high a quality of life as possible, older adults and the professionals who treat them need to promote and develop the capacity for resilience, which is innate in all of us to some degree. The purpose of this book is to provide the current scientific theory, clinical guidelines, and real-world interventions with regard to resilience as a clinical tool. To that end, the book addresses such issues as concepts and operationalization of resilience; relevance of resilience to successful aging; impact of personality and genetics on resilience; relationship between resilience and motivation; relationship between resilience and survival; promoting resilience in long-term care; and the lifespan approach to resilience. By addressing ways in which the hypothetical and theoretical concepts of resilience can be applied in geriatric practice, Resilience in Aging provides inroads to the current knowledge and practice of resilience from the perspectives of physiology, psychology, culture, creativity, and economics. In addition, the book considers the impact of resilience on critical aspects of life for older adults such as policy issues (e.g., nursing home policies, Medicare guidelines), health and wellness, motivation, spirituality, and survival. Following these discussions, the book focuses on interventions that increase resilience. The intervention chapters include case studies and are intended to be useful at the clinical level. The book concludes with a discussion of future directions in optimizing resilience in the elderly and the importance of a lifespan approach to aging.

Annotation This book reviews, coalesces, and expands what we know about how older adults successfully experience the aging process, and how they feel about and live with chronic illnesses.

Presents the results of the MacArthur Foundation Study of Aging in America, which show how to maintain optimum physical and mental strength throughout later life.

This book explores concepts and practices for productive aging: What factors contribute to successful aging? What is the role of exercise and nutrition? What is the role of children and adults in interaction with elders? The chapters identify the best practices for successful aging, examine trends in intergenerational caregiving, and define roles and responsibilities across the life span. Topics addressed include: how to maximize productive engagement of older adults how multigenerational issues impact successful aging the ways in which a learning environment can promote intergenerational relationships.

This updated and expanded second edition of Resilience in Aging offers a comprehensive description of the current state of knowledge with regard to resilience from physiological (including genetic), psychological (including cognitive and creative), cultural, and economic perspectives. In addition, the book considers the impact of resilience on many critical aspects of life for older adults including policy issues, economic, cognitive and physiological challenges, spirituality, chronic illness, and motivation. The only book devoted solely to the importance and development of resilience in quality of life among older adults, Resilience in Aging, 2nd Edition continues to offer evidence-based theory, clinical guidelines, and new and updated case examples and real-world interventions so professional readers can make the best use of this powerful tool. The critical insights in this volume are concluded with a discussion of future directions on optimizing resilience and the importance of a lifespan approach to the critical component of aging. The book’s coverage extends across disciplines and domains, including: Resilience and personality disorders in older age. Cultural and ethnic perspectives on enhancing resilience in aging Sustained by the sacred: religious and spiritual factors for resilience in adulthood and aging. Building resilience in persons with early-stage dementia and their care partners. Interdisciplinary geriatric mental health resilience interventions. Developing resilience in the aged and dementia care workforce. Using technology to enhance resilience among older adults. This wide-ranging and updated lifespan approach gives Resilience in Aging, 2nd Edition particular relevance to the gamut of practitioners in gerontology and geriatrics, including health psychologists, neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, geriatricians, family physicians, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, among others.

This book explains how to promote and prolong “healthy ageing,” which constitutes maintaining daily functioning and well-being until the end of life. In this context, the editor of the book and the international team of authors, all of whom are experts on the various aspects of ageing, demonstrate the value of this new approach in clinical practice. The systematic integration of a functional assessment, if not a complete and comprehensive geriatric assessment, is fundamental in daily clinical practice. Identifying risk factors at midlife will help to promote health at any age. Moreover, randomized control trials are making it increasingly clear that interventions could help ageing and elderly adults enjoy their remaining years without disability. Indeed, wellbeing will also increase, allowing elderly adults to stay independent until a very advanced age. The book also shows how considerable societal benefits can be easily forecast when more lifetime is spent without disability, followed by a dignified end of life. This book will be of interest to all medical doctors, general practitioners and organ specialists as well as geriatricians who want to have a complete overview of what healthy ageing means.

Life After Midlife is your guide to healthy and graceful aging—a blueprint for a happy lifestyle as you embark on a new chapter. Beyond what we consider the “prime of our lives” lies a fascinating, sometimes unnerving world of ups and downs, surprises, challenges, and uncertainties. But don’t be dismayed… This time in our lives can be extremely rewarding, depending on our outlook. Life After Midlife: A Practical Guide to Successful Aging is an easy-to-read handbook that can motivate and inspire us to prepare for the next phase of our lives, and by managing our mindsets and our attitudes, we can grow old gracefully, healthily and happily!