Speech-language pathologists are professionals who specialize in understanding the science behind the process of human communication. As a member of the interdisciplinary team in a medical setting, speech-language pathologists diagnose and treat disorders of speech sound production, resonance, voice, fluency, language, cognition, feeding, and swallowing. At times, the therapists encourage development of untapped potential and skill. In working with those with chronic disabilities, the speech-language pathologist may focus on the appreciation and development of the patients’ preserved abilities. Older adults exhibit retrieval difficulties in spelling, suggestive of challenges with word phonology and orthography. In the acute hospital arena, the speech-language pathologist serves to identify cognitive communication or swallowing deficits, educates patients and families regarding areas of concern, and suggests appropriate discharge treatment options aimed to enhance self-sufficiency. The goal of intervention is not geared to “cure” a disability, but rather, to foster an optimal level of independence and function.

A psychologist must confront many prejudices against older adults that are manifested in most people in non-older adult cohorts. Clinical psychologists specializing in geropsychology work with individual older adults; family members of older adults, including spouses/partners, siblings, and adult children; and caregivers when treating the psychological problems experienced by older adults and dealing with issues of caregiving to older adults experiencing mental illness, dementia, and/or psychological reactions to co-occurring medical illnesses. Unfortunately, despite the fact that older adults are affected by the forces of ageism and stigma, and the fact that community psychologists strive to understand and improve social inequalities and to enable empowerment of marginalized people, there is a significant dearth of research in the field of community psychology. There are four types of ageism: personal, institutional, intentional, and unintentional. The majority of older adults have experienced age discrimination and stigmatization at some time after the age of 65.

Robert Butler coined the term “ageism”. Butler described ageism in three realms: stereotypes and prejudices against older adults, discrimination against individuals, and institutional practices and policy that disadvantage older adults or perpetuate discrimination. He believed that ageism accounts for disregard for older people's rights seen in public policy. He saw it in the failure of institutions to address the needs of older people or protect their rights, citing as evidence government's failure to protect older people against mistreatment or to enforce nursing home regulations. He saw it in the lack of attention to older people in disaster preparedness plans and in the institutional ageism that leaves many older people impoverished and vulnerable. Although Butler and others saw ageism as standing alongside other “isms” other forms of injustice and discrimination it never achieved their traction. This chapter explores why. The chapter discusses elder abuse, ageism in healthcare, workplace, and public policy and politics.

This chapter combines the increasing number of studies that pertain to the stereotype embodiment theory (SET) and reflects upon to represent the current state of this theoretical perspective and how it can help explain age stereotypes’ contributions to health and aging. It describes the history, cultural context, and nature of age stereotypes and age self-stereotypes in a largely ageist society. The chapter presents SET, which provides a framework for explaining how age stereotypes are acquired to subsequently influence health outcomes. It discusses replication studies conducted in different countries, as well as meta-analyses, to demonstrate the validity of this theory as well as to illustrate the meaning and impact of its components. The chapter illustrates how SET may be applied to shape future healthy aging research, policy, and practice. Empirical evidence supports the importance of age stereotype self-relevance among older adults.

The health status of an older person is the result of many factors, including lifelong health habits, genetics, and exposure to occupational and environmental hazards. The quality and availability of health care throughout the life course also plays a significant role in health in later life. These social determinants—the circumstances of our lives, including the neighborhoods in which we live—affect health risks and outcomes over the life course. Individual health behaviors are affected by the practices and habits of the people in one’s immediate social world, but they are also determined by the social circumstances of one’s life. This chapter explores the broad range of individual behaviors and social determinants that shape health in later life. It also examines the policies and practices within the U.S. health care system that shape access to and quality of health care for older adults.

Health professionals are often called upon to intervene in complex ethical dilemmas that involve respecting an older adult's autonomy while also considering protective interventions to ensure safety. This chapter addresses the foundational ethical competencies for psychologists and geropsychologists including the unique challenges associated with surrogate decision making, legal, clinical, and psychosocial interventions specific to working with vulnerable older adults, ethical dilemmas that can emerge within various situations including assessment and integrated care settings, detection and intervention strategies in cases of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and ethical approaches to research with older adults. Finally, the authors discuss the multicultural dimensions that influence how ethical and legal issues are conceptualized and addressed. The micro-and macrosystems in which older adults live and thrive require a level of cultural sensitivity, an understanding of aging processes, and knowledge about professional ethics and legal standards involved in decision making.

This chapter presents a broad and general overview of the structural and physiological changes that occur with aging as well as the underlying pathophysiology of age-related diseases. The body comprises eleven organ systems that include the integumentary, muscular, skeletal, nervous, circulatory, lymphatic, respiratory, endocrine, urinary/excretory, reproductive, and digestive systems. As such, the ensuing sections are arranged by organ system and structured to cover age-related physiological changes and common disorders. Older adults experience a myriad of physiological changes as they age. While some of these physiological changes are benign, other changes increase the risk of age-associated pathophysiological changes, which can result in significant functional impairment or morbidity. These pathophysiological changes are not to be considered part of the normative aging process. Thus, it is essential that providers distinguish between the two states.

This chapter presents specific issues faced by older adults in response to adaptations to chronic illness and disability. Some individuals have congenital disabilities and others acquire a disability early in life and are able to adjust fairly easily, aging with their disability. On the other hand, some individuals acquire a disability later in life and may experience great difficulty making the adjustments to their condition. The chapter presents information on the age-related concerns of older adults, components and perceptions of aging, assessment issues associated with older adults, vocational interests, and death and dying perspectives. It also discusses the implications for service delivery in the context in which older adults are served along with laws and regulations that apply to the population. Aging and geriatric persons often utilize a variety of services from multiple entities (e.g., social, legal, medical, financial, and counseling).

Many older adults are diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition that does not meet the criteria for dementia. MCI is considered a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease-related disorders (ADRD). Although Alzheimer’s disease is a serious problem, this chapter focuses on the five types of dementia commonly seen in practice. These include vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Korsakoff syndrome, frontal lobe dementia (including Pick’s disease), and Alzheimer’s disease. Psychoeducational support groups allow the merging of learning about dementia with concomitant psychological support. The breaking of denial enables older adults in these support groups to make better sense of their disease, increasing their abilities to comply with treatments and caretakers. Leisure activities, whether community based or solitary, are shown to be protective against dementia or, at the least, stall the onset of dementia.

Housing communities for older adults are not a contemporary concept. The guiding concept of creating older communities is the desire to give older adults an alternative concept of housing that will allow them to sustain themselves economically, while giving choice and an element of control over their health care, social networks, and physical environment. Many older adults choose retirement communities for an added sense of personal security and continued independent living as a beginning preparation for their ultimate mortality. Aging in place encompasses an older adult staying in his or her home throughout the aging cycle or moving to housing that provides limited services such as an option for communal dining, cleaning services, and transportation. Like aging-in-place strategies, continuing care and assisted living facilities provide medical and nonmedical living services to older adults who are unable to live independently because of medical illness, cognitive decline, or disability.

Improving the lives of older adults is the primary goal of those who work in the field of gerontology, and doing so invariably also improves the quality of life of those who spend time with them, whether they are family members, friends, neighbors, or those who work with and for older adults. This chapter explores the many career opportunities within the field of gerontology and explains how the study of aging can be applied to any position in any field. It outlines educational pathways, professional organizations, credentialing opportunities, and job-seeking resources for those interested in a career in gerontology. The chapter also highlights the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation to help address the unmet needs of older adults. The Practical Application offers concluding remarks about the unlimited opportunity in the field of gerontology.

This chapter briefly discusses the history of the Caregiver Support Act and its specific components and explains how the Caregiver Support Act provides resources to older adults and people with disabilities. It provides an overview of the current status of family members serving as caregivers, with special attention to grandparents raising grandchildren. It then discusses a current profile of relative caregivers raising children in the United States; reasons for the increase in relative caregiving; and issues facing grandparents raising grandchildren. It also provides some background into the literature and promotes an awareness of issues that grandparents face as primary caregivers. A literature review examines some of the current issues and services needed. The chapter discusses resources and services designed to meet the needs of grandparents raising grandchildren, and reviews programmatic responses through the national resources. Finally, the chapter outlines some best practice interventions for review in the text.

This chapter explores changes that occur to the brain, beginning with an overview of modern technologies that are used to answer questions about brain functioning in older adults. Next it summarizes the changes that occur to the brain with normal aging. Finally, the chapter presents an overview of neuroplasticity. Although the human brain clearly loses volume with age, the brain also shows plasticity that can be used to maintain functioning in old age. Research in the coming decades can use the principles of neuroplasticity described previously to enhance the functioning of older adults, whether they are experiencing normal age-related change or damage to the brain following strokes or other neurological events. Neuroimaging methods will continue to be developed that allow us to determine what happens to the brain with age, and in response to neurological events, and how neuroplasticity enables the brain to adjust to such changes.

The broad array of community-based services for older adults has developed over time as a result of the Older Americans Act (OAA) and the Administration on Aging (AoA) and the funding allocated to this act by Congress. With an expanding consumer base, the result of population aging, the aging networks have had to evolve over time, and while there have been and will continue to be some growing pains, there continues to be concerted efforts on many fronts to be support for providing services and programs that increase the quality of life for older adults. This chapter explores the expanding consumer base of the aging. It describes how long-term services and supports (LTSS) can be better managed and paid for to support those who need long-term support and services. Finally the chapter discusses how aging networks can and will evolve over time to serve the changing cohorts of older adults.

Old age brings with it unique challenges in diagnosis, treatment, and care; dementia complicates these issues even more. Improving the management and care of persons with dementia has positive implications for patients, caregivers, and physicians alike. Two types of secondary complications can be analyzed in relation to dementia: conditions that arise outside of the dementia and then conditions that appear to develop due to the neurological degeneration inherent in dementia. Examples of psychiatric complications include depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Medical problems consist of issues such as stroke, cardiovascular problems, cancer, infections, orthopedic issues, diabetes, nutritional disorders, vision and hearing problems, as well as general pain. The high comorbidity of dementias with other psychiatric and medical issues can complicate the diagnosis and treatment of patients with dementia. Issues in the central nervous system (CNS) have long been looked at as possible predictors of dementia.

This chapter focuses on informal caregiving among minority groups. It also focuses on context of caregiving and discuss the various specific challenges caregivers of minority older adults face. The chapter examines some of the specific caregiving interventions tailored for families of color and discuss the implications for practice, policy, and research. Medical advances and greater longevity point to healthier and longer lives for many, but both formal and informal caregiving remain a concern as individuals age and develop conditions that require care. Caregivers are often able to realize the positive aspects of caregiving when they are not struggling with financial or social support challenges. Despite the vast literature on caregiving in general, research pertaining to the needs and experiences of racial/ethnic minority older adults and their caregivers is limited, particularly for American Indians, Pacific Islanders, specific Asian American and Latino subgroups, and religious minorities groups such as Muslim Americans.

This chapter discusses the major mental health disorders experienced by older adults, identifies the most effective counseling approaches and psychotropic medications used to address the mental health needs of older adults, and provides an overview of best practice counseling and treatment interventions used to address the mental health needs of older adults. In an overview of the literature regarding major depression and dysthymia, Zalaquett and Stens examined the effectiveness of four commonly used individual therapies for treating older adult depression: cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy (IPT), brief dynamic therapy (BDT), and reminiscence therapy (RT) and life review (LR) therapy. Counselors can develop brief checklists to assist clients in tracking their symptoms. Counselors should also educate themselves about the signs of excessive alcohol and substance abuse, noting that some medical conditions may have similar symptoms to drug or alcohol abuse.

This chapter aims to discuss the cohort effects, health disparities and cultural stressors, and factors contributing to the resiliency and growth of ethnic, sexual, and gender minority older adults. Being part historian, student, and investigator can help clarify how these multifaceted aspects of identity affect the experiences of older adults in your personal and professional lives. The intersectionality of these factors makes for complex, inspiring, and sometimes distressing stories about overcoming adversity, achieving new heights, and at times sitting with the pain and frustration of discrimination and prejudice. The diversity within older adult populations also affords invaluable research opportunities to improve our knowledge of aging and enhance our provision of care. Moreover, developing a greater appreciation for older adults, including their strengths and hard-fought battles, can help us appreciate the privileges and civil rights we often take for granted.

Ageism is the most prevalent form of prejudice, and it affects older adults and younger people similarly (Bratt et al., 2020). Ageism occurs when someone is discriminated against based on their age, and this can happen at both ends of the life span (Raymer et al., 2017). This chapter focuses on topics such as ageism and reverse ageism; age-related mental health concerns; the effects of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexual identity related to aging and ageism; and competencies related to working with older clients. Cultural concepts focusing on the liberation counseling framework are discussed, as are aging and counseling ethics. Topics are discussed in the context of the life span as a whole and looking at the client from a humanistic model. Implications for counseling students, educators, and practitioners are provided.

Interacting with persons with progressive declines in cognitive function poses a wide range of challenges, not only for families and care providers, but for the person with dementia as well. This chapter briefly discusses two activities that offer participants opportunities to develop and apply positive approaches to interacting with persons with dementia. In Activity 1, Dementia Communication and Empathy, participants are asked to role play scenarios where persons with dementia endeavor to communicate with their caregiver. Insight and increased empathy are promoted through the challenges participants' experience, not only in understanding the message being communicated, but also the challenges of conveying even a simple message while impaired by physical and/or cognitive limitations. Activity 2, Enhancing Students' Therapeutic Interaction Skills with Older Adults with Dementia, brings participants into the community to interact directly with persons with dementia.

Older adults and their families are highly heterogeneous. This chapter addresses diversity both within and among older adult populations and considers ways to improve service provision through flexibility and awareness. The concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility are introduced, and strategies for increasing one’s level of cultural competence are explored. It is important to note that diversity is not only about race and ethnicity but also includes age, ability, gender, geographic location, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and so forth. Similarly, different perspectives and backgrounds are found among professionals working throughout the field of aging. Activities in this chapter promote recognizing that diversity is not the sole domain or concern of marginalized groups, that everyone has a culture and a social lens through which they view the world, and that this lens influences not only their perspective but also the way they interact with those around them.

For older adults, the phenomenon of death is accepted and does not induce the fear experienced by younger adults. Older adults who do not engage in end-of-life planning may receive unwanted, unnecessary, costly, and painful medical interventions or withdrawal of desired treatment. Many older people feel that the goal of palliative care is to make the best possible dying experience for the older adult and his/her family. In addition to palliative care, an older adult will most likely find himself or herself in an intensive care unit as part of his or her terminal care. Euthanasia, or hastened death, is seen by some as an alternative to palliative care. A psychological aspect of death that an older adult is concerned with, in addition to place of death, is whether he or she will die in his or her sleep or die suddenly, making the death experience an individual phenomenon.

This chapter discusses prominent theoretical models that link age-related changes in emotional processes with changes in cognition. It also discusses the dynamic integration theory (DIT), which outline how older adults may optimize emotional experience to compensate for reduced affective complexity resulting from declines in fluid cognitive processing. The chapter evaluates the current evidence for and the potential contributions of these theories. It introduces neuroscientific perspectives and reviews how these perspectives interpret age-associated changes in the brain in terms of cognitive-emotional processing. Aging Brain model (ABM) and DIT, therefore, provide more neurologically based explanations for age-related changes in emotional processing, whereas socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) postulates motivation as the cause of such changes. Another theory that might be relevant to the aging literature is the arousal competition biased theory, which posits that the affective state of the perceiver may also play a role in the salience of information.

Empowerment for an older person means having the opportunity to learn, discuss, decide, and act on decisions. From the perspective of the health professional or health educator, empowerment of older patients in the clinic setting or clients at a community site means not only to provide service to them, but also to collaborate with them, to encourage their participation. Certain personality characteristics, such as patience, tolerance, and a positive attitude, enhance the health educator’s chances for collaborating successfully on a health goal. There are health-promoting strategies that may help. For those who are behavior management-oriented and like recordkeeping, the health contract might be helpful. There are support groups to help with chronic diseases, caregiving, coping with loss, and alcohol or other addiction problems. Empowerment, with its rewards and risks, is fast becoming a requirement in the era of chronic healthcare conditions that must be managed, sometimes for decades.

According to the surgeon general’s report, regular exercise and physical activity improved health in a variety of ways, including a reduction in heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, colon cancer, depression, anxiety, excess weight, falling, bone thinning, muscle wasting, and joint pain. This chapter reports on studies showing evidence that exercise demonstrates considerable promise for older adults in a variety of areas of disease prevention and improved physical and cognitive function. Exercise as a weight maintenance strategy, though, becomes less efficient as we age. The best exercises for weight control are a combination of aerobics and strength building. The four components of a community exercise class are aerobics, strength building, flexibility and balance, and health education. The acceptance of the importance of exercise is now universal, including all age groups; however, the practice of exercise does not match the knowledge of its worth, and it becomes increasingly challenging with age.

The family is the most basic social institution throughout the world. Families are studied in many disciplines, including anthropology, demography, economics, family studies, geography, gerontology, psychology, public health, social work, and sociology. This chapter explores what contemporary families look like around the globe, with a special focus on older members. This is a challenge, because one of the major characteristics of families is their diversity. The chapter begins with a brief example of the variability in contemporary definitions of the family. It then examines how population aging and global interconnections (specifically, economic and social factors) have changed the structure of families. Next, the chapter examines the living arrangements of older adults and their families, and looks at relationships within families. Finally, it explores macro- and microlevel factors that influence family functioning, and presents two important emerging roles of older adults in families.

This chapter begins with analysis of life-span development and life-course perspectives as applied to research on older adults and their families. It examines theories that are useful for guiding such research, thus yielding broader and deeper understanding of the ways older adults and their relatives negotiate family roles, responsibilities, and interactions in the context of both traditional and pluralistic family configurations. The chapter also examines the promise and problems associated with two key theoretical approaches that have been particularly effective in guiding family gerontology research in recent years, intergenerational solidarity and conflict, and intergenerational ambivalence. These approaches are strong in their own right and have the further advantage of linking well with life-span development and life-course perspectives. The chapter focuses on their theoretical tenets and principles, empirical applications, and strengths and limitations, with a critical assessment throughout. It considers theoretical and empirical directions for future research in family gerontology.

The Older Americans Act (OAA) passed in 1965 provides a foundation for such involvement through its original mandate to serve all older Americans through a plethora of services and supports designed to help maintain the independence, security, and well-being of older adults. In 1958, legislation was introduced that asked for a White House Conference on Aging, which would bring together persons from all parts of the country to make policy recommendations that would focus on the economic security of older persons. Indicators show that it has been helping homebound elderly at risk of nursing home placement to stay at home, and it has continued to build the capacity of state agencies and Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) to implement comprehensive systems of care. To improve its performance, the Administration on Aging (AOA) is focusing on improving efficiency, improving client outcomes, and further targeting services offered to the vulnerable elderly.

The older adults most at risk for poverty are those who have experienced cumulative disadvantage as a result of low education attainment, entering the workforce for the first time during an economic recession, health problems that limit their ability to work over long periods of time, and involve extraordinary expenses for either themselves or family members and other vagaries of life. This chapter reviews the social insurance programs that support older Americans, poverty rates, modern retirement compared to “old-fashioned retirement”, gender differences, income equality, and the broad reach of Social Security. It also covers the mechanics of Medicare and Medicaid. There are three Voices in the chapter. One addresses the “comfortable retirement” and its differential meaning and possibility, another focuses on women 50 and over, and the final Perspective piece covers the broad reach of Social Security and its importance to families of all ages.

The concept of being an old gay male adult, old lesbian adult, old bisexual adult, or old transgender adult is remote and insignificant to most people. There is an abundance of literature about the younger lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and a dearth of literature about the older LGBT community. Coming out is a difficult process for anyone, at any developmental stage. It is most difficult when old gay men or old lesbians do not initiate a decision to disclose their sexual identity until late life. Older adults with HIV disease are a significant subpopulation of the current older adult cohort. Transgender older adults are more likely to have a history, as compared with nontransgender people, of sex work, substance and alcohol abuse, and depression. Advocacy model can be adapted to meet the social and clinical needs of the LGBT community.

Primary care providers (PCPs) often assess for complex needs and refer to specialty geriatric clinics focused on the unique needs of older adults. Being familiar with the components of a geriatric assessment is important for providers working in primary care as is familiarity with available community resources. The presence of behavioral health providers in primary care settings often helps bridge this gap, raising the likelihood of patients receiving a thorough geriatric assessment, referral, and follow-up as part of an integrated care plan. Facilitating effective referrals and coordinating services for geriatric patients is one of the primary interventions available to behavioral health specialists (BHSs) in primary care settings. Geriatric assessments require that the BHS remember that patients have autonomy. Geriatric depression is frequently comorbid with anxiety and often complicated further by the presence of comorbid physical illness or cognitive impairment that may limit pharmacological treatments and interfere with recommended behavioral interventions.

This chapter provides brief description on malnutrition and aging, and nutrition and homelessness. It discusses nutritional impact of substance abuse, and nutrition assessment and intervention. The chapter explores the impact that homelessness and food insecurity has on the nutritional status of older adults. Interventions must be tailored to accommodate the patient’s financial resources, medical conditions, and ultimately his or her own personal goals in order to be effective. Patients may be completely disengaged from nutrition education and focused on other priorities, which are essential for survival, that is, shelter and safety, thus making nutrition education the least effective intervention for that patient at that moment in time. Ideally, the homeless geriatric person would be monitored and re-evaluated; however, follow-up may be unrealistic. What does nutrition assessment look like in action? The chapter provides a case study to describe this question.

This chapter discusses clinical work with the geriatric/older adult partial hospitalization program (PHP)/intensive outpatient program (IOP) cohort, aged 65 and older and reviews the cohort’s age-related issues, which include an interplay of medical problems and dementia. It presents the younger clinician’s challenges in assuming the role of helper with this population and also reviews applications of the games of treatment planning and group therapy. Older adults decline in function and physical health and develop more and more medical conditions that are both stressors and causes of mental health symptoms. Many older adults have more and more sources of chronic pain, which diminish their quality of life throughout the day. Dementia is another medical condition connected with depression, anxiety, and psychosis that will be encountered in the older adult cohort. The clinician should respect boundaries in general by treating older adult patients as adults with self-determination.

The goals of geriatric rehabilitation are to maximize function and minimize activity limitations and restrictions on participation in daily life for older adults. This is accomplished in a variety of settings including acute inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and the home of the older adult. It is common for older adults to have multiple co-morbid conditions such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pointing to the need for an individualized program with adequate precautions that minimizes the risk of injury to the person undergoing a rehabilitation program. This chapter sketches the description of the demographic changes facing the US population and the impact of these changes on the delivery of health care. A careful and comprehensive evaluation of the older adults is imperative to both identifying the clinical problems and subsequently determining the appropriate rehabilitation plan.

This chapter discusses some countries and their policies to highlight the ways in which older adults are impacting society. Each of the countries discussed has developed policies to meet the needs of their older citizens with varying recognition and emphasis on their human rights. The policies of each reflect underlying sociocultural and economic factors and the ways in which aging and the aged are perceived in their society. Meeting the economic challenge of an older population along with changes in family structures requires planning and policies in several areas. Pensions, accessible health care, family assistance, housing and community services, and formal support programs that can assist older adults in their homes are among the areas where reforms are most needed. Specialists and long-term care facilities are rare, and there is a noticeable absence of mental health services in most countries.

Life expectancy has risen dramatically in many countries around the world, including in the United States. Maintaining, and even enhancing, health and wellness is a lifelong process that requires awareness of one’s state of health and wellness and continually learning and making changes to maximize it. This chapter explains the importance of proper nutrition, physical activity, and good sleep hygiene to the health of older adults and differentiated between the nutritional needs of older and younger adults. It also offers an overview of the recommended vaccines and screening tests older adults should undergo as they age. The chapter concludes with a discussion about reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases by avoiding negative health behaviors and engaging in positive ones. Given the difficulty people have making major changes to behaviors that affect their health, the Practical Application offers some insight into individual motivation for wellness.

This chapter briefly discusses health care and health care education exercises that provide students the opportunity to engage with various aspects of the health care system and for future health care professionals to engage with elders to minimize potential ageist attitudes. The health care education exercises are: (1) An Evidence-Based Team Approach: Benefits of a Gerontological Interdisciplinary Team, (2) Bingocize®: An Intergenerational Service- Learning Initiative to Improve Older Adults' Functional Fitness While Engaging Undergraduate Students and the Community, (3) Medical Students Community Engagement, and (4) What Would You Do? Getting Resources for Your Older Adult. Activity 1 helps to encourage nursing students and other future health care workers to interact with other disciplines in order to provide the best possible care for older adults and their families. Activity 2 encourages students to interact with older adults through exercise programs.

This chapter enhances the understanding of the multifaceted challenges that individuals, especially older adults, seeking housing with a criminal background face. It reviews the ways in which individuals, especially older adults, can be vulnerable in terms of safety and security in their housing settings. Older adults may be particularly concerned about security and safety at home because their homes have been shown to be places where they can be victimized, either by telephone scams, door-to-door solicitation, bullying in age-congregate settings, and witnessing other crimes occurring in their residences. The chapter discusses ways in which forensic practitioners can support vulnerable populations, including older adults. It also discusses the complexities of affordable and safe housing using case examples and descriptions focusing on the older adult population. The chapter provides further recommendations on other areas of assessment and intervention that forensic social workers can conduct.

This chapter briefly discusses housing and housing education activities that offer several unique perspectives on understanding issues of housing for older adults. The housing education activities are as follows: (1) Find a Nursing Home, (2) Field Trips to Senior Facilities, (3) Household Disaster Planning Kits, (4) Long-Term Care Residence Disaster Planning and (5) Applying Anti-Racist Pedagogy to the Exploration of Senior Housing. Activity 1, simulates some of the challenges older adults and their families face by actively engaging participants in the process of evaluating nursing home quality. Activity 2, provides hands on context to understanding the diverse housing options in the senior housing continuum. Activity 3, addresses an often overlooked concern for persons aging in place. Activity 4, similarly addresses the issue of emergency preparedness, this time in the context of conducting research and a focus on institutional rather than individual planning.

This chapter focuses on using humanistic sandtray as a structured play therapy intervention with clients aged 9 years and older. Humanistic sandtray therapy is a type of play therapy that can be used with clients of many ages, from preadolescents to older adults. This approach to sandtray emphasizes the primacy of the therapeutic relationship and views the relationship as the curative factor in therapy. In sandtray, therapists and clients benefit from the symbolic nature of the experience because it increases safety and provides clients with a metaphorical and indirect mode of expression. The chapter illustrates the case example to help clients go deeper into their inner experiencing and awareness so that they might move in the direction of becoming a more fully functioning person. Fully functioning people are moving in the direction of increasingly trusting their inner experiencing and becoming open to a wide range of emotions.

This chapter provides a selective review of research on social support among older African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American adults. It focuses on social support as a dependent variable in relation to different sources and types of aid provided to older African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American adults. The chapter highlights the findings in three specific areas: marriage and romantic relationships, extended family and non-kin as sources of informal social support, and black-white differences in informal social support. Informal social support networks are critical for individuals of all ages but especially for older adults who are dealing with difficult life circumstances. Older African Americans depend on informal social support networks of family and friends for assistance in emergency situations, as well as for help with various tasks of daily life. Elderly Asians often utilize kin and social support networks for a variety of reasons.