Aging: Overview

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy R. Hooyman ◽  
Amanda Barusch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Aging ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Older Population

The rapidly growing older population is more heterogeneous than any other age group. Although many face vulnerabilities and inequities as they age, most are resilient. This entry explores the “greying of America,” examines the definition and measurement of aging, reviews the diversity among older adults in the United States, discusses productive, successful, and active aging, and suggests leadership roles for social workers in enhancing the well-being of elders and their families.

scholarly journals The impact of COVID-19 on the well-being and cognition of older adults living in the United States and Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 100848
Author(s):  
Ganesh M. Babulal ◽  
Valeria L. Torres ◽  
Daisy Acosta ◽  
Cinthya Agüero ◽  
Sara Aguilar-Navarro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Food Insecurity in the United States: Identification, Treatment, and Implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 772-773
Author(s):  
Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili ◽  
Connie Bales ◽  
Julie Locher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
High Risk Population ◽  
Geriatric Syndrome ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Food insecurity is an under-recognized geriatric syndrome that has extensive implications in the overall health and well-being of older adults. Understanding the impact of food insecurity in older adults is a first step in identifying at-risk populations and provides a framework for potential interventions in both hospital and community-based settings. This symposium will provide an overview of current prevalence rates of food insecurity using large population-based datasets. We will present a summary indicator that expands measurement to include the functional and social support limitations (e.g., community disability, social isolation, frailty, and being homebound), which disproportionately impact older adults, and in turn their rate and experience of food insecurity and inadequate food access. We will illustrate using an example of at-risk seniors the association between sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function, with rates of food security in the United States. The translational aspect of the symposium will then focus on identification of psychosocial and environmental risk factors including food insecurity in older veterans preparing for surgery within the Veterans Affairs Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health clinic. Gaining insights into the importance of food insecurity will lay the foundation for an intervention for food insecurity in the deep south. Our discussant will provide an overview of the implications of these results from a public health standpoint. By highlighting the importance of food insecurity, such data can potentially become a framework to allow policy makers to expand nutritional programs as a line of defense against hunger in this high-risk population.

Telehealth Music Therapy Services in the United States With Older Adults: A Descriptive Study

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Wilhelm ◽  
Kyle Wilhelm
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Therapy Services ◽  
Therapy Sessions

Abstract In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many music therapists in the United States turned to telehealth music therapy sessions as a strategy to continue services with older adults. However, the nature and perception of telehealth music therapy services for this age group are unknown. The purpose of this study was to describe music therapy telehealth practices with older adults in the United States including information related to session implementation, strengths and challenges, and adaptations to clinical practice. Of the 110 participants in the United States who responded to the survey (25.2% response rate), 69 reported implementing telehealth music therapy services with older adults and responded to a 32-item survey. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. Results indicated that while all participants had provided telehealth music therapy for no more than 6 months, their experiences with telehealth varied. Based on participant responses, telehealth session structure, strengths, challenges, and implemented changes are presented. Overall, 48% of music therapists reported that they planned to continue telehealth music therapy with older adults once pandemic restrictions are lifted. Further study on the quality, suitability, and acceptability of telehealth services with older adults is recommended.

Hard Time

Affilia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel C. Casey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
Hard Time ◽  
Personal Accounts

As the number of women incarcerated in the United States continues to rise and their complex needs become more apparent, social workers must fortify their historical commitment to criminal justice reform. However, crafting more effective and compassionate responses to the needs of justice-involved women may very well require a more nuanced understanding of the holistic impact of incarceration on women’s well-being than the current literature offers. Utilizing the framework of feminist standpoint epistemology, the researcher engaged in qualitative content analysis to examine published personal accounts from 43 women to better understand their experiences in prisons and jails in the United States. Two overarching themes emerged from the analysis. First, the personal accounts illustrated that women experience prisons and jails as environments of denial insofar as these carceral environments deny women’s basic needs, their sense of humanity, and their personal power. The second overarching theme pertains to the holistic impact of the carceral environment upon women’s lives, meaning it has expansive effects on women’s biopsychosocial–spiritual functioning. Social workers should dedicate efforts to dramatically reducing the number of women behind bars and engaging in holistic intervention approaches that might counteract the negative effects of incarceration across domains of well-being.

Self-Care in an Era of Pathos: The Effects of the Trump Presidency on the Well-Being of Social Workers

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Sharon E. Moore ◽  
A. Christson Adedoyin ◽  
Sharon D. Jones-Eversley ◽  
Carla M. Curtis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Self Care ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Egalitarian Society

ObjectiveThe importance of self-care for social workers as first responders is underscored in light of the sociopolitical, economic, and pandemic challenges that accompanied the presidency of Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States.MethodsWe conducted an extensive review of the literature on the conceptualization, dimensions, benefits, importance, and indispensability of self-care for social workers, especially in stressful socio-political and toxic work environments. Chaos theory served as the theoretical scaffold of our research.ResultsInevitably our research found that the ability of social workers to effectively serve as first responders during chaotic times depends on a proactive and consistent practice of self-care by social workers as an essential best practice.ConclusionsThe consequences of the policies of the 45th president of the United States have taken their toll on the citizenry, with the increase in stress in the nation. Undoubtedly, social workers as first responders, therapists, and educators are at the receiving end of ensuing political and socioeconomic uncertainties. We posit that for social workers to remain steadfast, unshakable, and abiding in the solemn pursuit of social justice and an egalitarian society, this is the era for social workers to embrace and persistently practice self-care.

scholarly journals Projections of white and black older adults without living kin in the United States, 2015 to 2060

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (42) ◽  
pp. 11109-11114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashton M. Verdery ◽  
Rachel Margolis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Census ◽  
Nursing Facility ◽  
Demographic Rates ◽  
Facility Placement ◽  
Living Children

Close kin provide many important functions as adults age, affecting health, financial well-being, and happiness. Those without kin report higher rates of loneliness and experience elevated risks of chronic illness and nursing facility placement. Historical racial differences and recent shifts in core demographic rates suggest that white and black older adults in the United States may have unequal availability of close kin and that this gap in availability will widen in the coming decades. Whereas prior work explores the changing composition and size of the childless population or those without spouses, here we consider the kinless population of older adults with no living close family members and how this burden is changing for different race and sex groups. Using demographic microsimulation and the United States Census Bureau’s recent national projections of core demographic rates by race, we examine two definitions of kinlessness: those without a partner or living children, and those without a partner, children, siblings, or parents. Our results suggest dramatic growth in the size of the kinless population as well as increasing racial disparities in percentages kinless. These conclusions are driven by declines in marriage and are robust to different assumptions about the future trajectory of divorce rates or growth in nonmarital partnerships. Our findings draw attention to the potential expansion of older adult loneliness, which is increasingly considered a threat to population health, and the unequal burden kinlessness may place on black Americans.

scholarly journals Experiences of Older Adults During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: An Initial Exploration of Nationally Representative Data at the Intersection of Gender and Race

2021 ◽  
pp. 073346482110482
Author(s):  
Takashi Yamashita ◽  
Wonmai Punksungka ◽  
Samuel Van Vleet ◽  
Abigail Helsinger ◽  
Phyllis Cummins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Baseline Information ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Project Data ◽  
Older Populations

Little is known about the overall experiences and feelings of diverse older populations during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. To provide the baseline information for future research and policy, this study analyzed the 2020 Health and Retirement Study COVID-19 project data ( n = 1782). More than 70% of older adults reported the following activities: watching TV (98%), reading (90%), using a computer and the internet (83%), gardening (82%), walking (75%), baking and cooking (73%), and praying (73%). Volunteering and attending community groups, which are known to benefit well-being, were unpopular (less than 8%). During the pandemic, older adults were generally satisfied with their lives, but more than half of them were concerned about their own health, family’s health, and future prospects. Our study also showed the differences in the experiences and feelings by gender and race as well as the intersection of gender and race in the United States.

scholarly journals Driving Status and Transportation Disadvantage Among Medicare Beneficiaries

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 935-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Ryvicker ◽  
Evan Bollens-Lund ◽  
Katherine A. Ornstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Medicare Beneficiaries ◽  
Coordination Strategies ◽  
Representative Study ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Transportation disadvantage may have important implications for the health, well-being, and quality of life of older adults. This study used the 2015 National Health Aging Trends Study, a nationally representative study of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and over ( N = 7,498), to generate national estimates of transportation modalities and transportation disadvantage among community-dwelling older adults in the United States. An estimated 10.8 million community-dwelling older adults in the United States rarely or never drive. Among nondrivers, 25% were classified as transportation disadvantaged, representing 2.3 million individuals. Individuals with more chronic medical conditions and those reliant on assistive devices were more likely to report having a transportation disadvantage ( p < .05). Being married resulted in a 50% decreased odds of having a transportation disadvantage ( p < .01). Some individuals may be at higher risk for transportation-related barriers to engaging in valued activities and accessing care, calling for tailored interventions such as ride-share services combined with care coordination strategies.

Living Environment, Mobility, and Wellbeing among Seniors in the United States: A New Interdisciplinary Dialogue

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengxiao (Alex) Li
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Older Population ◽  
Demographic Profile ◽  
Interdisciplinary Dialogue ◽  
The Relationship

In view of the demographic profile of the older adults in the United States, in the next two decades, cities and communities need to adapt the form, environment, and transportation systems to accommodate the growing aging population. In this article, I review two streams of literature in the mobility among the older population: the mobility/living environment and wellbeing; the relationship between living environment and mobility. I argue that two streams of literature should be combined to inform an interdisciplinary dialogue and a new agenda for future research.

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