Hans-Werner Wahl - Böcker

The ambition of ageing science to discover the golden fleece of longevity and health is closely connected to the concept of 'successful ageing'. Still, for a large portion of the population, frailty and cognitive impairment is the reality of ageing, and it is by no means certain if health promotion, prevention and other interventions will reduce the probability of its occurrence.This book argues that a narrow understanding of 'successful ageing' as good health, full functioning, and active participation in society excludes a large portion of ageing individuals from the quest for a good life in old age. The challenge is that the term 'successful ageing' comes with ambitions but also with ambivalence. On the one hand, it counteracts the deficit view of ageing and facilitates visionary thinking on what might be possible in the future. On the other hand, its implicitly ageist and derogative features have negative consequences to older people and society at large. So, what is successful ageing? We provide answers at three levels: First, we synthesise the various models used to define successful ageing into a heuristic scheme able to unravel the normative complexity and differences inherent in existing models. Second, we anchor successful ageing models in a tripartite way at micro (individual), meso, and macro analytic levels of human development. Third, we argue that the usefulness of successful ageing in guiding policy will only profit from the concept, if it follows a pluralistic and holistic view without hastily deciding for one model only.

This book was nurtured by the belief that the new dynamics of today's and tomorrow's aging has not yet been treated well in the gerontology literature. Several questions drove the choice of substance for the book: What kind of new dynamics of aging deserves consideration? What kinds of theories and fields are at the core of treating such a new dynamics? And what kind of empirical evidence should be considered? The master hypothesis on which the book is based maintains that the new dynamics of old age is best observed in a range of everyday aging contexts that have been undergoing major change since the second half of the 20th century. In particular, five areas of new and persistent dynamics are treated in depth: the social environment, with a focus on cohort effects in social relations and the consideration of family relations and elders as care redelivers; the home environment, with emphasis on housing and quality of life, relocation and urban aging issues; the outdoor environment, with consideration of out-of-home activity patterns, car-driving behaviour and the leisure world of aging; the technological environment, with treatments of the role of the Internet and the potential of technology for aging outcomes and; and the societal environment with a focus on global aging, the new politics of old age and older persons as market consumers. The book's main purpose is to provide the scholarly gerontology community with a comprehensive and critical discussion of these new trends related to old age. The book will be of interest for the scholarly community of gerontology in a variety of disciplines; sociology, psychology, demography, epidemiology, humanities, social policy and geriatrics; students in gerontology education and in the disciplines named above who have an interest in aging issues (graduate level); professionals in practical and applied fields related to aging such as community and urban planners, health and care providers and policymakers; people involved in senior citizens' organizations and those in industry who wish to serve older people with new products.

This book was nurtured by the belief that the new dynamics of today's and tomorrow's aging has not yet been treated well in the gerontology literature. Several questions drove the choice of substance for the book: What kind of new dynamics of aging deserves consideration? What kinds of theories and fields are at the core of treating such a new dynamics? And what kind of empirical evidence should be considered? The master hypothesis on which the book is based maintains that the new dynamics of old age is best observed in a range of everyday aging contexts that have been undergoing major change since the second half of the 20th century. In particular, five areas of new and persistent dynamics are treated in depth: the social environment, with a focus on cohort effects in social relations and the consideration of family relations and elders as care redelivers; the home environment, with emphasis on housing and quality of life, relocation and urban aging issues; the outdoor environment, with consideration of out-of-home activity patterns, car-driving behaviour and the leisure world of aging; the technological environment, with treatments of the role of the Internet and the potential of technology for aging outcomes and; and the societal environment with a focus on global aging, the new politics of old age and older persons as market consumers. The book's main purpose is to provide the scholarly gerontology community with a comprehensive and critical discussion of these new trends related to old age. The book will be of interest for the scholarly community of gerontology in a variety of disciplines; sociology, psychology, demography, epidemiology, humanities, social policy and geriatrics; students in gerontology education and in the disciplines named above who have an interest in aging issues (graduate level); professionals in practical and applied fields related to aging such as community and urban planners, health and care providers and policymakers; people involved in senior citizens' organizations and those in industry who wish to serve older people with new products.

Hans-Werner Wahl, Hermann Brenner, Heidrun Mollenkopf, Dietrich Rothenbacher and Christoph Rott Ageing research has been identi?ed as a prototypical ?eld of inquiry deserving the full exploitation of single discipline approaches and interdisciplinary synergies amongst these single perspectives. Although this is a generally accepted insight, there still is a strong need to provide models of how this global and most fundamental challenge can be dealt with. It seems in any case necessary to narrow down the wide scope of ageing research issues to sets of key constructs most promising in terms of interdisciplinary cross-fertilisation. Againstthis,themajoraimofthebookistoprovideacomprehensive treatment of one well-selected set of key issues of recent ageing research, i. e. health, competence and well-being. In addition, the book's ambition is to identify priorities for future ageing research and to further new avenues for interdisciplinary approaches and social policy applications. The substance of the book is based on an international conference which took place on June 18 and 19, 2004 in Heidelberg, Germany.Framed within the array of health, competence and well-being perspectives in ageing research, the idea of the conf- ence was to provide an integrated presentation of ?ndings generated in the German Centre for Research on Ageing at the University of Heidelberg (Deutsches Zentrum f. ur Alternsforschung, DZFA). The centre's three departments, i. e.

Renowned experts in adult development and aging, Manfred Diehl and Hans‑Werner Wahl synthesize decades of psychological research into a comprehensive volume that considers later life in the context of lifespan development, social and physical environmental factors, and historical amp ndash cultural influences. In so doing, they review important research on cognitive functioning, behavioral processes, personality and identity development, and overall well‑being in middle to late adulthood.  Diehl and Wahl amp rsquo s three-part framework helps readers better understand that the development process is influenced by multiple factors and can take many different trajectories. Through this contextualized perspective, they examine the influence that previous life experiences, beginning in early childhood, can have on the aging process in older adults. This includes social relations, technological advances, societal perspectives on aging, and education. The authors also examine the challenges and opportunities of aging, using a strength‑based approach to promote a diverse, nuanced understanding of successful, healthy aging.  Chapters also conclude with dialogues from other experts in the field, offering multiple different perspectives on the research.

Die Ökologische Gerontologie versteht sich innerhalb der Alternsforschung als ein Dach, unter dem sich jene vielfältigen Perspektiven vereinigen lassen, die allesamt alte Menschen in ihrer räumlich-sozialen Umwelt ins Blickfeld nehmen. Allen diesen Perspektiven ist gemeinsam, daß sie das alltägliche Altern fokussieren, sei es in einer eher grundlagen wissenschaftlichen oder in einer eher an gewandten Sicht. Gemeinsam ist ihnen ferner die besondere Hervorhebung des Wohnens im Alter als "dem" Brennpunkt des Alltags alter Menschen, denn alte Menschen verbringen, durch­ schnittlich gesehen, den weitaus größten Teil ihres Alltags in den "eigenen vier Wänden", auch wenn die interindividuellen Unterschiede beträchtlich sind. Gleich­ sam natürlich und zwangsläufig schließt eine solche Schwerpunktsetzung allerdings auch das "Draußen" mit ein: Alltägliches Leben im höheren Lebensalter wird auch in starkem Maße von den Gegebenheiten des Wohnumfelds, seinen Entwicklungs­ möglichkeiten, aber auch Barrieren, fehlenden oder verloren gegangenen Umwelt­ ressourcen mitgeprägt. Die Schließung des Ladens um die Ecke kann die alltägliche Versorgung und damit die Aufrechterhaltung einer selbständigen Lebensführung einer ganzen Gruppe älterer Menschen in einem Stadtteil nachhaltig beeinträchtigten, doch seltsamerweise wird solch ganz konkreten Risiken eines Autonomieverlusts in der Gerontologie bis heute relativ wenig Aufmerksamkeit zuteil. Nicht selten fehlt bei oft recht statischen Charakterisierungen von Problemgruppen alter Menschen (z. B. hochaltrigen Frauen in der Situation des Alleinlebens und mit hoher Multi­ morbidität) die dynamische Komponente der Person-Umwelt-Wechselwirkung, in der sich solche Risikokonstellationen deutlich abschwächen oder abernoch verstärken können.

Dieser interdisziplinare Uberblick befasst sich ausfuhrlich mit den Fragen und Problemen, die Seh- und Horverluste fur altere Patienten und ihre Helfer aufwerfen. Neben den neuesten medizinischen Erkenntnissen werden vor allem die psychologischen und psychosozialen Aspekte behandelt wie z.B. Probleme der Bewaltigung und der Rehabilitation sowie Anwendungsfragen technischer Hilfsmittel.