Physical Change and Aging: A Guide for Helping Professions

Praise for the new edition:

In this 7th edition of Physical Change and Aging: A Guide for the Helping Professions the authors, Drs. Saxon, Etten and Perkins, bring to all health care professionals and those interacting with older adults a multidisciplinary foundational reference with state of the art and science approaches to caring for aging persons in our society. This comprehensive book provides geriatric care principles for the expert care provider as well as the novice learner in one book through a compelling reading style that transforms complex principles into simple to comprehend and apply principles.

--- Marion Newton, PhD, RN, BSN, MN, PMHCNS-BC, PMHNP-BC, ANEF

The seventh edition of this classic multidisciplinary text for students of gerontology continues to offer practical, user-friendly, and comprehensive information about the physical changes and common pathologies associated with the aging process. Fully updated with current information regarding diagnosis, risk factors, prevention recommendations, treatment approaches, and medications along with new statistics on prevalence and evidence-based clinical guidelines, this textbook focuses on physical changes and common pathologies of aging, while also considering the psychological and social implications with which they are inextricably linked.

Through a systems-based approach, positive aspects of aging are emphasized, showing the reader how older adults can gain greater personal control through lifestyle changes and preventive health strategies. Included is important content related to teaching, health, and well-being, such as nutrition, medications, aging with lifelong disabilities, complementary and alternative therapies, and death and dying.

The seventh edition features a new chapter on gerontechnology, with new content on the influence of pandemics, including COVID-19, on death, dying, grieving, and funeral rituals. This multifaceted text also delivers new and updated information on diagnosis and treatment, along with stressed behaviors and interventions to promote more personal control over the individual aging process. Helpful appendices include practical suggestions for improving safety for older adults and websites of relevant organizations, along with a glossary of medical terms used in the text. Purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers.

New to the Seventh Edition:

• A brand-new chapter on gerontechnology
• Updated information on diagnosis and treatment, risk factors, and prevention recommendations
• New statistics for prevalence and clinical guidelines/recommendations
• Focus on behaviors and interventions providing personal control over aging process
• Practical suggestions for improving older adult safety
• Influence of COVID-19 on death, dying, grieving, and funeral rituals
• Test bank and PowerPoint slides

Key Features:

• A unique systems-based approach covering the anatomy and physiology of each organ system
• Focuses on common health problems within each body system
• Addresses psychological and social implications of aging
• Provides evidence-based treatment strategies
• Describes practical applications of aging data - how to use the data to so adults can gain greater personal freedom
• Useful as textbook, practitioner's guide and family caregiver resource

Sue V. Saxon, PhD, is professor emeritus at the School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida.

Mary Jean Etten, EdD, GNP, CMP, FT has been a tenured full professor in the College of Nursing at St. Petersburg College, where she taught nursing, gerontology, and thanatology and developed an innovative curriculum teaching hospice care to nurses. She is currently an adjunct lecturer in thanatology in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida.

Elizabeth A. Perkins, PhD, RNLD, FAAIDD, FGSA is a research associate professor and associate director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities--a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities--at the University of South Florida (USF).