Public Health and Aging: Maximizing Function and Well-Being

Named a 2013 Doody's Core Title!

The new edition has the balance of breadth and depth and should appeal to practitioners, academics and students alike. The second edition of Public Health and Aging is a must-read book in the developing field of public health and aging.

--American Public Health Association

[This] book provides an understanding of the physical, mental, and social functioning domains that affect older persons and how these affect quality of life. This is a valuable addition to the growing field of public health and aging."

--Doody's

This book promotes the development and maintenance of optimal physical, mental, and social functioning, irrespective of acquired diseases and with due recognition of the senescent changes that accompany late life. Updated, revised, and significantly expanded, this second edition contains new chapters that examine chronic disease, long-term care, and ethical issues in public health and aging. The book also serves as a resource to health professionals and students, delineating what measures health care professionals can take to help elderly populations not only maintain but optimise their health." -- The Lamp

The health care industry has continued its efforts to promote health and prevent disease among elderly populations. In this book, however, the authors argue that simple health promotion and disease prevention are not enough to address the many challenges of aging-whether it entails being physically frail, living with dementia, or approaching death. Instead, the unique focus of this groundbreaking text centers on maximizing function and well-being for the elderly.

This book promotes the development and maintenance of optimal physical, mental, and social functioning, irrespective of acquired disease and with due recognition of the senescent changes that accompany late life. Updated, revised, and significantly expanded, this second edition contains new chapters that examine chronic disease, long-term care, and ethical issues in public health and aging. The book also serves as an excellent textbook for both graduate and undergraduate curriculums.

Key Features:

• Provides updated statistics and trends related to physical, cognitive, and affective functioning for older adults
• Covers key topics such as physical functioning and disability, cognitive disability, affective and social functioning, quality of life, and mortality
• Discusses the national efforts to make communities more "elder-friendly"
• Includes important information on evidence-based depression management programs
• Covers the core fields of public health: epidemiology, population studies, health systems and policy, and health behaviors
• Instructor's Guide available to qualified instructors (contact textbook@springerpub.com)

Steven M. Albert, PhD, FGSA (Behavioral and Social Sciences), FAAN (Neurology), is Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health and has 35 years of research experience in aging, neurologic disease, and interventions to change health behavior.

Dr. Freedman is a professor in the Department of Health Systems and Policy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry's School of Public Health. Trained in the demography and epidemiology of aging, Dr. Freedman's research focuses on issues at the nexus of population aging, disability, and long-term care. She recently served as a member of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Future of Disability in America.