This educational program, designed for the secondary level, focuses on the characterization of the aged in literature. The overall purpose of the unit is to help destroy the popular mythology about aging. The average American has a highly distorted view of what it is to grow old and the characteristics of that process. This program has the…

A guide for providing library services to the elderly begins with a rationale and a statement from the Adult Services Division of the American Library Association regarding services to the elderly. Then planning considerations are described, such as library board and staff, surveying needs and programs, and special problems of the elderly.…

This article explores the kinds of relationships that are related to happiness and fulfillment at any age. Special attention is given to the subjects of intimacy, communication, and sexuality in later life. (Author/MLF)

This booklet is designed to help individuals help older family members handle their finances. Presented first are 10 guidelines for keeping the tension involved in intervening in an older relative's finances to a minimum. The following financial/legal instruments are explained: joint bank accounts, powers of attorney (including durable powers of…

This guide is intended for use by older persons and their families who contemplate hiring someone to assist periodically with household routines and personal care. The guide offers suggestions and lists the various steps needed to hire a worker. Organized in 12 short narrative sections, the guide covers the following topics: determining what help…

This report describes Memory Enhancement Group workshops which have been conducted at the Senior Health and Peer Counseling Center in Santa Monica, California and gives basic data regarding outcomes of the workshops. It provides a model of memory as a three-step process of registration or becoming aware, consolidation, and retrieval. It presents…

This staff development module is part of one of three groups of career guidance modules developed, field-tested, and revised by a six-state consortium coordinated by the American Institutes for Research. This module, designed for helping professionals who work with older adults, attempts to help participants: (1) examine personal biases about…

This manual is designed to assist in developing meaningful workshops for retirees and pre-retirees to aid them in making effective use of their retirement incomes. Divided into five sessions, topics include the need for financial planning, major factors in such planning, and specific methods of helping retirees in their own financial planning;…

This curriculum guide is designed to assist anyone involved in the organization of self-help mutual aid groups among older persons, based on the assumption that those to be affected must be involved. There are four major sections in the guide which speak to background issues; training of organizers in terms of their roles and functions; four…

This manual is designed to assist those helping professionals responsible for developing consumer education programs for older adults on the topic of health care and health care costs. Using a modular presentation format, the materials focus on the following areas of concern: (1) self-evaluation and planning for health care needs; (2) methods for…

This manual is designed to assist those helping professionals responsible for developing consumer education programs for older adults on the topic of housing needs. In a modular presentation format, the materials address the following areas of concern: (1) housing alternatives; (2) subsidized housing; and (3) considerations in deciding where to…

Services to the elderly, institutionalized, and physically and mentally exceptional, who are unable to use the public library in its traditional form, are described in this guide to programs at the Inglewood (California) Public Library. Topics include: (1) overall library goals and activities; (2) functional and organizational structure of…

Our society has many misconceptions or stereotyped ideas about elderly people. These stereotyped ideas have from time to time been reflected in literature for both adults and young people. It is the purpose of this course to make secondary level students aware of the stereotyped ideas commonly held about the elderly and to enable them to recognize…

This article examines the issues at the center of positive health maintenance in later life. Included are helpful planning aids, as well as references for further reading on such subjects as exercise and nutrition. (Author/MLF)

This article discusses retirement as a challenge to find a new sense of personal wholeness and of well-being. (Author/MLF)