This paper examines and compares learning narratives associated with older men's participation in three community organisations in an Australian rural setting: an adult and community education provider, an emergency service organization and an aged care facility. The interview data are from a larger Australian study of learning in community…

In part 1 of this paper we presented the theory of an integrative geragogy. Integrative geragogy is a basic part of educational gerontology, dealing especially with the oldest of the old, mentally handicapped elderly people, and their potentials. In part 2 the context between theory and practice of an integrative geragogy shall be explained. We…

Describes an experiment in the use of art classes as a stimulus to participation and enjoyment in a home for the elderly. (JOW)

Discusses the past, present, and future of the use of nursing homes as teaching sites. Suggests that teaching nursing homes must provide state-of-the-art care while avoiding the pitfalls that threaten academic hospitals; balance must be maintained between the benefits of teaching and the burdens placed on patients and staff. (JOW)

Frail elderly nursing home residents (n=19) in Israel were taught computer use, some with adaptations for disabilities. Men used computers slightly longer, perhaps due to the type of software they chose. Both the trainees and 14 controls improved attitudes toward computers; the controls may have benefitted from observing others using them and…

Geragogy as a part of gerontology seems to be established in aging societies. Also, geragogy as a form of education for elderly people, learning in the third age, is nowadays an integrated part of agogy. On the other hand, the increase in the number of people of the fourth age, the oldest of the old, handicapped elderly people in nursing homes, is…

Training for caregivers of elderly nursing home residents focused on the use of reminiscence for psychological and emotional health. One technique taught was the memory box, an old suitcase filled with objects sorted into themes to stimulate memories. (SK)

Describes how one hospice organization is trying, through education, to change the practices, attitudes, and opinions of people such as hospital administrators, nursing home administrators, nurses, social workers, and other professionals who attend to the sick and dying. (CT)

Survey data from 70 hospitals and 75 long-term care facilities compared policies and practices of support for the educational development of nursing staff. Significant differences were found, suggesting that nursing homes lag behind hospitals in the development of their staffs. (JOW)

In this theme issue, 18 articles discuss the motivation for and benefits of working with old and dying people, nursing homes, ethical issues, and the training of home health care workers. Employee recruitment and retention and the economics of health care for the frail elderly are also addressed. (JOW)

Four articles in this special section report on (1) Arizona curriculum for home-based caregivers of the elderly in rural communities (Epstein, Koenig); (2) educational programs for nursing home caregivers (Marsden); (3) extension programs for helping low-income elderly with money management (Koonce); and (4) energy education for the elderly…