We are in an innovation process for the development of a new generation of tools and resources for education and training throughout life, available in any platform, at anytime and place and in any language. The project TOPQX intends to congregate a set of theoretical and empirical resources that form a scientific base from which it will be…

Personal response systems (PRS) bring immediate help to aged and disabled persons at home at the touch of a button. The PRS user wears a tiny radio transmitter as a pendant or a bracelet and can send a telephone signal from any part of the home to a 24-hour emergency center when help is needed. This study examined research on the Lifeline system,…

Recognition of the importance of families in providing care to older persons has led to advocacy for a variety of supports to assist them. This study was conducted to describe caregivers' perceptions of the helpfulness of cash assistance and to identify factors associated with perceived helpfulness. Subjects were co-resident caregivers (N=155)…

This paper discusses current issues regarding assistive technology devices and services, especially in relation to the roles and responsibilities of the rehabilitation psychologist. Following an introductory section which defines an assistive technology device and an assistive technology service, the following sections discuss: (1) past…

This paper reflects on the motivations for doing photography and examines the therapeutic use of photography with various populations. The paper provides an account of how one person was trained as a teacher in the early 1970s but could not find work. He moved into and then out of social work with the elderly in Chicago. Having learned photography…

Research has found that approximately 80 percent of the care received by elderly people living at home is provided by family members. Although assistance provided by informal supports can be important in sustaining the functionally disabled elderly at home, caregiving can have important negative effects on the informal providers. To examine the…

Because the life expectancy of women is longer than that of men and because men seem to marry younger women, most of the literature on caregivers of the elderly has focusd on women who care for elderly, disabled husbands. In order to explore the role of men as caretakers of disabled wives, 25 elderly widowers (aged 63-93) participated in…

Based on interviews with 20 primary caretakers (the main person responsible for elderly relatives with chronic illness or disabilities) this pamphlet was written for family members who are caring for older relatives, and may also be helpful to professionals and paraprofessionals who work with the elderly and their families. The two main sections…

Vocational training strategies have been developed to assist underprivileged populations (middle-aged and elderly people, persons with disabilities, women-headed families, and aborigines) in Taiwan, which makes up about 20 percent of the population. These strategies include the following: enacting laws and regulations, creating projects to…

Respite and in-home services have been identified by caregivers as vital for maintaining a frail older person in the community. A program called The Alzheimer Support/Tender Loving Caregivers Project was undertaken in northwest Indiana to strengthen the informal support network of disabled elderly in the community. An interfaith coalition of…

Although the determinants of experienced and reported crime have been fairly extensively studied, there is relatively little consensus about the predictors of victimization or likelihood of reporting crimes, and research on the elderly Hispanic Americans as victims and reporters is practically nonexistent. In l979-80, a national study used a…

Although caregiving has become a major gerontological focus, less attention has been paid to differences in family responses to the elder's impairment depending on whether the disability is physical or mental and to the effects on family members beyond the primary caregiver. Data for this study were taken from in-person interviews with a subsample…

Presents three articles on housing policies for the elderly. Topics include the need for housing assistance and targeting aid to the disabled, the practicality of delivering support services to impaired elderly in current housing, and potential future directions of federal housing policy. (NRB)

This paper describes the examination of a national rehabilitation system in Israel which was undertaken to identify and understand that country's vocational rehabilitation strategies and methods and to evaluate their potential for use with older disabled persons in the United States. A study visit to Israel is described which focused on policies…

Interviews with a random sample of 1,598 persons aged 65 years and older in 1975 with followups in 1984 provide information about the distribution between community and institutional care of urban elderly in Cleveland (Ohio). Support factors that enable persons to remain in the community are identified. (SLD)