Medical ethical problems involving the elderly elucidate the relation between broader social views of aging and ethical principles basic to medicine. Three clinical situations are described and alternative principles of medical ethics are discussed as a basis for resolution of ethical problems in the health care of the elderly. (Author)

Examines Lawton, Kleban, Moss, Rovine, and Glickman's (1989) caregiving appraisal through a principal components analysis and varimax rotation of a data set based on in-depth quantitative interviews with 144 caregivers. Five caregiving appraisal dimensions are identified: task load caregiving, dysfunctional caregiving, intimacy and love, social…

Describes an intensive instructional program designed and implemented to prepare health assistants to serve chronically ill older persons in the home. Under professional supervision, the health assistants extend health care to the chronically ill. All assistants continued in a health related role after the project. (Author/JAC)

Provides background on the World Wide Web, reasons for its growth, its potential usefulness to gerontologists, and the results of an exhaustive search of over 300 sites. Relevant information was discovered in five general categories of gerontology-related information: academic institutions, government agencies, biomedical and health research…

Evaluates whether trends in the prevalence of disability among the aged can be investigated using the 1980 U.S. Census' public transportation question and the 1990 query on mobility limitation. Results suggest that census data may be a suitable data source to study mobility limitation patterns in the small subgroups of the population that are…

Explores nature of physician decision making in the case of elderly who reside in the community. Interviews with 40 physicians revealed 3 dilemma sources: (1) how much to intervene in patients' lives to reduce risk; (2) structural, moral, and medical limits to patient advocacy; and (3) assessing vulnerability and quality of life when pondering…

Purpose: This study examined age and contextually related factors that are influential in lay referral patterns during cardiac treatment decision making. Design and Methods: A complementary design was used. The Myocardial Infarction (MI) Onset Study identified demographic correlates of who sought medical care for 1,388 MI (heart attack) survivors.…

Examines differences in perceived caregiver availability among a random sample of Mexican American and non-Hispanic white young-old residents in three socioeconomically distinct neighborhoods. For MAs across all three socioeconomic status groups, being female, widowed, and having more chronic illnesses was associated with a lesser likelihood of…

Purpose: The psychiatric home visit is an effective intervention for elderly patients who otherwise would not receive mental health services. Home visits also have potential to be useful for training. Here, the current practice of home visits in geropsychiatry fellowship programs is examined. Design and Methods: The directors of 55 current…

Attempts to narrow the scope of present uncertainties about the older population by sketching a psychosocial profile of the older people of tomorrow based on what is known today. Focuses on the baby boom generation and the interplay between personal attributes they could bring to late life and the social and physical environment in which they…

Purpose: This article reviews the effectiveness of a new training program for improving nursing staffs' detection of depression within long-term care facilities. The course was designed to increase recognition of the Minimal Data Set (MDS) Mood Trigger items, to be brief, and to rely on images rather than didactics. Design and Methods: This study…

Purpose: More than 14 million persons are projected to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the year 2020; therefore, it is not surprising that the literature contains numerous caregiver intervention studies. What is surprising is that although minority elders represent one of the fastest growing segments of the older population, they are…

Estimates the effects of various parent and child characteristics on the choice of care arrangement of the parent, taking into account the potential endogeneity of some of the child characteristics. Three equations are estimated: care choice, child location, and child work. Results suggest a hierarchy of family decision making; child locations…