The problem-oriented biomedical framework shaping health care should be replaced with a more optimistic, collaborative, humane, goal-oriented approach for geriatrics and gerontology. This perspective uses a functional, open-ended definition of health and views illness and death as essential features of life. (SK)

To successfully practice geriatrics, one must keep up-to-date with rapidly evolving knowledge, recognize heterogeneity among older people, seek answers through longitudinal studies, and accept no symptoms nor loss of function as being simply old age. Functional loss must be the focus and thus rehabilitation is essential to good geriatric care.…

Emphasizes need for feminization of geriatric mental health and calls attention to issues for older women. Warns that few mental health professionals are knowledgeable about gender differences in development or about late life development/aging. Notes that therapists who rely on personal experience with older persons, both positive and negative,…

Describes Rosemary Rizzo Parse's Man-Living-Health theory that was used to describe how gerontological nursing knowledge could be developed through a nursing conceptual model that includes a defined practice and research methodology. (Author/JOW)

Social and academic values emphasizing individualism, competition, and unidisciplinary thinking affect the development of interdisciplinary programs. Interdisciplinary health care teams must be concerned with interprofessional and professional-client relationships and shared team values, which should be addressed in gerontological and geriatric…

The improvement and expansion of health care for our older population must now be a major priority of all health care providers. All allied health professionals should strive to learn more about the processes of aging and translate this knowledge into specialized services and medical care for older people. (Author/CT)

Examples from Canada and the United States are used to explore social values such as individualism vs. collectivism; definition and solution of social problems; social construction of the "crisis" of aging; and public debate and moral discourse as a process for developing public policy. (SK)

The United States Commissioner on Aging describes challenges posed by the increasing size of the older adult population, outlines gaps in knowledge regarding aging and the elderly, and calls for greater collaboration between the elderly and existing mental health networks. (AOS)

Since the elderly are a significant population of health care consumers, health care professionals should be trained to deliver health services to them as effectively and humanely as possible. While the primary tool for delivery of health care services to people is human communication, there is evidence that the communication between the providers…

Problems of elderly persons in developing nations are rising. Identification and execution of research priorities and training in gerontology and geriatrics for medical, paramedical, and community personnel and older adults themselves would help achieve healthy aging. (SK)

Health communication, gerontology/geriatrics, and the interdisciplinary team approach to health care are considered together in this paper as a critical field for communication research. The first section of the paper offers a definition of interdisciplinary health care teams, then reviews their goals, composition, history and training. The second…

Reviews a set of five studies reevaluating the "myth of relocation trauma" and supporting a no effect conclusion. Fallacies and sources of unreliability are discussed and general issues of relocation research are raised. The second article is a response to the first and defends the assertions made. (JAC)

The Geriatric Assessment Unit (GAU), which has proven successful in urban areas, may be a viable system for providing health care to the elderly in rural areas. GAUs engage in assessment, follow-up response to findings, education, and research. The assessment component includes, at minimum, physical health, functional ability in activities of…

A review of the literature and personal interviews with mental health administrators and other informed persons revealed that multiple inservice and preservice educational needs exist among administrators serving the aged in hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities, mental health centers, and mental health associations. Specific…