Background: This paper seeks to explore the opportunities and challenges generated by current policy, guidance and legislation in England relating to older people, in terms of the practical implications for older people with learning disabilities. Methods: Using the broad themes housing, employment, social inclusion and isolation, care and…

The purpose of the study addressed in this article was to identify ways to reduce risk and improve safe aging in place among rural older adults. Resident and Extension faculty and county educators visited study participants at home to assess functional capacity and the home environment. Extension professionals may be uniquely positioned to provide…

This article reports on a study of older community-dwelling Australian adults which aimed to test whether a relatively unexplored construct, proactive coping, could have a role in purpose in life, personal growth, and life satisfaction. A total of 109 women and 115 men (Mean age = 75.04 yrs, SD = 6.66) completed a questionnaire containing…

Purpose: Given age-related health restrictions, the importance of the environment for life satisfaction may increase in later life. This study investigated whether objective and perceived physical and social environmental aspects of the home and of the surrounding neighborhood represent resources for or risks to life satisfaction among young-old…

Guided by an ecological perspective, the authors examined event, individual, structural/cultural, and family/community factors that shaped the psychological well-being of older adults displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. The authors first established the negative effects of displacement on psychological well-being by comparing…

The article explores and evaluates the quality of life, safety, and security of elderly people in Tehran City in Iran. In that, different dimensions of material and social well-being, and abuse of people of the age 65 and above, are assessed. Besides the human rights, the dignity, and the gradual decline of the elderly's social security are…

The Meaningful Activity Participation Assessment (MAPA), a recently developed 28-item tool designed to measure the meaningfulness of activity, was tested in a sample of 154 older adults. The MAPA evidenced a sufficient level of internal consistency and test-retest reliability and correlated as theoretically predicted with the Life Satisfaction…

Purpose: The aim of this work is to examine the relationship between aspects of objective and perceived housing and aspects of healthy aging, defined as independence in daily activities and subjective well-being. Furthermore, this research examined the comparability of relationships between housing and healthy aging in the five European countries.…

Needs assessment is the process of identifying the gap between a target population's needs and its services. If a gap exists, a program can be designed to effectively respond to those needs. This article explores the needs of elderly African immigrants in Minnesota through the use of qualitative interviews. A convenience sampling was used to…

Ecological models currently used agree that happiness can be found at different states of equilibrium between the person and the environment and that the elderly arrive at this state through a special "docility" toward the environment. This docility appears to be historically and socially contingent rather than being "natural." (JOW)

Examined social support networks for 44 residents of two planned housing facilities. While other residents often were regarded as sources of support, the locus of these networks lay with persons outside the housing facilities. The less healthy were more socially isolated, except in times of a medical crisis. (JAC)

Analyzes the effects of the environment on well-being among the aged (N=2,265). Presents a recursive causal model which indicates that perceived health and housing satisfaction contribute the most to well-being among the elderly. Emphasizes the importance of environmental satisfacton and neighborhood sociability. (JAC)

This study examines elderly (60+ years) residents of a community dominated by multistory homes and apartments with stairs. Although stairs presented problems for a substantial minority of residents, most occupants expressed satisfaction with their homes. However, a majority of residents, when questioned further, desired stair-free living in a next…

This document presents the program agenda and highlights from the one-day Robert Lee Sutherland Seminar held to examine the current status and the future of the elderly population of Texas. Included is the speech, "The Longevity Revolution" by Robert N. Butler, in which is discussed the gain in life expectancy, the feminization of aging,…

While published recommendations for housing design and neighborhood planning for older people continue to proliferate, these standards and criteria are rarely subjected to empirical testing. In this study, objective field assessments, using objective measures of residential quality, measured residential resources for meeting life maintenance and…