Public Health and Aging: Maximizing Function and Well-Being, Second Edition

"The new edition has the balance of breadth and depth and should appeal to practitioners, academics and students alike. The second edition of Public Health and Aging is a must-read book in the developing field of public health and aging."

--American Public Health Association

"[This] book provides an understanding of the physical, mental, and social functioning domains that affect older persons and how these affect quality of life. This is a valuable addition to the growing field of public health and aging."

--Doody's

The health care industry has continued its efforts to promote health and prevent disease among elderly populations. In this book, however, the authors argue that simple health promotion and disease prevention are not enough to address the many challenges of aging-whether it entails being physically frail, living with dementia, or approaching death. Instead, the unique focus of this groundbreaking text centers on maximizing function and well-being for the elderly.

This book promotes the development and maintenance of optimal physical, mental, and social functioning, irrespective of acquired disease and with due recognition of the senescent changes that accompany late life. Updated, revised, and significantly expanded, this second edition contains new chapters that examine chronic disease, long-term care, and ethical issues in public health and aging. The book also serves as an excellent textbook for both graduate and undergraduate curriculums.

Key Features:

• Provides updated statistics and trends related to physical, cognitive, and affective functioning for older adults
• Covers key topics such as physical functioning and disability, cognitive disability, affective and social functioning, quality of life, and mortality
• Discusses the national efforts to make communities more "elder-friendly"
• Includes important information on evidence-based depression management programs
• Covers the core fields of public health: epidemiology, population studies, health systems and policy, and health behaviors
• Instructor's Guide available to qualified instructors (contact textbook@springerpub.com)

This book serves as an invaluable resource to both health professionals and students, delineating what measures health care professionals can take to help elderly populations not only maintain but optimize their health.