Aging Well. Gerontological Education for Nurses and Other Health Professionals

Overview

Overview
Aging Well: Gerontological Education for Nurses and Other Health Professionals brings a fresh outlook to gerontological education and promotes the experience of aging as a positive circumstance, and elders as a treasure of society. Discussion centers on the application of research findings to encourage elders to rise above and beyond disability, to help them retain their identity of personhood, and integrate into society in general and their immediate community in particular. Contributors include individuals from the academic gerontological community and clinicians as well as experts from related fields such as social policy and community planning. Aging Well: Gerontological Education for Nurses and Other Health Professionals contains vital information necessary to caring for elders, including topics such as disease and disabilities associated with aging, to illuminate underlying philosophical tenants and social issues. Each chapter provides a summary of the key points with suggestions on how to apply them on a daily basis.

Table of Contents

Section I A Call to Action: Policy Implications
Chapter 1 Ethical, Moral, and Policy Challenges in Our Aging Society

Section II Issues Central to Gerontological Education
Chapter 2 The Art of Mentoring: Developing the Next Generation of Gerontologists
Chapter 4 Enhancing the Graduate Student Experience: Student Engagement and the Internship Survey
Chapter 5 Student Participation in Interdisciplinary Community Practice: Patient Activation in a Community Context
Chapter 6 The Changing Face of Aging: New Challenges, New Opportunities

Section III Innovative Learning Activities
Chapter 7 Learning by Living: Wheeling a Mile in a Nursing Home Elder’s Chair
Chapter 8 Rural Geriatric Education and Mental Health
Chapter 9 Reminiscence as a Teaching Tool
Chapter 10 My Eye-opening AmeriCorps Assignment at Senior Centers
Chapter 11 Where Pedagogy and Practice Converge: Engaging Graduate Gerontology Students in the Community Through service Learning and Caregiver Education

Section IV Addressing Social Issues Related to Gerontology
Chapter 12 “Age Old” Health Disparities: Daunting Challenges in This Millennium
Chapter 13 Addressing Health Sector Manpower Shortages and Service Gaps in Medically Underserved Areas: University Facilitated Geriatric Continuing Education Collaborations
Chapter 14 Getting the Home in Nursing Homes
Chapter 15 Promoting Healthy Aging with Attention to Social Capital
Chapter 16 Making Community Events Accessible to Older Adults: Geriatric Nurses Collaboration
Chapter 17 Giving Voice to Vulnerable Populations: Rogerian Nursing Theory

Section V Practice Imperatives
Chapter 18 Creating a New Philosophy for Elder Care
Chapter 19 Evidence Based Pain Management
Chapter 20 Preventing Functional Decline in Hospitalized Older Adults: An Exemplar for Nursing Education
Chapter 21 Caring for the Elderly in the Emergency Department
Chapter 22 Cognitive Rehabilitation in People with Dementia
Chapter 23 Managing Dementia: The Power of Connection
Chapter 24 Linking Dentistry to Health Care: An Opportunity for Nurse Leadership
Chapter 25 Morale Over Time of Newly Institutionalized Residents
Chapter 26 Poetry for Caregivers of Older Adults: Easing the Burden
Chapter 27 Home is Where the Heart Is
Chapter 28 Teaching End of Life Care

Section VI Promoting Personhood and Quality of Life in Elders
Chapter 29 Preserving Expression of Identity in the Face of Losses Associated with Aging
Chapter 30 Making Moments that Matter (Storytelling/Songwriting)
Chapter 31 Therapeutic Cooking Groups for Elders
Chapter 32 Gardening: A Natural Way for Older People to Stay Engaged and Healthy
Chapter 33 Seniors and Companion Animals
Chapter 34 The Bountiful Model: Place, Reminiscence and the Gerontological Nurse

Section VII Cultural Perspectives on Aging
Chapter 35 The Experience of “Healthy Life” in Rural Community Dwelling Elders
Chapter 36 The Need to Have Roots: A Philosophical Discussion
Chapter 37 Telenovelas and Cafecitos: Culturally Sensitive Intervention Strategies for Latina Women
Chapter 38 Mother Wit and Self Health Management: Learning from African American Elders
Chapter 39 Care of the Elderly in Botswana, Africa
Chapter 40 The Power of Life Story Books: Irish Stories
Chapter 41 Care of the Elderly in South Korea

Section VIII Closing Comments
Chapter 42 Conclusions and Future Directions

About the Author(s)

May L. Wykle, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA-Dean and Marvin E. and Ruth Durr Denekas Professor of Nursing, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

May L. Wykle, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA, FAGHE, is the Marvin E. and Ruth Durr Denekas Professor of Nursing and Dean of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. She was a recipient of a National Institutes of Mental Health Geriatric Mental Health Academic Award, and Director of a 5-year Robert Wood Johnson Teaching Nursing Home Project. Dr. Wykle’s research interests include geriatric mental health, self-care behaviors among aged cohorts, family caregiving, stresses and strains in elderly physical health, and self-care and compliance of chronically ill aged. She directed a 4-year study funded by the National Center for Nursing Research (NIH) on Black vs. White Caregivers’ Formal/Informal Service Use, and a 3-year study funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) on MD Style, Self-Care and Compliance of Chronically Ill Aged. She was a delegate and served on the Planning Committee of the 1993 White House Conference on Aging, and formerly served on the Geriatric/Gerontology Advisory Committee for the Veterans Administration. Her work has been recognized both locally and nationally with numerous awards. Dr. Wykle has authored many articles and has edited 5 books, including Serving Minority Elders in the 21st Century (1999). She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the Gerontological Society of America, and the Association of Gerontology in Higher Education. She is on the Board of the Rosalynn Carter Family Caregiving Institute, and served as the first Pope eminent scholar in aging.

Sarah H. Gueldner, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA-Arline H. and Curtis F. Garvin Professor in Nursing, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Sarah H. Gueldner, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP, FGSA, FAGHE, is the Arline H. and Curtis F. Garvin Professor in Nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, and was formerly head of the nursing programs at the Pennsylvania state University and Binghamton University. Her research interests include identifying simple ways to improve the health and quality of life for elders, incorporating qualitative studies to determine what makes them feel healthy. She was principal investigator of a federally funded randomized clinical trial to measure the effect of outdoor walking on life satisfaction and mood in nursing home residents. She also developed the ten-item Well-Being Picture Scale (WPS) and has tested its ability to measure sense of well-being in elders who for any reason may not be able to read print, or who are too frail to complete more lengthy measurement instruments. The WPS has been used in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Egypt, Brazil, and Africa. Dr. Gueldner has published her research findings widely, and is co-editor of four books on gerontological topics, including osteoporosis, successful aging and adaptation to chronic diseases in older adults, and a commemorative dialogue celebrating the International Year of Older Persons in 1999. She recently received Sigma Theta Tau International’s Award for Excellence in Creativity, and her work was spotlighted in the October 2009 issue of the Journal of Gerontological Nursing.