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This book studies issues involving community work with the elderly and urban life. The book is based on seventeen months of intensive ethnographic fieldwork with the Volunteer Chore Ministry in King County, Washington. Because the research is carried out in a complex environment, it is quite similar to urban anthropology. Anthropoglogical study techniques include participant observation, as well as taking intake calls for the volunteer organization, organizing volunteer services, participating...

Adopting an interdisciplinary framework in recognition of the range of domestic and institutional settings in which elder abuse can occur, this book both explains the nature of this under-reported and little understood problem and addresses the vital question of how practitioners can best work towards its prevention. Locating elder abuse in a spectrum of family violence, the book gives a balanced account of relevant perspectives on it, drawn from the medical, legal, health and social welfare sph...

Dr. Kyu-taik Sung's research on filial piety spans three decades. Many of his past writings have focused on East Asian elders, and this new text carries that theme forward as well. One main objective of this volume is to introduce to the West the caring attitudes and behaviors of East Asian people toward elderly persons. Findings are based on qualitative and quantitative data obtained from a series of empirical studies conducted in the East and West. These studies are grounded in the traditional...

"Care and the Registered Manager's Award at NVQ Level 4" covers all the units required to complete both NVQ 4 in Care and the NVQ 4 Registered Manager's Award. Explanations of the NVQs' structure and detailed analysis of the exact requirements will demystify the process and help prevent underachievement. Each unit is covered in-depth in a clear and non-patronising fashion, and guidance on producing good, relevant evidence will be discussed at length. All learning styles are catered for with a ra...

Although we inevitably grow old, the social, cultural, and economic characteristics associated with aging are neither natural nor inevitable. James Snell brings a historian’s perspective to the problems of aging and the discourse that surrounds it, a discourse that affects both public policy and the way we think about older people. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the elderly were coming to be thought of as a distinct group in society, whose members were inherently weak, sick, and dep...

Aging is a universal experience, and an individual one. But it is also a cultural phenomenon. Our ethnic and social background has a strong influence on how we deal with growing old. This collection draws on research from around the world to explore how cultural context shapes and defines the aging process. Studies examine differing patterns in the lives of the aged in Portugal, Polynesia, Sweden, and Israel, and among ethnic groups in the United States.

Modern societies today contend with population dynamics that have never before existed. As the number of older people grows, these countries must determine how best to provide for the needs of this population. The constraints are real: fiscal and material resources are finite and must be shared in a way that is perceived as just. As such, societies confront the fundamental question of who gets what, how, and why, and ultimately must reappraise the principles determining why some people are consi...

What is elder abuse? How can it be explained and understood? Why now? What can be done about it? Elder abuse is now recognized as a serious social problem on both sides of the Atlantic and Australia. Our understanding and responses to it will have profound implications for the quality of older people's lives and their place in society. Elder Abuse in Perspective examines how the mistreatment of older people is defined, theorized and researched. It places the problem in its social and hi...

The ageing of the population is a demographic phenomenon, a social problem and a policy issue. The increase in the numbers of aged and in the costs of supporting and caring for them have also brought increases in family care, in deinstitutionalisation of aged care services and in issues of quality and outcomes of care and consumer rights. The growing recognition of the feminisation of ageing also has significant social and policy consequences. In this 1998 book, Diane Gibson synthesises a wide r...

This refreshing book uses broad political and moral economy perspectives to explore the intersections of race, class, gender and aging and how these help determine the experience of aging and growing old. The twenty chapter volume includes new contributions by many of the top names in critical gerontology. Both political and economic factors, and those shared norms about fairness and obligation that help shape our aging policies, are examined in relation to a wide range of contemporary issues in...

The failure of long-term care is the country's best-kept embarrassing secret. Almost every adult in the United States will either enter a nursing home or have to deal with a parent or other relative who does. Studies show that 40 percent of all adults who live to age sixty-five will enter a nursing home before they die, while even more will use another form of long-term care. Part memoir, part practical guide, part prescription for change, It Shouldn't Be This Way is a unique look at the problem...

With neo-liberal resource rationing, and the onus of cost shifting from the state to individuals, families, and communities, migration issues can add a further layer of complexity to the question of caring for the elderly. By presenting examples from a variety of contexts and countries, this book will stimulate readers into considering new approaches to their own local situation in an attempt to find sustainable social work responses, and in helping to build intergenerational solidarity and soci...

From housing options to estate planning - an informative guide to elder care. From choosing between assisted living or nursing homes and paying for costly prescriptions and health care to resolving sibling squabbles over caring for an elderly parent and facing difficult end-of-life decisions, ""The A-to-Z Guide to Elder Care"" serves as a comprehensive and objective guide for general readers and professionals alike. In more than 250 entries, this new book relies on statistical information to pai...