Self Care in Later Life Research, Program, and Policy Issues [Hardcover]

This volume is uncontestably the most comprehensive and authoritative work on the subject of self-care available to date. It should set the stage for a new policy perspective on building a health care system that incorporates self-care at its core. --Lowell S. Levin,Yale School of Public Health

Practitioners and researchers who work with older adults are challenged to find ways to strengthen an elderly person's capacity to cope wiht age-related changes that threaten independence.

This volume assesses the efficacy of self-care in maintaining autonomy. It applies a broad definition of self-care that includes a range of behaviors undertaken by individuals, families, and communities to enhance health, prevent disease, limit illness, and restore health.

Contributors
Foreword by Richard S. Schweiker
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Nature, Extent, and Modifiability of Self-Care Behaviors in Later Life,Marcia G. Ory, Gordon H. DeFriese, and Alfred P. Duncker

1. The Patterns of Self-Care Among Older Adults in Western Industrialized Societies,Thomas R. Konrad
2. Dynamics and Processes of Self-Care in Old Age,Eleanor Palo Stoller
3. The Research Basis for the Design and Implementation of Self-Care Programs,Thomas Prohaska
4. Evaluating Psychosocial Interventions for Promoting Self-Care Behaviors Among Older Adults,William Rakowski
5. Enhancing Self-Care Research: Exploring the Theoretical Underpinnings of Self-Care,Elaine A. Leventhal, Howard Leventhal, and Chantal Robitaille
6. The Role of Social Science Research in Understanding Technology Use Among Older Adults,Laura N. Gitlin
7. Self-Care in Minority and Ethnic Populations: The Experience of Older Black Americans,Lucille Davis and May L. Wykle
8. International Perspectives on Self-Care Research,Kathryn Dean

Afterword: Toward a Research Agenda for Addressing the Potential of Sl“p