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This paper aims to demonstrate the specialty of the elderly issues and acknowledge the existence of their specific human rights that propose for a special treatment to be given or shown to them as priority as women or children, etc. Indubitably, the very issue is timely in all perspective. Because it is now axiomatic that the fastest growing elderly population becomes a challenge for the whole world for manifold reasons. They include, inter alia, the lack of a social security apparatus or if any, they are insufficient; the weakening of traditional family bonding; almost no explicit references to elderly people in existing international human right laws; and mere stand-by of soft law addressing the rights of the elderly over time. Consequently, these all have probably failed to meet the most urgent needs of this growing demographic.

This paper is an effort made to recognize the “particular vulnerability” of the older persons and with identification of “specific rights”, advocate for special treatment for them and, optimally, the realization of their rights with respect.

In addition, this treatise attempts to focus on the nature and constitutional importance of elderly rights with the aim of providing the elderly with social security and prioritization; and more particularly, scrutiny of the impending and timely imperative for formulation of new legal instrument so as to adequately address the issue globally.

The purpose of this study is to establish a set of measurable criteria for elderly nursing homes (ENHs) in Lebanon. Donabedian's model known by structure/process/outcome was used as the driving conceptual framework for the study.

The study reports on a panel discussion where administrators, caregivers and specialists, separately established and exchanged key information on best practice approach. The work was carried out in the summer of 2008, using the consensus panel method. A group of expert opinions (Dalkey) made up of elderly home administrators and caregivers, policy makers, and academics discussed specific key issues related to elderly health and quality of life.

A total of 40 criteria were retained along seven main dimensions: types of elderly homes; funding; health services; boarding services; activities; structures; and elderly rights.

A major limitation in this study is that elderly were not part of the consensus making process. Thus, including elderly in the process would have substantiated and added validity to the established criteria.

The criteria developed in this study can be turned into key performance standards for elderly homes in Lebanon, other Mediterranean and Arab countries. These criteria would greatly benefit elderly homes if validated and used as guidelines for quality care.

The study is original in the sense that it seeks to establish measures for criteria, a blueprint, and benchmarks for ENH standards.

Care for the elderly is the most pressing problem now facing Japan. For maintaining a long and healthy life, it is important to refine the self-care of people and to create a well-balanced system of support involving health care, welfare, nursing care, and medical treatment. Mutual support within each local community is also indispensable for restructuring care-minding areas. Due attention should also be paid to the ethical aspects concerning care of the elderly. This chapter attempts to reflect on the brief history of the care for the elderly in Japan.

This paper considers the effects on current pensioner incomes of reforms designed to improve the long-term sustainability of public pension systems in the European Union. We use EUROMOD to simulate a set of common illustrative reforms for four countries selected on the basis of their diverse pension systems and patterns of poverty among the elderly: Denmark, Germany, Italy and the UK. The variations in fiscal and distributive effects on the one hand suggest that different paths for reform are necessary in order to achieve common objectives across countries, and on the other provide indications of the appropriate directions for reform in each case.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the values of IT in elderly care.

The paper is an empirical investigation based on four in‐depth case studies concerning IT in elderly care. The study draws on Actor‐Network Theory (ANT) and Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) with a focus on different actor groups' sense‐making regarding the role of IT in elderly care. The empirical analysis is, however, influenced by Grounded Theory (GT). Values are studied through the concept of “value areas”, which is a categorization of various actor groups' anticipated and experienced effects of developing, implementing, and using IT in elderly care.

The paper finds that the values of IT in elderly care can be organized in four related value areas: administration values, integration values, care values, and professional values. Research limitations/implications – Although the findings in this paper are related to elderly care it is believed that the value areas could be valid for all kinds of care work. Practical implications – The paper illustrates how different values are present during the development of IT, and discusses the importance of not only including, but also permitting, various actor groups' interests and values to influence the design process.

This paper examines the value of IT in elderly care, as well as presenting an approach for analyzing the values of IT. The paper and its findings should be valid for researchers, as well as for practitioners.

The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate a tool to measure nurses’ knowledge of, attitude toward and practice regarding the elder abuse phenomenon.

This study is methodological research that was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the available tools related to knowledge, attitude and practice regarding elder abuse were identified through an extensive review of theoretical principles, previous research and related articles. The initial items were extracted and categorized. In the second stage, the psychometric properties of the tool were examined by assessing face validity, content validity, construct validity, internal consistency and stability. Four hundred nurses working in the hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were selected to determine the validity of the structure.

The initial tool consisted of 114 items extracted, 34 of which were removed according to the experts’ opinions. The face validity of the 80-item questionnaire was then examined. The number of the items was reduced to 74 after measuring the face validity. After the qualitative measurement of the content validity, three items were eliminated. After measuring the content validity using a quantitative approach, 8 other items were removed and 63 items remained. According to the content validity index, 1 more item was removed, reducing the number to 62. The construct validity approved three dimensions of knowledge, attitude and practice. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to be 0.84. The stability was also confirmed through test–retest with a value of 0.85 for the whole scale.

The tool developed for assessing nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding elder abuse has acceptable dependability and credibility. Given the advantages of this tool, including the simplicity and fluency of sentences, and the comprehensive evaluation of nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding elder abuse, it is recommended to use this tool in relevant future studies.

WHEN ROBERT HERRICK, that weaver of lovely words, wrote that, it was Youth that Man was accused of squandering. Never before have we been so guilty of that crime than as we are today.

Discrimination against the elderly people is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon. Despite the obvious fact of the aging of societies, everlasting youth, fitness, and thus usefulness of a person are promoted. Discrimination also extends to the field of healthcare. It can be concluded that a sick and weak person is more exposed to it. Manifestations of such behaviors are regulations that do not give equal rights to all age groups and limit access to selected services for the elderly people. Such actions also include the attitudes of the medical staff, which, often imbued with stereotypes about old age, approaches the elderly patient with disregard.

The aim of this chapter is to show the problem of discrimination against elderly patients in the Polish healthcare system, and to indicate possible measures to improve the situation of such people. An attempt will also be made to answer the question about the causes of discriminatory behavior. On the one hand, it is connected with the attitude of the medical personnel, who often treat such patients with superiority. On the other hand, the cause of limited access to some treatments and medical procedures are systemic solutions. Systemic solutions cause that such patients have limited access to some treatments and medical procedures. It is important to consider how these two issues are related. Do social attitudes, stereotypes, influence regulations, or regulations limiting the rights of the elderly cause a change in the reactions of medical staff? To answer this question, an appropriate solution can be proposed. Should the actions fighting discrimination be actions aimed at changing legal regulations or should the burden be shifted to education and social campaigns?

The purpose of this study is to develop new type of reverse mortgage contract. How to provide adequate services and housing for an increasing number of people that are dependent on the help of others is a crucial question in the European Union (EU). The housing stock in Europe is not fit to support a shift from institutional care to the home-based independent living. Some 90% of houses in the UK and 70%–80% in Germany are not adequately built, as they contain accessibility barriers for people with emerging functional impairments. The available reverse mortgage contracts do not allow for relocation to their own adapted facilities. How to finance the adaptation from housing equity is discussed.

The authors have extended the existing loan reverse mortgage model. Actuarial methods based on the equivalence of the actuarial present values and the multiple decrement approach are used to evaluate premiums for flexible longevity and lifetime long-term care (LTC) insurance for financing adequate facilities.

The adequate, age-friendly housing provision that is appropriate to support the independence and autonomy of seniors with declining functional capacities can lower the cost of health care and improve the well-being of older adults. For financing the development of this kind of facilities for seniors, the authors developed the reverse mortgage scheme with embedded longevity and LTC insurance as a possible financial instrument for better LTC services and housing with care in assisted-living facilities. This kind of facilities should be available for the rapid growth of older cohorts.

The numerical example is based on rather crude numbers, because of lack of data, as the developed reverse mortgage product with LTC insurance is a novelty. Intensity of care and probabilities of care in certain category of care will change after the introduction of this product.

The model results indicate that it is possible to successfully tie an insurance product to the insured and not to the object.

The introduction of this insurance option will allow many older adult with low pension benefits and a substantial home equity to safely opt for a reverse mortgage and benefit from better social care.

While currently available reverse mortgage contracts lapse when the homeowner moves to assisted-living facilities in any EU Member State, in the paper a new method is developed where multiple adjustments of housing to the functional capacities with relocation is possible, under the same insurance and reverse mortgage contract. The case of Slovenia is presented as a numerical example. These insurance products, as a novelty, are portable, so the homeowner can move in own specialised housing unit in assisted-living facilities and keep the existing reverse mortgage contract with no additional costs, which is not possible in the current insurance products. With some small modifications, the method is useful for any EU Member State.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive training program for volunteers for the elderly in Israel, which has been operated under the National Insurance Institute of the State of Israel.

The paper considers the need and values of training elderly volunteers to support the elderly in the community. The methodology of training is presented, starting with the first program of a new volunteer and continue with an advanced consultant course. The methodology of maintaining and continuous improvement of the training programs are also discussed.

Each year, about 500 volunteers participate in a 64 hours (four weekly hours for 16 weeks) new volunteer course, and about 50 volunteers participate in the consultant course. In addition, all active volunteers (about 4,000) participate in regular training groups, every alternate week for two hours.

The paper introduces a unique training methodology and training programs for elderly volunteers to support the elderly in the community. A continuous improvement methodology is discussed to ensure training effectiveness.