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Older adults’ sexual health is becoming an increasingly important component of healthy aging in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and rising infection rates among this age cohort. The increase in HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the older adult population ignites the need to understand the reasons why older adults are omitted from HIV/AIDS prevention education policy.

This chapter examines the social forces that influence HIV/AIDS policy at the state and community levels. Through qualitative methodology and analysis, including interviews with state policymakers and managers of AIDS service organizations in four Midwestern states (n=31), I look for trends and patterns as to whether or not older adults are considered as an “at-risk” group for HIV infection.

Findings reveal that HIV/AIDS policy may be impacted by enduring sexual scripts about older adults. To some extent both state policymakers and AIDS service organization personnel adhere to stereotypes about older adults’ sexuality and sexual activity, which is then implemented in their health promotion activities. The result is that gaps exist in HIV/AIDS prevention education for older adults, despite the fact that current trends show an increase in new HIV infections and AIDS diagnoses among people over the age of 50.

While this is an exploratory study of the available HIV/AIDS prevention education and health promotion activities for older adults, as well as the viewpoints of state policymakers and AIDS service organization personnel, the findings do indicate the need for additional research on the potentially dangerous sexual behaviors – lack of HIV testing, low condom usage, multiple partners – exhibited by older adults. Future research involving interviews with older adults, physicians, and medical personnel may add new perspectives to the current research.

As the baby boomers continue to age and challenge cultural stereotypes of sexual behaviors among older adults, research in the area of sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention education will remain an important component of healthy aging. This research begins what will ultimately be a necessary conversation.

Older adults are at risk for developing metabolic syndrome (MSX). Given the growing rural older adult population and the unknown prevalence rate of MSX in rural communities, the purpose of this paper is to assess the risk factors for MSX among rural elders.

Individuals aged 55+ from four West Alabama rural communities were assessed by an interdisciplinary healthcare team via a mobile unit (n=216). Descriptive analyses and analysis of variances (ANOVA) were conducted to assess the effect of gender, race and community on the number of risk factors of MSX among rural elders.

Results of a three-way ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between gender, age and community on the number of MSX risk factors [F (16,193)= 2.41, p <0.01]. Rural communities with lower social economic status (SES) and predominantly African American residents were at higher risk for developing MSX compared to communities with higher SES [F(3, 68) = 7.42, p<0.05].

Findings suggest low SES rural communities are at risk of developing MSX. Innovative approaches such as mobile healthcare delivery are crucial to providing quality healthcare and preventive health screens to underserved rural older adult communities.

Limited research is available on assessing rural midlife and older adults at risk for metabolic syndrome largely due to lack of communication or transportation infrastructure and their history of negative experiences with public institutions. This research demonstrates that these barriers can be addressed.

The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 (ASP Act) mandates public bodies to investigate situations of harm and to support and protect adults at risk. One of the fundamental principles of the legislation is to involve the person in the adult protection process. Older people are highly represented among those defined as adults at risk and have the right to participate in decisions about their lives. However, contextual factors can impact participatory parity, and participation can be tokenistic. Drawing on the author’s practice experience, this paper aims to explore the supports and barriers to meaningful participation in adult protection.

Based on practice during the first decade of the ASP Act, this paper uses amalgamated scenarios involving older adults at risk to illustrate some of the key themes emanating from literature.

Despite Human Rights Conventions and law promoting participatory principles, research evidence and practice experience suggests that ethical principles do not always translate to practice. Within adult protection case conferences (APCCs), participation is nuanced and multifaceted, involving individual and structural facilitators and impediments. APCCs can be inhospitable environments for the adult at risk. But they also have the potential to be collaborative and supportive spaces, promoting the person’s self esteem and agency. The author plans to conduct research with service users and practitioners exploring the extent to which APCCs can facilitate meaningful participation.

This paper contributes to the wider debate about the participatory rights of service users and the value of experiential knowledge.

Older adults are at a high risk of falling. The consequences of falls are worse when the person is unable to get up afterward. Thus, an intelligent video monitoring system (IVS) was developed to detect falls and send alerts to a respondent. This study aims to explore the implementation of the IVS at home.

A multiple case study was conducted with four dyads: older adults and informal caregivers. The IVS was implemented for two months at home. Perceptions of the IVS and technical variables were documented. Interviews were thematically analyzed, and technical data were descriptively analyzed.

The rate of false alarms was 0.35 per day. Participants had positive opinions of the IVS and mentioned its ease of use. They also made suggestions for improvement.

This study showed the feasibility of a two-month implementation of this IVS. Its development should be continued and tested with a larger experimental group.

This study aims to examine the recent literature on health-promoting behavior, health needs and associated factors among older adults.

An massive search of five databases involving documents in the past decade was commenced.

This review showed a significant relationship between older adults’ demographic characteristics (marital status, income, chronic disease, education level and smoking status) and health-promoting behaviors. This review showed that older adults with a high level of education, high income, chronic diseases and smoker and married older adults are associated with better health-promoting behaviors.

The result of the current review supports the Pender Health Promotion Model that individual personal characteristics can affect the level of engagement in health-promoting behaviors. Assessing the health-promoting behaviors of older adults can help in identifying their health needs.

Several epidemiological studies have reported an age-related increase in the prevalence of sleep disturbances. This study aims to investigate the relationship between sleep and sarcopenia/frailty in older adults and clarify issues that remain to be addressed in future studies.

PubMed was searched for relevant studies with the following keywords in the title: “sleep” and “sarcopenia” or “sleep” and “frailty.” A total of 15 studies published in English between 1998 and 2018 were reviewed.

Among the four studies that examined the relationship between sarcopenia and sleep, two reported that long or short sleep duration increased the risk of sarcopenia and this association was more pronounced in women than men. Among the seven studies examining the relationship between frailty and sleep, four reported that higher Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores were associated with an increased risk of frailty.

Most previous studies have focused on interventions targeting a single area such as muscle strength or exercise habits, in older adults at risk for frailty. The results suggest that interventions targeting improved sleep may positively impact the maintenance of muscle strength.

The literature review revealed that too much or too little sleep increases the risk of sarcopenia in older adults. Further, sleep deprivation, greater night-time wakefulness and reduced sleep quality increase the risk of frailty. Interestingly, the risk of mortality is increased in individuals with daytime functional disorders such as excessive drowsiness or napping habits.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on ethical and judicial themes related to technology and the older adults.

Different consecutive phases in technology design and allocation will be discussed from a range of perspectives.

Longevity is one of the greatest achievements of contemporary science and a result of development of social relations. Currently, various non-communicable diseases affect older adults and impose the greatest burden on global health. There is a great emphasis across Europe on caring for the older person in their own homes. Technology has a mediating role in determining the possibilities for good quality of life (QOL). The concept of assisting the older adult through the use of technology so as to access healthcare services has enormous potential. Although the potential of technology in healthcare is widely recognised, technology use can have its downsides. Professionals need to be aware of the risks, namely, those related to the privacy of the older person, which may accompany technology use.

By 2050, there will be more people aged over 65 than there are children. This phenomenon of global ageing constitutes a massive challenge in the area of health protection.

Professionals need to be aware of the risks, for example, related to the privacy of the older person, that may accompany technology use.

There is a great emphasis across Europe on caring for the older person in their own homes. Technology has a mediating role in determining the possibilities for QOL.

The concept of assisting the older adult through the use of technology to avail of healthcare has enormous potential. Assistive technology, social media use and augmentative and alternative communication can have a positive effect on the QOL of older people, as long as they are supported enough in use of these technologies. However, ethical and juridical considerations are at stake as well.

Efficacious self-management at older ages requires the ability to make an accurate appraisal of one’s current and future health situation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how community living older adults, with different self-perceived health status, appraise their future health status and their future health-care and housing needs.

The study population, 555 community living older adults, aged 65–75, completed a questionnaire for self-screening of their general health status.

The results show that over 70% of the older adults, even many of those who perceive their own health status to be “poor” or “fair” and those who are “frail”, do not expect deterioration in their physical or mental health nor extra health-care or housing needs within the next half year. In addition, a substantial part of the respondents, particularly those who perceive their general health as less favourable, tend to have a “wait-and-see” attitude and want to live their life day-to-day.

Community living older adults may not always be able or motivated to monitor their own health condition and prepare themselves for changing needs. Supporting older adults by motivating and teaching them to monitor their condition and overcome barriers to engage in pro-active coping can help older adults to manage the negative consequences of ageing while they have still sufficient resources available.

The findings of this study can help health-care professionals to tailor the support of older adults’ self-management.

The rapidly increasing number of older adults cycling through local criminal justice systems (jails, probation, and parole) suggests a need for greater collaboration among a diverse group of local stakeholders including professionals from healthcare delivery, public health, and criminal justice and directly affected individuals, their families, and advocates. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that local communities can use to understand and begin to address the needs of criminal justice-involved older adults.

The framework included solicit input from community stakeholders to identify pressing challenges facing criminal justice-involved older adults, conduct needs assessments of criminal justice-involved older adults and professionals working with them; implement quick-response interventions based on needs assessments; share findings with community stakeholders and generate public feedback; engage interdisciplinary group to develop an action plan to optimize services.

A five-step framework for creating an interdisciplinary community response is an effective approach to action planning and broad stakeholder engagement on behalf of older adults cycling through the criminal justice system.

This study proposes the Criminal Justice Involved Older Adults in Need of Treatment Initiative Framework for establishing an interdisciplinary community response to the growing population of medically and socially vulnerable criminal justice-involved older adults.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence of suicide attempts and explore the suicide methods among community-dwelling Chinese older adults.

Data were drawn from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE) study, a population-based epidemiological study of Chinese older adults aged 60 years and above in the greater Chicago area. Guided by the community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, the study enrolled 3,159 community-dwelling Chinese older adults from 2011 to 2013.

The lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts is 791 per 100,000 and the past 12-month prevalence of suicide attempts is 285 per 100,000. Medication overdose is the most common suicide method both in the group of lifetime suicide attempts and 12-month suicide attempts. Lower income is positively correlated with lifetime suicide attempts and 12-month suicide attempts. Living with fewer household members is positively correlated with lifetime suicide attempts but not with 12-month suicide attempts.

The findings emphasize the needs for improved understanding of suicidal behavior among minority older adults and to develop culturally and linguistically sensitive prevention and intervention strategies.

Community stakeholders should improve the accessibility and availability of culturally sensitive mental health services and extend timely and effective suicide interventions in the Chinese community.

This study represents the first and largest population-based epidemiological study to investigate the suicide attempts and methods among US Chinese older adults. In addition, the implementation of the CBPR approach allows us to minimize the cultural barriers associated with suicide investigation. The study emphasizes the need for improved understanding on suicidal behavior among minority older adults to inform culturally and linguistically sensitive prevention and intervention strategies.