Environmental Gerontology What Now?

Environmental gerontology ? the research on aging and environment ? evolved during the late 1960s, when the domain became a relevant topic due to societal concerns with the problems of housing for elderly people. The field proliferated during the 1970s and 1980s, and remains viable and active today on an international scale. However, in recent times, the viability of the field and its future has been brought into question.

In this volume, international experts across diverse areas reflect on the current progress of their respective disciplines, illustrating research-grounded benefits emerging from their work, and suggesting new agenda that can guide progress in the future. The contributors address a wide range of issues, including: evaluation of existing paradigms and new theories that might advance both research and training; issues and applications in methods, measures, and empirically-generated research agenda; innovative approaches to environmental transformations in home, community, and long-term care settings; and understudied populations and issues in environmental gerontology.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Housing for the Elderly.

1. First Words PART I: PARADIGMS, THEORIES, AND CONTEXT: STOCK-TAKING AND NEW GROUND 2. Environmental Gerontology: What Now? 3. The Quest for a New Paradigm: A Need to Rewire the Way We Think 4. Out of Their Residential Comfort and Mastery Zones: Toward a More Relevant Environmental Gerontology 5. Environmental Gerontology for the Future: Community-Based Living for the Third Age PART II: METHODS AND MEASURES: ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS 6. Implementation of Research-Based Strategies to Foster Person–Environment Fit in Housing Environments: Challenges and Experiences during 20 Years 7. On the Quantitative Assessment of Perceived Housing in Later Life 8. Building a "Practice-Based" Research Agenda: Emerging Scholars Confront a Changing Landscape in Long-Term Care PART III: TRANSFORMING ENVIRONMENTS: HOME AND COMMUNITY CONTEXTS 9. Age-friendly Philadelphia: Bringing Diverse Networks Together around Aging Issues 10. Assessing and Adapting the Home Environment to Reduce Falls and Meet the Changing Capacity of Older Adults 11. Aging and Dying in Place: A Personal Journey PART IV: TRANSFORMING ENVIRONMENTS: CARE-BASED SETTINGS 12. Veterans Health Administration: A Model for Transforming Nursing Home Care 13. European Long-Term Care Models: An Interview with Victor Regnier 14. Design for Dementia Care: A Retrospective Look at the Woodside Place Model PART V: INTO THE LIGHT: POPULATIONS AND TOPICS DESERVING MORE ATTENTION 15. Understudied Older Populations and Settings in Environmental Gerontology: Candidates for Future Research 16. The Dark Side: Stigma in Purpose-Built Senior Environments 17. The Role of the Social Environment on Physical and Mental Health of Older Adults 18. Last Words

Rick J. Scheidt is a Professor of Lifespan Human Development at Kansas State University, USA. His research focuses on the ecology of aging in small rural towns. He has served on numerous editorial boards and is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, the American Psychological Society, and the Association for Psychological Science.

Benyamin Schwarz is a Professor in the Department of Architectural Studies at the University of Missouri, USA. He has designed numerous facilities for the elderly in Israel and in the United States. His research addresses issues of long-term care settings and fundamentals of Environmental Gerontology. He has been the Editor of the Journal of Housing for the Elderly since 2000.