Applying Psychological Science, Benefiting Society
Thirty-nine percent of people across the world attend a religious service every week, but of them, few know just how beneficial religious involvement can be! As life changes with aging, from physical declines to loss of loved ones, religious involvement can help you remain healthy. No matter your prior involvement or your current abilities, you can experience the benefits of religion. Here are four reasons why you should embrace your faith as a means toward healthy aging.
Though there are many words for it such as conning or swindling, scamming has one clear definition: financial exploitation in a deceptive manner. Have you ever received a phone call or an email offering a free trip to some luxurious paradise, warning about your unpaid taxes, or threatening legal action if you fail to pay a fee to help your friend? With email, automated robocallers, and inexpensive international calling services, at some point or another most people will have received one or more fraudulent messages. In general, older adults are more likely to be targeted. Though new types of cons are always occurring and be used against anyone, the Department of Justice has identified some that are more likely to be directed at older adults.
When it comes to disasters, older Americans are the age group most likely to experience devastating outcomes due to a variety of risk factors. #OAM18
By Ryan C. Thompson & Rowena Gomez, PhD (Palo Alto University) Improving physical health behaviors, such as eating healthy and exercise, is not the only way to protect older adults from stroke. In fact, psychological factors have been shown to play a role in increasing as well as reducing the risk of stroke. For example, […]
Older adults are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. If you are interested in going into this exciting field, here are five simple steps to jumpstart your career in aging.
Older adults account for an increasing proportion of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, in the United States. Notwithstanding, sex after sixty continues to remain shrouded in silence and stigma. In this post, doctoral student Christina Pierpaoli Parker discusses the reasons for and consequences of the scantiness of late life sexual health conversations, concluding with recommendations for increasing their visibility.
“I would kill myself.” This is what a 70 year-old transgender woman told me recently when I asked what she would do if she needed long-term care. While this sounds dramatic, it is a common sentiment among older transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) adults (Witten, 2014). Many TGNC older adults do not have family caregivers available to meet their needs for assistance in later life, having been rejected and ostracized by their families of origin according to a study by Grant and colleagues (2011), and long-term care services may be their only option.
On February 13, 2015 the Elder Justice Reauthorization Act (H.R. 988) was introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill addresses the growing problem of elder financial abuse and emphasizes the role the federal government should take in coordinating and leading state support efforts. It provides a legal framework for necessary cooperation between federal and state agencies that handle health, legal and social services.
Whether your Valentine’s Day plans include a romantic partner, dear friends, or a solo activity, why not trip the light fantastic? In other words: make like Fred and Ginger and go dancing! Dancing, research increasingly shows, is good for both your physical and your psychological health.
Facilitating physician and patient engagement in a shared, or collaborative, decision-making process is gaining more attention within healthcare. Using shared decision-making strategies gives physicians more opportunity to provide patients with the necessary medical information to make informed choices.
Psychology Benefits Society 