Aging in Context Special Interest Group

Affiliated 2017

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Contact Information

Susan McCurry
University of Washington
Research Professor
Seattle, WA, USA

SIG Leaders

Susan McCurry
Lynn Northrop

Description of Interest Area

Assessment, treatment, and advocacy for older adults in a whole person context.

SIG Mission

Our mission is to foster the use of contextual behavioral science to alleviate human suffering and promote wellbeing among older adults, including:

• Critically evaluating and challenging myths and stereotypes about aging and late life issues;

• Promoting whole-person assessments to understand aging in its historical, physiological, cognitive, and psychosocial context;

• Developing interventions and training tools linked to these assessments, grounded in scientific methodology and empirical evidence; and

• Encouraging social/political advocacy to stimulate consideration of geriatric issues in psychological research, training, and contextual science.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) study of successful/resilient aging, diversity and cultural influences on aging outcomes, efficacy of psychological treatments for elderly populations, the role of mindfulness and compassion in care and treatment of older adults, issues related to age-related psychological changes along the cognitive continuum, family and professional caregiving for older adults, late-life residential care transitions and adjustments, aging and homelessness, health equity for older persons, aging and spirituality, and death and dying. We acknowledge the broad and complex contextual factors that influence the aging process and welcome interdisciplinary perspectives and participation.

Description of SIG membership

Consistent with the interdisciplinary nature of work with older adults, we hope to attract a mix of colleagues from diverse clinical backgrounds including psychology, family counseling, nursing, and medicine. We also anticipate interest not only from persons directly working with older adults currently, but also from individuals who have aging friends and family members, who have experience with caregiving or late-life bereavement, who are concerned about social/political marginalization of older persons, or who are themselves not getting any younger and want to know more!

SIG Activities

We have a listserv and facebook page for communication with potentially interested members. Activities that have been discussed to date as being of interest for future SIG activities include: planning aging-focused presentations or symposia; facilitating aging-related workshops; participating in suggesting speakers for the annual meeting; coordinating grant efforts to sponsor a student award to reinforce interest in aging; developing on-line trainings; promoting research collaborations; sharing innovations related to assessment, training, care, or advocacy for older persons, and maintaining a webpage for research/publications.