Public Education

NPR had an interesting story this morning on adults with dementia volunteering at a school in Cleveland. As of yet there are no research data on this specific program; however, it appears that older volunteers without dementia benefit from their volunteer experience in schools through increased social interaction and cognitive activity (see articles on Experience Corps).

Today marks the beginning of Older Americans' Mental Health Week. The purpose of this week is to spread the message that mental illness (e.g., depression, anxiety) is not a normal part of aging.

The current issue of the monthly APA Monitor features geropsychology as one example of an area where psychologists are currently in demand. The main article describes an overview of what geropsychologists do and provides a few helpful links for finding out more about psychology and aging.

Also featured in this issue is Merla Arnold, Ph.D., who describes her work in assisted living settings.

The scientific study of "successful aging" is still relatively new and the precise ways in which individuals manage to thrive as older adults is not very well understood. Recently, the results from the first study on aging visual artists in New York City were released by the Research Center for Arts and Culture at Teachers College, Columbia University.

The aim of the project was to document the survival skills and social support of aging artists in New York City's five boroughs. The study found that the artists in this sample rank high in life satisfaction, have high self-esteem as a person and an artist, communicate daily or weekly with other artists, and are very satisfied with their careers. The authors of the report made several recommendations for both redefining "work" and "old age" and policy changes that would improve the lives of this hardy group of seniors.