Physical Change and Aging: A Guide for the Helping Professions » (5th Edition)

Sue V. Saxon, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus, School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida. She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology and Counseling from Florida State University and had additional graduate work at the University of Wisconsin in Physiological Psychology. She was a Research Psychologist for the National Institutes of Health and the Laboratory of Perinatal Physiology, University of Puerto Rico Medical School before joining the faculty in Behavioral Sciences at the University of South Florida. As a charter faculty member in the Aging Studies program she developed and taught numerous courses in aging as well as presenting workshops, in-service training, and authoring a number of books and chapters in books on aging. She has been designated a Gerontological Pioneer for outstanding achievement and exemplary contributions to the field of Gerontology by the Southern Gerontological Society.

Mary Jean Etten Ed.D has been a Tenured Full Professor in the College of Nursing at St. Petersburg College where she taught nursing, gerontology, thanatology, and developed innovative curriculum teaching hospice care and gerontological nursing. She is currently an adjunct lecturer in Thanatology in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. Dr. Etten attained a Doctoral degree in Education at Nova Southeastern University, an M.A. in Gerontology, M.A. in Counseling and an M.S. in Nursing from the University of South Florida and is a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner. She is a Fellow in Thanatology and is Board Certified as a Music Practitioner. She has authored several books and manuals as well as journal articles and lectures throughout the United States. Dr. Etten helped found Suncoast Hospice 33 years ago, and is active on several boards and committees in leadership roles in Hospice and with the Institute for Healing through Sound and Music. She was named Florida Nurse Educator of the Year in 2002, and also received the National Association of Gerontology in Higher Education Part-time Faculty Recognition award. In 2004 she received the Sue V. Saxon Outstanding Teaching Award, School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida, for her outstanding teaching in Thanatology.

"[This book] has been honed into an elegant compendium. This outstanding work should be widely read -- it is perhaps the best example of an integrative approach to gerontology." Score: 94, 4 stars

--Doody's

This book serves as an authoritative textbook and guide to the physical changes and common pathologies associated with the aging process, with special emphasis on the psychological and social implications of these changes in the lives of older adults. This fifth edition presents the newly available research findings that differentiate "normal" aging from actual pathology.

The authors provide a thoroughly updated and expanded review of important topics in aging, including death and grieving, complementary and alternative therapies, nutrition, exercise, and much more. The book also demonstrates how the elderly population can gain greater personal control over aging through lifestyle modifications and preventive health strategies.

Key topics introduced and discussed:

• Psychosocial theories of aging
  
• Changes and disorders in the skeletal, nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems
  
• Dementia, delirium, and mild cognitive impairment
  
• Aging in persons with lifelong disabilities
  

This volume serves as a comprehensive textbook for students studying to become health care professionals, and is also a fundamental resource for gerontologists, nurses, social workers, psychologists, rehabilitation specialists, clergy, and counselors.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:David O. Staats, MD(University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center)
Description:This multiauthored book discusses the changes of aging in the body, illnesses accompanying age, and how to manage and prevent these conditions. This is an update of the fourth edition, published in 2002.
Purpose:It is intended to explain aging and the diseases that accompany aging and what to do about them. The authors meet these objectives handsomely.
Audience:The audience includes a variety of helping professionals -- gerontologists, nurses, psychologists, rehabilitation specialists, clergy, and counselors. An educated lay audience also can easily use this book. The authors are all experts in their fields.
Features:Introductory chapters on demography and theories of aging are followed by 12 chapters on aging and disease by organ system. Subsequent chapters cover health promotion and exercise, nutrition, complementary medicine, and medications. There are especially good chapters on aging with disabilities and teaching older adults, usually not founds in works like this. Concluding chapters discuss caregiving and end-of-life care. Two appendixes end the book: one on practical hints for improving safety of older adults and one on useful resources, followed by an excellent glossary and a most useful index.
Assessment:This is an excellent book from start to finish. It has been honed through four previous editions into an elegant compendium. Perhaps no other source can describe in the same breath normal skin changes with age, diseases of the skin, and the psychosocial meaning of the skin. This book is not so technical that it requires a medical degree to understand it, yet it is not afraid to describe in most useful terms a number of common diseases facing older persons. Rehabilitation and prevention are emphasized throughout. The appendixes, glossary, and index add to its value. This outstanding work should be widely read -- it is perhaps the best example of an integrative approach to gerontology.

1 Perspectives on Aging 1

2 Theories of Aging 9

3 The Skin, Hair, and Nails 21

4 The Musculoskeletal System 41

5 The Nervous System 65

6 Dementia and Delirium 89

7 The Sensory Systems 107

8 The Cardiovascular System 135

9 The Respiratory System 163

10 The Gastrointestinal System 177

11 The Urinary System 201

12 The Reproductive System 221

13 The Endocrine System 237

14 The Immune System 255

15 Aging with Lifelong Disabilities 263

16 Special Topics 283

17 Health Promotion and Exercise 301

18 Complementary and Alternative Therapies 317

19 Nutrition 331

20 Medications and the Elderly 365

21 Teaching Older Adults 399

22 Caregiving 413

23 Death and Grief in the Later Years 421

Appendix A Practical Hints for the Safety of Older Adults 457

Appendix B Resources 461

Glossary 463

Index 473