Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Topic- Market research
Unlock the future: Insights to close the perception gap between senior living and consumers by Jeff Weiss
Explore the gap between community offerings in senior living and consumer expectations and perceptions with these findings from a new International Council on Active Aging/Age of Majority research report. Gain insights and takeaways to begin bridging the divide.
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What wellness means to active-aging consumers by Jeff Weiss
Significant pressures confront the senior living industry, including the impact of COVID and an increased desire by many people to "thrive at home" as long as they can. The industry needs both a long-term strategy and immediate actions to move their businesses and properties forward. An area that garners increasing attention is a broader focus on resident wellness. Recent research offers insights into [active agers'] attitudes toward wellness, senior living and aging priorities.
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Indoor air quality, part one: Why it matters and how to improve it by Regina Vaicekonyte, MS, WELL AP
Awareness has increased in recent years about the health impacts of indoor air quality. Recent survey results reveal consumer insights on the importance of indoor air quality across environments serving older adults. Read on to learn more, plus gain a trio of strategies for cleaner air.
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What lifelong learners told ICAA
For two decades, the International Council on Active Aging has reported research about age 50+ adults to help members stay up to date with the changing body of knowledge. The active-aging industry is the primary focus for ICAA research. But, as the association celebrates its 20th anniversary, results of its first consumer survey have arrived. The ICAA Lifestyle Survey of Older Adults shares the perspectives of people assumed to be lifelong learners because they responded to an invitation in a One Day University newsletter. Overall, these individuals are in good, very good or excellent health, appear to be financially stable and engage in lifelong learning. In addition to their views on housing, survey respondents also shared their priorities, satisfaction with areas of their lives, use of technologies and reasons for considering a move out of their current home. Details appear in the full survey report [available at www.icaa.cc in the "Research" ("Reports") section].
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Taking a digital dive into the lives of "Active Aging consumers" by Jeff Weiss
As a company with a mission to break the myths and to crush the stereotypes around aging, we see examples every day of the older population embracing a digital life. This should surprise no one. The older population has grown up with tech and, in many ways, has had to adapt to the rapid pace of digital change as much as anyone--going from typewriters and dial phones in childhood, to cordless phones and computers in youth or adulthood, to mobile Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-enabled devices in mid- or later-life. Still, cold hard numbers talk--especially for skeptical marketers--so Age of Majority saw an opportunity to help quantify the digital experience of adults we term "Active Aging consumers," or Active Agers (that is, people ages 55+ who are digitally, socially, mentally and physically active). ... [W]e undertook one of our most comprehensive research efforts to date to map out the digital landscape among Active Agers. ... The findings will likely be a wake-up call to marketers who underestimate the role of digital devices in the lives of the older population as a means of serving and engaging this group.
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Aging in the time of COVID-19, part two: An ICAA interview with Age Wave's Ken Dychtwald by Colin Milner
In the 1980s, psychologist and gerontologist Ken Dychtwald, PhD, predicted a "demographic revolution" in the making. Demographic and cultural forces would converge, he believed, in an "absolutely predictable arrival, in our society and in our time," of an unprecedented demographic shift to an aging population. For this phenomenon, he coined the term age wave. And he signaled the need for society to prepare in his 1989 book Age Wave: The Challenges and Opportunities of an Aging America. Today, the renowned researcher, consultant and best-selling author of 17 books is considered one of North America's most original thinkers on the social, economic, healthcare, marketing and workforce implications of the age wave. As CEO of the International Council on Active Aging, I have long viewed Dr. Dychtwald as an early visionary whose work helped to lay the foundation for the active-aging industry and continues to this day to build it. Below is part two of an interview I conducted with Dychtwald earlier this year, in which he delves into topics ranging from challenges with healthcare, wellness and Alzheimer's, to COVID's senior living impact, to longevity, retirement and the "third age." He also ponders the question of legacy. Let's jump in.
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