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- Program design
RE-AIM: a comprehensive framework for program planning and evaluation
Effective, practical, evidence-based interventions for health promotion and self-management of chronic disease offer advantages for both older adults and program planners. As program participants, older adults can look forward to improvements in their health. Program planners can proceed confidently with the knowledge that these programs will yield demonstrable, measurable outcomes that both healthcare partners and funders seek and increasingly support.
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Living well with dementia: guidance for exercise instructors & wellness leaders by Bob Laventure, MEd and Claudine Aherne, MA
Living well with dementia will challenge increasing numbers of people in the years to come, as the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias continues to rise1 (see the box on page 66). Wellness and exercise instructors and physical activity leaders have the opportunity to play a particularly valuable supporting role. Understandably, however, many find it difficult to know where to start or how to approach this area of practice.
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Living well with dementia: principles of planning into practice by Bob Laventure, MEd, and Claudine Aherne, MA
As the number of people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias continues to rise, wellness professionals grapple with supporting health, wellness and quality of life for these individuals. The challenge for many professionals is how to provide these clients with effective wellness programming.
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Guidelines for physical activity: pointers for active-aging professionals by Judy Kruger, PhD
Released by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans offer important new information to help people of all ages and conditions improve health through physical activity. This set of recommendations, based on a thorough review of the scientific evidence, presents clear guidelines for different population groups. These include older adults, individuals with disabilities, and those with chronic medical conditions, among others.
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Healthy balance, brains & bones, part one: balance training gets wet by Mary E. Sanders, PhD, FACSM
Millie is 63 years old with a history of being active. Last year, Millie had a right knee replacement—which her healthcare providers considered successful—and she completed all her physical therapy sessions afterwards. Yet she reported feeling “klutzy and unstable a lot.” When we measured her body composition, we learned that Millie’s total muscle mass was greater in her left leg compared to her right. Her scores for static balance (defined below) showed that she was within healthy norms while standing on her left leg, but beneath normative scores for her age while standing on the right. In addition to these issues, Millie was recently diagnosed with osteopenia (lower-than-normal bone density), putting her at risk for osteoporosis.
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Launch of a Laughter Yoga program by Rita Lopienski, MA
In our fast-paced world, it’s easy to get too serious and stressed. In whole-person wellness, we look at how to integrate activities and events to benefit our clients in a more healthy way. We look at social, physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, environmental and vocational components. There are many creative activities that integrate these components into wonderful wellness programs.
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