News About Aging

Self-neglect is a major and often overlooked problem among older adults. In the United States, more than half of the cases of elder abuse reported each year are because of self-neglect, according the National Center on Elder Abuse. “Self-neglect occurs when a person is not able to meet their own daily essential needs, due either […]

In observance of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), the Philadelphia Financial Exploitation Prevention Taskforce will host its annual event focused on the steps seniors can take to protect their funds. “Charting the Course to Battle Elder Financial Exploitation” will be held on Friday, June 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

October is National Residents’ Rights Month, focusing on the rights and quality of life of residents in long-term care facilities. This year’s theme is “Speak Up: Know Your Rights and How to Use Them.”

June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and June is Elder Abuse Awareness Month. Elder abuse includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; financial exploitation; and neglect or abandonment. In Philadelphia, all forms of elder abuse can be reported to Philadelphia Corporation for Aging’s (PCA’s) Older Adult Protective Services 24/7. Reports of suspected elder abuse can be made 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by calling the PCA Helpline at 215-765-9040; 888-482-9060 (toll-free outside Philadelphia); or TDD 215-765-9041.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro warns consumers about fraudulent calls and scams from individuals impersonating IRS agents.

• Medicaid Demonstrations: Evaluations Yielded Limited Results, Underscoring Need for Changes to Federal Policies and Procedures. GAO-18-220: Published: January 19, 2018. Publicly Released: Feb 20, 2018.  About one-third of Medicaid’s spending goes toward demonstrations, which allow states to test new approaches to delivering Medicaid services. Do they save money? Improve care? The short answer is that states and the federal government don’t fully know. We found that the federal government did not require complete and timely evaluations from the states, so conclusive results were not available. Click on right to  select full report or highlights.
• Hearing Impairment Increases the Risk of Distal Radius, Hip and Spine Fractures: A Longitudinal Follow-up Study Using a National Sample Cohort. So Young Kim, Joon Kyu Lee, Songyong Sim, and Hyo Geun Choi. 2018. PLoS ONE, 13(2): e0192820. Hearing impairment has been suggested to increase the risk of falls. However, most previous studies were conducted in an older population without classification of the fracture regions. This study aimed to delineate the risk of each fracture type in all age populations.

• Applying a Treatment Effects Model to Investigate Public Amenity Effect on Physical Activity of the Elderly.  Chia-Yu Yeh, PhD, Chen-Kang Chang, PhD & Feng-An Yang, MS.  Journal of Aging & Social Policy, Volume 30, 2018 – Issue 1, Pages 72-86 . Published online:  October 11, 2017.  Providing sufficient and accessible parks in metropolitan residential neighborhoods could be one of the most cost-effective ways to promote physical activity for the elderly living in midsize Asian cities.
• Psychosocial Mechanisms Underlying Older Black Men’s Health.  Tyson H Brown PhD, Taylor W Hargrove PhD.  The Journals of Gerontology: Series B – Psychological and Social Sciences, Volume 73, Issue 2, January 11, 2018, Pages 188–197.  Published online: August 3, 2017.  Conventional measures of stressors and coping resources—originally developed to account for variance in health outcomes among predominantly white samples—may not capture psychosocial factors most salient for older Black men’s health.

• Professional quality of life of adult protective service workers.  Angela Ghesquiere , PhD, Stacey B. Plichta , ScD, CPH, Caitlin McAfee , LMSW & Geoff Rogers , BA.  Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, Volume 30, 2018 – Issue 1, Pages 1-19.  Published online: November 21, 2017.  A sizable minority of adult protective service workers (22.7%) were at high risk for burnout, 24.6% were at risk for secondary traumatic stress, and 19.9% reported low compassion satisfaction.
• Armed and Aging: Dementia and Firearms Do Not Mix !  Gabriele Cipriani, Sabrina Danti, Cecilia Carlesi & Mario Di Fiorino.  Journal of Gerontological Social Work, Volume 60, 2017 – Issue 8,  Pages 647-660.  Published online: October 27, 2017.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month, observed in October, shines a light on domestic violence, including abuse between spouses and other intimate partners. SeniorLaw Center (SLC), a nonprofit that aims to improve the lives and protect the rights of older Pennsylvanians, is also shining a light on a particular aspect of this abuse: its older victims. “Older adults are a hidden population within the domestic violence community, and they can face some unique barriers,” said Dana Goldberg, SLC’s director of victim services.