Health Promotion & Aging Resource Review for Teaching Health Promotion & Aging Section 1: Epidemiology of Aging & Need for Health Promotion Victoria M. Rizzo, LCSW-R, PhD Jessica Seidman, LMSW Columbia University School of Social Work

Between 1900 & 1999, the population: Epidemiology of Aging Between 1900 & 1999, the population: Aged 65 and older grew from 3 million to 37 million; Aged 85 & older increased from 100,000 to 5.3 million (Federal Interagency Forum, 2008).

Factors that Impact Aging Gender & Marital Status Educational Attainment Racial & Ethnic Diversity Health issues

Myths Affecting Health Promotion in Older Age The Majority of older adults live in developed countries. FALSE: Of the 580 million older adults throughout the world, 355 million live in DEVELOPING countries.

Myths Affecting Health Promotion in Older Age All older people are similar. FALSE: People aged 65 and older are not a homogenous group. Their diversity is based on gender, cultural background, community, country of origin, and type of living arrangements.

Myths Affecting Health Promotion in Older Age The aging process is the same for men and women. FALSE: Gender roles and responsibilities, life expectancy, and biological characteristics make this process different for men and women.

Myths Affecting Health Promotion in Older Age Older people are frail. FALSE: There has been a significant decrease in the occurrence of chronic disability among older adults between 1982 (73.5% non-disabled) and 2005 (81% non-disabled) (Manton, Gu, & Lamb, 2005).

Myths Affecting Health Promotion in Older Age Older people do not contribute to society. FALSE: SeniorCorps, a program developed by the Corporation for National and Community Service, has connected 500,000 senior volunteers with opportunities for meaningful unpaid work (RTI International, 2008).