1. 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

2. 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).

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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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).

8. 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).