Healthy Minds for Life A Message from Lee Ryan, Professor and Head of the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona Training the Next Generation in the Science of Aging
validated knowledge so that they can help direct and inform positive interactions with older individuals, both professionally and personally. At the University of Arizona , my colleagues and I recently launched a new undergraduate certificate program called “Insights into Healthy Aging” that provides students with in-depth understanding of the multiple dimensions of the aging process – biological, psychological and social – in the context of the individual and society. Our university is uniquely positioned to offer such an innovative program, because of our extensive multidisciplinary research expertise on aging and the impact of aging for the health, well-being, and quality of life for older adults. These faculty have created courses that help our students understand how aging affects cognitive, psychological, and social functioning, identify myths that perpetuate negative stereotypes of older people, and identify practical solutions aimed at enhancing quality of life for older adults and their caregivers. A unique feature of the certificate program is that all the courses include practical knowledge with a focus on problem solving and creating optimal solutions for real-world situations. Our students are also given multiple opportunities to interact with older adults in the community so that they can learn, from a different perspective, what ‘aging’ is really like. The undergraduate certificate program asks students to consider key issues in aging, including: • how cognitive, psychological, and social functions change as we age, and how are those changes different from Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders of aging, • the misconceptions about older adults in our society, and what impact do these myths have on the health and well-being of older adults, • how aging, and our beliefs about
As a scientist who studies the aging brain, I like numbers. So, let’s start with some truly staggering statistics: • By 2030, nearly 80 million individuals in the U.S. will be over the age of 65, and the fastest growing segment of the population are people over 85 years of age. • More than 50% of people plan to remain in the workforce beyond the typical retirement age of 65, resulting in a major shift in the workforce over the next 10-20 years. • 90% of older adults want to reside in their homes for as long as possible. • Approximately 1 in 9 individuals above 65 (around 12%) will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at some point in their lifetime. These are just numbers, but each one of them has major implications for our society. To meet these changing needs, careers in elder care industries are expanding rapidly, including senior living communities, individualized home services of all kinds, telehealth and home healthcare, memory care and rehabilitation facilities, and home hospice care. Government entities, public and private healthcare systems, corporate human resource departments, as well as practitioners in medicine, psychology, and law are all expanding and tailoring the services they provide to better serve the needs of the growing older adult population. Unfortunately, too often these service programs rely, at least in part, on myths and stereotypes about aging rather than scientifically validated information. For service providers, practitioners, caregivers, and policy makers, knowledge of the aging process is not only valuable, but also, in fact, imperative. We need to find ways to dispel the myths of aging, by providing people with scientifically
aging, differ across diverse cultural and ethnic groups, • how caregivers can provide optimal care while maintaining their own health and well-being, • the changing needs of the aging workforce, as people remain active beyond the typical age of retirement, • ways to help older adults remain independent and live fulfilling lives despite physical and health challenges, and • how we can better harness the immense resource of knowledge, expertise, and wisdom that older adults offer, as our society ages. We’ve also created a version of the program for professionals, caregivers, and anyone who may be interacting directly with older adults. By making the content available fully online, we hope that people with busy jobs and families will also have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and enhance their skills. We’re excited about the opportunity to increase awareness and knowledge about issues that are so important for all of us, and our society, as we age. Check out our website if you’d like to know more about the Insights into Healthy Aging Certificate programs at https://psychology. arizona.edu/certificate-programs . To learn more about the Precision Aging Network, visit our website at https:// precisionagingnetwork.org/. If you’d like to learn about our research studies, or if you’d be interested in participating, send us an email at healthymindsforlife@email. arizona.edu. We’ll tell you about some great opportunities to get involved! Lee Ryan is a Professor and Head of the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona. She is a researcher studying aging and Alzheimer’s disease and is a member of the Precision Aging Network.
Page 20 | June 2023, Never Too Late
Pima Council on Aging
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