178 Pages
    by Routledge

    194 Pages
    by Routledge

    Open up Dignity and Old Age, and you’ll find a wealth of thoughtful suggestions for how you and others can gain more respect and admiration for your relatives, neighbors, and patients who are in the latter stages of life. You’ll examine the word “dignity” as it relates to the world’s elderly population to the fullest and most challenging extent, taking into account cross-cultural, religious, and even literary influences. Throughout this provoking and thorough examination, you’ll tackle some tough questions, all of which will equip you with the theoretical and practical know-how needed to evoke change and preserve honorable relations with the elderly persons in your professional and personal relationships.

    The manner in which Dignity and Old Age will help you grow in your relationships with elderly people is twofold--ideally and practically. You’ll begin with a revitalizing discussion of concepts that revolve around dignity and the elderly, and from there you’ll move into the sphere of active practice, gleaning a wide variety of ways you can enhance your affairs with the elderly in health care, social services, government, and retirement entitlements and benefits. Specifically, you’ll find positive approaches in these and other areas:

    • the dignity in old age
    • the true meaning of “Quality of Life” in old age
    • achieving respect for ethnic elders as a health care provider
    • bringing spirituality and community together in the last stage of life
    • forming a philanthropic, caring partnership between government and the elderly

      In this insightful volume, you’ll take an important step forward in creating a more dignified quality of life for the world’s elderly--today’s and tomorrow’s. Overall, you’ll gain the variety of perspectives necessary to ensure that everyone you come in contact with in casual, legal, leisure, and professional spheres will see you care enough to be concerned with the ideas and practices contained in Dignity and Old Age.

    Contents
    • Dedication to Ellsworth G. Stanton III
    • Foreword
    • Dignity Over the Life Course
    • Why Dignity in Old Age Matters
    • I.THE MEANING OF DIGNITY
    • Dignity and Quality of LIfe in Old Age
    • Respecting Ethnic Elders: A Perspective for Care Providers
    • Spirituality and Community in the Last Stage of Life
    • Dignity, Cultural Power, and Narrative Redemption: Aging Male Writers Confront the Medical System
    • II. PRACTICE AND POLICY
    • The Cost of Autonomy, the Price of Paternalism
    • Assuring Dignity in Means-Tested Entitlement Programs: An Elusive Goal?
    • Philanthropy and Government: Partners in the Community of Caring
    • Dignity for Oldest Old: Can We Afford It?
    • About the Authors
    • Index

    Biography

    Dobrof, Rose; Disch, Robert; Moody, Harry R