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Another Wrinkle In The Debate About Successful Aging: The Undervalued Concept Of Resilience And The Lived Experience Of Dementia, Phyllis Harris
Another Wrinkle In The Debate About Successful Aging: The Undervalued Concept Of Resilience And The Lived Experience Of Dementia, Phyllis Harris
Phyllis Braudy Harris
The concept of "successful aging" is a contested discourse in gerontology. Two conflicting paradigms dominate the discussion: a health promotion activity model, and a model critical of the concept of successful aging. However, this study takes a different perspective and proposes that perhaps we have been striving for the wrong goal. The true quest as we age should not be for successful aging, but our goal should be for resilience, an undervalued and not fully examined concept in aging. Developing resilience is possible for many older adults regardless of social and cultural backgrounds or physical and cognitive impairments, unlike successful …
Maintaining Friendships In Early Stage Dementia: Factors To Consider, Phyllis Harris
Maintaining Friendships In Early Stage Dementia: Factors To Consider, Phyllis Harris
Phyllis Braudy Harris
Friendships and the importance of social connectiveness play a critical role in aging well, regardless of gender, race, social class, or impairment. Yet, dementia takes its toll on social relationships, and many friends withdraw and ‘disappear’, because they can no longer bear to see the changes that are taking place in their diagnosed friend. The dementia care literature documents this abandonment; however, this study examines the opposite occurrence. In order to understand more clearly the role of long-term friendships and how such friendships remain and continue, despite the diagnosis of dementia, this qualitative study examines in depth eight people in …