Healthy Ageing and Aged Care takes a person-centred approach to supporting older people within the community and in care. With relevance to a wide range of health practitioners, it brings to life healthy ageing, with a focus on wellness in primary and community care settings, as well as institutional care locations. Addressing attitudes, confronting stereotypes and challenging perceptions of aged care, it offers a new way of thinking about ageing based on stories and experiences of older people.

This second edition introduces students to recent changes in aged care, including the outcomes of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety 2021 report, the impact of COVID on the older person and data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics into ageing, population growth and demographics.

As future health professionals, students will be engaged in learning through stories of older people, some of which are captured on video, the podcasts with authors and the written text. These are designed to challenge attitudes towards older people, opening the student to transformative learning. New knowledge can then be applied to clinical practice through the case studies in each chapter, encouraging the student to work with the older person so that appropriate support can be suggested to enhance quality of life.

PART 1: THE CONTEXT OF AGEING

1: The Opportunities and Challenges of Ageing in Australia

2: Policies Influencing Aged Care in Australia: Past, Present and Future

3: Healthy Ageing and Aged Care of First Nations Australians

4: The Personal Perspective of Ageing in a Complex World

PART 2: THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF AGEING

5: Family Relationships and Informal Care

6: Ageing in Rural Areas: Embracing Diversity

7: Elder Abuse

8: Older People Volunteering

9: Leisure, Sport and Recreation in the Lives of Older People

PART 3: THE CLINICAL ASPECTS OF AGEING AND AGED CARE

10: The Impact of Physiological Changes on Older People: Implications for Nursing Practice

11: The Older Person in Acute Care

12: Maintaining Mental Health through the Ageing Experience

13: Dementia

14: Pharmacology

15: Optimal Nutrition and Hydration

16: Oral Health

17: Mobility and Falls Prevention

18: Managing Multiple Chronic Conditions (Multimorbidity)

19: End-of-life Care

Associate Professor Maree Bernoth is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences at Charles Sturt University and has over 30 years’ experience working in aged care.

Denise Winkler is a writer, editor and research assistant. Her primary focus is qualitative research with older people and their experience of ageing.