Patient falls are a serious problem, contributing to the morbidity and mortality of the elderly patient. This study reports on the development of the Morse Fall Scale. The scale consists of six scored items and discriminant analysis correctly classifies 80.5% of the patients. Validation of the scale by computer modeling was conducted. Data were randomly split and that analysis procedure repeated. Variables were obtained and weighted using half of these data, and these weights were tested on the remaining data. Similar results were obtained. Sensitivity of the scale was 78% and the positive predictive value, 10.3%. Conversely, specificity was 83% and the negative predictive value, 99.3%. Interrater reliability scores were r=.96. A prospective study in three clinical areas showed that the scale is sensitive to different patient conditions and to length of stay. Thus, the scale permits identification of the patient at risk of falling so that prevention strategies may be targeted to those individuals.

Many elderly in Canada are living independently and managing their own medication use. Since the elderly are more susceptible to the ill-effects of drugs, non-prescription drug use may pose a hazard. In order to conduct a survey to determine the extent of hazardous self-medication with non-prescription analgesics and the factors that contribute to such use, a valid measurement of hazardous use was needed. To determine items for this measurement, a survey was conducted with health professionals in a position to detect problems with drug use by the elderly. Nurses and physicians were asked their perceptions of drug use problems and of their elderly clients' concerns about their health and drug use. Results indicated that eight items should be included in a measurement to reflect hazardous drug use seen in practice by more than 50% of the health professionals surveyed. Nurses and physicians differed in their perceptions of certain problems and of their elderly clients' concerns.

In order to assess the value of a group program for long-stay elderly patients in an acute care hospital, eight patient outcomes were compared over a six month period within the group and on the nursing units. The activity program was designed to help patients maintain or improve their functional levels while waiting for placement. All patients improved or maintained their functional levels in the group, but these outcomes were not consistently transferred to the nursing units. More intensive geriatric rehabilitation and attention to the unit milieu appear to be needed to maintain gains and to improve functional abilities of long-stay elderly patients in the acute hospital setting.

Several writers have suggested that there is an inverted U-curve of status or prestige across the lifespan in Western society. The old and the young are apparently accorded less status than persons in midlife, and women are seen as having less status than men.

In this study of 198 older individuals (mean age 67), the same inverted U-curve was found, but gender differences were very small. Much less extreme status ratings were given by this older sample than by the earlier samples of young adults. Also, status ratings were again mostly unaffected by respondents' characteristics such as age, sex, marital status, or social class. Older adults, therefore, seem to accept the broad cultural views of age stratification, but are slightly more egalitarian than the young.

Debate over fixed-age retirement continues as a steady stream of court cases are launched and appealed. Contrary to some early opinion, Charter provisions apparently do not guarantee an end to mandatory retirement and legal decisions have yet to establish any clear precedent. This paper reviews the legal framework of age discrimination cases, examines current attitudes and practices regarding retirement, and outlines major arguments for and against forced retirement. The contrasting principles of individual justice versus comparative justice are emphasized.

Previous research on activity patterns of the elderly has relied on survey and interview methods which have depended on special measures and the long term memory of the respondents. This paper examines the use of time budgets in studying changing activity patterns across the life span. The independent variables of interest in this analysu were age, sex, marital status, education, and whether or not the individual lives alone. The dependent variable was the activity patterns of the individual. Results indicate that only age, of the factors considered here, endured significance across all comparisons.

Longitudinal studies are examined with special reference to the Ontario Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSA). The specific aspects discussed are the representativeness of the sample, attrition rates, end-points, and associations, particularly the associations with age. It is concluded that, in comparison with other longitudinal studies, both in Canada and the U.S., the LSA represents a good source of longitudinal data and therefore lends itself to analyses which may be used to investigate factors expected to be important in understanding various aspects of the aging process.

The study identified the types of help provided by 27 adult children to their hospitalized chronically ill parents. The investigation further examined the child's helping behavior in relation to stress and strain, as well as dependence of the parent on the child. The results demonstrated that despite profound stress and strain felt by children, they still provided a range of helping behaviors within the formal caregiving structures of the acute care hospital. Dependence was a weak indicator of the adult child's helping behavior, while stress was a stronger indicator.

The transport and metabolism of glucose was compared in cultured skin fibroblasts derived from normal and Alzheimer disease affected individuals. No significant differences were observed in sugar transport, CO2 production, lactate production, trichloroacetic acid soluble and precipitable material between the test groups. It is concluded that altered glucose uptake or metabolism is not a general characteristic of all Alzheimer disease cultured fibroblasts.

This article outlines the results of two studies 1) a qualitative study of two groups of elderly homosexuals; 2) a four-year study of the life of 54 male homosexuals, aged between 50 and 80. The data offers an explanation for the fact that liberated gay communities are not seemingly willing to make room for the elderly homosexual. The explanation suggests: there is a significant cultural difference between young and old, particularly where privacy (“intimacy”) is concerned.

A survey of the major literature of the Western World from 7 B.C. to 1900 A.D. shows that the number of elderly males portrayed was about three times that of elderly females. While certain factors such as the gender of the authors or the themes of the works, may have affected this proportion, the authors of this study believe that the much larger proportion of elderly males in the literature surveyed reflects the make-up of past societies closely enough to support Santene's contention that old age was not a female world in the past and may not be a female world everywhere in the present or in the future.

This book is a sociological analysis of the different stakes on which the social politics of the aged have occurred in France during the period 1945–1985. In order to understand the social genesis of the politics of age, GuiUemard takes into account the dynamics of different social actors and, on the other hand, the autonomy of the state with respect to them. Analyzing these actors in relation to the autonomy of the state allows a comprehension of the different modalities of interventions in the field of aging. In so doing, the author shows that the same modes of intervention reflect, in the field of social relations, new forms of intergenerational relations.