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Aging in Place: Maintaining Quality of Life for Older Persons at Home

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Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging
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The US population is rapidly aging, a long-anticipated, transformational demographic event. The post-World War II generation, born in the mid-twentieth century, is now reaching the milestone of 65 years and beyond. There are currently 45 million Americans aged 65 or older, which will increase to 73 million by 2030 (US Census Bureau 2018). Aging can result in chronic illness and functional decline (St. John et al. 2019), which pose threats to individual independence and the possibility of placement in an institutional setting. Without question, individuals would prefer to lead long, active, and meaningful lives in their own homes and communities as they age, without worry of disease or disability (AARP 2018). Nations also have every reason to want their older citizens to be part of a vibrant society – to be healthy, happy, self-sufficient, and sharing their accumulated wisdom and life experiences with their younger counterparts (WHO 2015).

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Aging in place...

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Correspondence to Robert M. Kaiser .

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© 2019 This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply

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Kaiser, R.M. (2019). Aging in Place: Maintaining Quality of Life for Older Persons at Home. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_637-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_637-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

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