Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Topic- Market opportunities
Thistledown: More than a place to live by Beth Witrogen, MJ
More Boomers are living alone today while also trying to maintain affordable housing in a sprawling nation built for younger, working families. Alarmingly, the risk for becoming unhoused is rising among older adults, especially those living alone. A pioneering cooperative model for senior living is successfully balancing autonomy and interdependence for low-income solo agers, building community on purpose to foster wellness.
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The aging market: Tips to engage and support an evolving consumer by Martyn Bryson, Larissa Long and Sydney Murphy, MS
Aging looks a lot different today than it did even 20 years ago. As more people live longer, many older adults are working past retirement age and staying active, productive, social and purposeful in their later years. How can we, as active-aging professionals, promote healthy longevity and foster wellness in life's various dimensions for all in this expanding life stage? And how can we, as a society, better meet the needs of today's aging adults and support their potential to grow, participate and engage fully in life? In this article, experts discuss pillars for living well throughout the lifespan, ideas for rethinking aging and pointers for marketing that aligns better with this diverse market.
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The "health data economy": Marketing connects interests and lifestyle to improve health by Colin Milner
What is the future of marketing? If you or I could answer that question with any accuracy, we would earn a lot of money. But is it an impossible task? Well, it's not implausible for us to find indicators to guide us. As an example, we know technology will continue to play a significant role in how we learn about products and services. Algorithms are already key. Whether we're on Facebook or Netflix, what we see is driven by algorithms that take our purchasing history and match new compelling options to gain our business. Some people see algorithms, as well as Internet cookies and other things that facilitate technology-based marketing, as Big Brother-like intrusions on their privacy; others welcome this marketing as a convenience. Many marketers see the benefits. ... With its focus on interests, such marketing is about delivering the right content, service or product at the right moment. But what if the future of marketing is not just about our interests? What if it's about how those interests interact with our lifestyles to improve health and well-being? According to S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, a focus on enhancing health and well-being will drive the "health data economy," and the marketers who seek your business.
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Wellness anchors the new model of senior living by Patricia Ryan, MS
There is no question that with the pandemic's arrival, all the staff and leadership at independent living, assisted living and memory care communities immediately took action to protect the health of residents and maintain their well-being. What is less certain is how communities will define themselves as they navigate through the starts and stops of emergence into life as the virus continues. For the senior living industry, the COVID-19 crisis has perversely created a major opportunity for reinvention. ... Responding to the ICAA Call to Action to reclaim health and well-being for older people by integrating wellness throughout organizational strategies and operations, thought leaders at the ICAA Forum May 2021 gathered to frame a new model of communities that will reach "middle income" individuals. Forum colleagues recognized that structuring amenities and services by the dimensions of wellness ... would reach a larger group of people at younger ages (about 70+) with solid incomes and streaks of independence.
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Solo Agers: What senior living providers need to know by Sara Zeff Geber, PhD, CRC
In 2008, the United States Census Bureau reported that the rate of childlessness among women ages 40-44 reached 20% in 2006--double what it had been in 1976--after rising steadily for two decades. Turning to men, a 2019 agency report showed that in 2014 one in four males ages 40-50 was also childless. Relatively few men became fathers after 40. The Bureau referred to this point in the lives of men and women as "completed fertility." So, what do these statistics mean? A significant number of Boomers will not have adult children to help them with care or relocation if living independently becomes difficult or impossible. Further, geriatric specialist Maria Carney, MD, and colleagues determined in 2016 that approximately 22% of older Americans not only had no children but also no other family to turn to in a crisis. ... Although every generation includes people without children or family on whom they can rely, the prevalence of such individuals today makes this a seemingly new phenomenon.
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Health, wealth and longevity: New tools allow science-based financial planning by S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, Karl Ricanek, PhD, Kirk Ashburn, CCPS, and Steven Austad, PhD
The wealthiest individuals tend to lead longer lives than their poorest counterparts--up to an additional 15 years for men and 10 years for women in one 2016 study. The researchers noted at the time that these disparities could relate to differences in educational levels, lifestyles and health behaviors rather than simply financial status. Now, a newly published study in the Journal of Gerontology shows that when compared to the poorest individuals, the wealthiest men and women also enjoy nearly a decade longer in "favorable states of health" and free from disability, based on estimates arrived at by measuring healthy life expectancy (referred to here as healthspan). Even as calls go out to address disparities and improve healthy life expectancy for all, more people are already living to advanced ages. Many will outlive their money and large segments of the population have little or no money set aside for retirement at all, creating personal as well as public challenges across a wide range of areas, including housing and healthcare. What if it did not have to be that way? Financial advisors know that health and happiness are by far the most precious commodities that clients seek--longevity is just a bonus. Wealth amplifies the chances that both will occur. Longevity accompanied by good health then becomes a gift. Today, new tools merge aging science with wealth planning to help individuals achieve these goals.
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