NEW BOOK. AgeCap, the Centre for Aging and Health, at the University of Gothenburg, has published a new book about capability, our ability to perform actions intended to achieve goals that we personally feel are valuable. The book is an anthology aimed at describing how the concept of capability can be used in studies on older adults and aging.
The new book, written by around 60 AgeCap researchers, describes the major global challenges and societal consequences of such demographic trends as the increase in the number of people with dementia and the increased number of retirees compared to the working population.
The book will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers from different areas who want to learn more about capability and multidisciplinary research. The digital version is freely available through the publishing house, Springer.
From neurology to journalism
The researchers discuss how our capability is affected by interaction between the individual and factors like health, genetics, personality and intellectual ability, the local environment with family, friends, the home and the workplace, and surrounding society, where political decisions, ageism, and the historical period in which one lives all play a role.
The book’s 16 chapters cover everything from neuropsychiatric epidemiology to psychology, sociology, social work, occupational therapy, health sciences, the Swedish language, history, media and communication, design, arts and crafts, law, journalism and media, organization and management, political science and neurochemistry.
A multi-disciplinary work
“Most of the research teams within AgeCap have contributed, and that in itself is a unique example of multi-disciplinary cooperation,” says one of the book’s editors, Hanna Falk Erhag.
The different chapters describe capability in relation to different levels of reality. For example, it looks at the micro level in relation to self-assessed good health and cognitive ability, at the intermediate level in relation to fragile older adults and their ability to continue living at home, and at the macro level in relation to political participation, legislation and media images of the older adults.
Some of the chapters in the book deal with the idea of fairness. This is a very important point of view, as older adults as a group are far from being homogeneous, and they do not accept being marginalized from other groups in society.
Broad audience
The book is written for researchers, students and teachers. But others can also benefit greatly from reading it.
“There are many stakeholders and functions in society that are affected by issues related to older adults and aging. “Thanks to the different perspectives provided by the book, we believe that the contributions will help in conversations and discussions at different levels, not only in Sweden but also internationally,” says Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilsson, associate professor at the Department of Historical Studies, who is one of the book’s editors.
- Book Title: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Capability in Age and Aging, published by Springer in January 2022.
- Editors: Hanna Falk Erhag, Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilsson, Therese Rydberg Sterner, Ingmar Skoog
- Download the book here
BY: RAGNHILD LARSSON
