Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #122025

Marcia Ory, PhD, School of Rural Public Health - Department of Social and Behavioral Health, Texas A & M University System Health Science Center, 3000 Briarcrest Drive, Suite 310, Bryan, TX 77802, (979) 845-2387, mory@srph.tamhsc.edu

Recent attention has focused on the interaction of the environment and public health, especially around growing concerns about the impact of activity unfriendly environments. There has been less attention to how different aspects of the environment affect the ways in which adults will age, with implications for health, quality of life and appropriate designing of health promoting/protective environments. New assessment technologies, emergent best practices, and the potential of integration across disciplines make this symposium quite timely. This introduction will highlight what is known, identify current best practices and barriers to implementation, and recommend future actions. It will emphasize the need for interdisciplinary approaches from relevant fields such as public health, aging, behavioral sciences, architecture and environmental design, planning, housing, and transportation.

Several specific issues will be raised, such as: • Are there new conceptions/definitions of healthy aging communities (along with the definition of community)? • What do we mean when we refer to the environment, and whose environment (e.g., older adults, providers, community-at- large)? • What types of research can inform best practices about both the inside and outside environment, at multiple levels of scale, and interactions among various aspects of the environment. • What are essential components of successful environmental models—and what alterations may be needed to accommodate an aging population?

Learning Objectives:

• tba

Keywords: Environmental Health,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation