We welcome empirical research or practice-related presentations, using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words. Individuals may submit up to two abstracts as first author to the Aging and Public Health Section. Submissions may be for poster, oral, or roundtable session formats; please note the desired format on the abstract form.  All presenters must become individual members of APHA and register for the Annual Meeting in order to give their presentation. Abstracts cannot be published in any journal prior to the APHA Annual Meeting.

Specific areas of interest to Aging and Public Health include but are not limited to:

• Aging and the built environment
  
• Aging population and baby boomers' health
  For a session jointly sponsored with the Public Health Education and Health Promotion section:  The growing prevalence of chronic illness and comorbidity among older adults calls for increasing the capacities of the public health system to provide integrated medical and social services to this population, as well as to diverse subgroups. Chronic illness affects older adults disproportionately and contributes to disability, diminished quality of life, and increased healthcare and long-term care costs. Increased life expectancy reflects in part the success of public health interventions, but public health programs must now respond to the challenges posed by vast unmet needs of both older adults and their caregivers. Abstracts that address the complexity of these challenges across multiple domains (i.e. medical, social and economic) and propose innovation in public health policy and/or programs to improve older adults’ health and well-being are invited.
• Alzheimer's disease / dementia
  
• Chronic illness management / chronic illness and self-care
  
• Community-based long-term care
  
• Emergency preparedness, public health crises, and older adults
  
• Environment and aging
  
• Family caregiving
  
• Health literacy and approaches to communication
  
• Health-related decision making among older adults
  
• Healthcare outcomes and quality of life
  
• Healthcare utilization and costs
  
• Healthy communities for healthy aging
  
• Immigrant and minority health and aging
  
• Innovations in health and aging practice
  
• International health and aging and health care policy
  
• Medicare/Medicaid policy
  
• Nursing home care and utilization
  
• Nutrition and aging / food insecurity
  
• Older adults and disability
  
• Palliative care, pain management and end-of-life care/issues
  
• Personal assistance, social support, and caregiving
  
• Physical activity and successful aging
  
• Public health law and public health ethics
  
• Public health policy and aging
  
• Racial/ethnic disparities
  
• Rural aging issues
  
• Sensory issues in aging (Vision, hearing, taste, smell)
  
• Social networks and social care provision
  
• Social, cultural, environmental and political contexts of women's health
  
• Technology and aging
  
• Translating aging research into practice
  
• Women's health issues
  
• Workforce issues
  

Symposium Sessions                                                            

We also invite submissions for 90-minute symposium sessions. Please e-mail the program chairs if you are submitting a symposium; these require special processing for appropriate review. There will only be a few open time slots available for consideration as symposia sessions. Because of the volume of abstracts we receive and the limited number of oral sessions we are allotted, we cannot consider symposium sessions containing fewer than four presented papers.  Abstracts for proposed individual papers must be submitted along with an overall symposium abstract. This complete package gives the reviewers more substance from which to judge the overall merits of the proposal. Symposium submissions should:   

1. Include an overall session abstract, which includes a rationale for the session, the proposed paper titles, author(s), order of presentation, and the abstract numbers for the individual papers, as well as abstracts for each individual paper presentation;
2. Clearly label each individual paper session abstract with “SESSION ABSTRACT - your proposed paper presentation title" (you fill in the italicized part but keep the SESSION ABSTRACT) on the electronic submission page form when entering your proposal;
3. Identify the proposed moderator and/or discussant;
4. Be sure that each individual presenter submits a separate abstract under the same topic (e.g. Rural aging issues) and indicates that it is part of a symposium referencing the session title and the session abstract #;
5. Provide contact information (phone and e-mail) for the person in charge of the session directly on the overall session abstract, so we can contact you easily; and
6. Indicate whether or not you would like to have the individual abstracts considered for presentation in other sessions, if your proposed session is not accepted. Please state, "YES, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE ABSTRACTS CONSIDERED SEPARATELY" or "NO, I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE THESE ABSTRACTS CONSIDERED SEPARATELY".

Please be aware that each paper in the symposium is scored individually and the symposium is also scored as a group. The individual abstract for each paper must score reasonably well in order to be considered for a symposium session.

Abstract scoring:

All abstract submissions are evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Significance of the problem to public health and aging.
2. Innovativeness of ideas, methods and or approach.
3. Rigor of methods and approach (analytical design for research, systematic approach for practice and/or policy).
4. Presentation of empirical findings (not applicable if abstract does not present empirical research).
5. Implications identified for future research, practice and/or policy.
6. Clarity of writing.    

 Aging and Public Health Section Awards   

The Aging and Public Health Section sponsors several awards in various categories of aging and public health.  To be considered for one of the following awards, please indicate this on your abstract submission form by selecting the award from the drop-down box.

We would like to highlight two of the above awards. Through the generous support of the Retirement Research Foundation and its president, Marilyn Henessey, Aging and Public Health Section offers two student research awards.  The Retirement Research Foundation Masters Student Research Award recognizes outstanding research led by a student while matriculating in a Master’s program.  Individuals who are currently in doctoral programs, or are in other settings but who completed the research as masters student are eligible to submit an abstract for this award.  Similarly, the Retirement Research Foundation Doctoral Student Research Award (also known as the Lawrence G. Branch Doctoral Student Research Award) is awarded to outstanding research led by a student while matriculating in a doctoral program.  The student is eligible even if the doctoral degree has been recently been completed.                                        

All award recipients will present their research at the Annual Meeting and be recognized at the Aging and Public Health Awards session, receive a monetary award, and be recognized on the website of the Aging and Public Health Section.

Each abstract will be considered for only one award. You may, however, submit different abstracts to be considered for different awards. Previous award winning authors and authorship teams may apply again in the same award category.  However, submitted papers must represent scientific or programmatic investigations that are substantively different from that of previous winning papers.  The Awards committee retains the right to compare submitted papers with previous submissions.

For submission for the Archstone Foundation Award, please contact Irena Pesis-Katz for further details at Irena_PesisKatz@URMC.Rochester.edu. For more information about the individual awards, contact Aging and Public Health Awards Chairs: Karon Phillips (karonlphillips@hotmail.com) and Lesley Steinman (lesles@uw.edu).

For questions and inquiries, please contact the 2017 Aging and Public Health Program Chairs: Elaine Jurkowski at etjurkow@siu.edu and Isis S. Mikhail at mikhaili@mail.nih.gov or Kwan Ho Kenneth Chui at Kenneth.Chui@tufts.edu.

Continuing Education Credit

APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators and those certified in public health at its annual meeting. Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.

For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter must provide:

1. an abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names
2. at least one MEASURABLE objective (DO NOT USE “To understand” or “To learn” as objectives, they are not measureable). Examples of Acceptable Measurable Action Words:  Explain, Demonstrate, Analyze, Formulate, Discuss, Compare, Differentiate, Describe, Name, Assess, Evaluate, Identify, Design, Define or List.
3. A signed Conflict of Interest (Disclosure) form with a relevant Qualification Statement. See an example of an acceptable Qualification Statement on the online Disclosure form.

Thank you for your assistance in making your session of value to the audience and worthy of credit. Contact Annette Ferebee at annette.ferebee@apha.org if you have any questions concerning continuing education credit. Please contact the program planner for all other questions.

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Ready?

Program Planner Contact Information:

Elaine Jurkowski
School of Social Work
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
M/C 4329 , Suite 250, 475 Clocktower Drive
Carbondale, IL 62901-4329
Phone: 618-453-2243
Fax: 618-453-4291
etjurkow@siu.edu

and
Isis Mikhail, MD DrPH MPH
Scientific Review Branch
National Institute on Aging
7201 Wisconsin Avenue
Ste 2C200
Bethesda, MD 20892
Phone: 301-402-7704
Fax: 301-402-0066
mikhaili@mail.nih.gov

and
Kenneth Chui, PhD, MS/MPH
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine
Tufts School of Medicine
136 Harrison Ave
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 617-636-0853
Fax: 617-636-4017
kenneth.chui@tufts.edu