The Aging and Public Health Section welcomes empirical research or practice-related presentations, using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words. All abstracts must have direct relevance to aging or older adults. If your abstract is not relevant to aging or older adults, please go back to the APHA Call for Abstracts page and select a different component/group.

Submissions may be for poster, oral, or roundtable session formats; please note the desired format on the abstract form. If your abstract is accepted for presentation, you must become an individual member of APHA and register for the Annual Meeting in order to present. Abstracts cannot be published in any scientific journal or presented at any other conference prior to the APHA Annual Meeting.

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

• Advance Care Planning, Palliative Care, and End-of-Life Issues
  
• Ageism and Public Health
  
• Aging Population Health
  
• Aging and Public Health Social
  
• Aging and Public Health: Rebuilding Trust in Public Health and Science
  
• Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias and Cognition
  
• Behavioral and Social Science Research in Aging
  
• Caregiving across Different Contexts and Settings
  
• Communication, Aging, and Technology
  
• Emerging Research, Practice, and Policy Issues in Elder Abuse and Safety
  
• Environments and Aging in Place
  
• Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Self-Management
  
• Medical Care, Disease Screening, Management, and Treatment
  
• Minority Health and Issues Related to Intersectionality
  
• New and Emerging Issues: Aging and Public Health in 10 Years
  
• Pandemics and Aging
  
• Promoting Equitable Healthy Aging
  
• Structural Racism, Health Equity, and Aging
  

Structured Abstract Format

For research/empirical abstracts use the following headings: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions.

For lessons learned and practice-based abstracts use the following headings: Background, Description, Lessons Learned, Implications.   

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 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 and indicates that it is part of a symposium referencing the session title;
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 symposium 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. Innovation 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.

1. Aetna Susan B. Anthony Award for Excellence in Research on Older Women and Public Health                           
2. Aging and Public Health Rural and Environment Award
3. Archstone Foundation Award for Excellence in Program Innovation
4. Betty J. Cleckley Minority Issues Research Award
5. James G. Zimmer New Investigator Research Award
6. Laurence G. Branch Doctoral Student Research Award funded by the Retirement Research Foundation
7. Master’s Student Research Award funded by the Retirement Research Foundation
8. Nobuo Maeda International Aging & Public Health Research Award
9. Erickson Foundation Research Award in Positive Aging

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 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 Karon L. Phillips, PhD., MPH, CHES (karonlphillips@gmail.com) for further details.

For more information about the individual awards, contact Aging and Public Health Awards Chairs:
Lola Adepoju, PhD, MPH (oadepoju@central.uh.edu), and Reza Amini, MD, PhD, MPH; (dramini@umich.edu).

For questions and inquiries, please contact the 2024 Aging and Public Health Program Chairs: Patricia A. Fletcher, PhD, MS, MA (patriciafletcher@me.com) or Rajasri Roy, PhD, MPH (rajasri.roy@nih.gov).

Continuing Education Credit

APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators, veterinarians, 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:

• An abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names
• At least one MEASURABLE outcomes (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.
• 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.

Contact Mighty Fine (mighty.fine@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:

Patricia Fletcher, MA, MS, PhD
patriciafletcher@me.com


and

Rajasri Roy,
rajasri.roy@nih.gov