Volume 1

Long-range program and research needs in aging and related fields : hearings before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, Ninetieth Congress, first session Washington, D.C. December 5 and 6, 1967.

  • United States Senate Special Committee on Aging
Date:
1968-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Long-range program and research needs in aging and related fields : hearings before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, Ninetieth Congress, first session Washington, D.C. December 5 and 6, 1967. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    These same studies give considerable attention to housing preferences, the dwelling space, the neighborhood environs and the access to community facil- ities. Again, comparisons can be made for different stages in the life cycle. While we report these studies as offering insights into activity patterns of the aging and the kinds of services and facilities used or preferred by the elderly, in all candor we must observe that our objectives, research strategies and criteria for evaluation were not developed to fit into a comprehensive program aimed at developing policy and followthrough programs for the aging. Our work in the fourth area has been concerned with the development of survey instruments for measuring how respondents in the above kinds of surveys per- ceive their surroundings, how they evaluate the liveability of their home and environs. This Center issued a report on ‘Urban Living Qualities from Vantage Point of the Elderly,’ which drew on a pilot study carried out by Robert L. Wilson several years ago when he was associated with the Center. Again, in the absence of a comprehensive program statement and established performance criteria couched in policy and program follow-through objectives, this work, too, must be considered ad hoc. Sincerely yours, F. Stuart CHAPIN, Jr., Research Director. [Enclosures ] MEMORANDUM To: F. Stuart Chapin, Jr. From: Michael P. Brooks. Date: November 21, 1967. This memo is in response to your request for reactions to the questions raised in Senator Williams’ letter of November 138, 1967. I must confess that I find it difficult to react in a meaningful manner, primarily because it is obvious, from a reading of the Congressional Record reprint which was attached, that a good deal of constructive thought has already gone into this problem; any comments I might make “off the top of my head” must necessarily seem rather superficial in comparison. I applaud the decision by Senator Williams and his colleagues to focus on housing, health, consumer interests, income maintenance, and job discrimination. My only suggestion concerning this five-fold breakdown of the problem concerns the last category—job discrimination. The problem of compulsory retirement, or of failure to hire an otherwise qualified person because of advanced age, Seems to me to be only a part of the larger problem of finding productive tasks for the aging to perform. In other words, it will not be enough simply to combat discrimination. We must also think in terms of a broader, more positive approach wherein jobs which the aging might fill are systematically identified (and, if necessary, created). I should think that the service sector offers the most likely possibilities (e.g., staffing day-care centers, running craft and recreation programs in neighborhood centers or public housing projects, etc.), though I cannot be more specific at this point. A planing process should certainly be initiated, if it does not now exist, for dealing with the problems of the aging. Among the most important aspects of such a process are these: 1. A detailed analysis of the relevant population, and the problems which confront it. (a) What is the size of the group we are talking about? (Apparently good estimates of this already exist.) (b) What are the major subgroups with which we should be con- cerned (e.g., by age, sex, race, location, physical health and mobility, need for special types of facilities, ete.) ? (c) What problems are common to the entire aging population, and what problems are unique to specific subgroups? 2. A specification of the goals and objectives toward which a national policy for the aging should be aimed. How much is it reasonable to ask government to do for this group? Rae Ps assessment of the resources which will be necessary to achieve these 4, The identification of a broad range of programs which might achieve the goals; application of cost-benefit analysis (and other techniques) to evaluate alternatives ; experimentation with the more promising ideas to Survive this process: careful evaluation of the results. oie