Applying Concepts of Successful Aging in Measuring and Promoting Whole Person Health.

Abstract

Countries around the world have large aging adult populations. There is wide public health concern about the health and well-being of aging adults, and a movement to transform healthcare systems to become age-friendly. The concept of "successful aging" recognizes the importance of aging and expands the goal beyond the absence of disease to functioning and well-being. In this perspective, we discuss aging as a part of life that should be considered in whole person health and cite work with the US veteran population as an example of how successful aging and age-friendly practices can be incorporated into whole person health for adult populations. We also review studies of successful aging that may offer important ways to define and measure whole person health and discuss how it might be instructive to assess successful aging with multiple indicators across the adult life span, particularly in underserved populations at-risk of premature aging and poor health. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the "life course perspective" that may serve as a useful model for the interplay between successful aging and whole person health.