Assessment of Older Adults with Diminished Capacity: A Handbook for Psychologists |
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Assessment of Older Adults with Diminished Capacity: A Handbook for Psychologists is designed for psychologists evaluating civil capacities of older adults. Contemporary probate law encourages functional assessments that describe task-specific deficits rather than global findings. With training in standardized cognitive and functional assessment, psychologists are in an ideal position to provide such evaluations. The specific goal of this handbook is to review psychological assessment of six civil capacities of particular importance to older adults, namely, medical consent capacity, sexual consent capacity, financial capacity, testamentary capacity, capacity to drive, and capacity to live independently. The handbook also addresses the important topic of undue influence and introduces emerging areas of interest, such as the capacity to mediate, the capacity to participate in research, and the capacity to vote. Relevant literature, suggestions for assessment tools, and case examples are provided throughout.
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The ABA Commission on Law and Aging consists of a 15-member interdisciplinary body of experts in aging and law, including lawyers, judges, health and social services professionals, academics, and advocates. With its professional staff, the ABA Commission examines a wide range of law-related issues, including: legal services to older persons; health and long-term care; housing needs; professional ethical issues; Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other public benefit programs; planning for incapacity; guardianship; elder abuse; health care decision-making; pain management and end-of-life care; dispute resolution; and court-related needs of older persons with disabilities.
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 59 state, territorial, and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting health, education, and human welfare. The APA Office on Aging coordinates the association's activities pertaining to aging and geropsychology (the field within psychology devoted to older adult issues). The Committee on Aging (CONA) is the committee within the APA governance structure dedicated to aging issues. Its six expert geropsychologists are selected for three-year terms. Together, the Office on Aging, CONA, and association members promote the health and wellbeing of older adults and their families through expanded scientific understanding of adult development and aging and the delivery of appropriate psychological services to older adults.
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