[Memorandum on sustainable reinforcement of prevention and health promotion: challenges at the federal, state and local level]. / Memorandum--Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung nachhaltig stärken: Herausforderungen auf Bundes-, Landes- und kommunaler Ebene.

Research-based evidence and practice-based experience are core requirements for the effective implementation of preventive interventions. The knowledge gained in the Prevention Research Funding Initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (2004-2013) was therefore amalgamated, reflected and consolidated in the Cooperation for Sustainable Prevention Research (KNP) meta-project. In annual strategy meetings, researchers and practitioners from the field and other experts developed 3 memoranda providing recommendations for the further development of research and practice in the field of prevention and health promotion. Memorandum III is primarily aimed at decision-makers in politics and administration at the federal, state and local level, in civil society and in the workplace. Its recommendations show that structuring efforts are urgently needed to achieve sustainable policy, particularly in the fields of health, education, employment and social affairs. Memorandum III brings together the knowledge extracted and problems identified in research projects. More so than its 2 predecessors, Memorandum III abstracts knowledge from the individual projects and attempts to derive guidance for action and decision-making, as shown by the 7 recommendations that appear to useful for consensus-building in practice and research. Value judgments are inevitable. Prevention and health promotion are an investment in the future: of social health, social capital and social peace. Improvement of the framework conditions is needed to achieve the harmonized awareness and the sustained effectiveness of these structure-building efforts in different policy areas, spheres of life, fields of action, and groups of actors. This includes the implementation of an overall national strategy as well as the expansion of sources of funding, extension of the legal framework, overarching coordination, and the establishment of a National Center of Excellence to develop and safeguard prevention and health promotion. The memorandum is intended to stimulate a discourse resulting in structure-building and stabilizing measures designed to ensure the sustainability of prevention and health promotion.

[Memorandum - research funding of prevention]. / Memorandum - Forschungsförderung Prävention.

The memorandum of the research funding of prevention has been devised within the framework of the Prevention Research Funding Programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It consists not only of the obtained findings of the research-practice co-operation but also of recommendations for the implementation of prospective, innovational, effective, practice-oriented and sustainable research. The respective knowledge has been acquired from quantitative surveys on the experiences of scientists and practice partners within the prevention research funding project as well as from extensive qualitative methods of structured group evaluation. A participatory co-operation between research and practice based on mutual respect, trust and recognition is seen as mandatory for the further development of both prevention and health promotion research. Research and practice partners are required to engage in an ab initio collaboration starting from the conception phase, whereby it is advisable to encourage and fortify the communication between research, practice and funding partners by systematic surveillance in form of a meta-project. In addition, the inclusion of the target population from the outset and on a collaborative basis is considered as beneficial in order to ensure the practical application of the research findings. Furthermore, innovatory research designs which are able to provide a framework for internal flexibility, continuous re-assessment and adjustment are fundamental for the implementation of practice-oriented research. Moreover, a dynamic co-operation between different groups of interest not only depends on sharing responsibility but also on sufficient funding for both research and practice, which is particularly important for the transfer and communication of the attained findings. With regard to the evaluation of both effectiveness and sustainability of interventions, a research funding project is required which makes long-term results possible through the utilization of regulated monitoring and guarantees quality and continuous effectiveness. Furthermore, in order to stimulate progress within the basic theories of prevention and health promotion, it is also essential for a funding project to focus on elementary concepts. Additionally, for the efficient and sustainable development of health within a population it is advisable to apply both self-contained research and the involvement of primary prevention and health promotion to research projects concerning health, social affairs, education, work and environment.

[Municipalities during demographic change. Theses for new requirements and challenges for policies concerning senior citizens]. / Kommunen im demographischen Wandel. Thesen zu neuen An- und Herausforderungen für die lokale Alten- und Seniorenpolitik.

Demographic change and, especially, aging of the population are affecting municipalities and have led to a variety of new challenges for social policies for the elderly at the local level. However, the new needs and demands do not only refer to the traditional concepts concerning social help and welfare for the elderly, but also refer to the entire social life-situation for senior citizens. Against this background, a restructuring of local social policies for an aging population and for social policy concepts that strategically aim at addressing all social needs and demands in later life is advocated. The goal should be the social arrangement of the overall living conditions of an aging population at the local level.

[Perspectives for professionally sufficient and adequate care of ageing patients]. / Perspektiven einer fachlich angemessenen, bedarfs- und bedürfnisgerechten gesundheitlichen Versorgung für ältere Menschen.

This contribution deals with the question of how existing health care systems can be sufficiently and adequately adapted to ageing patients in general, and to patients with special needs for nursing care and assistance. Simultaneously, it advocates explicit consideration of the dimensions of social inequality and health hazards related to biographical factors. It demonstrates that health care involves much more than just adequate medical care in the event of illness. The reasons that change is needed are given and reform options for relevant segments of health care (such as medical practitioners, hospital care, health care for patients in need of nursing care, palliative care, prevention and rehabilitation) are presented. Special emphasis is placed on standards and guidelines relating to old age morbidity and integrated health care systems as well as rehabilitation, prevention and health promotion. A key role is attributed to the qualification of health services staff. More intensive research into health care and health services in respect of the elderly is also advocated.

["Retirement at 67": prerequisites for the ability of older female jobholders to continue working]. / "Rente mit 67" : Voraussetzungen für die Weiterarbeitsfähigkeit älterer Arbeitnehmerinnen.

The new Retirement Age Adjustment Act, enacted by the Federal Government in spring 2007 to raise the statutory retirement age to 67 years in Germany, poses a challenge for the jobholders concerned as well as for the companies. Especially older female jobholders are exposed to particular risks regarding their ability to continue working due to the cumulative concurrence of age-specific but also additional gender-specific employment patterns and risks. Their employment situation is influenced by age discrimination in terms of recruitment and human resource management. Furthermore, women were and are confronted with specific obstacles in the course of their working lives, such as, the problem of reconciling work and family life and care giving, lesser opportunities for development and advancement due to sectoral and work organizational circumstances and lower incomes. There has been an increase in part-time arrangements, marginal employment, and temporary jobs, which are all predominantly filled by women. If women do not manage to stay in gainful employment, they do not only individually face an insufficient old-age income but the national economy is also in danger of losing valuable human resources and social security contributions.

[Study concepts for social work with elderly people and planning of a new gerontological master program at the University of Dortmund]. / Studienkonzepte für die Altenarbeit und die Planung zum gerontologisch orientierten Master-Studiengang an der Universität Dortmund.

This article presents previous experiences regarding the study course Social Gerontology (bWSG) at the University of Dortmund. After a short historical outline the focus will be on a critical examination of the success of the study course. Finally, new developments at the University of Dortmund will be presented, among others the concept development of a new master programme "Ageing Societies" (working title).

[Age and migration--an overview]. / Alter und Migration--ein Uberblick.

In the course of demographic change, the number of elderly migrants increases, and the population of elderly people in Germany becomes more varied-facts that have to be taken into account more intensely when it comes to planning services for elderly people in the future. The need for action is intensified by the fact that elderly migrants are still worse off than natives of the same age in many areas of life (e. g. income, health, etc.). At the same time, elderly migrants cannot automatically be regarded as helpless or isolated because of their solid family help networks.Meanwhile, on political and social levels, approaches have been developed to open services and institutions for the special needs of minority ethnic elders. Furthermore, offers have been established by the creation of ethnic-specific emphases that focus on the life style and the everyday life of the target group. In spite of all these efforts, the whole range of care services for the population of elderly migrants is still regarded as insufficient by experts. Therefore, especially in the fields of networking, cooperation and controlling of the people involved, information transfer, and training measures that aim at better preparing the provider of care services for elderly people are highly recommended in order to meet the increasing needs of help and care of older migrants more precisely.

[Review of important results of the research project "Employees in the late phase of their employment"]. / Uberblick über die wichtigsten Ergebnisse des Forschungsprojektes "Arbeitnehmer in der Spätphase ihrer Erwerbstätigkeit."

The report deals with the main results of recent field-studies on the situation of workers over 55 years of age in the F.R.G. The investigations were carried out for the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and refer to the period from 1975 to 1979/1980. The main results refer to the situation at work, in the labour market and to the conditions and the process of retirement. The results reported are representative for industry in the F.R.G. (excluding administrative departments) with reference to firms with 50 and more employees and for the period of time under investigation.

[Active measures for promoting the employment of aging workers--report of an inclusive European Union Specialty Congress in Turku, Finland]. / Aktive Massnahmen zur Förderung der Beschäftigung älter werdender Arbeitnehmer--Bericht von einer EU-weiten Fachtagung in Turku/Finnland.

This article summarizes the most important results of the Turku Conference on active strategies for an aging workforce, which took place in Turku/Finland in 1999. About 140 experts from all EU-member states participated. The article can be seen as a contribution to the current change in the debate on labor market policy concerning older workers in Germany.

[Status of the elderly and need for rehabilitation]. / Die Situation älterer Menschen und die Notwendigkeit der Rehabilitation.

The following article is a revised version of a paper read by the author at the Annual general Meeting of the federal Working Team for Rehabilitation in November 1990 in Hamburg. Basing on the increasing risk of elderly people being in need of care, the possibilities of rehabilitation also for elderly persons are discussed. The basic position of the paper is the axiom that rehabilitation should rank before caring for a person who lacks the ability to "pull himself together" and just remains passive. The paper deals with the structural features of genuine need for care and present-day medical and nursing care situation of the elderly and their relatives who look after them. Finally, the central components of an overall rehabilitation concept for elderly persons are presented.

[The parlamentary inquiry commission into the demographic change presents its final report]. / Die Bundestags-Enquête-Kommission "Demographischer Wandel" legt ihren Abschlussbericht vor.

In the spring of 2002, the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission into the Demographic Change finished its work and published its final report. The commission has been working for more than 10 years to analyze the challenges posed to the individual and society by the aging German society in a mid- and long-term perspective (up to 2050). The respective policy recommendations refer to the following issues: housing and living environments, intergenerational relations, family relations and other social networks, competence and productivity in old age, income security, demographic change and its effects on economic trends and the labor market, health, health care, long-term care and social services, migration and integration and the implications of the increasing cultural diversity in society and among the elderly.

Gradual retirement in Germany.

In the summer of 1996, the German parliament enacted legislation (the "Gesetz zur Förderung cines gleitenden Ubergangs in den Ruhestand") that would allow a gradual transition from work to retirement by permitting workers 55 years and older to change from full-time to part-time work, and also by making it more difficult to take early retirement. The intent was to stop the trend towards early retirement. This article discusses the provisions of the new legislation, as well as the experiences with previous models that influenced its development. These experiences were mainly negative because older workers were unwilling to change to part-time work and employers did not provide attractive part-time work opportunities. The new legislation's chances of success are discussed and suggestions are offered for making the concept of gradual transition from work to retirement more attractive and viable.

[Requirements for security for widows according to their needs. Remarks on the discussion on dependents' allowance in West Germany]. / Zur Forderung nach einer bedarfsorientierten Witwensicherung. Anmerkungen zur Diskussion um die Hinterbliebenenregelung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

The article is concerned with the present regulations of the old-age-pension for widows. At first the author discusses the legislator's assumptions of different financial needs between widows and widowers. Thereby he considers the last decision of the West German Bundesverfassungsgericht on the rate of the old-age-pension for widows (June 1978). New researches on the consumption of aged people give reason to criticise the present financial regulation, which places 60% of the deceased husband's old-age-pension at the widow's disposal. This is confirmed by new consumer data of the West German Statistisches Bundesamt as well as by the results of an empirical research study on the consumer behavior of aged people, carried out by the Institut für Sozialforschung und Gesellschaftspolitik, Cologne. The main interest is to show the consequences of different financial regulations for widows and widowers on their consumer behavior. In this context the article deals especially with the attitudes of aged people towards the differences in the survivor's pension and with the process of economical adaption after the death of the husband.

[Social problems of single elderly women in West Germany. Problems and results of an empirical research into their position of life]. / Die soziale Lage alleinlebender älterer Frauen in der BRD--Problemaufriss und Ergebnisse empirischer Lebenslageforschung.

The article is concerned with a socio-political point of view of this question and thereby reports upon results of an empirical research study on the situation of aged women living alone in three big cities of the Federal Republic. At first it is shown that the financial problems of aged women are due to the structure of the West German social security system. Secondly it is tried to prove that the degree of social integration of aged women is determined by their economic status and by their sex-role-defined socialisation and education. The article ends in discussing the social needs of aged women living alone and in proposing short- and long-dated socio-political measures to improve their social situation.

[Consumer information activities in old age (author's transl)]. / Verbraucherpolitische Aspekte des Informationsverhaltens älterer Menschen.

The following feature occupies with consumer information activities in old age. These informations are partial results of a study that was carried out in the Institut für Sozialforschung und Gesellschaftspolitik in Cologne by order of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verbraucher and which deals with chances of consumer policy for people in old age (Naegele 1977). The paper's major elements are, first, essential sources of information of old people (source of supply itself, communication with relatives and friends before buying, written informations), and second, favourite sources of consumer informations to protect and to acquaint old consumers.

Recent developments in the employment and retirement of older workers in Germany.

Against a background of an aging population, rising social security costs, and foreseeable labor and skill shortages, there have been public policy changes affecting older workers in Germany. Labor-market related initiatives aim at an increase of labor force participation among this group. Enterprise-related, active age-management strategies aim at improving occupational conditions of aging workers. In this context, prolonging the working life must be seen as one option of "active aging." Another view of the current retirement discussion is the question of how the unused potential of Germany's younger, early-retired seniors can be exploited. Active aging has become a social duty nowadays, with the intention that older persons contribute to society to avoid generational conflicts. In the future, active aging will preserve the competitiveness of enterprises and of the entire economy, despite an aging labor force. But gerontological research points out that different options to carry out individual life plans of active aging are also required. This article reviews the changes in public policies towards older workers and includes the findings of a project that illustrates good practice to combat age barriers in the labor world.

[Gliding retirement, part-time work for the aged and partial pension problems and chances for an alternative form of terminating professional life]. / Gleitender Ruhestand, Altersteilzeitarbeit und Teilrente Probleme und Chancen einer alternativen Form des Ausscheidens aus dem Arbeitsleben.

The article deals with chances and risks of the concept "gliding retirement". Special notice is taken of partial-pension schemes. Possible consequences for employees with respect to their financial situation and to their working-conditions are discussed.

Discrimination of older workers in Germany: obstacles and options for the integration into employment.

The employment prospects of older workers in Germany are widely endangered because of age discrimination. The main indicator concerning recruitment is that from the age of 45 on the difficulties in finding a new job rise extraordinarily and, accordingly, the duration of unemployment rises. Concerning further training, there is a lack of participation by older workers in vocational training and, additionally, they face numerous risks in the deterioration of their skills. Given the long-term implications of the aging labor force, employers must adapt their approaches to recruiting and training older workers to prevent a further loss of skills and know-how. A comprehensive strategy for integrating older workers and overcoming age barriers in employment is required. To promote recruitment, job-placement programs should be linked more closely to companies and public programs should be targeted to older unemployed workers. To promote further training of older workers, the workplace needs to create a learning environment, introduce a greater variety of tasks, and develop training schemes.