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Health, Ageing, Authenticity and Art

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Explaining Health Across the Sciences

Part of the book series: Healthy Ageing and Longevity ((HAL,volume 12))

Abstract

Our conceptions of health and well-being in later have been unduly coloured by ageist and failure models of decay along with negative socio-cultural framing of the ageing experience, agnostic of not only the opportunities for personal growth and mastery but also of the priorities and understanding of older people and well-being in later life. Understanding health and well-being in later life requires a reconceptualization of later life which is deeper and more balanced than that of common perceptions in society and much of generalist healthcare, as well as an interrogation of what older people themselves perceive as the key elements of health and well-being in later life, and in particular resilience, flourishing and environmental mastery. Cultural gerontology, seeking to gain a more insightful and meaningful perspective of ageing through scholarship in the arts and humanities, provides powerful tools for breaking free of traditional methodologies and providing the possibility for a more authentic and meaningful responsiveness to supporting health and well-being in later life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin, D24 NR0A, Ireland

    Desmond O’Neill

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  1. Desmond O’Neill
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Correspondence to Desmond O’Neill .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy and History of Ideas, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Jonathan Sholl

  2. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Suresh I.S. Rattan

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O’Neill, D. (2020). Health, Ageing, Authenticity and Art. In: Sholl, J., Rattan, S.I. (eds) Explaining Health Across the Sciences. Healthy Ageing and Longevity, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52663-4_9

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