The new purpose statement of AAG, approved by our members at this year’s AGM, is “to be a health promotion charity promoting the prevention, control, and management of diseases in humans that are related to ageing or affect older people.” It may appear as though this focuses our attention simply on the bio-medical aspects of ageing. However, it is important to see this statement in its context.
As a multi-disciplinary Association, we understand that ensuring wellbeing in later life begins long before a health condition appears. It requires understanding the dynamic interaction of biological, social, psychological, and environmental forces that shape how we live and experience health. This demands an approach that draws on multiple disciplines and perspectives.
Bringing together different angles across research evidence, policy, and practice is at the heart of why AAG exists.
Beyond clinical factors
While conditions such as cardiovascular disease, dementia, arthritis, respiratory illness, diabetes, cancer, mental health issues, and others are common in later life, their development and progression are shaped by more than clinical factors. Older people frequently experience multimorbidity, making treatment more complex, and coordinated care essential. However, effective disease management must also account for social determinants, structural inequities, lived experience, and the broader culture and systems that shape opportunity for health.
For example, research shows that ageism and age-based discrimination are linked with poorer physical and mental health, delayed diagnosis, and reduced access to treatment [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Social isolation and loneliness are associated with increased risks of several chronic conditions and premature mortality [9,10,11]. Elder abuse, housing insecurity, racism, and unequal access to services profoundly influence health outcomes, affecting everything from vulnerability to chronic disease to the ability to manage existing conditions [12,13,14,15,].
This underscores why multidisciplinary approaches are essential. Clinicians, researchers, allied health professionals, social workers, policymakers, community leaders, other professionals including designers, and older people themselves all hold pieces of the puzzle. No single profession or perspective can address the complex web of factors shaping health outcomes, including disease risks. AAG’s work is built around creating spaces for these perspectives to meet, ensuring that medical expertise is complemented by social sciences, psychology, public health, lived experience, and community knowledge.
AAG’s initiatives, including conferences and events, special interest groups, and policy and advocacy work, bring together diverse expertise on health alongside ageism, elder abuse, rural and remote inequalities, culturally safe care, technological advancement, workforce and social participation, built environment, and housing security. These dialogues recognise that improving health in later life requires understanding the lives, environments, and systems in which diseases occur, and which present direct risk factors for health outcomes. This is why we have continued to share with policy and decision-makers the importance of connected-up policy, and integrated care.
For many of our members and stakeholders, these messages are not new. However, we continue to encounter resistance, in policy as well as in practice and, at times, even research, to expanding the scope of understanding about critical issues for ageing well. That is why we deeply value the work of our members to shape and share knowledge about this multi-disciplinary and multi-angle approach.
We encourage you to play your part in this effort essential to our purpose by joining our Special Interest Groups and engaging with our policy papers, which translate evidence into actionable reforms.
References
[1] World Health Organisation. (nd). Ageism. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism
[2] Teaster, P., & Giwa, A. (2023). Ageism as a Source of Global Mental Health Inequity. AMA J Ethics. 25(10):E765-770. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2023.765.
[3] Jackson, S.E., et al. (2019). Associations between age discrimination and health and wellbeing: cross-sectional and prospective analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The Lancet Public Health, Volume 4, Issue 4, e200 - e208.
[4] Allen, J.O., Solway, E., Kirch, M., et al. (2022). Experiences of Everyday Ageism and the Health of Older US Adults. JAMA Netw Open. 5(6):e2217240. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.17240
[5] Gazaway, S.B., Barnett, M.D., Bowman, E.H. et al. (2021). Health Professionals Palliative Care Education for Older Adults: Overcoming Ageism, Racism, and Gender Bias. Curr Geri Rep 10, 148–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13670-021-00365-7
[6] Neal, D., Morgan, J.L., Kenny, R., Ormerod, T., Reed, M.W.R. (2022). Is there evidence of age bias in breast cancer health care professionals’ treatment of older patients? European Journal of Surgical Oncology. 48:12, 2401-2407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejso.2022.07.003.
[7] Shin, D.W., Park, K., Jeong, A., Yang, H.K., Kim, S.Y., Cho, M., Park, J.H. (2019). Experience with age discrimination and attitudes toward ageism in older patients with cancer and their caregivers: A nationwide Korean survey. Journal of Geriatric Oncology. 10:3, 459-464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgo.2018.09.006.
[8] Festen, S., Stegmann, M.E., Prins, A., van Munster, B.C., van Leeuwen, B.L., Halmos, G.B., de Graeff, P. Brandenbarg, D. (2021). How well do healthcare professionals know of the priorities of their older patients regarding treatment outcomes? Patient Education and Counseling. 104:9, 2358-2363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2021.02.044.
[9] Stevens, E., Carson, R., & Wall, L. (2024). Factors, dynamics and effects of isolation for older people: an exploratory study. Final Report. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies
[10] World Health Organization (2021). Social isolation and loneliness among older people: advocacy brief. Geneva: Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
[11] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Social Isolation and Loneliness. https://www.aihw.gov.au/mental-health/topic-areas/social-isolation-and-loneliness
[12] World Health Organization (2024). Abuse of older people. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abuse-of-older-people
[13] Suh, K., Beck, J., Katzman, W., & Allen, D.D. (2020). Homelessness and rates of physical dysfunctions characteristic of premature geriatric syndromes: systematic review and meta-analysis. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 38:7, 858–867. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2020.1809045
[14] Demant, D., Manton, D., Manton, J., & Saliba, B., & Avery, S. (2024). Health inequities in Australia: A scoping review on the impact of racism on Indigenous and other negatively racialised communities’ health outcomes and healthcare access. School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney. Commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
[15] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Older Australians. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/older-people/older-australians