For more adults to savor their older years, avoiding or controlling chronic conditions and life-threatening illnesses becomes an important charge for them and those who work with them. A community provides the environment that supports an individual's efforts toward healthy behaviors. Today, appropriate prevention strategies can be relatively inexpensive for both individual and community.

This website systematically outlines various strategies for developing healthy behaviors and healthy communities. We have included current thinking on engaging older adults in health promotion and disease prevention activities and building communities capable of supporting their elders.

Many communities have developed creative activities to prevent the leading causes of death and disability, such as cancer and arthritis. Some of these strategies are included to demonstrate the practical application of current research and thought.

The aging population in the United States is marked by growing ethnic diversity. People from socioeconomically marginalized racial and ethnic communities are at greater risk of many chronic diseases. Interventions for these individuals must be culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate. The information and best practice programs provided will address some of these concerns.

Guiding Principles

In developing these programs, the American Society on Aging has developed a set of guiding principles to guide our work.

• We value the wisdom and collective experiences of older people within their communities.
• We see older people as community resources and powerful partners for community change.
• We respect and value the multicultural and multigenerational influences present in communities.
• We believe in diverse language- and culture-based approaches to disease prevention and health promotion.
• We believe that prevention is the key to the reduction of disease and the increased wellness of individuals.
• We believe that health information and its dissemination is critical for the promotion of good health practices and the wellness of older people.
• We believe that training opportunities related to the benefits of health promotion and disease prevention should be increased for organizations and agencies that work with older people.
• We believe responsibility for health falls equally on the individual and the community.
• We believe that organizations, at all levels, should provide leadership and support local initiatives in identifying and developing focal points for coordinating health promotion and disease prevention activities for older people.
• We believe that our role is one of facilitator and catalyst for agencies and organizations to provide opportunities for older people to learn in an environment that is effective, meaningful and culturally relevant.