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Home / Healthcare & Medicine / Healthcare / Strategies for Successful Ageing / Welcome and meet the team!
Welcome and meet the team!
We welcome you to this course, Strategies for Successful Ageing, with an introductory video and article.
Hello, and welcome to week one of this five week course focused on strategies for successful ageing. I’m Rose Anne Kenny, a Professor of Medical Gerontology at Trinity College Dublin, and Director of Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing at St. James’ Hospital in Dublin, and I’ll be guiding you through this course. Often we hear terms like old, old age, elderly, senior, and they’re used interchangeably; but what is ageing, and what is growing old? Are they the same thing? Is 60 old? Does getting old mean getting older, or does getting older mean getting old? How do you feel about ageing? This week we’ll be investigating all of these factors, including our perceptions of ageing.
Professors Virpi Timonen and Sabina Brennan from Trinity College Dublin will join me in discussing how depictions of ageing change over time. We will look at perceptions of ageing across generations, and we’ll also talk about ageism. While we know that diverse examples of ageing appear around the world, stereotypes also exist. For example, when you think of an 80 year old woman, what image comes to mind? Now ask yourself, why? What practices and policies discriminate against you because of your age?
We will also this week be joined by Age and Opportunity. This is a national organisation here in Ireland that inspires everyone to reach their own full potential. They will help us to identify our own perceptions of ageing through a fun and interactive game. And as you watch the videos, read articles, and take part in discussion, you will have plenty of opportunities to share your thoughts about ageing. So at the end of the week you will have a greater understanding of ageing today and how you feel about getting older. Enjoy.
Welcome to the first week of the Strategies for Successful Ageing course. We are delighted to see the activity on the pre-course introduction page. We hope this course will continue to encourage you to talk about your experiences, hopes, fears, challenges and strategies when it comes to Ageing. The team for this course is led by Rose Anne Kenny, who is a Professor of Medical Gerontology at Trinity College Dublin. Over the next five weeks, Rose Anne will be joined by a team of leading researchers, academics and experts in the field of Ageing who will offer you tips and strategies for successful ageing. If you would like to follow comments and updates from our academics, click on their profile on the right hand side of this page and select “Follow”.If you would like to follow our moderators as they engage in discussions with learners click on the profiles of Sarah Bowman and Silvia Gallagher and select “Follow”.The key learning objectives of this week are to question your own perceptions of ageing and to recognize that how you feel about getting older can influence your ageing process.This week we will be joined by:
GlossarySome of the words in this step may not be familiar to you. We have outlined those that might be new below.
- Professor in Social Policy and Ageing Virpi Timonen: Virpi will be looking at depictions of ageing through the ages.
- Dr Deirdre Robertson: Deirdre will present current research on how our perceptions of ageing influence the ageing process.
- Ciaran McKinney, Manager of Active Citizenship and Lifelong Learning at Age and Opportunity: Ciaran will challenge your perceptions of ageing by presenting a word game interaction.
- Research Assistant Professor in Psychology Sabina Brennan: Sabina will be exploring the problem of ageism and present you with strategies for addressing ageism.
- Click on the comment section at the bottom of this page to introduce yourself to your fellow learners and the team.
GlossarySome of the words in this step may not be familiar to you. We have outlined those that might be new below.
- Gerontology: This is the scientific study of the ageing process.
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