In working with older adults, as with other individuals, there are two major categories of intervention to promote function and independence. One set of strategies focuses on helping the individual maintain or improve abilities. The second emphasizes reducing the demands of the activity, either by modifying the activity or by changing the environment, reducing what has been called environmental press. Increasingly, universal design is being considered by urban planners, architects, and others concerned with making the environment more accessible to individuals with disabilities, and to all of us as we age.

View the introductory video:

Continue to the section Changes in Aging.