Faith In The Future: Healthcare Aging & Role Of Religion [Hardcover]

Harold Koenig (Author), Douglas Lawson (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1932031359 | ISBN-13: 978-1932031355 | Publication Date: February 28, 2004 | Edition: 1

Dr. Harold Koenig was recently interviewed by Newsweek (November 10, 2003) about his book Spirituality in Patient Care (Templeton Foundation Press) and his research in the area of religion and health. He has become the international voice on the subjects of spirituality, health, and aging. In this book he is joined by two other experts on aging and human development. They present a compelling look at one of the most serious issues in today’s society: health care in America.

How will we provide quality healthcare to older adults who will need it during the next thirty to fifty years? Who will provide this care? How will it be funded? How can we establish systems of care now to be in place as demographic and health-related economic pressures mount?

Alongside the sobering reality of the challenges our country faces, there are reasons for optimism. Innovative programs created and maintained by volunteers and religious congregations are emerging as pivotal factors in meeting health care needs. Summarizing decades of scientific research and providing numerous inspirational examples and role models, the authors present practical steps that individuals and institutions may emulate for putting faith into action.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Combining demographic predictions with current examples, Koenig et al. make a convincing case that religion will be an important resource for coping with the coming elder care crisis, which will begin in earnest in 2011 when the first Baby Boomers turn 65. Koenig, a geriatric psychiatrist at Duke University and author of The Healing Power of Faith, has already attracted attention by publishing studies on the health benefits of religious participation—including some findings that are stronger than even most religious believers might have expected. Both membership in a faith community and individual spiritual practice are significantly correlated with longer life spans, shorter hospital stays and reduced incidence of depression. In light of these results, which the authors acknowledge are open to interpretation and further study, they suggest that religious organizations, volunteer networks and especially local congregations will be indispensable in caring for older adults and helping them care for each other. Can these resources actually meet the challenges of demographic shifts, uncontrolled inflation of health care costs and expectations and the tendency of Boomers (and later generations) to have weaker connections to religion and family than today's seniors? That is another question; and as the authors concede, health care and political institutions will be slow to change. But at a minimum, congregational leaders and volunteers will find encouragement for their efforts, and more than likely, a few new reasons and strategies for getting involved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Harold G. Koenig, MD, is board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and geriatric medicine. He is on the faculty at Duke as professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and associate professor of medicine. Dr. Koenig is Director of Duke’s Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health and has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with over 350 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and close to 40 books in print or in preparation. He is also a registered nurse.

Douglas M. Lawson, PhD, is a fund-raising consultant to such organizations as the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Special Olympics, and hundreds of other nonprofit organizations. He is the author of Volunteering: 101 Ways You Can Improve the World and Your Life (1998) and Give to Live: How Giving Can Change Your Life (1999).

Malcolm McConnell is the author or coauthor of twenty-five books, many on medical or scientific subjects.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Templeton Press; 1 edition (February 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932031359
• ISBN-13: 978-1932031355
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,185,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Koenig completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, his medical school training at the University of California at San Francisco, and his geriatric medicine, psychiatry, and biostatistics training at Duke University Medical Center. He is board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and geriatric medicine, and is on the faculty at Duke as Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Associate Professor of Medicine, and is on the faculty at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor. He is also a registered nurse. Dr. Koenig is Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, and has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with over 350 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and nearly 40 books in print or in preparation. He is considered by biomedical scientists as one of the world's top experts on religion and health (http://www.biomedexperts.com/Concept.bme/18754/Religion). His research on religion, health and ethical issues in medicine has been featured on dozens of national and international TV news programs (including ABC's World News Tonight, The Today Show and two episodes of Good Morning America), nearly a hundred national or international radio programs, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines (including Reader's Digest, Parade Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and Guidepost). Dr. Koenig has given testimony before the U.S. Senate (1998) and U.S. House of Representatives (2008) concerning the benefits of religion and spirituality on public health, and travels widely to give seminars and workshops on the topic. His latest books are (1) Faith and Mental Health (2005), (2) In the Wake of Disaster (2006), (3) Spirituality in Patient Care (2007), Medicine, Religion and Health (2008), Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry (2009), Handbook of Religion and Health, Second Edition (Jan/Feb 2012, Oxford University Press), and Spirituality and Health Research: Methodology, Measurement, Analyses, and Resources (2011).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An analytical survey of changing population dynamics, April 12, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Faith In The Future: Healthcare Aging & Role Of Religion (Hardcover)

The collaborative work of Harold G. Koenig, Douglas M. Lawson, and Malcolm McConnell, Faith In The Future: Healthcare, Aging, And The Role Of Religion is a critically important, seminally groundbreaking, and methodical analytical survey of changing population dynamics, a growing healthcare crisis, and the emerging role of religious communities in easing the painful burden associated with chronic and critical health care needs. Describing solutions to difficult problems across the nation, and offering a vision of greatly increased contributions from individuals and institutions alike to those in need, Faith In the Future is a copiously informative, ultimately upbeat and highly recommended study of the positive effect religious communities can and should have upon human beings and their many illnesses and health needs.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What's the World Coming To?, February 25, 2005

By 

Betty Burks "Betty Burks" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Faith In The Future: Healthcare Aging & Role Of Religion (Hardcover)

Because people are living longer (at least twenty years and more), and the Baby Boomers will be eligible for Medicare in 2011, changes will have to be made in the medical care, specifically Medicare. Already, this program which covers all Americans 65 and over is in dire straits, and it may have to become a "needs-based" program limited to the poorest elderly with related healthcare rationing reserved for the oldest and sickest.

It should have evolved into this state long ago as the rich older Americans take what they can from the government (as a given right) with no regard to the needs of persons not of their class. People who live in enormous, glamorous homes and spend a lot of time socializing at a country club should not be receiving Medicare. It must be limited to those unable to provide for themselves, as the extended family of the past no longer exists, and children of the elderly refuse to take on the responsibility -- leaving sick parents at the mercy of the government's social programs.

The Baby Boomers seem to resent their parents for some reason and now they are beginning to have health concerns (due to aging) of their own. They are concerned only with the possible collapse of the Medicare as it exists today before they can benefit from the "system."

So, the elderly are palmed off onto churches to beg for help. As it is predicted by professionals now, the poorest and sickest will be left out in the cold as there will be no place for them in affordable government funded long-term care. The rich will get all the beds.

By involving elders in faith communities as "volunteers" it gives them the emotional support and a source of optimism which will in turn provide stress reduction and improve their own health in unexpected and unique benefits, thus making them less of a burden on others and on the healthcare system.

Assisting the downtrodden is a theological mandate for most religious denominations. The painting on the cover of The Good Samaritan is your standard church literature, Sunday School fare, and makes a point of helping someone in need -- but, why is the poor fellow unclothed. They could at least have placed a shawl or shroud around his naked shoulders, as the family is well dressed for 1857.

Written by Dr. Koenig who has published five earlier books along this same vein, Doug Lawson Ph.D who wrote and promotes VOLUNTEERING, and Malcolm McConnnell who'd collaborated on an earlier Koenig, THE HEALING POWER OF FAITH, and writes about medical and scientific subjects.

This research and informative book "for adults of all ages, of all educational and socioeconomic backgrounds, of all health conditions, and all faiths" is a result of a conference at Duke University. FAITH IN THE FUTURE presents a synthesis of the historic March 2001 conference and expands on the themes raised there.

We need more compassionate people to care what happens to the old (65 yrs) and very old (85 yrs) as the numbers increase. One of my favorite English lit. poems was ABOU BEN ADHEM ("may his tribe increase" because of his good deeds in the name of God). My goodness, it's passed all bounds of the imagination.