Page images
PDF
EPUB

impaired hearing, the "Adams Chronicles" was also produced in a captioned version. -Specific information on media programs and on any adjunct material is provided to all organizations working for special interest groups, including the elderly. NEH encourages grantees to promote the use of media productions among senior citizens and applicants to plan media programs with this group in mind. -Many institutions of higher education including community colleges are offering courses for credit using NEH-supported television programs and accompanying written material. These courses, some of which do not require attendance on campus, are good opportunities for continuing a lifelong education particularly for those elderly whose mobility may be limited by health or transportation problems.

-Humanities radio programing serves a wide audience, including the visually handicapped, who might have limited access to the humanities in other media. For many elderly people confronting problems such as impaired vision and reduced mobility, projects such as the American Issues Radio Forum (described above) provide access to information as well as a mechanism for communicating with others.

MUSEUM PROGRAMS

Several major exhibitions (such as the "Treasures from the Tomb of King Tutankhamun") were supported by NEH funds in 1976, in additional to small exhibitions in communities across the Nation.

According to a recent survey of museum attendees conducted by NEH, 14 percent of the persons attending the NEH-supported exhibition were between the ages of 51 and 64. Clearly, a large number of older persons benefit from exhibitions such as those NEH has supported this year. However, our sample also indicated that only 4 percent of the attendees were 65 and over, a finding which corroborates results reported in "Americans and the Arts." NEH is concerned that exhibitions for the general public reach more people in this age group, and hope that through the initiatives of grantees and community service organizations some of the problems will be resolved which presently make participation of the elderly in this activity difficult.

COURSES BY NEWSPAPER

The "Courses by Newspaper" project was described briefly above as one of the numerous American Issues Forum activities. In September 1976, several hundred newspapers began publishing a course on the oceans, and a course on contemporary moral choices will begin early in 1977.

"Courses by Newspaper" offers several options for those who want to engage in lifelong learning. Use of the courses can vary from reading the articles only, to independent study of additional print material, to enrollment for college credit at hundreds of institutions in all parts of the Nation. In addition, a recently developed discussion leaders' guide can be used to conduct informal but productive discussions.

We hope that wider knowledge about the "Courses by Newspaper" and recognition of their potential usefulness as a focus for discussion and learning will result in even greater active participation by the elderly. A special effort is being made to provide information on the courses and the varied opportunities for learning they present to organizations acting in the interest of older people.

PARTICIPATION OF OLDER PEOPLE: A SELECTED PROJECT

The involvement of older people in some NEH supported activities has been described above-specifically in sections on nationwide activities such as the State-based program and the American Issues Forum. Projects designed for older people have also been described.

However, there are also a number of projects not easily recognized as affecting the elderly but which, in fact, have involved significant numbers of older people. One of these is included, primarily because it demonstrates the kind of contributions older people make to this society, as well as the curiosity, the desire to learn, and the energy and intelligence that characterize most of America's older citizens.

NEWBERRY LIBRARY: WORKSHOPS IN COMMUNITY HISTORY

In 1975, recognizing that systematic training in "how to do" local history was not generally available for adults in educational institutions, the Newberry Library's Family and Community History Center, in conjunction with the Chicago Historical Society, began a training program of 1-week workshops in local and community history. This program was designed to provide interested lay people in the greater Chicago area and 12 neighboring midwestern States with both the basic skills and the encouragement of professional historians that would enable them to return to their communities better able to promote and do local history.

As of November 1976, six of eight scheduled workshops had been completed; two more will be held in January and February 1977. Statistics on the 174 persons who have completed the workshops reveal a broad range of participation: 18 percent of participants were over the age of 60, while 46 percent were between the ages of 40 and 60; of the 174 people, 27 percent were amateur historians (with 12 percent homemakers, 11 percent white collar workers, and 4 percent retired).

With the training received, people in a position to influence serious historical investigation in their own communities are working in various ways-writing, mounting exhibitions, preparing film and slide presentations, organizing local history discussion groups-which will contribute both to understanding and to a sense of community. Equally important, these people, a significant number of whom are older citizens, are contributing to the building of an historical record of national importance.

V. NEH PLANS FOR 1977

NEH support in 1977 for activities related to the aged cannot be estimated because the endowment responds to, rather than solicits, inquiries and proposals initiated by individuals and organizations. Awards are made based upon first, specialist peer review, and then, recommendations of the National Council on the Humanities which (by law) must advise the Chairman regarding action to be taken on all applications. Thus, the level of support and the kinds of projects supported will depend largely on the interest, imagination, and competence of those who conceive and plan humanities projects affecting older citizens.

However, an increase in humanities programs related to aging is expected in 1977, in view of the following facts: (1) Many of the projects described here are ongoing and those in the developmental stage promise valuable methods and materials; (2) many of the products described have great potential usefulness; (3) through local and national projects, people are acquiring experience in humanities programing for older citizens; and (4) there is increasing interest in the Nation in extending educational opportunities—formal and informal-to citizens of all ages.

NEH encourages applicants and grantees to consider the problems and the potential of older Americans in their project designs. With wider knowledge of projects and products already supported, greater use of available materials in projects conducted by and for older people, and with increasing interest in the humanities on the part of individuals and organizations experienced in programing for older adults, it is hoped that, for significantly larger numbers of older Americans, the humanities will be an important part of their lifelong learning experience.

ITEM 22. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

DECEMBER 20, 1976.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your letter of November 10, 1976, to Dr. Richard C. Atkinson, Acting Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), in which you requested a summary of the Foundation's actions on human aging during fiscal year 1976. You also requested some mention of our planned activities on aging for fiscal year 1977.

The Foundation's principal mission is to maintain U.S. scientific strength through the support of scientific research and science education programs. The bulk of NSF support has been and continues to be focused on fundamental research in all major fields of science.

Although research support for human aging is not a specifically targeted thrust of the Foundation's efforts, some important results related to this area have

been discovered as a consequence of funding by the NSF. Attachment A contains a summary listing and description of several projects on human aging that received NSF support during fiscal year 1976. Most of these projects are in the applied areas and therefore focus on several issues that have implications for the policy, social, legal, and economic aspects of aging.

Additionally, attachment B comprises brief descriptions of several basic re search projects supported by the Foundation that are related to human aging processes. These projects, which fall in the areas of developmental and regul?tory biology and the behavioral and neural sciences, were/are ongoing activities for fiscal years 1976 and 1977.

Other current Foundation plans for fiscal year 1977 call for placing even greater emphasis on research focusing on various aspects of human aging. The scientific and cultural mechanisms of aging pose a growing concern for society and this will require increased research efforts if we are to deal more effectively with this complex issue.

Please let me know if I can provide you with any additional information. Sincerely yours,

[Enclosures.]

JACK T. SANDERSON,
Director, Office of Planning
and Resources Management.
Attachment A

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FISCAL YEAR 1976 AWARDS ON HUMAN AGING AS OF SEPT. 30, 1976

[blocks in formation]

Social indicator models of University of Illinois-Ur- This study is concerned with developing social indicator trends in the status of the

aged.

bana.

[blocks in formation]

models which describe and explain changes in the status of the aged in several spheres of life: Family, economy, residence and housing, health and health care, social participation and attitudes. These constructed models, which will take into account such variables as age, period and cohort effects, will permit analysis of changes in the status of the aged in the context of the broader societal changes which took place during the 1947-74 period. This project is an exploratory study that focuses on the legal problems and behavior patterns of the elderly in an urban area. The realization that victimization of the elderly, both real and perceived, is a reality in our society, particularly in the areas of consumer fraud, criminal assault and unethical practices, the study plans to: obtain a legal ethnography of the urban elderly in San Francisco; ascertain what alternative legal mechanisms exist within the aged community and how they operate; attempt to document which legal problems are generic to most urban elderly; and discover the extent of the congruence between the elderly's perceptions of their legal problems and those of the legal and other service personnel who work closely with the elderly.

Aging and modernization... Wichita State University... This study examines the relationship between the status

Age structure and economic Duke University... change.

of the aged and the degree of modernization characteristics of 4 Samoan communities including 1 in the United States. Through the use of interviews, observations, and analysis of economic and social modernization indicators as well as demographic data, the study emphasizes the following influential variables: economic and medical technology; urbanization and education; the role of status and self-perception; and the social, economic, and political behavior of aged Samoans.

This project will focus on the interrelationship between the demographic factors resulting from various low fertility patterns and the economic status of the elderly combined with the ability of the working population to provide the aged with adequate income maintenance. The project will examine:

The tradeoff between lower dependency costs for the decreasing number of younger dependents and the increasing cost of supporting the growing number of older dependents;

The ability of individuals to accumulate assets to support themselves in late life;

The fluctuation of retirement income from various sources over late life;

Potential shifts in the age-earning profile and the resulting impact on income distribution;

Trends in the patterns of labor force participation rates and their implications for the capacity of the nonaged to support the aged.

Attachment A

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FISCAL YEAR 1976 AWARDS ON HUMAN AGING AS OF SEPT. 30, 1976-Con.

[blocks in formation]

The social and cultural con- University of Southern texts of aging: Implications California.

for social policy.

[blocks in formation]

Economic impact of private Brandeis University... pensions.

Socialization

of Japanese University of Hawaii.... women for maturing and

[blocks in formation]

Description

This research study focuses on the investigation of the sociological aspects of aging and its place in the proper cultural context including socioeconomic and ethnic aspects.

Comparisons of how product choices are made between the older and younger consumers will be the major goal of this project. The 4 specific phases of the project include: (1) An experimental pilot project to explore how products are perceived, to pretest procedures, and to develop and implement a sample design; (2) obtaining product ratings from the participants; (3) examining the manner in which older and younger consumers weight product attributes and arrive at "optimum choices"; and (4) establishing aspects of the product decision process which can be modified to improve product choices by the elderly. This study is developing a microsimulation private pension model to investigate the future impact of private pensions on the economic status of the elderly. Specific areas explored include: the distribution and magnitude of future private income; the impact of private pensions on the economic status of the aged; and the implication of vesting standards specified in the 1974 Pension Reform Act that are relevant to economic impact. The study will permit analysis of alternatives to or changes in private pension mechanisms.

This exploratory study focuses on the modes and directions of socialization in adulthood as anticipated, experienced and conceptualized by Japanese women. The learning of sex roles and how this impinges upon the dominant values of a culture will form one important phase of the study. A woman's life cycle will generally include her role career punctuated by role transitions (acquisition and loss of roles). These transitions may generate strain. Normally involved in this process is a sequential acquisition of the marital, maternal, and grandparental roles, followed by the loss of these through widowhood, senility and death.

of Illinois This research project concentrates on the effects of environmental determinants such as exterior and interior design, including space characteristics and relationships, on the social interaction of elderly people in a retirement home setting. Although a retirement home resident may occupy his or her own living unit, many spaces such as the dining area, activity rooms, commons area, foyer, and patio may be shared. It is therefore, the intent of this research to study interaction in each of the aforementioned shared areas to determine which environmental determinants enhance and which detract from the goal of promoting social interaction. Hopefully, the findings of this study will be of use to administrators and staff of elderly care facilities as well as architects and designers who plan these types of environments.

University Because cardiovascular disease occurs with common frequency among aging members of society, the major thrust of this study will involve an effort to generate an appropriate comparative model for hemiplegic research which uses perceptual motor tasks. In an attempt to accomplish this task, 2 different kinds of experiments will assess hemiplegic effects in humans and infrahumans. Performance of the human and infrahuman subjects will be analyzed separately to assess the effects of major independent variables. The human component of this study will involve the testing of visual perception of stroke victims and other elderly control subjects.

Ion microscopic study of Cornell University....... elemental distribution in

cataractous human lenses.

This study focuses on the search for mechanisms which maintain functional lens transparency of the eye. Being aware that the human lens has been found to contain many elements which possibly have an important metabolic role in functional lens transparency, this project hopes to further explain the exact role of these elements by using a new technique called analytical ion microscopy. Further analysis will investigate how these chemicals vary with age and cataractogenesis.

Distribution of earnings, oc- University of Pennsylvania. Investigations of new bodies of data by this project will cupational status and educational attainment.

Effects of taxation and fiscal Harvard University.....
programs on accumulation
and distribution.

analyze the effects of: (1) Illness and disease on occupational status, workweek and annual lifetime earnings; (2) schooling and other measured variables on annual and lifetime earnings; and (3) unmeasured genetic and environmental indices on annual and lifetime earnings. Project has the principal focus of analyzing the effects of the current social security program in the United States on savings and comparing this with savings which would derive from alternative social security programs. One result of this effort will be the design of an optimal structure of social security benefits which takes into account the different characteristics of the aged.

Attachment B

NSF-SUPPORTED BASIC RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RELATING TO THE AGED

REGULATORY BIOLOGY

Due to current researchers' implications that there is a similarity of female reproductive aging in rodents and primates which enables the use of the rodent as a model system for insights into human reproductive diseases associated with aging, two research projects supported by the Foundation's regulatory biology program are directly concerned with the effect of aging upon reproduction and fertility in rodents. One project focuses on the loss and restoration effects of uterine estrogen in rodents while the other deals with studying the changes in the hypothalamopituitary axis which result in infertility in the aged female rat.

Additionally, two other projects are studying the permeability and transfer of macromolecules, especially lipids and proteins, from the lumen of arteries into the arterial walls. Potentially, both studies can offer important information regarding the development of arteriosclerosis, a condition that appears to be related to aging.

BEHAVIORAL AND NEURAL SCIENCES (BNS)

Research supported by BNS generally has substantial impact upon the ultimate understanding by many of the basic behavioral and neural processes involved in aging.

One project focuses on determining the anatomical and physiological causes of hearing loss due to exposure to noise. Researchers are working initially with "aged" ears to map the normal changes that occur over time. These data will serve as a normative base against which specific aberrations induced by exposure to noise can be compared. The normative data will also help scientists better understand how the ear changes as a function of time.

Similar longitudinal research in other sensory systems, such as learning and memory, developmental psychology, linguistic, and in behavorial biology is contributing significantly to a better understanding of some of the behavioral changes involved in the aging process. Research dealing with the nervous system, involving for example, tissue culture systems where the mechanism of nerve cell development and death can be studied directly, is especially promising.

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

Research supported by the developmental biology program is directed toward gaining an understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in the differentiation of cells and the orchestration of the aging process within an organism. Examples of such studies involve research on both animals and plants at all levels from the organismal to the molecular.

One molecular level project at Harvard University is studying the mechanisms involved in the rate and timing of protein synthesis to form the proteinaceous eggshell of insects. The particular proteins have been identified and are found to be produced asynchronously. This makes it possible to determine the developmental state of the eggshell-producing organ by examining the proteins at any given time and thereby allows the definition of gene expression. Such study of terminally differentiating cells or organs provide insight into the biochemical changes which accompany the maturation or aging process.

Other studies place considerable emphasis on the nature, and relationship of hormonal and other regulation mechanisms with aging. In peas, for example, death normally follows the reproductive phase. One NSF-sponsored researcher has found that a certain hormone can extend the reproductive phase and the life span of the plant. Further research will characterize the nature of the hormonal regulation.

ITEM 23. POSTAL SERVICE

DECEMBER 10, 1976.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you for your letter of November 9, requesting the submission of a report on those activities of the Postal Service affecting the

« PreviousContinue »