Skip to main content

Morbidity Prevention in Aging

The Role of Salutogenesis Amidst Crises

  • 1st Edition - September 1, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Nestor Asiamah, Hafiz Khan, Whitney Nesser, Evelyn Alvarez
  • Language: English

Morbidity Prevention in Aging: The Role of Salutogenesis Amidst Crises addresses the urgent need to rethink disease prevention strategies for an aging population. The book begins… Read more

World Book Day celebration

Where learning shapes lives

Up to 25% off trusted resources that support research, study, and discovery.

Description

Morbidity Prevention in Aging: The Role of Salutogenesis Amidst Crises addresses the urgent need to rethink disease prevention strategies for an aging population. The book begins by exploring how age-friendly environments support health-seeking behaviors. The next section focuses on developing personal skills such as resilience and self-efficacy for maintaining health during crises. Section III examines the reorientation of health services to support preventive care, including community care and diet promotion, while Section IV addresses the creation of policies that facilitate health-promoting interventions and integrate prevention strategies. Community engagement and empowerment in promoting health is emphasized in the fifth section.

The book concludes by providing a framework for understanding disease prevention amidst crises, focusing on diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic experiences and ensuring equitable opportunities for lifelong disease prevention. This groundbreaking book emphasizes a salutogenic approach that focuses on factors promoting health rather than merely treating diseases. It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how to maintain health and prevent diseases across the lifespan, even amidst challenges such as wars, climate change, and industrial hazards.

Key features

  • Offers multidisciplinary perspectives and insights from medicine, sociology, and architecture, addressing varied cultural and socioeconomic needs
  • Provides research-based chapters that follow STROBE guidelines, ensuring high-quality, reproducible data for informed decision-making
  • Includes innovative research methods, aiding in the design of robust studies on disease prevention amidst crises
  • Addresses aging dynamics across marginalized communities, different religious groups, and varied income levels, thus promoting inclusive health strategies

Readership

Researchers, academics and students in the fields of gerontology/aging and geriatrics

Table of contents

Section I: Age-Friendly (Supportive) Environments and Healthy Aging

1. Preventive Morbidity in Aging: Construct Operationalization Through a Person-Environment Fit Lens

2. The Role of the Built and Social Environments in Disease Prevention: A Life Course Approach

3. Resilience of the Built Environment During Crises: Design Strategies for Health-Seeking Behaviors

4. Social Networks for Active Aging in Place: A Typology and Theoretical Positioning

Section II: Personal Skills for Healthy Aging

5. A Typology of Personal Skills Needed to Maintain Healthy Behaviors During Crises: A Narrative Review

6. Human Development Strategies for Navigating Ageism and Abuse During Crises: A Life Course Perspective

7. Lifelong Morbidity Prevention During Crises: Tackling Ageism in Diverse Groups

8. Preventing Falls Among Older Adults During Crises: Roles of Human Development and the Built Environment

9. The Role of Community Science Applications in the Promotion of Healthy Aging Practices

Section III: Reorientation of Health Services

10. Promotion of Healthy Behaviors in Community Care: Analysis of Feasibility and Sustainability During Crises

11. Role of Social Work in Health Promotion During Crises: Feasibility and Sustainability Over the Life Course

12. Physical Activity Promotion in Primary Care During Adverse Events: Analysis of Impact, Feasibility, and Sustainability

13. Reframing the Role of Healthcare in Healthy Diet Promotion in Response to Climate Change: A Healthy Aging Perspective

Section IV: Health Policy for Healthy Aging

14. A National Policy for Salutogenic Health Promotion: Feasibility and Sustainability During Crises

15. Promotion of Healthy Behaviors in Health and Social Care: A Realist Analysis of the Roles of Public Policy

16. Complementing Lifelong Primary Prevention With Secondary and Tertiary Prevention During Crises: Role of Policy

17. Role of Self-Perception of Aging on Healthcare Utilization and Preventive Behaviors

Section V: Community Action for Healthy Aging

18. Volunteering During Crises: Sustaining Opportunities and Impact on Health

19. Community Engagement During Crises: An Analysis of Opportunities and Barriers Between Urban and Rural Settings

20. Unexpected Joy and Inspired Fellowship Following Violence/War: Shared Intimacy Transcendence Through the Concept of Communitas

Section VI: Morbidity Prevention Through an Intersectionality Lens

21. A Framework for Lifelong Morbidity Prevention During Crises: An Intersectionality Perspective

22. Opportunities for Lifelong Morbidity Prevention During Crises: Variations Across Social Determinants of Health

23. The Role of Research in Lifelong Disease Prevention During Crises: An Intersectionality Perspective

24. Principles and Pillars of Lifelong Morbidity Prevention During Crises: Concluding Remarks

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: September 1, 2026
  • Language: English

About the editors

NA

Nestor Asiamah

Nestor Asiamah, PhD, FHEA, is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) and Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research in the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Essex, United Kingdom. He also lectures at the University of Europe for Applied Sciences and Berlin School of Business and Innovation in Germany. As the Executive Director and Founding Fellow at the Africa Centre for Epidemiology, he leads several international research groups. Nestor reviews for top journals like The Lancet and serves as an academic editor for journals such as Social Sciences & Humanities Open, BMC Public Health, and PLoS ONE. He is a Medical Research Council grant reviewer and has consulted for the NHS in the UK. Nestor convenes the International Sustainable Ageing Research Group (ISARG), a global network dedicated to healthy aging research and advocacy, and mentors doctoral and postdoctoral researchers worldwide.

Affiliations and expertise
Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research, School of Health and Social Care, University or Essex, UK

HK

Hafiz Khan

Hafiz T.A. Khan, PhD MSc, FHEA, FRSPH, CStat is a Professor of Public Health and Statistics at the University of West London (UWL). Before joining UWL, he was a Reader in Statistics at Birmingham City University, UK. With over 30 years of experience, he transitioned from statistician to specializing in public health. He teaches modules on Public Health, Demography and Aging Society, statistics, and quantitative methods, and provides statistical consultancy services within the university. His research focuses on healthy aging, co-morbidity in later life, and long-term care for the elderly. He supervises PhD students in public health, demography, and gerontology. Professor Khan has co-authored two books, "Research Methods for Business and Social Science" (Sage, 2007 and 2014). He is a Chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, and a member of the academic advisory panel of the UK Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.

Affiliations and expertise
Professor, Public Health and Statistics, University of West London, USA

WN

Whitney Nesser

Whitney Nesser, PhD, MBA, MCHES is a Professor and Gerontology Program Director in the Department of Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences at Indiana State University. Her primary focus is on research and teaching about quality of life, aging, and intergenerationology. Her PhD is in Health Education and Promotion from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Affiliations and expertise
Professor and Gerontology Program Director, Department of Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences, Indiana State University, USA

EA

Evelyn Alvarez

Dr. Evelyn Alvarez, PhD, MPH, is an environmental health professor and geospatial scientist at California State University, Los Angeles specializing in web-based and smartphone environmental community science applications and wearable technology to promote environmental justice and build healthy communities. Her research also investigates the nexus between sustainable aging and green spaces, and resilience-building strategies in response to pandemics and climate change. She earned her PhD in environmental health science from UCLA, focusing on hospital environments, copper antimicrobial surfaces, and hospital-acquired infections, and her MPH in environmental health sciences from Columbia University. Dr. Alvarez's research interests include underrepresented narratives in climate change and sustainable living. Her mentees received the 2020 APHA Student Champions for Climate Justice award for an environmental justice project on campus. She has contributed significantly to advancing environmental health and justice through her innovative research and mentorship.
Affiliations and expertise
Environmental Health Scientist and Professor, California State University, Los Angeles, USA