The increasing number of older people in the United States has served to focus attention upon the processes of aging and the effectiveness of social programs for the elderly. In order to plan effective programs, accurate social measures are necessary. Now, more than ever before, researchers need conceptually explicit instruments designed to assess individual and social behaviors, attitudes, and traits in the elderly population. This three-volume work is designed to serve the needs of researchers, evaluators, and clinicians in assessing the instruments used in the field of aging. The third and final volume of Research Instruments in Social Gerontology reviews measurement in the areas of health, program evaluation, and demography. The twelve chapters address substantive areas such as the functional capacity of the elderly, their utilization of health services, the effectiveness of long-term care, evaluating costs of service, and geographic mobility. As in the earlier volumes, most chapters are composed of three parts: a narrative review of the major theoretical concerns within that particular research area; a collection of abstracts with information about samples, reliability, validity, and scaling properties; and, whenever possible, the instruments themselves. Volume 3 also contains several chapters that focus on conceptual issues such as cost analysis and demographic trends.
