Summary: Publisher Summary 1 Greene (gerontology and social welfare, U. of Texas at Austin) updates this text on social work with older adults and their families--the most significant addition being the discussion of the functional-age model of intergenerational treatment. The nine chapters address topics such as: special issues in the helping process, assessment and functional age, psychological aspects of functional age, socio-cultural and spiritual aspects of functional age, the family as a set of reciprocal roles and developmental unit, the functional-age model and individual and family intervention, and group and community-based treatment approaches. Annotation 漏2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)   Publisher Summary 2 In recent years, theoreticians, researchers, and practitioners have become increasingly interested in older adults and the aging process. This volume draws on related disciplines to better understand the biological, psychological, and social aspects of aging. Social Work with the Aged and Their Familiescovers areas of central interest to those coping with the needs of an aging population. Among the topics addressed are assessment of the aging, taking into account biological age, psychological age, and socio-cultural and spiritual age. Greene also considers the importance of the family system, family roles and development, functional-age individual and family intervention, and group and community interventions. The scientific and systematic study of aging is known as gerontology. Geriatric social workers are those who have applied established social work theories in an attempt to find suitable techniques for working with their elderly clients. The need for specialied services has given birth to various services and programs. For example, meals-on-wheels and home health care services have been designed to meet specific physical needs of older adults. However, mental health services have lagged far behind as practitioners struggled to adapt such specialties as family therapy to families of later years. A major contribution of this book, now in its third edition, is the functional-age model of intergenerational treatment (FAM), which is an outgrowth of that demand. The functional-age model of intergenerational treatment is an integrative theoretical framework for social workers interested in clinical social work practice with older adults and their families. Since its initial construction in 1986, the model has been augmented by more recent concepts related to successful aging, spirituality, and resiliency. These additions, together with the original assessment and intervention strategies, present the major converging conceptual trends that constitute a model for twenty-first century social work practice in the field of aging. Roberta Greeneis a professor and the Louis and Ann Wolens Centennial Chair in Gerontology and Social Welfare at the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin. Greene is the author of nine texts and numerous research articles. She currently is continuing her scholarship through filmmaking and Web site design.