Nursing homes that have both special care units (SCUs) and traditional units were examined to determine the factors that cause homes to place cognitively impaired residents on the specialized units. Wandering, other problem behaviors, and Medicaid status were not significant predictors of placement. Logistic regression results indicated that functional status was the critical placement factor.

Cohort changes in attitudes about the availability of legal abortions are traced over a twelve year period using data from seven national surveys. Contrary to the aging-conservatism hypothesis, trends in the direction of increasingly favorable attitudes between 1965 and 1973 and general stability thereafter characterize all cohorts. On this issue, there is no evidence of growing conservatism, attitudinal rigidity, or change at a slower rate among the older cohorts.

The professional training of cancer researchers in the basic sciences rarely involves interactions with patients. To provide nascent cancer scientists with an appreciation for and experience in interacting with the people most vested in their work, we created a program at Cornell University in which cancer researchers in training engage with the local patient community. Through this program, trainees gain a broader understanding of cancer, beyond the fundamental biology, and learn to effectively communicate scientific information to the public. We find that trainees and community members both benefit from interacting with one another and learning together about cancer using a common language.

This paper explores the parallels between the mainstreaming of disabled and non-disabled students in schools and the integration of cognitively impaired and cognitively intact residents in nursing homes. The research on educational mainstreaming at a more mature stage of development, can serve as a foundation for gerontologists by suggesting that: • The physical location of service is non-specific and relatively meaningless as an independent variable; • Integration may benefit some impaired individuals while proving detrimental to others; • Moral and political arguments often drive the discussion; and • The well-being of non-impaired individuals is often overlooked.

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