Ouderenpsychologie: de grijsheid voorbij

Older people form a heterogeneous and pluriform group. The differences characterizing older people are the theme of this paper: cohort differences, differences in aging, differences in risk profile or kind of symptoms, and socio-cultural pluriformity. Three questions are discussed: 1 What is the state of the scientific knowledge on the effects of psychological interventions for older adults from the perspective of the difference?, 2 What are the consequences for the development of interventions and the research on the effectiveness?, 3 What does it mean for the program of my chair? The perspective of the difference is only slightly taken into account in psychological interventions and scientific research on the effects of these interventions. For the development of interventions and research on the effects it is important to start from the position of the older persons themselves. For the development of interventions, the following ways of taking differences into account are discussed: the direct involvement of older people, modular programs, and decision rules for the assignment. Regarding the research methodology it is important not to stick to Randomized Controlled Trials, supposing homogeneous groups, but to use intra-individual techniques such as time series.