title: Successful aging: considering non-biomedical constructs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Successful aging continues to be applied in a variety of contexts and is defined using a number of different constructs. Although previous reviews highlight the multidimensionality of successful aging, a few have focused exclusively on non-biomedical factors, as was done here.
  
  
  METHODS
  This scoping review searched Ovid Medline database for peer-reviewed English-language articles published between 2006 and 2015, offering a model of successful aging and involving research with older adults.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-two articles were reviewed. Thirty-five articles met the inclusion criteria. Common non-biomedical constructs associated with successful aging included engagement, optimism and/or positive attitude, resilience, spirituality and/or religiosity, self-efficacy and/or self-esteem, and gerotranscendence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Successful aging is a complex process best described using a multidimensional model. Given that the majority of elders will experience illness and/or disease during the life course, public health initiatives that promote successful aging need to employ non-biomedical constructs, facilitating the inclusion of elders living with disease and/or disability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Queen's University Kingston, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Lisa F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Carver
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Queen's University Kingston, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buchanan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological
keywords: engagement; gerotranscendence; optimism; resilience; successful aging