James W. McNally, Emeritus Research Scientist for the NACDA Program on Aging, has joined The 12th Asian Conference on Education & International Development (ACEID2026), The 16th Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences (ACP2026), and The 12th Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen2026) panel titled ‘Understanding Cognitive Impairment: Placing Dementia Within a Realistic Framework’.
Dr McNally has worked extensively on issues related to international ageing and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the ageing life course through his work with the NACDA Program on Aging and the National Institute on Aging (NIA).
To participate in ACEID/ACP/AGen2026 as an audience member, please register for the conference via the conference website.
The panel presentation will also be available for IAFOR Members to view online. To find out more, please visit the IAFOR Membership page.
Speaker Biography
James W. McNally
University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, United States
Dr James W. McNally is the Emeritus Research Scientist for the NACDA Program on Aging, located in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, United States. He was trained initially in forensic anthropology at the University of Maryland and then in formal demography at Georgetown University. As part of this PhD work, Dr McNally was awarded the first minor degree in social gerontology from the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University, followed by a two-year postdoctoral appointment examining policy applications of health data at Syracuse University’s Center for Policy Research. After teaching at Brown University as an Assistant Research Professor, Dr McNally directed the NACDA Program on Aging from 1998 to 2025, building an internationally recognised collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement, and international aspects of ageing. In addition to lifecourse research, he has spent much of his career addressing mechanisms to maintain and strengthen family support networks, focusing on the needs of frail or cognitively impaired elders, presenting on these issues in the United States and internationally. Dr McNally serves on the International Academic Board of IAFOR.
Abstract
Understanding Cognitive Impairment: Placing Dementia Within a Realistic Framework
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) updated the definition of dementia in May 2013, during the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in San Francisco. ‘Major neurocognitive disorder’ (MND) replaced the term ‘dementia’ in order to reduce stigma and to focus on the decline from a previous level of functioning rather than the deficit. The DSM-5 also allowed for the inclusion of dementias where other cognitive domains were affected first, such as in vascular or frontotemporal dementia. Unfortunately, the redefinition of dementia to MND allowed a broad reinterpretation of risks associated with ‘dementia’ to emerge in the research literature, often incorporating chronic health conditions or sensory disabilities as predictors of future dementia. Based upon these loose interpretations, recent estimates suggest that 40 percent or more of the current world's population will have dementia in the coming decades. This panel will place definitions of MND within the framework of a progressive neurological disease and ways we can intelligently address the needs of individuals facing cognitive impairment.
