The impact their everyday lives and challenge

The topic I chose is loneliness among the elders. In a society where social media is advancing everyday with the top new technology and social media platforms, the elderly tend to become lonely considering most of them don’t know how to navigate through all the new technology and social media that is portrayed.

Communication is done through a simple text or click of a button and most of the elderly cannot relate to that; which causes a communication decrease. According to “ Loneliness, depression, and sociability in old age,” many people experience old age due to a result of living alone, or because of a lack of family ties and connections that they once had. Some also lose a connection to their cultural beliefs and they no longer want to do things they once enjoyed doing such as celebrating holidays, going to church, etc. They lose connection with their past friends and family members and as a result it becomes hard for them to create new relationships and ties perhaps because of abandonment issues or rather; they’ve been alone for so long that they just prefer that life now. Most of the older adults that live alone are used to it by now and prefer staying in a home they’re accustomed to even if it means having to live alone. Older people hate change, so they’d rather stay in an environment where everything is normal and where they feel a sense of belonging. They know their neighbors, where all the supermarkets are, and it makes their lives easier rather than having to adapt into a new environment where they won’t be able to be independent.

1b) This issue is extremely important for various reasons. As adults get older, they tend to become more independent even if it makes things harder for them. Most adults would rather live alone than move in with children because they do not like relying on others. As individuals grow older, most of them are faced with various physical, psychological and social changes that impact their everyday lives and challenge their sense of self independence and the capacity to live happily. Studies have shown that the two-leading impaired quality of life among elder adults are in fact depression and loneliness. It’s an important issue because safety should be a primary importance for these elders. In instances of Alzheimer’s, some Alzheimer’s patients live alone and that is very dangerous because they lose their memory during random times and can forget their name, address, or even where the bathroom is. This goes hand in hand with loneliness because Alzheimer patients tend to get very confused about certain things and having familiar faces around them could help in the process of it all rather than waking up one day completely unaware of where you are and who you are.

Self-harm could also be a result of loneliness among elders because they feel like they don’t have anything to live for anymore. They’re alone with no company so that’s why suicide rate among elders is quite high.  1c) According to a research done by Cambridge University, there were findings which suggest that there is a close but complex association between loneliness, social isolation and living alone (Wenger et al. 1996; Andersson 1998). It’s been suggested that home visiting improves the wellbeing of housebound older people who live alone. This study believes that if family members and friends try to make time and put an effort into seeing the elderly in their family, they are more likely to keep them happy and have something to live for. Also, it shows them that their family cares for them and enjoy each other’s company.

It is shown that loneliness leads to depression and it can be quite detrimental if it is left untreated. Depression has many affects such as higher health care costs considering the patients would need special medication and care to feel safe and comfortable. It also leads to an increased disability rate, and a bad quality of life. Depressed and lonely elders need to constantly have people around them to be happy. These could be prevented by taking certain precautions and interventions for depression in older adults which is treated mainly in primary care or home-based settings.

These settings obtain a range of social and organizational factors which affect the mental health behaviors of older adults. This is done by the elders asking for help and advice when they face emotional problems. It also helps with awareness of problems and available services, as well as the availability of age appropriate and culturally appropriate mental health care which helps them with their emotions and how they react to certain things.  1d)  There were positive results from these efforts that took place especially for home care nurses’ patients. It was shown that some home care nurses improved their identification of depression through the Training in the Assessment of Depression program. There was also a Depression carepath which is basically a depression care manager intervention which targets nurses working with home healthcare patients with depression.

The patients were tested and were found to improve the identification of depressive symptoms and there was also an improved medication adherence and improved knowledge of depression. Some other means of handling depression and loneliness was helped by Problem Solving Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and the Treatment Initiation and Participation. All of these proved to be good sources of depression management in addition to social support.   1e)     Singh, A., & Misra, N. (2009). Loneliness, depression and sociability in old age.

? Industrial Psychiatry Journal,? 18(1), 51–55. http://doi. org/10. 4103/0972-6748. 57861, Page Break Answer 2a)  Rowe and Kahn’s models of successful aging is important because it links positive spirituality and health together.

It describes some effective bonds that occur between health professionals and religious communities. Rowe and Kahn’s model are crucial because it enables health professionals, religious organizations and specializations as well as government agencies to work together in order to promote good health and wellness among older adults. Rowe and Kahn portray successful aging as the avoidance of disease and disability. They believe the key to successful aging relies on health and maintaining a safe environment externally as well as internally. They believe diseases lead to earlier death and the more we take care of ourselves the healthier we will be and longer we will live.

Later, their perspective expanded, and they added the maintenance of physical and cognitive function and engagement in social and productive activities to their studies.  2b) The SOC model relies on social functioning and cognitive development as it basis means of interpretation. It is composed of three main components which are selection, optimization, and compensation. All of these go hand in hand for setting, pursuing, and maintaining personal goals. The purpose of selection is mainly for the developing, expanding, and committing to personal goals and achievements one wishes to accomplish. Throughout life there’s various biological and social opportunities that one experiences, and the number of options is usually exceeding the amount of internal and external sources and reliability that some individuals need. So, the options need to be reduced for a proper more precise focus. This is particularly important in old age, a time in life when resources decline.

For the optimization step, to achieve an outcome that is wanted in a selected domain, there are some goal relevant means that need to be obtained and applied. The means that are best suited for achieving one’s goals vary according to the specific goal domain such as family, friends, personal characteristics such as appearance, age, and the sociocultural context such as environment and surroundings. Optimization also is used as the investment of time and energy into reaching one goals and modeling success to others as role models. Compensation is acquiring new resources even the unused internal and external resources for alternative means of pursuing goals. The maintenance of positive functioning is important for successful aging as a sustained growth focus. We see this from the loss-based idea where you give up one goal and make new ones.

Developing new goals however can decrease resources so it’s important to have personal goals that are beneficial.  2c) I think the pros for Rowe and Kahn’s models is that it’s very realistic. I think health and aging has a very close relationship and that they affect one another immensely. I think the idea of government and organizations working together to promote this better health and wellness is good because then more than be influenced and benefit from it. The cons for this model would be that they should talk about other correlations with aging not just health because there’s is much more out there. I think the SOC model is very reliable because there’s many aspects to it and it covers a broad but also individual concept which could help individuals. It talks about resources and rally using your goals as your motivation and I think that’s a great idea to focus on.      2d) Upload it on BlackboardSymbol Discussion Board by 12/18, 11: 20am  Page Break Answer 3) I think what’s missing is the perspectives of different people from various cultures, religions, and environments.

Everyone experiences aging in their own way so hearing from each perspective would help understand why they go through certain things. Some cultures tend to keep the elderly with them closely and some send them away to home care facilities. It depends on how and where you were raised and its cultural as well. Also, I feel like it should talk about other age groups as well not just adults because everyone experiences different things at different ages so a comparison and correlation between aging and all the side effects and things that happen as you grow could be studied. Also, the economy should be talked about and how that influences aging. Health care raises drastically for older patients because they require more health care.

It should talk about how health care for the elderly should become free because they require it more and it’s a necessity for them and their wellbeing. The cognitive perspective should be adding because each race has their own way of growing and experiencing new things so seeing how mentally each group changes would be interesting to see. There could be similarities and differences in that.

Also, it would be interesting to see which groups get grey hair first who starts losing vision faster and if how and where you grow influences all that. They could also see which groups have less  resources and support and how that influences the aging in their communities and if it shortens life for them.