Exploring The Individual Experiences Of An Older Adult

Elderly people (women and men age sixty-five or older) (Macionis, 2005), Have many obstacles to face as they grow older, many of these obstacles involve social inequality. Not only do the elderly have to learn to deal with many forms of Ageism (the stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age), some also have to deal with the fact that they do not have enough savings or pension benefits to be self supporting, for most people over sixty-five, the major source of income is social security (Macionis, 2005). This forces many elderly Americans back into the workforce to continue to earn money to support themselves and or spouses. Although many elderly Americans may choose

Aging is very complex and highly individualized process which begins at conception and end with death. Variables such as physical or cognitive impairments, socioeconomic aspect, cultural values, and beliefs make an aging process unique to each individual. I interviewed an elderly woman using a set of guided questionnaires on the topic to further explore her aging experience. For the purpose of this assignment, I will refer to the client interviewed as a D.L., a changed name for a reason of privacy and confidentiality. During the interview, we explored a D.L. strategy to stay healthy, significant accomplishments of her life, hobbies and activities, retirement, and finally the goals for the future.

Successful aging is a complicated and multifaceted concept that varies contextually among individuals, disciplines, and even time. Gerontologists have traditionally considered a person to have aged successfully upon having reached old age with their physical health, mental well-being and spirit still intact. Ultimately, successful aging is a matter of personal perspective, largely influenced by an individual 's values and experiences. Even those within America 's elderly population hold conflicting perspectives on what it means to have aged successfully. A qualitative study published by Reichstadt and Sengupta titled Older Adults ' Perspectives on Successful Aging, concluded that “older adults viewed successful aging as a balance between self-acceptance and self-contentedness on one hand and engagement with life and self-growth in later life on the other” (Reichstadt, "Older Adults ' Perspectives on Successful Aging: Qualitative Interviews", pp. 567-575.)

When Edgar was born, his father abandoned the entire family. Then Edgar’s mother died of tuberculosis when he was only 3 years old. He was then orphaned by John Allan and Frances Keeling Valentine Allan. Edgar, as a young child, had a good stepfather-son relationship, but as Edgar

I had the privilege of interviewing a 60 year old gentlemen who I will identify as Mr. E to protect his privacy for this assignment. The goal of my interview was to gain insight on aging from an older adult. I interviewed Mr. E in his home on a weekday evening. He expressed appreciation and was surprised that he was the focus of an interview in which his life story and thoughts would be recorded.

Ed is 77-year-old White heterosexual man who is in good health and lives in the Niles area of Fremont, California with his wife, Laura, and eldest son Michael. Ed strongly identifies as Irish-Catholic and he and Laura raised their family in an Irish-Catholic household. I selected Ed as my interviewee because he lives in my neighborhood and is good friends with my neighbor’s father. The two degrees of separation between us are gender, ethnicity/cultural identity, as well as socioeconomic status (he is an upper middle class retiree).

Despite the laws and systems in place that perpetuated racism and discrimination, he led a very successful life. He dropped out of school in 8th grade, grew up without his father and lived in poverty, but was able to have a successful career, purchase a home for his family and lead his household. In this past I had thoughts of not wanting to grow old, but after reading about late adulthood and conducting the interview with my grandfather, I realize that it is not the depressive and uneventful period I originally imagined it to be. I also realize that late adulthood is the not the ending of life, but the continuation of new experiences. My grandfather takes great pride in his life experiences and instead of focusing on shortcomings and negatives, he chooses to highlight his success and happiness. He has lived a very long and full life and his stories encompass much of the developmental information discussed in the late adulthood period. This assessment has also awakened in me, an interest in exploring geriatric social work. There is much to learn from our elders, and additional knowledge of this group will allow me to learn how to best serve and support clients in this age

Historically, family and fictive kin have been the chief providers of at home eldercare for older adults in the African American community, instead of institutional care as well, according to Hill (1997). However, increase in future African American aging demographics in the United States is posing new challenges to hold fast to the ethic of caring in the African American tradition of caring for your own. In the second half of the twentieth century, decreased family size, increased educational opportunities, mobility to seek and follow job prospects, relocating to urban communities versus remaining in rural communities, and an increase in life expectancy has some African Americans rethinking institutional placement as an option for their older loved ones or themselves in the future (Groger & Mayberry, 2001). In the past, this would have been considered unthinkable in the African American

After spending an afternoon interviewing my elderly father-in-law, I gained insight into how he perceives the aging process and the impact on the quality of his life. First, and foremost he viewed aging in a very positive and healthy manner. He believes that a positive attitude assists in accepting physical and psychosocial changes and enjoyed the fact that he and his wife are both physically fit and cognitively alert. He felt confident that advances made in health care and the quality of their lives would continue to be empowering. He enjoys the benefits of being a senior citizen including discounted travel, free education, and other incentives marketed towards seniors. He expressed a sense of well-being with respect to the numerous

Instead of relying on income from previous occupation, the elderly population, income will fixate, resulting in dependency on their 401k saving plan and other government related programs to assist with activities of daily living. This is why I choose to work with this population, to ensure that dignity, worth, and respect of a person is maintained. However, the aging population should not feel that they are being treated as a burden by the government or their families. In the United States, we undermine our aging population by treating them as though they are not of any value. In reference to this mistreatment towards the aging population can cause issues such as unemployment, health, and elder abuse.

As adults enter the stage of later adulthood, many changes will begin to develop for each person. The aging process includes transitioning from work life to retirement, changes to roles, social positions, social policies, determining living accommodations with healthcare needs, and relationships with families and peers. The stage known as the golden years comes with great challenges while adjusting to the many changes in a person’s life. (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010). Transition from work to retirement

Assessing and planning care of the elderly is important in enabling the older adult to have the best quality of life in their later years. Understanding their views on living day to day with what they hold dear, will help in planning care for the older person. In this paper, I will interview an older adult and describe various details as well as cultural relations surrounding my interviewed individual. I will perform functional assessments using the Tinetti, Katz, Home Safety, and Barthel tools, which will be included in the Appendix. I will compare any age-related changes and identify more than six preliminary issues that need to be addressed. Lastly, I will propose more than three alterations and

Finch describes (as cited in Dobrof & Ebenstein, 2003, p. 14) becoming an informal caregiver as ‘drifting’ into the new role, moving from ‘occasional helper’ to ‘something more’ (Albert, 1994), and ‘…the point which concern, visiting and ‘helping out’ become…caregiving” (p.14). Marcia states (as cited in Crocetti, Avanzi, Hawk, & Fraccaroli, 2014, p.281) that individuals have a mission throughout their lifetime to develop a stable identity and discover their place in society. “Who are you? is the question that implores individuals to ponder their identity according to Crocetti et al. (2014, p. 281). There are numerous studies regarding identity, but this proposed study will address identity through the lens of caregiving, chiefly informal elder

Aging is described as a sequential, irreversible, progressive, and non-pathological process of maturation in an organism and that translates to a gradual decline in the ability to perform activities optimally. Aging is an individual process that can be a period of stress for individuals especially following their retirement (Hiller & Barrow, 2015). The current study sought to understand the process and experience of aging from the perspective of elderly individuals. In discussing matters of aging and retirement, many assume that women are always eager to retire, and adjust well, as compared to their male counterparts (Bauger & Bongaardt, 2016). Many people assume that since women are generally made as homemakers, they are willing and happy to retire while men, whose nature is to be the main source of family income, find it hard to be out of work (Moody & Sasser, 2014). Indeed, there exists very little literature that sheds some light on this area, particularly on the attitudes of each gender towards retirement and process of aging. Given the significance of retirement to this life stage, the study sought to understand the emotions and views of individuals regarding their retirement through the lenses of (1) Physical health and wellbeing, (2) Friends, Family, and Community, (3) Work and leisure, (4) Finances and lifestyles, and (5) Living

“The best classroom is at the feet of an elderly person,” said by a famous American radio and television writer, Andy Rooney. Elderly has so much to teach the younger generation because they have been through an array of events in life that are worth sharing and knowing. The purpose of the study is to understand the experience of aging and late adulthood by using case study method through interview and informal interaction with an older adult. Given the circumstance of long distance, Skype is used to conduct the interview and informal interaction. Mary, is a vibrant and healthy Chinese elderly woman who turned 75 last summer. She is an atheist who has lived in Hong Kong for her entire life and would be classified as middle class lifestyle. She is widowed and lives alone but she has four children and eight grandchildren. Since she is active, healthy and independent, the “young-old” would be the best term to describe Mary according to gerontologists (Berger, 2014, p.675).