Work plays an important part in our lives—it is a part of human life. We work certain hours a week in order to get money to pay for food, shelter, and even education. However, other than a job accommodating us for the basic necessities, it presents us with aims and goals besides financial security. A job, in which we pursue, should be exciting, beneficial in many ways, including providing us with confidence and satisfaction. For these reasons, I find myself trying my best to achieve a job as a gerontologist.
Gerontologists are those who not only work to take care of the elderly but attempt to understand and address the needs of the elderly. An individual can take different paths of gerontology. They can either work with the elderly through community service programs or even research physical and psychological aspects of aging, with the overall aim being towards improving our quality of lives as we grow older.
The area in which I would like to pursue my career in gerontology is adult daycare or also known as elderly retirement homes. Numerous elderly people, even those who are Alzheimer’s patients and other medically assisted live alone. Even though they do not need to have constant supervision, hour after hour, it is still beneficial for them to have some sort of daily social interaction. Adult daycare provides care and assistance, and especially requiring patience. This job career is most ideal for me since I have volunteered at a local Senior Retirement Home and have the characteristics and job personality for this area of gerontology. This job field is still growing and will continue to grow and as the generation of Baby Boomers begin to retire, there will be a rapid growth in the elderly population. It is said that the Bab...
... middle of paper ...
...nsion occurs within the society because of this of the increase of life expectancy, and elderly persons working longer than they should.
Works Cited
Ferraro, Kenneth F., ed. Gerontology: Perspectives and Issues. New York: Springer Pub., 1990.
Print.
“Gerontologist.” Career Cruising. Anaca Technologies Ltd., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
"Gerontologist." Ms Health Careers. MHA Health Careers Center, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
Herlihy, S. "Government Jobs vs. Private Sector Jobs." EHow. Demand Media Inc., n.d. Web.
"What Is Gerontology? Geriatrics?" Careers in Aging. Careers in Aging, 11 Apr. 2006. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.
Wiener, Linda. "Careers in Aging: A Booming Industry." Business and Aging. Exploring Careers in Aging, 30 Mar. 2006. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Vincent, John A., Chris Phillipson, and Murna Downs. The Futures of Old Age. London: Sage
Publications, 2006. Print.
University of California (2006). An Aging U.S. Population and the Health Care Workforce: Factors Affecting the Need for Geriatric Care Workers. University of California, San Francisco, Center for California Health Workforce Studies.
An aging population is indeed a problem for the society and will possibly cause many social and economic difficulties in the future. According to David Foot (2003), professor of Economics at University of Toronto, an effective birth rate of 2.2% against current 1.75% will be necessary to replace the current work force in the near future and the government’s policy of bringing in more immigrants will eventually fail (Foot, 2003, 2). However some people predict that the increased size of an aging population will drive growth in the home, health care, and many other industries resulting in job creation and economic growth (Marketwire, 2013, 1). Majority of the people are of the opinion that the issue will be mainly in the health care and economic activity. As humans age, they start to develop health problems, leading to more visits to a medical clinic putting extra burden on health care system.
Hiller, S. M., & Barrow, G. M. (2011). Aging, the individual, and society. (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
As part of a six week clinical placement I was posted in Aged care. During my clinical placement, I had an opportunity to enhance my knowledge about the ageing process. I had learned to apply advanced knowledge to plan appropriate care for an older person with complex health needs, analyse the principles underpinning best nursing care of an older person, integrate legal and ethical considerations into nursing care, including documentation and develop practice in relation to the care of a person with dementia.
Ageing is a natural process, which presents a unique challenge for all sections of the society. With gradual improvement in health-care delivery services, people in the UK are living longer, but not necessarily healthier lives. As a result, the number of people who require care in their old age is increasing dramatically. There are currently three million people over 80, and this number is expected to almost double by 2030. There are also an increasing number of elderly people living on their own, increasing the demand for specific elderly care.
While growing up I had many ideas of what professional career I wanted to obtain, although until recent years, occupational therapy was not even a thought. It was not until my grandmother had a stroke that I even knew what occupational therapy was or entailed. I watched my grandmother participate in therapy leading her to learn how to tie her shoes again, and the things I thought were so simple as to dress herself again. It was during that time as high school graduation was approaching that I realized I wanted to be apart of that. I wanted to have a role helping others learn and exceed as she did because I seen how much joy it brought her. This experience opened my eye to the things we so often take for granted, that some people lose the ability of doing or lack the ability of doing. Throughout her journey of facing and overcoming these problems, it led me to a yearning to pursue this
..., with the advancement of technology and medical systems, both the life span and available labor years have increased to a great extent. In such a context, the value of the senior citizens who intend to enter or reenter the labor force should be evaluated not only socially but also economically. While being praised for its function in social administration as an improvement in senior life quality and community harmony, senior employment should also be applauded for its huge economic value: with the adoption of this labor pool, the burden of population aging would be relieved considerably. Our program, which is going to put an emphasis on the minority group among the elderly, would provide an important supplement to the already existing senior employment assistance programs, in helping senior job seekers find their suitable location in the society and our economy.
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Cooley, S., Deitch, I., Harper, M., Hinrichsen, G., Lopez, M., & Molinari, V. (1998). What practioners should know about working with older adults. American Psychological Association, Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/gec/forms/practitioners_older_adults.pdf
As the population of the United States ages and lifespan increases, the U.S. is being faced with challenges that could either hurt the country or benefit it if plans are executed correctly. By the year 2050, more than thirty-two million Americans will be over the age eighty and the share of the 80-plus generation will have doubled to 7.4 percent. Health care and aging population has become a great deal considering the impact it is having on the U.S. The United States is heading into another century with an outstanding percentage of people within the aging population. Today’s challenges involving health care and the aging populations are the employees of health professions being a major percentage of the aging population, the drive into debt, and prevention and postponement of disease and disability.
Theories concerned with ageing are constructed in an attempt to objectively satisfy the inquiries that arise after studying ageing and to provide evidence based clarifications. In the context of this essay, they allow troubleshooting regarding issues around the type of support would be expected to be needed by Betty and her son. Bengtson et al, (1999) accepts the potential pragmatism of the theories nevertheless he argues that they can be generalised and unimaginative. The controversy regarding theorising ageing becomes especially relevant when they are applied in isolation failing to address that “the science and positivism are severely limiting… for understanding aspects of ageing.” Bengtson et al (1999)
In conclusion, it is necessary to plan effective interventions in order to support the participation of our elders in our community. Occupational therapists can get involved in our community and help this age group in improving their lifestyle. The main target always being to promote involvement in activities that not only promotes physical activity but also activities that encourages them to use their ideas and knowledge to attend their needs. This will make is easier for our elders to leap into retirement as is the case of my father. This is a good starting point to focus my interest in the area of geriatrics in the field of occupational therapy.
Retirement is a willful termination from a career after working maximum amount of years for a company. The average individual retires around the age sixty- five (Martin, 2014). Retirement is supposed to be a happy phase in an individual life however it can take a while for individual to adjust to not working. Retirement is important to the field of human development due to the fact it shows how older adults developed and transition in the later years of life. Gerontology is the exact field that studies the aging of the older population. The field of human development examines individual from birth to death (Broderick & Blewitt,2015). Many individuals spend years in the work force going to the same place of employment daily. However, the transition of not working affect many older adults due to the
My studies in gerontology provide me with the ability to better serve older people. I
Gerontologists study the aging process and focus on the period between middle age and later life (“Medical Scientists,” 2014; Rizza & Langer, 2010). Classically, gerontology has been divided into sub-disciplines covering the psychology of aging, social sciences of aging, health gerontology and the biology of aging (O’Neil, 2012). This wide-ranging field addresses normal mental, physical and social challenges as well as the inevitable frailty, illness and death that people experience as they age (O’Neil, 2012). Gerontologists also evaluate the societal changes that result from an aging population (“Sociologists,” 2014). They apply this knowledge to programs and policies to improve the quality of life for the elderly (O’Neil, 2012). Given the multidisciplinary interests of gerontologists, professional work is found in various fields and employs graduates from mixed educational backgrounds (“Medical Scientists,” 2014; O’Neil, 2012; Psychologists,”2014; Rizza & Langer, 2010; “Sociologists,” 2014).