Senior Caregivers and Avoiding Isolation Senior isolation is a growing problem in America. The US Census Bureau reports tens of millions of American seniors living alone, and many of these seniors do not have anybody checking in on them or engaging with them socially. While some seniors choose this lifestyle, others have it dropped upon them through the death of a loved one or other situation beyond their control. It is normal for social contacts to decrease with age. Many of those we knew moved away or passed on, but for seniors living alone, this can create a potentially dangerous situation. Dr. John Cacioppo, a neuroscientist and psychologist at the University of Chicago, notes that senior isolation is directly linked to loneliness "poor cognitive performance and quicker cognitive decline." These seniors also have a much greater risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. …show more content…
Despite the increased risks of isolation, many seniors pull back from social situations because they don't feel good about themselves.
Issues with weight, eyesight, hearing, grooming, etc. create negative feelings of low-self esteem, poor body image, and a lack of self-worth. These seniors are often overly self-conscious, easily embarrassed, and walk the line of depression. Many times, the issues that cause their social anxiety could be prevented, moderated, or even stopped if they had the proper support. Senior caregivers are able to provide this support. Seniors who need assistance with personal care are often too embarrassed to ask for help. Yet, issues with mobility, pain, memory, vision, or even awareness can make personal care difficult if not impossible. Senior caregivers provide personal care support that includes bathing, grooming, dressing, toileting, incontinence care, and so forth. These services allow seniors to look and feel their best, which gives them the confidence to enter into social
situations. Seniors with hearing issues often feel embarrassed that they cannot follow conversations, have to ask for things to be repeated, or are troubled by background noises. Instead of getting help, they withdraw from social life. Senior caregivers can help your senior loved one identify their hearing loss, arrange for testing, and provide the emotional and social support they will need as they adjust to assistive devices such as hearing aids. With an increased ability to hear clearly, social situations no longer seem quite so imposing and instances of isolation can be avoided. In short, senior isolation is a serious problem, but what is equally as serious are the underlying problems that often lead to the isolation. Senior caregivers can help address these problems while providing the physical, social, and emotional support your senior loved one needs to maximize their freedom and quality of life.
From watching video one “Gladys Wilson and Naomi Feil”, I learned a few things, for example there is more than one way to communicated with and elder who has lost their ability to communicate with words. From the link of “Alzheimer’s Foundation of America” under the category of symptoms Aphasia which is inability to communicated. The older people grow the more health issues they grow as well, which may lead them to feel lonely, and afraid. From video one Naomi Feil taught me to understand that by being with an elder and communicating more often can reduce their fear and depression. Having friends and family or even volunteer’s spend a few minutes or hour of their time can be live changing to an elder.
Residents on wing 2 East at Leisure world Brampton, Wood was the target community of interest that was assessed. My aggregate are elderly resident age 80 – 90 years living with social isolation in wing 2 East at Leisure World long term care center, Brampton, Wood. The assessment was focused on the causes of social isolation; observed among the resident during windshield survey and interview with key informants. Social isolation and loneliness are described as feelings that are often experience by Older adults (Lucie,Gavin, Gosselin &Laforest 2009).
Houde, S., & Melillo, K. (2009). Caring for an aging population. Journal Of Gerontological Nursing, 35(12), 9-13. doi:10.3928/00989134-20091103-04
Several studies also asserted that loneliness is correlated with aging itself (Tijhuis et al, 1999; Victor et al, 2000) and that there was a gradual increase in loneliness up to the age of 90 (Holmen, 1992). This increasing trend can be attributed to interactions with other factors due to additive nature of risk factors for loneliness and social isolation (Victor et al, 2000).
To begin to understand an individual must start to understand the current status of care for the elderly people with dementia. In the twenty-first century there are differences that occur that are unlike past elderly care (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). One difference that is looked at is the six key groups that people look for in outsourcing are health care providers, nongovernmental community-based service providers, employers, government, families, and elders themselves (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). Roberto and Jarrott (2008) discuss one of the key groups that Bookman and Kimbrel (2011) talk about. In Roberto and Jarrott’s (2008) article they explain that older adults have to rely on family member for instrumental support and more intense care activities.
With over 1.5 million elderly and dependent adults now living in nursing homes throughout the country, abuse and neglect has become a widespread problem. Even though some nursing homes provide good care, many are subjecting helpless residents to needless suffering and death. Most residents in nursing homes are dependent on the staff for most or all their needs such as food, water, medicine, toileting, grooming- almost all their daily care. Unfortunately, many residents in nursing homes today are starved, dehydrated, over-medicated, and suffer painful pressure sores. They are often isolated, ignored and deprived of social contact and stimulation. Because of insufficient and poorly trained staff commonly found in nursing homes. Care givers are often overworked and grossly underpaid that often results in rude and abusive behavior to vulnerable residents who beg them for simple needs such as water or to be taken to the bathroom.
Within the elderly community, the existence of activities and interaction with others creates an impact on the elderly daily living. As being a provider in a home health facility, there has been a substantial amount of complaints from family members due to the lack of socializing by their loved ones. When dealing with quality care of the elderly, relationships is a major form of communication that allows each individual the opportunity to express their emotions, and continue his/her consistency of motor skills. Relationships with others are normally formed in senior citizen centers, senior communities and/or with home health
Life event such as retirement could cause social isolation. Most elderly people are vulnerable and living in isolation. They are not physically active. They are lonely and they have minimal contact and access to things around them. Living in isolation can impact the lives of elderly, which can then lead to suicide. It is true that different types of diseases emerges during late adulthood, but I am not really knowledgeable about those diseases because it is not as rampant as it is in western world in comparison to Nigeria, my home
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
Due to an increase in UK’s ageing population the challenge faced in the society has become that of social isolation and loneliness consequently the issue addressed in the interest of wider population and communities. IRIS REF. Loneliness could be described as the feeling of loss of meaningful social relationship, while social isolation could be explained as the lack of social interaction and relationships which could be caused by deterioration of ones health (Bordi and Nicholson 2008).
Psychologist Andrew Steptoe, PhD of University College of London had did a study tracking 6,500 British men and women of the age of 52 and older and found that both being lonely and socially isolated raised their risk of death. Considering that the social isolation of that age consisted of frequent contact of family and friends and participating in organizations. I mainly believe that is likely due to stress. Most likely around the age of 52 and older you would have kids on their own and even grand kids. Which would most likely cause stress of dealing with younger people than you and there
America is a country where everyone is free to live however they like, but it is possible for some people to live a happy life, if no one is around to take care of them. Nearly three hundred million people reside in the America, and out of those three hundred million populations, senior citizens make a 12 percent of the entire population. A senior citizen is commonly known as a person who is over the age of 65 and living on retirement, or known as social security benefits (Census Bureau). Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt implied the act of Social Security in 1935, seniors are regularly provided a financial help, but seniors, along with financial help, seeks also accompany of someone who can look after them. Because of constantly growing needs of senior citizens, government as well as many non-profit organizations is working on helping seniors. Therefore I decided to research on this particular issue in my community, and I found that 64.5% of seniors are living alone in metropolitan area of Atlanta.
As we humans start to become old, our social engagement and interaction with other’s start to decrease. More work, social responsibilities, and even the interest of talking to others start to simmer down. More of this includes the population of the older adults. Studies from the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) have proven to show that 40% of the social interaction that older adults tend to distress upon is outside of their homes (Andrea L. Rosso, 2013). Older Adults who are more socially engaged with other people tend to gain more benefits than those who are not. This report is based on the social engagement that the older adults engage themselves into and showcases the various benefits they can achieve. Starting from the benefits of health, to benefits achieved from technological innovations, and also improved mental capabilities.
Since I do interact with elderly clients as well, I can see how relationships and socialization are vital for their well-being and what happens when they do not get this socialization with others. Older people may have depression and not realize it or seek treatment. There are many things that can lead to depression, and the most common that I have seen are the loss of a spouse, family member, friend, chronic illness, and isolation. I have seen depression in older adults due to mostly these reasons, and their family members do not always realize the situation, but there are instances where family members can tell that their loved one is not adjusting well to either a loss or illness. It is so important for them to seek treatment because they could become further isolated if they do not. Counseling is all about trying to find different ways of coping and how to change negative behaviors to positively impact (and even change) a client’s life, and I think that sometimes the elderly are a bit overlooked when it comes to mental
Social isolation has to do with when older people retire, thus cutting off an important source of social activity. Declining health also increases isolation by making it hard to get around. Death of friends, neighbors, family members, and spouses also contribute to this issue and consequently make a new one, a higher risk of death. Months after a spouse dies, the partner is at a higher risk of death due to depression henceforth leading to suicide. Retirement is a big part of aging which many younger people do not think about. As a result of a fluctuating economy, many people are very cautious about giving up working and staging or maybe even not retiring. Elderly abuse is defined as a range of behavior that includes passive neglect, active emotional and verbal mistreatment, and even life-threating physical violence. For example unfairly taking some other property or wrongfully taking an older person’s money, but most of these cases go undetected because many are afraid to speak out. Some fear the abuse will increase and for this reason they don’t file a complaint (Macionis). There are many different political viewpoints concerning