This paper discusses the psychological well-being of older adults. It begins by acknowledging biases that exist regarding aging, such as stereotypes of older drivers or nursing home residents. It then summarizes research finding increases in depression and dementia among older populations. The author realizes their own views of aging were negatively impacted by these biases and stereotypes. Health care providers must understand mental health issues are not natural parts of aging and provide individualized, respectful care for this vulnerable population.
This paper discusses the psychological well-being of older adults. It begins by acknowledging biases that exist regarding aging, such as stereotypes of older drivers or nursing home residents. It then summarizes research finding increases in depression and dementia among older populations. The author realizes their own views of aging were negatively impacted by these biases and stereotypes. Health care providers must understand mental health issues are not natural parts of aging and provide individualized, respectful care for this vulnerable population.
This paper discusses the psychological well-being of older adults. It begins by acknowledging biases that exist regarding aging, such as stereotypes of older drivers or nursing home residents. It then summarizes research finding increases in depression and dementia among older populations. The author realizes their own views of aging were negatively impacted by these biases and stereotypes. Health care providers must understand mental health issues are not natural parts of aging and provide individualized, respectful care for this vulnerable population.
This paper discusses the psychological well-being of older adults. It begins by acknowledging biases that exist regarding aging, such as stereotypes of older drivers or nursing home residents. It then summarizes research finding increases in depression and dementia among older populations. The author realizes their own views of aging were negatively impacted by these biases and stereotypes. Health care providers must understand mental health issues are not natural parts of aging and provide individualized, respectful care for this vulnerable population.
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Running head: PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF OLDER
Psychological Well-being of Older Adults
Gail L. Luskin NURS 340 Ferris State University
PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF OLDER ADULTS
Psychological Well-being of Older Adults
With the growing number of baby boomers reaching the age of 65, health care professionals must learn how to communicate and treat them with the utmost respect. Nurses are responsible for forgetting the biases that they might have and accepting only the true facts of natural aging, but they also have to tailor the care to each specific patient. A not so natural fact of aging is changes in mental health including depression, social isolation, self-neglect, and other mental illnesses. Addressed in this paper are the biases that I have felt toward older adults, demographic data and research, and how or if my views have changed after completing the research. Sometimes the way that we see the world is not how it really is. Before researching the older adult population, I thought that I had a good understanding and respect for older adults. There are always going to be the typical stereotypes of the sweet little grandma or the cranky old grandpa that we see on television. Older adults seem to drive slower, tend to not be able to hear or see well, and have slower reaction times. I will admit that there have a few times where I have gotten road rage while driving behind an older person in an old Lincoln car. Having a grandfather who has dementia has helped me to understand aging and mental illness a little better. He went from being a strong Marine sergeant to now having to be helped to the bathroom in only a matter of a few years. Currently, he is in a nursing home and for a while I had a hard time seeing the residents sitting around and not really having much life in their eyes. With this life experience, I have built up biases in my mind of the older adult population. Two factors longer life spans and aging baby boomers will combine to double the population of Americans aged 65 years or older during the next 25 years to about 72 million (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013, p.ii). Mental health plays a huge role in the
PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF OLDER ADULTS
ability of older adults to maintain their physical health and well-being. Thus, poor physical health like chronic diseases and disabilities can have an impact on their mental health. The prevalence of diagnosed depression in U.S. adults 65 years of age or older doubled from 3% to 6% between 1992 and 2005 (Mojtabai, 2014, p.1180). Depression can come from situations like low self-esteem, decrease in bodily functioning, or feeling like a burden on family members. Dementia is the most prominent mental disorder in late life: worldwide in 2010, 4.7% of those aged 60 years and older were affected, and the prevalence has increased exponentially with age to between 29% (East Asia) and 64% (Latin America) of those aged 90 and older (Draper, 2014, p.1). The progression of dementia can be very slow or very quick. A family can be greatly affected by the diagnosis and so the support system can become very unstable. Some may feel like their lives are over and just assume the sick role. If not many people understand mental illness, deficits can be thought of as irritating and thus more biases are created. Completing this research has helped me see how my views affect the way that I will provide care to this population group. Statistics are showing that dementia and depression are on the rise in this population group and so health care workers need to tune out what they may think about the natural aging process and focus more on how mental illness is not naturally occurring. I understand now that those in nursing homes are suffering from mental illnesses like depression and dementia, so they may not understand where they are or why they are there. Not being able to react fast and hear or see as sharply are natural findings of aging as senses are weakened. Instead of focusing on negative aspects of our patients, we must promote better health and happiness. After looking at the current research about the psychological health of older adults, I realize how harmful that the stereotypes can be to their health care. A fourth-year medical student
PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF OLDER ADULTS
named Nathan Stall (2012) wrote that ageism reveals a personal revulsion to and distaste for growth old, disease [and] disability (p.728). Ageism becomes problematic when patients are not getting the best care possible and providers are more interested in putting an older adult into a nursing home than making them healthy enough to still live at home. He explains that medical trainees fail to learn the sort of comprehensive approaches necessary to treat our older population (Stall, 2012, p.728). There are certain ways to speak to older adults to make sure that they understand. Providers need to make sure that their patients are using all assistive devices that they need for proper communication so that the message can be understood. The television must be turned off and the door must be closed so as to decrease the amount of distractions. Depending on a patients mental health, some words may need to be simplified or other teaching aids need to be used. Health care providers must be aware of how many elder adults are currently suffering with mental illness and make sure that they are caring for patients with respect. With an aging population, healthcare workers must focus on the appropriate care for each patient and leave all biases out of the equation. Mental health plays an essential role to the whole well-being of older adults and must be treated on the same level as physical health. Older adults can be considered a vulnerable population when it comes to psychological well-being since many health care providers develop certain opinions based off of their teachers and society. As future nurses, we must learn to ignore the biases that we see while developing our own opinions of each individual patient. They have taken care of us when we needed them, now they deserve the same love and respect when they need us.
References
PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF OLDER ADULTS
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2013). The state of aging and health in america. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/features/agingandhealth/state_of_aging_and_health_in_america_201 3.pdf Draper, B. (2014). Preparing for the graying of the world: meeting the needs of older adults. Psychiatric Times, 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/ Mojtabai, R. (2014). Diagnosing depression in older adults in primary care. The New England Journal of Medicine, 370(13), 1180-1182. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1316370 Stall, N. (2012). Time to end ageism in medical education. CMAJ, 184(6), 728. doi:10.1503/cmaj.112179
