Elder Abuse and Living Arrangements in Late Adulthood Essay

Late matureness is a period of various biological changes which can mend on an souls wellness and business leader to persist as comfortably in society. The stereotypical changes of this coiffure ar paler little e operateic fell resulting in wrinkles, thinning hair gradually turning from grey to white, weaker bones, brawniness loss, and vision and hearing impairments e. g. cataracts and difficulty with word discrimination. There be changes to the fountainhead excessively, such as the loss of d containrites which causes a reduction in originator weight and volume and slower synaptic speeds resulting in slower answer times (Bee 1998, p. 53). Their immune system slows down as well, becoming less effective, and making them much than prone to sickness (Fernandez 2010, p. 794). Alzheimers disease is the to the highest degree cat valium cause of dementia and is a change in the judgement structure collectable to the tangling of dendritic fibres in the brain ca victimis ation frightful memory loss and personality changes (Bee 1998, p. 459). Overall, the seniorly ar more than be corresponding to piddle a chronic illness and disabilities which may impact upon their ability to bathe, walk, feed themselves, prepare meals, shop, dress themselves, and even live independently (Bee 1998, p. 56). This st long time of look is characterised by a number of separate outes and is a time of reflection. An individuals changing work status, in let discloseicular when they retire, can be a microbe of strive as work is a major(ip) component of adult premeditationer and they now hand over to find other activities to fill their day. There is also the uncertainty of their financial future and whether they go forth have enough to live comfortably off (Fernandez 2010, pp. 853-855).Their wellness or partners wellness may be another source of stress for them, e particular(prenominal)ly if it results in a caring role macrocosm required to complete everyday t asks and the knowledge that their life is coming to an end (Fernandez 2010, pp. 867-868). Fernandez (2010, p. 851) states that deeply adulthood is a time of looking back and taking stock of where weve been, what weve accomplished, and whom we have touched. This results in a process called Life analyze which is gradually looking back at past experiences analysing and evaluating them to develop more secure and complex egotism concepts (Bee 1998, p. 02). Social interaction is an important part of life, act on in late adulthood and is associated with good wellness and life happiness. The elderly have frequent contact with family, finding hearty aflame and practical support through them, especially adult children, and draw to have lower levels of institutionalisation with couples and relatives providing a high level of care and financial aid to each other (Bee 1998, pp. 484-490). Friendships play an important role in late adulthood, with legion(predicate) an(prenominal) en joying time with friends more than with family (Fernandez 2010, p. 43). They provide companionship, intimacy, acceptance, opportunities for laughter, sharing of activities, links to a larger community, and protection from the psychological consequences of loss (Berk 1998, p. 609). In late adulthood where and with whom individuals are going to live is an issue they introduce. There are a number of extracts available to the elderly such as mobile legal residences, age segregated villages/communities, institutions, with family, or in their own kin (Kalish 1975, pp. 97-99).Deciding which option is the most suitable for an individual can be influenced by a variety of things, such as health, disability, socio-economic status (SES) and culture. Mobile homes such as caravans suit those looking for a low cost and informal arrangement, however, those that have a mobility affecting disability or very poor health may not be suited to this option as they are usually small and on outskirts o f towns (Kalish 1975, p. 98). Age segregated villages/communities include seclusion homes that provide independent living arrangements or more or less support depending on the individuals take ups (Johnson 1960, p. 7). They tend to be in semi-isolated areas (making it operose for those with wicked health issues to access medical attendance), and are quite costly ( notwithstanding those of high SES tend to be able to afford them) (Kalish 1975, pp. 98-99). The most common institution for the elderly is a nursing home, which cares for those who need considerable attention due to severe physical or mental disabilities (approximately 5% of the elderly population) (Kalish 1975, p. 99). Some residents are inefficient to feed, dress or bathe themselves, are incontinent or unaware of where or even who they are (Kalish 1975, p. 9). Medicare subsidises several(prenominal) of the costs, alone not enough, meaning some individuals are still unable to cover the costs (Kalish 1975, p. 9 9). Family members provide the most long term care, whether that is a spouse, partner or adult children (Berk 1998, p. 575). It is more common for an elder of an eastern culture to live with their children and extended family, even if healthy, than for an elder from a westbound culture. Most individuals, even with a moderate disease or health problem, dont live with relatives, moreover in their own erect (Bee 1998, pp. 82-483). Living in their own home provides the greatest personal control, precisely those living alone are often poverty stricken and have unmet needs (Berk 1998, p. 601). This is where the Government and charity organisations help they both provide small homes at low costs in suitable areas, as well as providing services such as home help (cleaning mainly), home visiting, and Meals on Wheels (Johnson 1960, p. 48). old mis habituate is a very real and serious issue that occurs during the late adulthood storey of life.There are many different types of elder po ke fun, including physical shout out (use of physical force resulting in injury, pain or impairment), sexual (non-consensual sexual contact), activated/psychological (inflicting anguish, emotional pain or distress), throw off (failure to fulfil obligations or duties to an elder), financial ontogeny (improper use of an elders funds, property or assets), and medical debauch (failing to provide adequate medical treatment or misusing medications) (Biggs 1995, pp. 6-37). It can also be intentional (conscious and deliberate attempt to inflict harm) or ignorant (inadvertent action resulting in harm, usually due to ignorance, inexperience, lack of desire or inability to provide proper car) (CSAPs Prevention Pathways 2004). Stereotypically, it is nursing home residents that are more likely to be abuse, as they are believed to be vegetables, and Kalish (1975, p. 9) states that health care professionals sometimes describe feeding the resident using the expression, watering the vegetable s which highlights this view and often leads to elder abuse as a way of degrading the elder and punishing them for needing attention and help. Unfortunately many nursing staff receive little or no in-service dressing and receive a very poor wage, so they tint out of their depths and do not enjoy the tasks required of them, which increases the risk of elder abuse as they feel frustrated, especially if the elders abilities are declining and need more care (Kalish 1975, p. 00). This leads to very few long term facilities providing keen or sensory stimulation. The more staff fail to stimulate the residents, the more they have to do for them, and the more the residents sink into despondency, creating more stress and licking for the carers becoming a viscous cycle (Kalish 1975, p. 100). The lack of stimulation itself, could be a form of unintentional neglect, as their intellectual needs are not being met.Despite the stereotypical view of nursing homes, it is in fact those who live in their own homes or with family who are abused the most, and it is the family that are usually the abusers, especially sons (Biggs 1995, p. 41). Victims of psychological or physical abuse tend to be physically well but have emotional problems while the abusers tend to have issues with alcohol and/or mental illness and live with the victim and are usually dependent on them (Biggs 1995, p. 43).Victims of neglect are usually very old and mentally or physically impaired with very little friendly support, and the abuser suffers chronic and continuing stress (Biggs 1995, p. 43). Those who are unmarried with limited support are at more risk of being financial exploited, with the abuser having financial problems or dependent on the victim for finances and accommodation (Biggs 1995, p. 43). In 1993 the earth Government established the Working Party on the Protection of finespun disuseder People in the Community to protect the rights of residents in nursing homes (Biggs 1995, p. 53).Intere stingly, mandatory reporting legislation that America has was rejected by most states in Australia at first and it wasnt until July 2007 that compulsory reporting of felonious sexual contact or unreasonable use of force was brought in, but this still doesnt cover all elder abuse and only applies to residents of an Australian Government subsidised aged care facility (Aged Rights advocacy Service 2012). Erik Erikson was a German psychoanalyst who developed an eight stage psychosocial development possibleness this essay will focus on his last stage, ego integrity versus despair (Fernandez 2010, p. 21). The basic concept of this stage is the interrogation Was my life meaningful? and involves looking back on ones life to determine this. The hope is that the individual will add together to wrong with and accept who they are and have been, the choices they have made, and the opportunities they have gained and lost, and their impending decease and and so achieve the virtue of wisdom (Bee 1998, p. 501). If they dont come to terms with their life they develop despair, where they feel dissatisfied with their life and feel it is too late to change it (Berk 1998, p. 88). For example, someone who has very poor health and is reliant on others to help care for them may feel like a burden and have a sense of hopelessness resulting in them continuing to live alone as they do not worry to put others out. While someone else may view it as theyve lived a long healthy life up until now and they have a loving family who is willing to help them in their old age, leaving them with a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction, and will happily move in with relatives. some other example might be living in a retreat home, some elderly may come to resent the age separationism and feel like society has pushed them to the outskirts to die, while others may feel stronger social connections, higher morale and a general higher life satisfaction due to the close proximity of others of simil ar age. Eriksons theory is precious in providing a guideline by which to understand this stage, but is it as clear cut as having integrity or despairing?Maxine Walaskay classified elderly into one of four categories, integrity achieved (aware of their ageing and accept the life lived) despairing (negative evaluation of life) foreclosed (content with their current life but resist self exploration) and dissonant (just beginning to evaluate their life) (Bee 1998, p. 501). Walaskays classification seems to say that not all individuals in this life stage look back on their life and evaluate it, that those in the foreclosed category base it on where their life is at now, so it would seem that Eriksons theory does not apply to everyone in this life stage.Stress as a transaction theory looks at a stimulus only becoming a stressor when it is perceived that way by the individual, and whether they believe they have the resources to cope. In terms of elder abuse it would focus on the increasi ng dependency of the elder and a burden of care giving as the cause of stress thus increasing the risk of abuse (CSAPs Prevention Pathways 2004).It proposes that there are factors influencing the risk of elder abuse in terms of elder cerebrate (physical or emotional dependency, poor health, impaired mental status and a difficult personality), structural related (emotional strain, social isolation and environmental problems) and carer related factors (life crisis and burn out or exhaustion) (Biggs 1995, p. 25). For example an institutionalised residents dementia worsens making them more reliant on the carer, leading to more stress as the carer may not feel they have the capabilities to brood increased roles and this may cause them to abuse the resident.Another example could be an only child suffering extreme financial distress due to gambling debts, who lives with their mentally impaired mother and feels they cannot pay their own debs so they fraudulently use their mothers funds. T his theory looks at the relationship between the dependency of the elder and the stress this creates resulting in abusive behaviour, which explore has been unable to prove (Biggs 1995, p. 30).According to this theory, by reducing the level of care giving stress, the likelihood of elder abuse would decrease as well, but this doesnt take into account other factors that may be attributing to the abuse such as power roles (being physically and mentally more mightily and degrading and abusing the elder as a way to exert and defy that power), and even a history of violence (if the elder was abusive earliest in their life and the abused becomes their carer, such as a wife or child, then the carer may have learnt that behaviour and carry it on by abusing the elder).There are many biological, psychological and social factors that impact individuals in the late adulthood stage of life, which can contribute to issues they face such as the influence of an individuals health, ability to fun ction effectively in society and social networks on where and with whom to live and the occurrent of elder abuse. The two theories, Eriksons ego integrity versus despair and the stress as a transaction theory help provide some guidelines to examine the issues of living arrangements and elder abuse faced by individuals in this stage of life. Reference ListAged Rights Advocacy Service 2012, obligatory Reporting Elder Abuse and the Law, Aged Rights Advocacy Service Inc. , accessed 23 September 2012, <http//www. sa. agedrights. asn. au/residential_care/preventing_elder_abuse/elder_abuse_and_the_law/mandatory_reporting> Bee, H 1998, Lifespan maturement, 2nd edn, Longman, Sydney Berk, L 1998, Development through the Lifespan, Allyn & Bacon, Needham Heights Biggs, S, Kingston, P & Phillipson, C 1995, Elder Abuse in Perspective, Open University Press, Buckingham CSAPs Prevention Pathways Online Courses 2004, Out of the Shadows baring substance use and elder abuse, U.S. Departm ent of Health and Human Services, accessed 23 September 2012, <http//pathwayscourses. samhsa. gov/elab/elab_1_pg1. htm> Fernandez, E 2010, SOCW1003 Human Behaviour 1 Life stress and the life span, McGraw Hill, North Ryde Johnson, E 1960, Social Provisions for the Aged With special reference to accommodation, clubs and foster homes, in A Stoller (ed), Growing Old Problems of Old Age in the Australian Community, Halstead Press, Sydney pp. 46-53 Kalish, R 1975, Late Adulthood Perspectives on Human Development, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, California