Chapter 12: Social Work with Aging Populations

Question 1

Canadas population of people 65+

Answer 1

16%1

Question 2

What is activities of daily living?

Answer 2

A term used in health care to refer to daily self-care activities such as feeding, bathing, dressing, and grooming.

Question 3

What is ageism?

Answer 3

A form of stereotyping about older people that associates aging with decline and results in exclusion and marginalization.

Question 4

mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety can develop in late life, affecting between __?

Answer 4

5-10%

Question 5

What is activity theory?

Answer 5

Proposes that positive aging occurs when older adults stay active and maintain social connections.

Question 6

What is successful aging?

Answer 6

Views positive aging as the prevention of functional decline and engagement in meaningful activities.

Question 7

What is selective optimization with compensation?

Answer 7

A positive coping process of aging.

Question 8

What is traditional developmental psychology?

Answer 8

Views aging as one of a series of life stages with associated tasks.

Question 9

What are the two stages to traditional developmental psychology?

Answer 9

• Later adulthood, which spans ages 60 to 75 years, is identified as a developmental stage where individuals grapple between achieving integrity or experiencing despair
• Elderhood, which spans 75 years and older, is identified as a developmental stage where individuals grapple between accepting immortality or experiencing extinction

Question 10

What is agency?

Answer 10

The power individuals have to act and make decisions.

Question 11

What is the macro theory of aging? 2

Answer 11

Life courses- perspective

political economy of aging

Question 12

What does life courses perspective look at? 4

Answer 12

which examines how the combination of:

• developmental stages (later adulthood, 60 to 75 years; elderhood, 75 years and older),
• personal life events (e.g. loss of a spouse, retirement),
• social locations (e.g. ethnicity, socio-economic status), and
• historical or social events (e.g. the Great Depression) work in combination to shape people’s experiences and opportunities in old age.

Question 13

What is a cohort?

Answer 13

Group of persons who were born at the same historical time and who experience particular social changes within a given culture in the same sequence and at the same age.

Question 14

What is cumulative advantage

Answer 14

The tendency of one’s social location to have an enduring and increasingly positive impact over the life course.

Question 15

What is cumulative disadvantage

Answer 15

The tendency of one’s social location to have an enduring and increasingly negative impact over the life course.

Question 16

What is political economy of aging?

Answer 16

A theory that emphasizes the broad implications of political and economic forces that contribute to constructions of old age and aging.

Question 17

Why are macro theories helpful to social workers?

Answer 17

they help to highlight how the intersections of race and ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, Indigenous status, sexual orientation, and ability may work together to differentially shape the aging experiences of Canadians.

Question 18

What makes up Canada’s 3-tiered system to retirement income?

Answer 18

• Tier 1: Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)
• Tier 2: The Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) or the Quebec Pension Plan in Quebec (QPP)
• Tier 3: Private plans consist of either workplace plans or Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs).

Question 19

What is Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and what are they based off?

Answer 19

These programs provide basic income security to older adults independent of their participation in the workforce.

• Eligibility for OAS is based solely on age and not workforce exit.
• Eligibility for GIS is based on a means test.

Question 20

What are the different times lived in Canada to receive Full OAS and GIS benefits?

Answer 20

To be eligible for full OAS and GIS benefits, older adults must have resided in Canada as adults (from the age of 18) for 40-plus years. Older adults who have resided in Canada for at least 10 years in adulthood can receive partial benefits, while those residing in Canada for less than 10 years receive nothing.

Question 21

What is the dependency ratio?

Answer 21

The ratio of retirees to the working-age population.

Question 22

What are the micro theories of aging?

Answer 22

Activity theory

successful aging theory

Question 23

How does one collect CPP?

Answer 23

The amount of CPP/QPP older adults receive depends on the level of contributions made during the contributory period and the age one draws on the benefits. Older adults whose partners were CPP/QPP contributors and are deceased receive survivor’s benefits to support them in their retirement.

Question 24

What is mandatory retirement?

Answer 24

A policy that forces workers to terminate employment based only on the criterion of age.

Question 25

What is non-standard employment?

Answer 25

Refers to forms of employment that lack job stability, entitlement to fringe benefits, and pension security.

Question 26

Why are Many non-standard employment situations precarious? 5

Answer 26

Many non-standard employment situations are also precarious because they:

• offer low wages,
• low job security,
• limited control over workplace conditions,
• little protection from health and safety risks in the workplace, and
• less opportunity for training and career progression

Question 27

Percent of workers 55+ working in non-standard?

Answer 27

Nearly half of all jobs held by Canadian workers aged 55 and older are non-standard

Question 28

Canadian long-term care services typically include a continuum of four key services:

Answer 28

• home care,
• community support services,
• supportive/assisted living arrangements, and
• facility-based long-term care

Question 29

What is home care?

Answer 29

Home-care services encompass an array of publicly funded health and social services delivered to individuals in their homes or other community settings such as rent-geared-to-income apartment complexes and retirement homes

Question 30

What are community support services?

Answer 30

Community support services are not-for-profit, locally run health and social services that supplement home-care services by providing transportation, meal delivery, adult day programs, friendly visiting services, and in-home support for housekeeping and maintenance

Question 31

What are supportive/assisted living arrangements?

Answer 31

Supportive/assisted living arrangements (sometimes termed retirement homes, assisted living facilities, or intermediate care) are congregate living facilities for older adults who require minimal personal assistance and can direct their own care (i.e. are cognitively intact).

Question 32

What are facility based long term care services?

Answer 32

Facility-based long-term care services (sometimes referred to as residential-care facilities, nursing homes, or long-term care homes) are publicly funded and regulated facilities provided to people who need high levels of nursing or personal care.

Question 33

What are filial obligations?

Answer 33

Refers to the duties and actions that children are expected to fulfill for their parents.

Question 34

How is elder abuse viewed from a micro perspective?

Answer 34

Elder abuse has been understood as either a consequence of caregiver stress or dysfunctional familial dynamics

Question 35

How is elder abuse viewed from caregiver stress understanding?

Answer 35

elder abuse is seen in part as a direct consequence of the increased pressures placed on family members or friends to provide care to older relatives who, by virtue of the caregiving demands placed on them, project their frustration and distress on the older adults under their care.

Question 36

How is elder abused viewed by dysfunctional familial dynamics perspective?

Answer 36

elder abuse is seen either as conjugal violence grown old or as a reverse form of abuse, where adult children faced with the responsibility of supporting aging parents are abusive as a consequence of the childhood abuse they experienced

Question 37

How do micro perspectives explain elder abuse?

Answer 37

attempt to explain the emotional and physical abuse experienced by older adults at the hand of adult children and spouses. Less clear is their relationship to financial abuse, the most common form of elder abuse reported by older adults.

Question 38

How do macro perspectives explain elder abuse?

Answer 38

ageism has been found to play a role in elder abuse. The societal notions that associate aging with decline and render older adults to be less worthy and more dependent than other persons have been most influential in informing understandings of the causes of institutional abuse where poor quality of care, poor enforcement of standards, and lack of well-trained staff all contribute to instances of abuse.