Week 11: Relationships, Roles And Transitions Flashcards
1
Q
Late Life Transitions: Retirement
A
- The expectation is that older workers will cease full-time career job employment and be entitled to economic support.
- Whether that support will be adequate or even available, is a growing concern worldwide.
- Retirement is no longer just a few years of rest from rigors of work before death, it is a developmental stage that may occupy 30 years.
2
Q
Special Considerations in Retirement
A
- U.S. retirement depends on Social Security pensions, savings, and investments.
- Older people with disabilities, those who lacked access to education or held low-paying jobs without benefits, and those not eligible for Social Security are at increased economic risk.
- Women are particularly vulnerable.
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) couples are not eligible for Social Security survivor benefits, and unmarried partners cannot claim pension plan rights after death.
3
Q
Retirement Planning
A
- Retirement planning is advisable during early adulthood and essential in middle age.
- Retirement preparation programs are usually aimed at employees with high levels of education and occupational status, those with private pension coverage, and government employees.
4
Q
Later Life Transitions: Death of a Spouse
A
Loss creates a significant impact on well-being, as well as physical, psychological, social, practical, and economic status.
5
Q
Death of a Spouse: Affects on Health
A
- Likelihood of a heart attack or stroke doubles in the critical 30-day period after a partner’s death.
- Bereavement period is also associated with an elevated risk of multiple psychiatric disorders, particularly if death was unexpected.
- Feelings of the bereaved are conflicted, ambivalent, suicidal, and full of rage.
6
Q
Death of a Spouse: Interventions
A
- Knowing stages of transition to a new role as a widow or widower will be useful in determining interventions, although each individual is unique.
- To support the grieving person, it is necessary to extend one’s own self to reconnect the severed person with a world of warmth and caring.
7
Q
Relationships in Later Life
A
- Importance of caring relationships and presence of a confidante is a buffer against “age-linked social losses”.
- A caring person may be a significant survival resource.
8
Q
Friendships in Later Life
A
- Are often a significant source of support in late life.
- Research supports the value of friendship for older people across the globe in promoting health and well-being.
- Internet and social media offer new opportunities.
9
Q
Family Relationships
A
- Changes in family structure will have a significant impact on the availability of family members to provide care for older people in the future.
- As families change, the roles of the members or expectations of one another may change as well.
- Close-knit families are more aware of the needs of their members and work to resolve problems and find ways to meet the needs of members, even if they are not always successful.
10
Q
Types of Families
A
- Traditional Couples (Divorce used to be stigmatizing; however, today common)
- Non-traditional couples (i.e. LGBT which could lead to isolation and caregiver issues)
- Elders and their adult children
- Never-Married Older Adults
- Grandparents
- Siblings (loss of siblings- awareness of own’s mortality)
- Fictive Kin (nonblood kin who serve as “genuine fake families”)
11
Q
Caregiving
A
- Family members and other unpaid caregivers provide the majority of care for older adults in the United States.
- Caregiving is considered a major public health issue across the globe, and attention to the physical and mental health of caregivers is receiving increased attention.
12
Q
Family Caregiving has been associated with:
A
- increased levels of depression and anxiety
- poorer self-reported physical health and compromised immune function
- higher rates of insomnia
- increased alcohol use
- increased mortality
13
Q
Spousal Caregiving
A
- An older spousal caregiver may have significant health problems that are neglected.
- Older spouses caring for disabled partners also face many role changes.
14
Q
Spousal Caregiving: Nurses should
A
be alert to situations in which health care personnel may be able to provide supports and resources that make it possible for an individual to assume new responsibilities without being totally overwhelmed
15
Q
Aging Parents Caring For Developmentally Disabled Children
A
- An unknown number of elders are caring for their middle-age children who are physically and mentally disabled.
- For the first time in history, individuals with developmental disabilities are outliving parents.
- Planning for their future is an area posing challenges for older people and service providers.
- Parental caregivers who are aging face changes in their financial resources and health that affect their continued caregiving ability.
