HG&D Exam 4 Bonus/Discussion Questions

Discuss the differences and relationships between the different types of medical care individuals receive?

Older adults may receive Curative, Palliative, and Hospice care. Curative Care is designed to cure and overcome disease and illness. Palliative care is designed to provide comfort and relief from physical and emotional pain. Hospice care involves a team of individuals at home, a hospital, a nursing home, or a hospice facility helping to provide support to terminally ill patients and their families. An individual may receive curative and palliative care at the same time or receive palliative and hospice care at the same time as It’s offered to both patients with chronic illnesses or are dying.

Discuss Erickson's stages across these last two chapters (There’s only one).

Erikson’s stage theory for Late Adulthood is Integrity vs Despair. In this stage, older adults will take an account of their life, choosing whether to embrace life as being well lived or focus on the regrets and missed opportunities. This stage includes finding meaning in one’s life and accepting one’s accomplishments while also acknowledging what in life has not gone as hoped. It’s also a feeling of contentment and acceptance of others’ deficiencies, including those of their parents. This acceptance will lead to integrity, but if they are unable to achieve this acceptance, then they may become bitter, resent relationships and previous life events, and experience despair.

Discuss Kubler Ross's stage theory. Address at least three stages.

Kubler Ross’s stage theory discusses 5 stages to process grief. The stages are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

The Denial stage is often the first reaction to overwhelming, unimaginable news. An individual may be in disbelief or shock. Examples of this would be they may question the results, seek second opinions or may be in disbelief over news they know is true.

The Anger stage is when an individual becomes enraged over the news they’ve received or at how unfair life can be. They may feel frustrated and blame themselves another person, a health care provider, God, or the world in general.

The Bargaining stage involves trying to think of what can be done to turn the situation around. An example of this would be an individual may try to live better, devote themselves to a cause, or become a better person in the hopes that in doing so, it will lengthen life.

In the Depression stage, an individual feels the full weight of loss. An example of this is crying or losing interest in the outside world. They may get on antidepressants to reduce the sadness during this stage.

In the Acceptance stage, the individual learns to carry on. This does not mean they may be happy or content that they are dying but rather that they are facing it, making arrangements, and saying what they wish to others.

What are at least 3 critiques of Kubler Ross's theory?

The first critique is that people have challenged the idea of stages, as you cannot test the experiences of the dying and her research is based on the feelings about what the dying were experiencing and needed.

The second critique is that not everyone processes grief in the same way, as some people may not experience all of these stages in order or may not experience some at all. Her research also focused only on the terminally ill, but others have assumed this applies to anyone who is grieving.

The third critique is that some have challenged whether denial and acceptance are healthy. Some research suggests optimism about one’s prognosis may help in one’s adjustment and increase longetivity.

Discuss any three of the changes adults in late life go through. Hint: I do not mean just before they die. Think about Chapter 9 here. 

A physical change older adults experience is hair loss and graying. This occurs because the strands become smaller and the follicles stop producing new hairs, The hair follicles also produce less melanin, causing the hair to become gray.

Another physical change is involves the skin. Older adults get more wrinkles as they age because the skin dries out, becomes thinner, less elastic, and loses fat. Veins and bones are more visible and cuts, scratches, bumps or bruises can take longer to heal. They may get age spots that are often caused by years in the sun and skin tags which are flesh colored growths with a raised surface.

Older adults experience sensory changes such as a decrease in pain sensitivity. This happens because of a decrease in brain volume in certain structures involved in pain. Decreased sensitivity to pain is a concern because pain indicates something is wrong or requires medical attention.