PART 8

Ageism

Ageism

– prejudice or discrimination based on age

Primary Aging

– gradual, inevitable process of bodily deterioration that begins early in life and continues through years irrespective of what people do to stave it off (nature)

Secondary Aging

– results from disease, abuse, and disuse – factors that are often within a person’s control (nurture)

Young Old

– 65-74 yrs old

Old Old

75-84 yrs old

Oldest old

– 85 and above

Functional Age

– how well a person functions in a physical and social environment in comparison with others of the same chronological age

Gerontology

– study of the aged and aging processes

Geriatrics

– branch of medicine concerned with aging

Life Expectancy

– the age to which a person born at a certain time and place is statistically likely to live, given his or her current age and health status

Longevity

actual length of life of members of a population

Mortality Rates

– death rates

Human Life Span

– longest period that members of our species can live

Senescence

– the decline in body functioning associated with aging

Genetic Programming Theories

– propose that people’s bodies age according to instructions built into genes and that aging is a normal part of development

Programmed Senescence Theory

– aging also may be influenced by specific genes “switching off” after age-related losses occur (Epigenesis)

Endocrine Theory

– biological clocks act through hormones to control the pace of aging

Immunological Theory

– programmed decline in immune system functions leads to increased vulnerability to infectious disease and thus to aging and death

Evolutionary Theory

– Aging is an evolved trait thus genes that promote reproduction are selected at higher rates than genes that extend lives

Variable-Rate Theories

– aging is the results of random processes that vary from person to person (Error theories)

Wear-and-Tear Theory

– cells and tissues have vital parts that wear out

Free-Radical Theory

– Accumulated damage from oxygen radicals causes cells and eventually organs to stop functioning

Rate-of-Living Theory

– the greater an organism’s rate of metabolism, the shorter its life span

Autoimmune Theory

– Immune system becomes confused and attacks its own body cells

Survival Curve

– represents the percentage of people or animals alive at various age

Reserve Capacity

– backup capacity that helps body system function to their utmost limits in times of stress

Cataracts

– cloudy or opaque areas in the lends of the eyes, are common in older adults

Age-Related Macular Degeneration

– leading cause of visual impairment in older adults; the retinal cells in the macula degenerate over time, and the center of the retina gradually loses the ability to sharply distinguish fine details

Glaucoma

– irreversible damage to the optic nerve caused by increased pressure in the eye

Functional Fitness

– exercises or activities that improve daily activity

Dementia

– the general term for physiologically caused cognitive and behavioral decline sufficient to interfere with daily activities

Alzheimer’s

– most common type, caused by specific changes in the brain (abnormal build up of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaque in the brain)

Amnesia

– memory loss

Aphasia

– inability to express through speech

Agnosia

– inability to recognize familiar objects, tastes, smells

Apraxia

– misuse of objects because failure to identify them

Anomia

– inability to remember the names of things

Vascular

– caused by strokes or other issues of blood flow in the brain; may be due to diabetes and high cholesterol; have strokes like episodes

Lewy Bodies

– have movement or balance (stiffness or trembling); daytime sleepiness, confusion, or staring; trouble sleeping at night and visual hallucinations

Frontotemporal

– leads to personality and behavior changes and problems in language skills

Huntington’s

– resulted from gene mutation which impacts movement, behavior, and cognition; personality also changes, loss of coordination, difficulty in swallowing and speaking

Parkinson’s

– uncontrollable movements, tremor, stiffness, slow movement, prevalent in men than women; nerve cells in basal ganglia become impaired; L-Dopa as treatment

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

– measure the intelligence of older adults

Classic Aging Pattern

– scores drop with age in performance scale and slightly on other scales

Sensory Memory

brief storage of sensory information

Working Memory

– short-term storage of information being actively process

Episodic Memory

– linked to specific events; most likely to deteriorate with age

Semantic Memory

– consists of meanings, facts, and concepts accumulated over lifetime learning; little decline

Procedural Memory

– motor skills and habits that once learned; relatively unaffected by age

Wisdom

– exceptional breadth and depth of knowledge about the conditions of life and human affects and reflective judgement about the application of knowledge

Cognitive Mechanics

– the hardware of the mind and reflect the neurophysiological architecture of the brain that was developed thru evolution

Cognitive Pragmatics

– culture-based software program of the mind

Selective Attention

– focusing on specific aspect of experience that is relevant and ignoring irrelevant info

Divided Attention

– concentrating on more than one activity at the same time

Sustained Attention

– focused and extended engagement with an object, task, event, or some other aspect of the environment

Executive Attention

– involves planning actions, allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks, etc.

Source Memory

– ability to remember where one learned something

Prospective Memory

– remembering to do something in the future

Old Age (65-older)

Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Wisdom

Ego Integrity vs. Despair

Wisdom

– informed and detached concern with life itself in the face of death itself

Positivity Effect

– older adults are more likely to pay attention to and then remember positive events than negative events

Terminal Drop

– rapid decline in well-being and life satisfaction approx. 3-5 yrs before death

Coping

– adaptive thinking or behavior aimed at reducing or relieving stress that arises from harmful, threatening, or challenging conditions

Primary Appraisal

– people analyze situation and decide

Secondary Appraisal

people evaluate what can be done to prevent harm

Disengagement Theory

– normal part of aging involves gradual reduction in social involvement and greater preoccupation with the self

Activity Theory

– the more active older people are, the better they age

Continuity Theory

– people’s need to maintain connection between past and present is emphasized, and activity is viewed as important, not for its own sake but because it represents continuation of previous lifestyle

Selective Optimization with Compensation

– involves developing abilities that allow for maximum gain as well as developing abilities that compensate for decline and could lead to loss

Pre-Retirement

– begin to think seriously about the life they want for themselves in retirement and whether they are financially on track to achieve it

Retirement

– makes the transition from full-time work to retirement they’ve planned

Contentment

positive phase when retirees get to enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labor (Honeymoon period)

Disenchantment

– they may experience some of the emotional downsides of retirements such as loneliness, disillusionment, and a feeling of uselessness

Reorientation

– people try to figure who they are and map their place in the world as a retiree

. Routine

– people accept their situation and settle into a new set of routines

Aging In Place

– staying in their own home

Social Convoy Theory

– aging adults maintain their level of social support by identifying members of their social network who can help them

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

– as remaining time becomes short, older adults choose to spend time with people and in activities that meet immediate emotional needs

Thanatology

– study of death and dying

Hospice Care

– personal, patient- and family-centered, compassionate care for the terminally ill

Palliative Care

– includes relief of pain and suffering, controlling of symptoms, alleviation of stress, and attempts to maintain a satisfactory quality of life

Terminal Drop or Terminal Decline

– specifically to a widely observed decline in cognitive abilities shortly before death

Near-Death Experience

– often involving a sense of being out of the body or sucked into a tunnel and visions of bright lights or mystical encounters

Five Stages of Death

1. Denial

2. Anger

3. Bargain

4. Depression

5. Acceptance

Grief

– emotional response that generally follows closely on the heels of death

Recovery Pattern

– mourner goes high to low distress

Delayed Grief

– moderate or elevated initial grief, and symptoms worsen over time

Chronic Grief

– distressed for a long time

Resilience

– the mourner shows a low and gradually diminishing level of grief in response to the death of a loved one

Terror Management Theory

– human’s unique understanding of death, in concert with self-preservation needs and capacity for fear, results in common emotional and psychological responses when mortality, or thoughts of death are made salient

Brain Death

– neurological condition which states the person is brain dead when all electrical activity of the brain has ceased for a specific period of time

Euthanasia

– good death, intended to end suffering or to allow terminally ill person to die with dignity

Passive

– involves withholding or discontinuing treatment that might extend the life of a terminally ill patient such as life support

Active

“mercy killing” involves action taken directly or deliberate to shorten life

Advance Directive

– contains instructions for when and how to discontinue futile medical care

Durable Power of Attorney

– appoints another person if the maker of the document becomes incompetent to do so

Assisted Suicide

– physician or someone else helps a person bring about a self-inflicted death

Life Review

– a process of reminisce that enables a person to see the significance of his or her life