1. Late Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
Part VIII
Chapter Twenty-Five
Late Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
Theories of Late Adulthood
Coping with Retirement
Friends and Relatives
The Frail Elderly
Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A.

2. Fact or Fiction? Myth Fact
Socioemotional Development
Fact or Fiction?
Myth
Fact
1. Older adults are more likely to forgive and forget, thereby preferring to remember positive rather than negative experiences.
2. Religious faith increases with age.
3. Most older adults suffer significantly from a lack of close friendships.
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4. Most of the elderly are cared for by medical personnel. 2 2 2 2

3. Late Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
the range of possibilities for life after age 65 is vast, greater than at any earlier age
people in late adulthood take comfort in:
family
pleasure in their daily routines
current events

4. Theories of Late Adulthood
Self Theories
theories of late adulthood that emphasize the core self, or the search to maintain one’s integrity and identity

5. Theories of Late Adulthood
Integrity Versus Despair
the final stage of Erik Erikson’s developmental sequence, in which older adults seek to integrate their unique experience with their vision of community

6. Theories of Late Adulthood
Identity theory
Erikson’s fifth stage, identity versus role confusion—each new experience, each gain or loss, requires a reassessment of identity
identity is challenged in old age
the usual pillars of self-concept crumble
appearance, health and employment

7. Theories of Late Adulthood
Better to Be Female, Non-European, and Old?
African and Hispanic Americans are often nurtured and respected within their families and churches
Asian and Hispanic elders often outlive European American contemporaries

8. Coping with Retirement
Deciding When to Retire
social scientists and political leaders have assumed that older adults wanted employment
recent sociological and psychological research has found that most older adults want to stop working as soon as they are eligible

9. Coping with Retirement
Retirement and Marriage
research says that it is best for both spouses to retire together
neither is satisfied if the other is still working and making family decisions

10. Coping with Retirement
Aging in Place
refers to a preference of elderly people to remain in the same home and community, adjusting but not leaving when health fades

11. Coping with Retirement
Continuing Education
retirement offers the time and opportunity to take classes
1 out of 4 U.S. adults age 66 and older were enrolled in continuing education in 2005

12. Coping with Retirement
Volunteer Work
is suitable for elderly people who have adequate pensions or other sources of income
volunteering allows the elderly to gain status and to find “new meaning…”

13. Coping with Retirement
Religious Involvement
studies show that religious involvement of all kinds correlates with physical and emotional health as well as long life

14. Friends and Relatives social convoy
collectively, the family members, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers who move through life with an individual

15. Friends and Relatives Long-Term Marriages
a spouse buffers against the problems of old age and extends life
personal happiness increases with the quality of the marriage or intimate relationship
mutual respect

16. Friends and Relatives Losing a Spouse
widowhood among elderly is common and problematic—especially the first two years after death
women tend to marry older men and live longer than men

17. Friends and Relatives Relationships with Younger Generations
older adults live to see two or more generations of younger family members
more adults are having one child—many children will have no aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, or sisters

18. Friends and Relatives Adult Children
as parent grow older, every family needs to adjust to changing conditions and circumstance renegotiating relationships
filial responsibility
the idea that adult children are obligated to care for their aging parents

19. The Frail Elderly frail elderly
people over age 65 who are physically infirm, very ill, or cognitively impaired

20. The Frail Elderly To measure frailty, activities of daily life (ADL)
typically consisting of five tasks of self-care; eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, and transferring from a bed to a chair—the inability to perform any of these tasks is a sign of frailty
To measure frailty is to assess a perons level of diffuctly

21. Caring for the Frail Elderly
The Demands of Family Care
often caregivers of the elderly are themselves elderly
caregivers often experience substantial stress
respite care
an arrangement in which a professional caregiver relieves a frail elderly person’s usual family caregiver for a few hours each day or for an occasional weekend

22. Caring for the Frail Elderly
Elder Abuse
analysis of elder abuse is complicated because three distinct elements contribute to the problem:
the victim
the abuser
the setting

23. Caring for the Frail Elderly
Long-Term Care
assistant living
provides some of the privacy and independence of living at home, along with some medical supervision

24. Epilogue: Death and Dying
Stages of Death
Hospice
Palliative Care
Euthanasia
Physician Assisted Suicide
Living Wills
Grief and Bereavement

25. Death and Hope What is death? a end or a beginning
a private and personal event
a part of the larger culture
something to deny or avoid
something to welcome

26. Attending to the Needs of the Dying
Kübler-Ross identified emotions experienced by dying people, which she divided into five stages.
Denial (“I am not really dying.”)
Anger (“I blame my doctors, or my family, or God for my death.”)
Bargaining (“I will be good from now on if I can live.”)
Depression (“I don’t care about anything; nothing matters anymore.”)
Acceptance (“I accept my death as part of life.”)

27. Stages of death

28. What is the hospice? The Hospice Comfort Care
an institution in which terminally ill patients receive palliative care
Comfort Care
palliative care
care designed not to treat an illness but to relieve the pain and suffering of the patient and his or her family

29. Discussion
Should the terminally ill be able to choose when to die?

30. Euthanasia vs. PAS
Physician assisted suicide (PAS) patients with a terminal diagnosis formally request a prescription for a fatal dose of drug to administer themselves. Only legal in the following states:
Montana, Oregon, Washington.

31. Active Euthanasia
The physician administer (takes an active role) in carrying out the patient’s request usually through a lethal injection. Illegal in the USA

32. Voluntary-Passive Euthanasia
Withholding medical treatment that is vital for continuing life. (e.g. withholding IV, feeding tube, antibiotics, removing heart and lung machines…etc)
Generally accepted and legal in the USA.

33. Choices and Controversies
Euthanasia
Choices and Controversies
When is a Person Dead?
passive euthanasia
a situation in which a seriously ill person is allowed to die naturally, withholding medical treatment and letting the patient pass
Example: DNR, Do not resuscitate order a written order (by patient) instructing medical staff to not revive patient.

34. Dying and Acceptance Advance Directives living will
a document that indicates what medical intervention an individual wants if he or she becomes incapable of expressing those wishes.

35. Bereavement Normal Grief Grief and Mourning bereavement grief Mourning
The period after the loss during which grief is experience
grief
an individual's emotional response to the death of another
Mourning
The process by which people adapt to the loss, usually influenced by culture, customs, religions..etc. (wearing black clothes)