As individuals grow older, they experience biological changes, but how they experience these changes varies considerably. Senescence, or the process of aging, “affects different people, and various parts of the body, at different rates” (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2019, p. 644).

What factors affect the aging process? Why do some individuals appear to age faster than others? In this Discussion you address these questions and consider how, you, as a social worker, might apply your understanding of the aging process to your work with older clients.

To prepare for this Discussion, read “Working With the Aging: The Case of Francine” in Social Work Case Studies: Foundation Year.

Working With the Aging: The Case of Francine

Francine is a 70-year-old, Irish Catholic female. She worked for 40 years as a librarian in an institution of higher education and retired at age 65. Francine has lived alone for the past year, after her partner, Joan, died of cancer. Joan and Francine had been together for 30 years, and while Francine personally identifies as a lesbian, she never came out to her family or to her colleagues. When speaking to all but her closest confidantes, Francine referred to Joan as her “best friend” or her “roommate.” Francine’s bereavement was therefore complicated because she did not feel she could discuss the true nature of her partnership with Joan. She felt that there was little recognition from her family, and even some of her close associates, of the impact and meaning of Joan’s death to Francine. There is a history of alcohol abuse in Francine’s family, and Francine abused alcohol from late adolescence into her mid-30s. However, Francine has been in recovery for several decades. Francine has no known sexual abuse history and no criminal history.

Francine sought counseling with me for several reasons, including an ongoing depressed mood, a lack of pleasure or enjoyment in her life, and loneliness and isolation since Joan’s death. She also reported that she had begun to drink again and that while her drinking was not yet at the level it had been earlier in her life, she was concerned that she could return to a dependence upon alcohol. Francine came to counseling with several considerable strengths, including a capacity to form intimate relationships, a successful work history, a history of having maintained her sobriety in the past for many years, as well as insight into the factors that had contributed to her current difficulties.

During our initial meetings, Francine stated that her goals were to feel less depressed, to reduce or stop drinking, and to feel less isolated. In order to ensure that no medical issues were contributing to her depression symptoms, I referred Francine to her primary care physician for an evaluation. Francine’s physician did not find any medical cause of her symptoms, diagnosing Francine with moderate clinical depression and recommending that Francine begin a course of antidepressant medication. Francine was reluctant to take medication and first wanted to try a course of counseling.

In order to help Francine meet her goal of reducing her depression symptoms, I employed a technique called behavioral activation (BA), which is drawn from principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and helps to reengage people in pleasant physical, social, and recreational activities. We began with a small initial goal of having Francine dedicate at least 5 minutes of each day to an activity she found pleasant or rewarding. Over the following weeks, we increased the time. Francine’s treatment progress was monitored through weekly completion of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) in order to determine whether or not her depressive symptoms were improving.

I helped Francine address her drinking by reconnecting her with effective coping strategies she had used in the past to achieve and maintain her sobriety. These included identifying triggers for the urge to drink and exploring her motivations for both continuing to drink and for stopping her use of alcohol. Francine began attending regular meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous™ (AA) and found several meetings that were specifically for older women and for lesbians. In addition, Francine spoke regularly with a sponsor who helped her to remain abstinent during particularly stressful moments during her reengagement in sobriety.

Finally, in order to address Francine’s goal of feeling less lonely and isolated, we explored potential avenues to increase her social networks. In addition to spending time with her family, friends, and her AA sponsor, Francine began to visit the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), center for the first time in her life and attended a support group for women who had lost their partners. Francine also began spending time at her local senior center and went there at least three times a week for exercise classes, other recreational activities, and lunch. She also began to do volunteer work at her local library once a week.

Over several months of counseling, Francine stopped drinking; significantly increased her daily involvement in pleasant and rewarding activities, including social and recreational activities; and reported feeling less lonely, despite still missing her partner a great deal. Francine’s scores on the PHQ-9 gradually decreased over time, and after 16 weeks of counseling, Francine reported that she no longer felt she needed the session to move on with her life. In addition, Francine visited her primary care physician, who found upon evaluation that her depression had lifted considerably and that an antidepressant was no longer indicated. By the end of counseling, Francine’s focused work on identifying her depression symptoms and her triggers for drinking equipped her to better recognize when she might need support in the future and to whom she could reach out for help if she needed it.

By Day 3

Post a Discussion in which you:

• Apply your understanding of the aging process to Francine’s case. How might Francine’s environment have influenced her aging process? How might you, as Francine’s social worker, apply your knowledge of the aging process to her case?
• Identify an additional strategy you might use to apply your knowledge of the aging process to social work practice with older clients in general. Explain why you would use the strategy.

 week 4 discussion

Topic 1

Interview someone from a different cultural background than your own to learn how he or she perceives illness, including the meaning, causes, treatment, and feelings associated with both acute and chronic illnesses. Determine how his or her culture tends to view nurses. In your discussion:

Discuss how the perceptions of the interviewee influence his or her health behavior, including when he or she seeks help and the type of practitioner he or she consults.

Describe how his or her perceptions differ from your own.

Describe the strategies you could employ to promote the delivery of culturally competent care.

 Citations should conform to APA guidelines. You may use this APA Citation  

Assignment Instructions

Examine the case of Baby Boy Doe (Darr, 2011, p. 16.) The objective of this assignment is to get you to think critically about real-life ethical dilemmas and the moral principals involved. There is no right or wrong answer, just try to look at this case subjectively. Most of the time, resolving ethical dilemmas is not so “black and white.” Discuss arguments for and against the issues below
 

1. Discuss what makes this an ethical dilemma (read pp. 3 and 4).
 

2. Discuss the implications of this study in terms of the moral principles described in chapter 1.
 

Here are some questions that may guide your thinking:
 

Respect for persons: Did the hospital/ physicians allow the parents to be autonomous in their decision-making? Do you see any elements of paternalism on behalf of the physicians?
 

Beneficence: Did the hospital/ physicians act beneficently?
 

Nonmaleficence: Did the hospital/ physicians consider nonmaleficence?
 

Justice: Did the hospital act in a just way?
 

3. Finally, do you think that the hospital did all that it could in this situation? Did it act appropriately? Explain.

Assignments are to be a minimum of 2 full pages of text and 3 reputable references in proper APA format.

Reference: Darr, K. (2011).  Ethics in Health Services Management.  (5th Edition).  Baltimore, MD:  Health Professions Press, Inc.
 

(Assignments are due in the Assignment portion of the classroom by Sunday, 11:55 p.m. EST each week. Make sure you read and understand the directions and requirements for each Assignment. Please ensure you cite your references in APA format with a minimum of 3 references (You may use your textbook as a reference and you should have a minimum of 2 academic outside references).  Assignment will be graded based on the following areas: Foundation and synthesis of knowledge, application of knowledge critical thinking, writing skills, and organization of ideas and format)

Journal Details

Writing about one’s personal experience encourages self-reflection and improves self-awareness. In this activity students are invited to reflect, in writing, on their experiences related to managing clinical risks for patients. Students to write about an event they observed or were involved in during their nursing profession that they feel might have placed a patient at risk. Alternatively, students may want to write about an event that occurred to them as recipients of healthcare, or as an observer to their friends’ or family members’ experiences. The event may be one that they feel related to any of anticipation, recognition, or management of a patient safety risk. Safe patient care and reducing medical-legal risk requires nurse practitioners to be aware of potential risks and how to avoid them.

The narrative should include:

• a description of the event
• an explanation of how this event placed a patient at risk
• the student’s reflections on the event including:
• if and how the event was recognized
• why and how the event occurred, for example, was the event due to
  • action or inaction by an individual healthcare provider
  • system failure(s)
  • a combination of systems failure(s) and individual provider performance issues
• what changes or improvements they would make, if any
• how they felt at the time
• how they currently feel about the even
• Were you personally involved in the event? Discuss.
• What, if any, workplace factors contributed to the event? (e.g., Was it during a handover? Did it involve a medication?)
• How aware was the healthcare provider(s) of what was going on around them? (situational awareness)
• How did the health care provider(s) recognize the safety problem, and how did they respond?
• How did this event affect you?
• What did you take away that you will use in the future?
• I would do something differently next time because 

Assignment Requirements:

Before finalizing your work, you should:

• be sure to read the Assignment description carefully (as displayed above);
• consult the Grading Rubric (under the Course Resources) to make sure you have included everything necessary; and
• utilize spelling and grammar check to minimize errors.

Your writingAssignment should:

• follow the conventions of Standard English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.);
• be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and insightful;
• display superior content, organization, style; and
• use APA 6th Edition format as outlined in the APA Progression Ladder.

  PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS, YOU NEED A MESSAGE..ANSWER QUESTIONS.

Public Health Campaign Message

DUE 4/21/18 9P.M EST

2 PAGES APA FORMAT NOT INCLUDING TITLE AND REFERENCE PAGE

PRESCRIPTION DRUG OVERDOSE

TARGET AUDIENCE: YOUNG ADULTS

It is now time for you to develop your public health campaign message (PRESCRIPTION DRUG OVERDOSE). A message is the appeal that you are trying to make to the public. There are several types of approach to message development including: rational appeal, emotional appeal, threat appeal, positive emotional appeal, and humorous appeal. Whatever appeal you choose, it must match the media outlets you will use to disseminate your message and be appropriate for your targeted audience. (YOUNG ADULTS)

Before you begin, analyze the images for cultural bias, irrelevant messages, stereotyping, and appropriate text for various reading levels. Keep these thoughts in mind as you begin developing your Public Heath Campaign Message.

Your message should include a description of the target audience, the preferred action or desired behavior change the audience should consider, and how this action will benefit them. Your message should integrate culturally relevant materials and appropriate text for various reading levels, and should also be captivating in order to stimulate your audience to want to change their current behavior as a result of the message.

But when delivering a campaign, the credibility of the personnel is very important.

INCLUDE SUB HEADINGS

What’s your message?

What type of appeal did you use?

Why did you choose this type of appeal?

How has your messaging integrated cultural relevance with your public health campaign message?

Give credibility to personnel