Week 3 Psychosocial Factors 2024 Class Slides PDF

Issues in Healthy Ageing OTPT 105 OTA/PTA Program Centennial College  Week 3 The Psychosocial Factors in Ageing PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS IN AGEING 1. Psychosocial theories of ageing 2. Forces shaping the ageing experience 3. Ethnicity 4. Theories explaining t...

Issues in Healthy Ageing OTPT 105 OTA/PTA Program Centennial College  Week 3 The Psychosocial Factors in Ageing PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS IN AGEING 1. Psychosocial theories of ageing 2. Forces shaping the ageing experience 3. Ethnicity 4. Theories explaining the ethnic elder’s experience 5. Some psychosocial issues in the elderly Social-Psychological Theories of Ageing There are 3 social-psychological theories of aging that claim to describe the ideal way of aging: 1. Disengagement Theory 2. Activity Theory 3. Continuity Theory 4 Disengagement Theory Old age is a time to withdraw from social roles and to decrease activity. Allows older adults to reduce activity as strength declines and to leave social roles before death  Criticism:  Supports the stereotype of old age as a time of weakness and decline 5 Activity Theory  People stay happiest when social roles lost in old age are replaced with new ones  High activity levels correlates with high life satisfaction  Criticisms:  Not well supported in literature.  Little relationship between the frequency of activities and life satisfaction.  Only informal activities with friends predicted life satisfaction 6 Continuity Theory Older adults feel most satisfied if they continue roles and activities of their middle years  Living a lifestyle that is comparable Older adults adapt to new situations by using successful patterns of behaviour from the past  A decline in social activities with friends leads to lower life satisfaction and not an overall decline in social activity 7  Scenario Mrs. F is a 74 year old woman who is married but husband dies suddenly. She has never driven a car. Her husband was the out- going gregarious one in the couple. They tended to do everything together in their retirement. Mrs. F was a homemaker and mother to a large family most of her life and only entered the work force later in life. What challenges do you think she faces? Self-Development in Later Life  Ageing poses some challenges to maintaining the sense of “self”.  These challenges come from (at least) 3 sources 1. Physical decline  Losing the ability to drive 2. Loss of social roles  Loss of status, purpose, and sense of achievement 3. Social attitudes towards older adults  Ageism  The elderly need to cope with these losses and find new sources of esteem … new meaning for their life. 10 Conditions that lead to “good old age” Rowe and Khan (1995) Three signs of successful ageing: 1. Low chance of disease and disability 2. High mental and physical functioning 3. Active engagement in social relations and productive activity How can I, the OTA/PTA, help a person age successfully? 11 Role for OTAs and PTAs Establish therapeutic relationships Break learned helplessness  Excess disability  Breaking the cycle Help the elderly client adjust to the new “self” Educate the elderly client and family 12 OT-PTA Role: Breaking the Cycle – How ???  By helping to empower the elderly client find new ways to feel worthwhile & productive  adapt to their environment  learn new problem-solving strategies  make proper use of services  create a new value system  establish greater self-reliance/independence  maintain new coping skills  create internal sense of control  reduce susceptibility to external judgements 13 SOME PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES IN THE ELDERLY 1. Loss of Role 2. Loneliness 3. Suicide Some Psychosocial Issues in the Elderly 1. Loss of Role  Elderly may be seen as incompetent  Responsibilities may be taken away  A dependent role is then learned/assumed  Previously intact skills may be lost  Elders are susceptible to negative labelling The cycle could perpetuate and lead to further loss. 15 Some Psychosocial Issues in the Elderly 2. Loneliness Due to absence of social roles Social isolation Most common among  Women  The unmarried  The uneducated 16 Some Psychosocial Issues in the Elderly 2. Loneliness  Combating loneliness Maintain social contacts(critical –shown by research) Have better housing Have more recreational facilities Improve transportation More choices result in a stronger sense of control and sense of “self”. 17 Some Psychosocial Issues in the Elderly 3. Suicide Suicide rates increase for men (particularly if unmarried) Lower suicide rates among women  Why? Social bonds may spare them isolation and depression 18  Despite the number of threats to the older person’s psychosocial well-being, most older Canadians report a high life satisfaction. 19 FORCES SHAPING THE AGEING EXPERIENCE 1. Non-normative events 2. Normative history-graded events 3. Normative age-graded events To understand human development requires knowledge of a person’s life events and social situation Society and history play an important role in shaping someone’s development. NORMS – what are they  Shared rules or  Every society has age guidelines that prescribe norms that dictate how a correct behaviour under person of a certain age certain conditions should act. (Normative life event) Let’s consider the items on the list….  War  Divorce  Death of a parent/sibling  Death of a spouse  Death of a child  Marriage  Moving  9/11  Retirement  Cancer diagnosis/health change  Attend college/graduate  First job  Layoff from job  Invention of PC  Discovery of penicillin Shaping the Ageing Experience – 3 Forces: 1. Non-normative events (not everyone experiences them and you cannot plan for them)  Sudden negative unexpected changes in a person’s life  Accidents, sudden changes in health, death of a child  Common response pattern Recognition of crisis Individual faces a challenge  Response to the crisis  Individual accepts the challenge and interprets it as a demand for some response.  Readjustment to the consequences  Individual responds to and/or ‘affirms’ their lives in spite of the challenge 24 Shaping the Ageing Experience – 3 Forces: 1. Non-normative events Sudden changes in personal life of an individual Many people find the process of change due to non-normative events painful and challenging. Accidents Sudden changes in health Studies show that people get more competent at coping with challenges as they age. 25 Shaping the Ageing Experience – 3 Forces: 2. Normative history-graded events Historical events that shape a person’s life Change the lives of many age cohorts  People who were born:  1920-1930 - WWII and the Great Depression  1945-1955 - Peace and Affluence  1945-1960s – Baby Boomers, turbulent politics, affluence  Current generation ??? 26 Shaping the Ageing Experience – 3 Forces: 3. Normative age-graded events  Socially-sanctioned events that occur most often at a certain age “Age grades” define rights and responsibilities Ethnic background and social class and occupation affect timing (example- right age to marry) Age-status asynchronization = when some life events happen later or earlier than compared with the experience of other people. Teenaged mother Marrying at 80 years old 28 Let’s reconsider the items on the list…. Event Force War Death of a child Marriage 9/11 Retirement Cancer diagnosis Attend college Layoff from job Invention of PC Discovery of penicillin Relevance to Rehabilitation We must see the older person as: 1. someone who has evolved into their current personality and continues to evolve. 2. an accumulation of all of their life events/experiences, just like the rest of us. 3. someone who wants to experience a purpose and meaning to their life, even in old age (as we all do). 30 ETHNICITY AND THE AGEING EXPERIENCE 1. Role 2. Theories 3. Other Considerations Ethnicity – many definitions 1. Country of birth 2.The country of birth of one’s parents or grandparents 3.Citizenship 4. Religion Ethnicity and the Ageing Experience Ethnic group People who see themselves as being alike because of their common ancestry and/or cultural traditions Seen as being alike by others Ethnicity provides meaning to life events Impacts the number of social supports available 34 Culture Refers to shared language, beliefs, values and customs There are family-oriented cultural values and individualistic cultural values Seniors from family-oriented cultures (ie. Italian, Asian and South Asian) are more likely to live with their adult children Role of Ethnicity in Ageing Adjustment to ageing is impacted by: Cultural background (each culture has norms for the aging population) Language (may or may not speak one of the official languages in Canada) Country of origin Number of years living in Canada (language, financial) Each ethnic group experiences “ageing” differently. Will affect how they feel they should be cared for in their old age 36 Immigration In 2006 reported that most older immigrants (over 65) came from Europe Another large group came from Asia and the Middle East Smaller groups of older immigrants came from US, Africa, Central and South America & Caribbean Today more than half of younger immigrants come from Asia (including South Asia) and Middle East Will lead to a larger population of non-European seniors in future THEORIES EXPLAINING THE ETHNIC ELDER’S EXPERIENCE 1. Levelling Theory 2. Buffer Theory 3. Multiple Jeopardy Theory Theories Explaining the Ethnic Elder’s Experience: 1. Levelling Theory  Age levels off ethnic differences  Changes such as loss of a spouse and poor health outweigh cultural differences 39 Theories Explaining the Ethnic Elder’s Experience: 2. Buffer Theory  Ethnic identity( some groups value seniors and provide meaningful roles for them) buffers against loss of role in old age  Helps to protect them from losses and social devaluation in later life  However, consider the fact that ethnic elderly may have  conflicts with children/grandchildren(may feel they have become too westernized)  less formal education  And that compared with their non-ethnic counterparts, ethnic elderly generally have  fewer social contacts- more social isolation  lower income  poorer quality housing  more loneliness  lower life satisfaction 40 Theories Explaining the Ethnic Elder’s Experience: 3. Multiple Jeopardy Theory  Ageing makes life worse for members of ethnic groups  Old age can add to the disadvantages of ethnicity, class and gender- a person with more than one disadvantage will experience greater disadvantage-there is a compounding effect  Why?  Because minorities may have  lower status  low income  stresses due to living in a foreign land/foreign culture 41 Multiple Jeopardy theory e.g. Elderly Iranian women who had immigrated to Canada in later middle age: Faced challenges: no English, no work experience in Canada, being older, female, an immigrant, and an ethnic minority Their losses: family and friends in Iran, their home and homeland, educational credentials and employment, status and identity Ethnicity and the Ageing Experience 3. Other considerations Geographic closeness of family members Degree of assimilation Time of immigration (may affect language development-may not speak either English or French and finances- a recent immigrant will have little access to Canadian old age security and if they did not work in Canada –will not receive CPP(Canada Pension Plan)) Size/involvement of support systems May experience racism which they may not have before 43 Living arrangements 3 of every 4 Chinese Canadians aged 55 and older lived with their children( 2007) Euro-Canadian seniors tend to prefer living independently South Asian immigrant seniors who came to Canada recently were more likely to live with their adult children but if they came to Canada when young were more likely to live independently Canada has immigration policies that require adult children to provide financial support for their aging parents for 10 years