Aging and End of Life Issues

UPON COMPLETION OF THE COURSE, THE STUDENT WILL BE COMPETENT IN:

• Understanding aging within its evolving historical and social context.
• Examining the changing demography and assessing the direction of social change brought on by the aging society.
• Exploring issues in aging related to race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic position, and gender, including bereavement and widowhood.
• Comparing policies and practices of other countries in meeting the needs of older people.
• Exploring how older people construct their self-concept, individuality and actions in old age and how this affects meaning, value and purpose in their lives.
• Examining the physical, social, psychological, spiritual, and economic realities of growing older.
• Discussing variations in household structure, patterns of home ownership, and alternative living arrangements among the aged to include family and institutional care options.
• Identifying the major issues regarding elders in the health care system, labor force participation and retirement, and legislation affecting health and economic well-being.
• Exploring the role of employers, human resource managers, and public policy makers in increasing support for career and work life extensions among older workers.
• Exploring how new lifestyles and improved health among today’s elderly challenge traditional views of old age.
• Evaluating strategies for assessing older persons’ needs for care, ensuring their safety and seeking elder care options.
• Understanding the importance of the individual, family, neighborhood, community and societal contributions to optimal aging.
• Discussing the essential topics of elder law – advanced directives, patient rights, social security, guardianship, elder abuse.
• Identifying rituals, traditions, and responsibilities in matters of death and dying among different cultural and religious groups.
• Identifying special problems among the aging including suicide, elder abuse, fraud, crimes against older people and drug abuse.
• Developing a source of information for use by professional caregivers, families of the aging, and the public who are addressing issues of aging.
• Identifying myths regarding sexuality in the elderly, identify the intimacy needs of the elderly, and ways communal living situations can respect their needs.
• Understanding the ageist attitudes of different age groups and be able to identify ways to change negative attitudes to more positive attitudes.
• Describing the caregiving of the oldest-old by spouses and the adult children and the effects of gender, ethnicity, and the number of siblings on the care given.
• Differentiating between functional mental health disorders and organic mental health disorders, analyzing the need for improved mental health services for the elderly, and identifying good mental health safeguards.