PHHE 295. Chapter 9. Elders

PHHE 295

Chapter 9: Elders

Chapter Objectives

1)      Identify the characteristics of an aging population.

2)      Define the following groups—old, young old, middle old, and old old.

3)      Define the terms aged, aging, elders, gerontology, and geriatrics.

4)      Refute several commonly held myths about the elder population.

5)      Explain the meaning of an age pyramid.

6)      List the factors that affect the size and age of a population.

7)      Define fertility and mortality rates and explain how they affect life expectancy.

8)      Explain the difference between support and labor-force ratios.

9)      Describe older adults with regard to marital status, living arrangements, racial and ethnic background, economic status, and geographic location.

10)  Explain how four health behaviors can improve the quality of later life.

11)  Briefly outline elder abuse and neglect in the United States.

12)  Identify the six instrumental needs of older adults.

13)  Briefly   summarize the Older Americans Act of 1965.

14)  List the services provided for older adults in most communities.

15)  Explain the difference between respite care and adult day care.

16)  Identify the four different levels of tasks with which elderly persons need assistance.

Key Terms

·         Elders: Those 65 years of age and older.

·         Ageism: Prejudice and discrimination against the aged.

·         Exploritas: Education programs specifically for elders, held on college campuses or at a variety of sites around the world.

·         Demography: The study of a population and those variables bringing about change in that population.

·         Median Age: The age at which half of the population is older and half is younger.

·         Net Migration: The population gain or loss resulting from migration.

·         Dependency Ratio: A ratio that compares the number of individuals whom society considers economically unproductive to the number it considers economically productive.

·         Total Dependency Ratio: The dependency ratio that includes both youth and old.

·         Youth Dependency Ratio: The dependency ratio that includes only youth.

·         Old-Age Dependency Ratio: The dependency ratio that includes only the old.

·         Encore Careers: When individuals transition out of their work careers and into jobs and volunteer opportunities in non-profit and public sectors. Encore careers have a positive impact on society’s greatest problems.

·         Labor-Force Ratio: A ratio of the total number of those individuals who are not working to the number of those who are.

·         Assisted Living Facility: A special combination of housing, personalized supportive services, and health care designed to meet the needs—both scheduled and unscheduled—of those who need help with activities of daily living.

·         Retirement Communities: Residential communities that have been specifically developed for those in their retirement years.

·         Continuing Care Retirement Communities: Planned communities for seniors that guarantee a lifelong residence and health care.

·         Activities of Daily Living: Eating, toileting, dressing, bathing, walking, getting in and out of a bed or chair, and getting outside.

·         Functional Limitations: Difficulty in performing personal care and home management tasks.

·         Instrumental Activities of Daily Living: More complex tasks such as handling personal finances, preparing meals, shopping, doing housework, traveling, using the telephone, and taking medications.

·         Informal Caregiver: One who provides unpaid assistance to one who has some physical, mental, emotional, or financial need limiting his or her independence.

·         Care Provider: One who helps identify the health care needs of an individual and also personally performs the caregiving service.

·         Care Manager: One who helps identify the health care needs of an individual that does not actually provide the health care services.

·         Older Americans Act of 1965: Federal legislation to improve the lives of elders.

·         Meals On Wheels: A community supported nutrition program in which prepared meals are delivered to elders in their homes, usually by volunteers.

·         Congregate Meal Programs: Community-sponsored nutrition programs that provide meals at a central site, such as a senior center.

·         Visitor Services: One individual taking time to visit with another who is unable to leave his or her residence.

·         Homebound: A person unable to leave home for normal activities.

·         Adult Day Care Programs: Daytime care provided to elders who are unable to be left alone.

·         Respite Care: Planned short-term care, usually for the purpose of relieving a full-time informal caregiver.

·         Home Health Care Services: Health care services provided in the patient’s place of residence.

Chapter Summary

·         The median age of the U.S. population is at an all-time high and will continue to increase through the first third of this century.

·         There are many myths about the elderly population.

·         The increasing median age is affected by decreasing fertility rates, declining mortality rates, and the decline in immigration.

·         We are now at a point in history when a significant portion of Americans will assume some responsibility for the care of their aging parents.

·         One of the most common occurrences of the aging process is the reduction in independence.

·         An aging population presents the community with several concerns, which means legislators and taxpayers will be faced with decisions about how best to afford the costs of an ever-increasing old-age dependency ratio.

·         Communities will also need to deal with the special needs of income, housing, personal care, health care, transportation, and community facilities and services for elders.

·         All projections indicate that the incomes of seniors will remain lower than those of the general population, that the need for affordable and accessible hosing will increase, that there will be increased needs for personal services and care, that health care needs and costs will increase, and that the demand for barrier-free transportation will increase for elders.

·         The growth in our nation’s elder population, combined with this population’s financial ability to pay for service, has created an entrepreneurial atmosphere surrounding adult care services.