Theories of Ageing Applied to Older Adults

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Description of the Interviewee
Description of the Process
Brief Bio
Applied Theories
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The primary purpose of the paper is to examine the lifestyle of my 65-year-old grandma. The research will involve an interview process to collect data about the current lifestyle of my grandmother. The interview process will have open-ended questions to enhance the interviewee’s autonomy to respond to the interrogations. Later, the paper will present the collected data in narrative or essay format, describing the personal details of the interviewee, the interview process, and her biographical information. The study will also assess how the social network theory and the constructivist model on disability are relevant to understanding my grandmother’s case, needs, satisfactory aging, lifestyle, and well-being based on the information gathered during the interview.

Description of the Interviewee

The interviewee was a female aged 65 years old, living in Seattle. The interviewee was my grandmother from the Caucasian American racial group. During the interview, my grandmother revealed that she was a retired teacher at Bellevue High School. She also confirmed that she is a strong believer in Christ and God. In this case, she is a member of the West Seattle Christian Church, where she fellowships 7 out of 7 days a week.

My grandmother, the interviewee in the interrogation, is a heterosexual woman. The lady has 8 children, 6 girls, and 7 boys, and a deceased husband. She has been a widow for the last 5 years, living alone in West Seattle. The interviewee revealed that having 6 daughters who got married after finishing college education left her and her husband lonely. Her loneliness worsened when her male children moved out of the house, and her husband died.

Description of the Process

The interviewee is my grandmother, who lives in Seattle. In this case, before implementing the interview process, I sought her verbal and written consent. I called her one month before the interview process, asking if she would be willing to participate in research about her lifestyle and living conditions. Later, I moved to Seattle with a written consent form, which she signed before the beginning of the interrogation. Therefore, I conducted a face-to-face interview with my grandmother after her authorization.

Brief Bio

My grandmother is a religious Christian who visits the church every day in the evening. The interviewee indicated that she liked spending time in the church because peaceful, welcoming, and accommodating to members and clergy. As a result, she has a community of supportive people in the church, which makes her cope positively with old age. Being a religious person, my grandmother believes in God and prayers. She engages in monthly prayer and fasting with her group of elderly and young Christians from the church. In this case, she and her prayer team have periodic fasting sessions at the end of every month, between Friday and Sunday. Based on this information, her religiosity is essential for her divine, mental, and emotional resilience.

On a typical day, my grandmother engages in different socio-economic, health, and fitness activities. These activities include preparing muffins and pancakes she sells at the church in the evening. The business helps her stay productive during the day, from Monday to Friday. She also goes to church every weekday in the evenings and mornings on the weekends. In addition, every morning, she checks her blood pressure BP with the BP machine she has at home. This paves the way for her morning yoga, and physical exercises, before 2-hour naps between 2 and 4 PM. These activities are essential for her economic, mental, physical, health, and spiritual development in her old age.

My grandmother experiences different changes in her daily activities because of variations in her health. For instance, on days when she feels fatigued, she postpones baking, physical exercises, and daily church visits. During these events, she spends most of her time sleeping, reading the Bible, listening to worship songs, and engaging in sleep and relaxation therapies recommended by her family physician. On the other hand, when she is in good mental and physical health, she bakes, visits the church, and exercises during the day.

My grandmother indicated that she receives support from friends, family members, the community, the church, and former colleagues. The church provides spiritual, mental, and emotional support for my grandmother. Additionally, family members, former workmates, and friends provide emotional, social, and financial support for the grandmother. Similarly, the community offers emotional, economic, and social support for my grandmother. For example, the community has healthy living, counseling, nutritional, and educational programs for the elderly that benefit my grandma. My grandmother’s support from family and non-family members enhances her economic, health, and social functionality during her old age.

Living alone makes it challenging for her to recover from stressful or mentally unhealthy events. For instance, living alone means she has no one to express her feelings to during stressful periods. Consequently, she visits the church and calls her children, friends, and former colleagues when handling stress. She stated that the voice and video WhatsApp calls have been beneficial in ensuring she interacts with people online during the days that she feels mentally unfit and broken. In addition, she listens to worship songs, and podcasts, reads the Bible, and calls her therapist when she urgently needs mental health guidance or emotional support. The situation frequently occurs when she misses her husband. Even though she gets all this support from family, friends, and therapists, my grandmother indicated that she likes managing stress through journaling disappointments.

A good and bad day has different meanings from my grandmother’s perspective. For instance, she indicated that she has no or limited health issues on a good day. Moreover, she stated that she receives limited or no negative news regarding her friends, family, community, former workmates, and church members on good days. On the other hand, she experiences health complications such as BP issues, rising blood sugar levels, and negative news about the lives of her beloved friends, colleagues, and family members on bad days. Therefore, a quality life from my grandmother’s perspective includes balanced and satisfactory social, economic, and healthy living.

My grandmother uses financial and non-financial resources to support her mental and physical health. For instance, she uses health and fitness technologies to maintain the required weight and blood sugar levels to reduce cardiovascular problems. She also uses mobile and computer devices to enhance her health and emotional and spiritual well-being through listening to motivational and spiritual teachings and podcasts. My grandmother lacks enough financial resources to afford necessary private health insurance coverage. She can only access Medicare services because of paying her Medicare taxes while working as a teacher before retirement. Therefore, the resources and lifestyle changes my grandmother needs to live healthily include increased access to financial resources and private health insurance coverage.

Aging has different cons and pros from my grandmother’s standpoint and experiences. She demonstrated that the primary pros of aging include preferential treatment while seeking community, social, and government services. For instance, at bus stations, supermarkets, other convenience stores, and hospitals, stakeholders prioritize serving the elderly over other people. The government also has more welfare benefits and programs for the elderly because of their socio-economic and health vulnerabilities. On the other hand, social exclusion, otherness, and mental and physical health issues are among the problems that older adults face as disadvantages of the age group.

Applied Theories

The Social Network Theory

The social network theory is relevant in examining my grandmother’s elderly issues and lifestyle. The theory demonstrates how social activities, connections, organizations, and communities impact interpersonal relationships, emotional well-being, and the welfare of humans (Allan & Phillipson, 2017; Hutchison, 2019; Liu et al., 2017; Nimmon et al., 2019). The theory emphasizes the importance of socio-cultural and economic activities, as well as community resources, in building community resilience, well-being, and success of people. These include resources such as mental healthcare facilities, nursing homes, counseling centers, churches, and sporting organizations that help the elderly with emotional distress.

The social network theory is relevant in my grandmother’s life since it demonstrates the importance of community, communication, culture, organizations, and people, in her cognitive, mental, physical, and economic welfare. According to Domènech-Abella et al. (2019) and Kelly et al. (2017), the theory is vital in understanding how community resources, people, and social activities are essential in controlling anxiety, depression, and other mental issues for older adults. Domènech-Abella et al. (2017) and Rook (2018) also show that social activities and community resources are essential for the elderly living stressful and lonely lives. Hence, the theory indicates that my grandmother requires social and community resources and support to promote her well-being and reduce health risks.

The Constructivist Model on Disability

The constructivist perspective on disability is also relevant to my grandmother’s story and life. According to Olsen & Pilson (2022) and Hutchison (2019), constructivists suggest that society implements diversity and inclusion practices for people with disabilities. Society should stop viewing people with disability as minority groups. Therefore, the theory emphasizes the importance of diversity and inclusion in society’s social, community, and economic systems. In this case, people with disabilities should have the autonomy and right to participate in society’s necessary socio-economic and political activities.

The theory relates to my grandmother’s issues because she has mental and physical disabilities that might increase her risk of facing discrimination in society. My grandmother is at risk of being discriminated against by people around her because of her old age, anxiety, emotional distress, and abandonment issues that she experiences. In addition, since my grandma has blood sugar issues, weight problems, eyesight, blood pressure, and blood sugar complications, that might increase her risks of being discriminated against in society. Based on the principle of the constructivist model of disability, society should avoid discriminating against my grandmother because of her old age, as well as mental and health issues. Instead, the community should provide her with the necessary support to enhance her welfare and well-being as a vulnerable member of society.

Conclusion

In summary, the report shows that the constructivist disability perspective and social network theory are relevant in assessing elderly living, older adult needs, and perception of satisfactory aging. The research shows that the vulnerability to health issues increases with aging. Older adults are more vulnerable to physical and mental health issues than young and middle-aged adults. Therefore, older adults need more financial, economic, health, and social support to enhance their welfare during aging.

Finally, the research shows that satisfactory living includes having a life with limited health, social, and economic problems. The theory implies that people living satisfactory lives have few mental and physical health issues. These include problems such as emotional distress, depression, anxiety, abandonment, and loneliness. The study also illustrates that older adults with more financial resources live satisfactory lives. Unlimited financial resources allow the elderly to access quality food, healthcare, and community resources that are key for positive mental and physical health.

References

Allan, G., & Phillipson, C. (2017). Social networks and social exclusion: sociological and policy perspectives. Routledge.

Domènech-Abella, J., Mundó, J., Haro, J. M., & Rubio-Valera, M. (2019). Anxiety, depression, loneliness and social network in the elderly: Longitudinal associations from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Journal of affective disorders, 246, 82-88. Web.

Domènech-Abella, J., Lara, E., Rubio-Valera, M., Olaya, B., Moneta, M. V., Rico-Uribe, L. A., Ayuso-Mateos, J. L., Mundo, J., & Haro, J. M. (2017). Loneliness and depression in the elderly: The role of social network. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 52(4), 381-390. Web.

Hutchison, E. D. (2019). Dimensions of human behavior: The changing life course (6^th ed.). SAGE publications.

Kelly, M. E., Duff, H., Kelly, S., McHugh Power, J. E., Brennan, S., Lawlor, B. A., & Loughrey, D. G. (2017). The impact of social activities, social networks, social support and social relationships on the cognitive functioning of healthy older adults: A systematic review. Systematic reviews, 6(1), 1-18. Web.

Liu, W., Sidhu, A., Beacom, A. M., & Valente, T. W. (2017). Social network theory. The international encyclopedia of media effects. Ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Web.

Nimmon, L., Artino Jr, A. R., & Varpio, L. (2019). Social network theory in interprofessional education: Revealing hidden power. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 11(3), 247-250. Web.

Olsen, J., & Pilson, A. (2022). Developing understandings of disability through a constructivist paradigm: Identifying, overcoming (and embedding) crip-Dissonance. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 24(1). Web.

Rook, K. S. (2018). Stressful aspects of older adults’ social relationships: Current theory and research. Stress and coping in later-life families (pp. 173-192). Taylor & Francis.

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