Part -1:
Written Assignment
Anticipatory socialization prepares us for changes in role or status. Remembering that unanticipated changes are more stressful, discuss, in a 3-5 page paper, how you would undertake anticipating age-related changes and planning for your own well-being as you age. Include the following:
1. At what stage of adulthood, based on Super's description, are you now? When do you think you will be at the last stage he lists, "retirement?"
2. If and when you retire from work, how much money will you need? You need not share detailed personal information with the instructor, especially if you feel this question intrudes on your privacy. Just an estimate will do, and you might want to estimate as a proportion of your current or anticipated (at mid-career) income now. Where do you think the money will come from? Do you believe that Social Security will provide part of what you can expect as income?
3. Define leisure activity for you now. Explain why you see these activities as leisure rather than work. How do you see your leisure activity changing as you age? What will determine any changes you expect might happen?
4. What type of environment would you seek out to live in as you get older? This may be a very broad question, but since environment is defined in so many dimensions by people, just identify your picture of a place you'd like to live in when you get older (i.e. geographical region; proximity to family; age-integrated community...). Describe how you would go about deciding this.
5. Discuss any other areas that you think should be included in your anticipatory socialization plan.
6. Define productivity for you. Estimate how productive you believe you will be and what your productivity will consist of, when you are in the last stage of Super's stages of adult life.
As usual, please write the paper and cite all of your sources using APA or MLA format.
Part -2:
The purpose of this assignment is to help you become more aware of the services for aging adults that are available in your community, and to encourage you to make direct contact with selected providers and consumers of these services. Of particular interest here is the recognition that basic services for all community residents are the backbone of what is needed by older adults as well.
Start with those basic elements of your community environment before going on to more specialized services designed solely for its older residents. Using this information, write a 5-8 page paper in which you:
1. Describe your community as to location, geography, size, transportation, recreational, economic, cultural, and demographic characteristics, including the break-down of various age groups in the population.
2. Conduct a survey of your community's services, both general and specific to aging people. You may find it helpful to start with your town/city/county/local area Agency on Aging websites (information about how to access these can be found under "Readings and Resources" for this lesson). You may include any number of services in your survey. I suggest that you present information in table format to shorten the paper. For each service, give available information about eligibility requirements, fees, and type(s) of services provided. You may find it difficult to get some of the information you are looking for, and if so, this experience is important to describe in your paper, too (consider that the consumer probably has less skill that you do in searching, and will probably not find it either).
3. Conduct interviews with at least six people. The following breakdown is suggested:
- 3 people aged 65 and older
- 2 health care professionals
- 1 administrator of a community service for older adults
4. Structure your interviews to obtain the following information:
a. For the older adults:
i. Does the person being interviewed know about the services you found on your survey?
ii. Have they used any of these services?
iii. Would they use or refuse services in the future?
iv. What problems do they perceive with aging-related issues now or in the future?
v. Where would they go for help should they need it?
vi. What are their hopes and fears for the future?
vii. How well is the community responding to the needs of its elders?
viii. What is needed that is not available?
ix. Who should provide for these unmet needs?
x. What can older members of the community contribute to the community?
b. For providers and administrator:
i. What problems do they perceive with aging-related services now or in the future?
ii. How well is the community responding to the needs of its elders?
iii. What is needed that is not available?
iv. Who should lead the effort to evaluate needs and services for older adults?
v. Who should plan for meeting these needs?
vi. Who should pay for services to meets the needs of aging adults in the community?
c. Comment on whether the responses to questions a-ix (older adults) and b-vi (providers and administrator) fit with your impressions of how U.S. policy is currently written.
5. Based on your assessment findings, summarize the positive and negative aspects of the quality of life for older adults who live in your community.
As usual, please use your text and additional required materials, as well as any other sources, as needed, to write this paper. Be sure to cite the sources you use by applying either APA or MLA formats. Notethat you should, in order to preserve the confidentiality of people you interview, not use their real names in your paper.
Part -3:
On December 2, 2010, the federal Public Health Service announced a release of the newest document in this series, Healthy People 2020. This document sets health objectives for the nation for the next 10 years. Access this website by typing https://healthypeople.gov into your browser. This will take you to the HP2020 home page. There are tabs across the top of the home page that will take you anywhere you want to go in this rather extensive document. Access and read "About Healthy People" first, and then return to the home page and click on the topics and objectives tab. You will find a list of topics, some of which are designated as "new" in red. Click on any topic, and the objectives related to that topic will come up. Then, click on "details" next to any objective to obtain baseline and target information, as well as data sources for the data that will be used to determine whether the baseline (our existing health statistic information) and target (the improvement expected over the next ten years in that statistic).
This is a large document, and you can explore it by reading the material accessed through the tabs on the home page, as well as links imbedded throughout the document. Pick the topics you are most interested in and feel would be most relevant to your search for information. For example, looking at topics r/t common causes of death and illness and those that impact the whole population, but are of particular interest because they lead to illnesses with a large impact on older adults (many of these are chronic diseases such as heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, etc.) would make the most sense-but nobody could look at all of the data available here for one paper, so you'll need to personalize your interest areas and focus there. Be sure to include something about determinants of health (which you will find in several areas) and can search for specifically by using the window at the top right of the home page to type in a specific determinant--for example, exercise-- and an age group). Quality of life is also discussed in several places, including in the topic related to older adults.
You will probably not be able to read all of this report-but as you choose topics to explore further from the list provided, you will find the needed information to help you understand and discuss the health and health needs of the nation and your community in the required paper. Be sure to include:
1) A discussion of the relationships between quality of life and health improvement.
2) A list & definition of "determinants of health" for all people, with an emphasis on older adults.
3) Evaluation of the level of health of our country as a whole, your community, and the level of health that you as an individual have achieved. In order to complete this, you will want to look at the Health Indicators discussed on the HP website. You will also have to do more research about your state and community's health indicators using the text and websites for your state and community in order to complete this section of the assignment.
4) Be sure to address health disparities within the country and community in your response.
As usual, please write this paper using APA or MLA guidelines, and be sure to cite all sources you use to write it.
Part -4:
Write a 3-5 page paper in which you:
1. Describe one chronic disease that appears in older life and identify risk factors known to be involved in its development.
2. Estimate the likelihood that you could get this disease as you age based on your personal risk factors and the prevalence of the disease.
3. Describe prevention of this disease on primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
4. Discuss the age at which primary prevention for this disease should begin.
As usual, please use your text and additional required materials, as well as other sources, as needed, to write this paper. Be sure to cite the sources you use by applying either APA or MLA formats.