Elsie is 75 and enjoys attending the women's Institute and doing volunteer work in a local charity shop for a hospice. She is finding herself forgetting small things, and can't always remember the change she is supposed to give to customers. Also Elsie needs to learn how to use a new cash register which she is finding difficult to do. She is aware that she can't follow the story so easily in books that she loves to read.
She experienced the death of her husband nearly two years ago and they had a very supportive and close relationship for over 45 years. She had started to feel less overwhelmed by her grief in the past few months, but recently has been feeling lower in mood again. She is worried that others will think she is becoming a "batty old woman". Elsie is reluctant to bother her GP, but she has discussed these difficulties briefly with her daughter who said that Elsie is getting on a bit and a younger person could get more value from being paid to do the work. Elsie is finding that she is becoming more preoccupied with her memory problems and her feelings of stress and sadness.
Write an essay that meets the following requirements:
(a) Drawing upon a range of psychological theories/concepts presented in the module, discuss Elsie's situation and her responses to it.
(b) Identify and discuss how knowledge of psychology could be used by an occupational therapist when working with the case study chosen.