Assignment:
• What do you define as "old"?
• What are your family's beliefs about aging?
• If an elder in your family needs care, whose responsibility is it to provide that care? How do you determine who holds that responsibility (e.g. eldest sibling, most financially stable, etc.)?
• Does your perception differ from your parents beliefs?
• Are these differences because of acculturation time? (You are first generation American, or you are a new immigrant, or your family has been in America for generations).
• How does interdependence have a role in your family?
• Is it important that the caregivers be "family"? What is your definition of "family"?
Next, interview an elder in your family (someone at least 2 generations older, if possible), asking him/her the same questions.
Write a 2 page paper summarizing your interview. Describe what you learned from this individual. Does this information change your original perceptions? How does your interviewee's perception of his or her own health match up with his or her actual health? Were they accurate?