Problem
Roy is an 89-year-old African American man. He is a retired pastor who was married for 60 years before the death of his wife 6 months ago. He now lives alone, close to his daughter and her family, in a high rise for low-income elderly individuals. Roy recently stopped driving on the advice of his physician and depends on his daughter and grandchildren to help him with groceries and to transport him to medical appointments. Although in reasonably good health, he has lost weight over the past year and reports feeling more tired than usual and having repeated colds. Since his wife's death, he has stopped going to his exercise class and prefers to eat his meals in his apartment rather than in the community dining facility. He prepares his own meals, which usually include toast and coffee for breakfast, a meat or cheese sandwich with potato chips and milk for lunch, and canned soup or chili beans for dinner. He rarely eats between meals. Although usually at a healthy weight for his height, Roy's family is concerned about his weight loss of 12 pounds since his wife's death. They also express concern about a recent fall he had that resulted in a number of bruises on his body.
A. Summarize the nine D's of geriatric weight loss" dementia, drugs, dysphagia, dysgeusia, dentation, diarrhea, depression, disease, and dysfunction.
B. Consider Roy's challenges with weight loss and describe which of the nine D's of geriatric weight loss are impacting his life.
C. Explain two achievable steps Roy and his family could take in improving his eating habits today with the goal of weight loss prevention.