As standard of living improve due advances in nutrition and healthcare and general living condition worldwide, so is the population increasing as more people live longer in all age group.
As a result of these we have a large population of the elderly worldwide since most people live longer. As these groups grow old they become helpless, some are unable to work and while some fall sick to diseases like Alzheimer. The responsibility of taking care of them now either fall into the hands of their immediate family, and in some cases extended family and or the government depending on the culture. However, to make for a result oriented care the government and family needs to work together and culture can influence the commitment of family to the care of the elderly. Determining who is old could be difficult sometimes considering some people could still be strong and agile at an old age. So the World Health Organization came out with a standard to determine who should be regarded as elderly. Accordingly the world body state that “Although there are commonly used definitions of old age, there is no general agreement on the age at which a person becomes old ……but the UN agreed cutoff is 60+ years to refer to the older population” (World Health Organization).
This research would examine two cultures and their way of taking care of their elderly; the people of the Kuwaiti and the people of Allahabad, a city located in Indian. The Kuwait is from the Middle East and are predominantly Muslims, 95 per cent of Kuwaiti practice the
Islamic religion as a result their way of life is mostly gear towards the Islamic code of conduct with a mixture of western culture due to been colonize by the British. While the Allahabad which is one...
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..., professionals’ can still call on family member to make the social life of the elderly in care institution comfortable and without the thought of loneliness which can create depression.
In order to ensure a result oriented elderly care family will always play an important role in the care of elderly even if the government or company intervene to help and ensure commitment from family member, culture will always be a powerful influence that would make family member commit to the care of their elderly.
Works Cited
Rashmi,G. (2009). System Perspective: Understanding Care Giving of the Elderly in India.Retrived from EBSCOhost. whyislam.org. Elderly Care. Retrieved from http://www.whyislam.org/social-values-in-islam/social-ties/elderly-care/
Kuwait Ministry of health. Retrieved from http://sgh.org.sa/en-us/technicalprograms/healthcare/elderlyhealthcare.aspx
Culture change in long-term care is a set of guiding principles based on person-centered care tailored to each elder’s care while treating them with dignity and respect. Core values include relationship, personal choice, self-determination, and purposeful living (“Defining Culture Change”, n.d.). In person-centered care, quality of life is recognized to be as important as the quality of care. It is also recognized that every person has the right to be allowed to make their own decisions, even if those decisions may not always be safe. Finally, at the very heart of person-centered care is the relationship between the elder and their caregivers in which the way a task is done is as important, if not more, than the task itself (Jones, 2011).
Certain cultures that live at or below the poverty line prefer this type of assistance for their elderly family members because it allows them to have someone meet them at their home. This convenience is a big factor and provides the elderly with a way to fulfill their communal culture by living out their time at home among family, while still receiving any necessary assistance for health checks or IADL’s. This improves their quality of life by meeting their needs in a different way. These alternative methods to older adult care are more popular among minorities and cultural groups (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). Bookman and Kimbrel acknowledge the gap between financial status as well as culture and race, they stated, “...because elders are widely diverse by race and socioeconomic status, their families attach differing cultural meanings to care and have widely different resources with which to accomplish their care goals” (2011). Thus, creating the large gap seen in nursing home facilities. Specifically, cultures like the Chinese who maintain traditions like filial piety, in which the adult children must care for their elderly parent (Li & Buechel, 2007). This type of culture defines the line between those who view nursing homes as ideal and those who prefer a separate
The roots of the above beliefs and values are influenced by the fact my parents and grandma were raised in Vietnam. Growing up, my grandma lived in poverty as a single mother raising 12 children. She has always been independent with her health and often rely on traditional home remedies. The idea of knowing many cultures shares this mutual health belief; it will definitely affect my nursing practice in the future. The majority of Southeas...
Upon growing older there are many decisions to be made. Among one of the most difficult and perhaps most important decisions is where the elder person will live and how long-term care needs will be met when he/she is no longer capable of doing so independently due to the incapacity that accompanies many with old age. Nursing homes seem to be the popular choice for people no matter the race, gender, or socioeconomic status with 1.5 million Americans being admitted to them yearly.[3] Because nursing homes are in such a high demand and are not cheap, $77.9 billion was spent for nursing home care in the United States in 2010 alone, they are under criticism of many professions including the legal profession, which is in the process of establishing elder law as a defense to issues with in the elder community. Nursing homes have a duty to provide many things to the elderly including medical, social, pharmaceutical, and dietary services so that the individual may maintain the highest well-being possible.[4] Stated another way 'a nursing facility must care for its residents in such a manner and in such an environment as will promote maintenance or enhancement of the q...
The theoretical framework that I used for this paper is Leininger's Sunrise Model. It describes the factors that have to be assessed in order to provide competent trans cultural care for a culture. These include educational factors, economic factors, political and legal factors, cultural values and life ways, kinship and social factors, religious and philosophical factors, technological factors, generic or folk systems within a cultural care worldview (Leininger's, 1991).
Aging is an inevitable process where we as living beings grow old. Aging has some benefits and may bring some problems too. There is a great variety of researches done with different purposes which provide us with some information and statistics.
Culture, as define by Giddens, is a “pattern of shared attitudes, beliefs, self-definitions, norms, roles, and values that can occur among those who speak a particular language, or live in a defined geographical region.” (Giddens, 2013, p. 29) When constructing a nursing care plan it is important to understand the patients’ cultural background to fully understand how to care for them. Depending on what culture the individual identifies with, will direct the nurse to which nursing interventions need implemented in regards to certain aspects of care including health care practices and beliefs, how the patient views developmental and family roles, how communication occurs between patient and provider and possibly if that patient has any health
been a subject that has confused many especially that the elderly are a group of neglected people
233). She studied anthropology and applied the research findings in nursing. Later, she developed the theory of “culture care diversity and universality” from her personal experience as a nurse and other factors that influenced such as ethnic conflicts, commuting, and technology changes. It is illustrated and described by the Sunrise four-level model, and it is labeled as “an enabler” (Masters, 2014, p. 69). The first level represents a “worldview”, the second level presents “knowledge concerning individuals and groups”, the third level includes “specific features of care in the system”, and the fourth level is “specific nursing care” (Masters, 2014, p. 69; Jarošová, 2014, p. 47). The main purpose of this theory is “to generate knowledge related to the nursing care of people who value their cultural heritage” (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 233). The major concepts in this theory include: culture, culture care, and diversities and similarities and sub-concepts include care and caring, emic view (language expression, perceptions, beliefs, and practice), and etic view (universal language expressions beliefs and practices in regard to certain phenomena) (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 233). The base knowledge
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Life extension also presents unique predicaments which can have a direct impact on society such as, people would certainly benefit from the more experienced and knowledgeable labor force, but this would also cause young, willing people to be bereft of certain opportunities. One of the more persistent problems of life extension would be overpopulation because more of the population living together would result in congestion and this would lead to an eventual decline in our standard of living. Moreover, the issue of life extension also aggravates the situation of millions of people around
There are cultures that have very different views on things such as family dynamics and health care than what I’m used to. For example, there are some cultures that do not believe in seeking healthcare when they are ill or receiving medications or blood if needed. However, my family always believed in taking us to the doctor and taking medications when we were ill. There are also some cultures that have very large families that they are very close to however I always had a small close-knit family. I am able to see how these different scenarios could affect the nursing care provided by assuming that other people and families have the same beliefs that my family had growing up. However, this is why it is important to ask questions and do research about a particular culture before making assumptions. I also believe it is very important to avoid assuming that all cultures are the same just because they are of a certain culture or ethnicity. Beliefs and rituals can differ amongst people of the same community. Therefore, it is essential to get to know your patients and have an understanding of their beliefs as an
Centenarians living in these three different locations all live a different lifestyle, but they must be
expectancy (Auer & Fortuny, 2000). Ageing is the fact of human life we are born; we
The relation between culture and age has often been the subject of discourse in recent gerontological studies. It is argued that there is an inherent relation between the two. The difference marked by age or our perception of old age, in particular, is a cultural and social construction. Consequently, the meanings and value assigned to old age are also socially constructed. This in turn leads to a reshaping of identity or what Holstein and Gubrium term as ‘self-construction’(Randall and McKim 235). However, what we need to consider is whether it is only this construct that is solely responsible for determining our response to aging. Does our environment have complete agency in shaping our attitude or is it also dependent on how we, as