The dangers of an ageing society
Due to vital progress in healthcare, humans keep living longer than ever before. At the same time, a change of mentality, mostly in more developed countries, leads to shrinking numbers of childbirth. The first statement seems to be more than positive; in contrast, the decreasing number of young people is concerning. While the average age of the United Kingdom’s population was approximately 34 in 1974, it rose to 40 in 2014. People over 65 made up 18% of the population in 2014 which is an increase of 47% since 1974 (Office for National Statistics). These numbers have alarmed governments around the world, as this is not just a national issue. The reasons for this trend of an ageing society are the problem of
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The insurance paid by employers and employees won’t be enough to secure pension costs. Some people argue that migration can solve the problem of an ageing society, but this is an overestimation. The attraction of young and skilled immigrants to a country has almost always positive impacts on the age-structure of the country. They strengthen the workforce and therefore help towards funding the retired workers. Furthermore, they heighten the fertility rate in the country they immigrate. Unfortunately, migration alone cannot erase the looming danger of an ageing population. Yet, it certainly can slow the process down (Harper). Nevertheless, specialists expect an increase of retired people over 65 years by 35% to 50% during the next 20 years. In this case, contribution rates by the working forces would have to rise significantly from its current rate of 13% to over 18% in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, there are proposals to solve this problem. If every worker had his own “pension fund” where he saves money for retirement himself, the dependence on the working youth could be reduced. The main difficulty with this method would be the current retired population that did not have the chance to save up for themselves but still need money to live (Read). Furthermore, the question remains what would happen to stay at home parents who don’t have an income because they spend their …show more content…
A great amount of people see the elderly as always dependant and in need of help. This picture does not fit into reality. There are many older people that are still fully fit and active. They are still capable of taking care of themselves and even others. There is a lot of unused potential in retired people, especially in the area of volunteering. Lord Bichard, chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, said: “If we had more ‘younger older people’ involved in visiting [in residential homes] as volunteers we would have fewer problems.” To achieve this, we need to change our mentality and our behaviour towards older people (Murray). Volunteering is not the only option. The government of the United Kingdom plans an increase to the pensioners’ age. By October 2020 the pensioner age will be 66 years for both genders and between 2026 and 2028 it will be raised to 67 years (Age UK). Being part of the work force for a longer time means more contribution to the funding of retired workers, as discussed before, but also more time to save money for later. It seems only fair to raise the pensioners age when humans are expected to live longer and healthier
Rothkopt. “A Proposal to Draft America’s Elderly”. The Bedford Guide for College Writers. 10th ed. Ed. X.J. Kennedy. Dorothy M. Kennedy, Marcia F. Muth. New York: 23 August 2012. 53-57. Print
An aging population is indeed a problem for the society and will possibly cause many social and economic difficulties in the future. According to David Foot (2003), professor of Economics at University of Toronto, an effective birth rate of 2.2% against current 1.75% will be necessary to replace the current work force in the near future and the government’s policy of bringing in more immigrants will eventually fail (Foot, 2003, 2). However some people predict that the increased size of an aging population will drive growth in the home, health care, and many other industries resulting in job creation and economic growth (Marketwire, 2013, 1). Majority of the people are of the opinion that the issue will be mainly in the health care and economic activity. As humans age, they start to develop health problems, leading to more visits to a medical clinic putting extra burden on health care system.
The thought of aging is not void of hesitance given it produces questions deprived of answers in the absence of a crystal ball. Subsequently, aging parallels the unknown; thus, faced with uncertainty adopting a positive perspective remains elusive. Although, it’s preferred to view aging optimistically one cannot escape its negative connotations. Will I be an active agent or isolated burden remains a noteworthy unknown that enervates my optimism. Another consideration leading to my vacillating view on aging is, not knowing to what degree personal competencies and capacities will carry forward, thereby affording autonomy in the elder years. However, as research suggest, the aging process transforms healthy adults into frail ones; thus, dashing one’s hope that such traits will endure (Friis, 2010). Incidentally, at age 48, these lingering questions will soon be answered. In the interim, there is an inherent responsibility to prepare physically, psychologically, and financially for entry into the aging population. Ideally, the goal is to
There are profound effects of ageism that can be harmful to a patient’s overall health. Ageism can cause physicians to consistently treat older patients unequally compared to younger adults. Unequal treatment can be divided into the under-treatment of symptoms and the over-treatment of symptoms. The imbalance in how a physician would treat a geriatric patient is ageist because the older adult is not getting fair treatment in every case. Under-treatment and over-treatment are different; however, they are both equally as harmful to a patients health.
Ageing is a natural process, which presents a unique challenge for all sections of the society. With gradual improvement in health-care delivery services, people in the UK are living longer, but not necessarily healthier lives. As a result, the number of people who require care in their old age is increasing dramatically. There are currently three million people over 80, and this number is expected to almost double by 2030. There are also an increasing number of elderly people living on their own, increasing the demand for specific elderly care.
Due to Queenie’s ulcers in both her legs, she has been finding it exceptionally hard to get around. She is a woman, who has lived most of her life alone after her husband’s death, and has always been independent. Ageing is a natural process that starts as soon as a child is born and ends when a person dies. In fact, it is a major problem in the United Kingdom. The population of people over the age of 60 in the United Kingdom were more than under 16 in 2001. As the population of the elderly is growing, it introduces more challenges that the general public has to adapt to in the future.
D2 Evaluate the influence of two major theories of ageing on Health and Social Care provision.
The term “ageism” is not easily understood by most of the population because of its acceptance as normal behavior due to the ingrained attitudes that most people develop in their youth, but health care workers must fully embrace the term within their profession in order to avoid becoming a contributor to the historical prevalence of prejudices and discrimination. The term ageism is defined by Klein and Liu (2010) as “the discrimination of individuals based solely on age” (p. 334). “Ageism is a social construct that is internalized in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals” (Klein & Liu, 2010, p. 334). Robert Butler, a well-known gerontologist, coined the term “ageism” citing that the discrimination and prejudice associated with this term is often based on the lack of a person’s experience with older people (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). Ferrini and Ferrini (2013) refer to the strong influence that cultural beliefs and attitudes as well as a person’s current age influence the perception of aging (p. 6). Everywhere within society there are influences that encourage ageist attitudes such as media conveyances through movies, books, television, greeting cards, magazines and the Internet (Ferrini and Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). These negative connotations related to growing older begin to influence all people at a very young age and therefore impact their attitudes as they make career decisions. This has directly impacted the number of health care providers who specialize in geriatrics as well as the attitudes of those who do provide services for older adults. These false perceptions and negative attitudes are currently impacting the q...
Attitudes are the foundation of quality of care for older adults. Among health care professionals, discrimination and stereotypical behaviors are very prevalent, even though more often than not these individuals do not realize their actions are ageist. “Ageism hinders people from seeing the potential of aging, anticipation their own aging, and being responsive to the needs of older people” (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). Attitudes are directly correlated with how individuals age and whether individuals stay health and live longer (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). The care that older adults receive from healthcare professionals is directly influenced by that provider’s attitude about growing older. All too often, health care providers rely on a patient’s chronological age rather than their functional age when determining their needs and what interventions are prescribed. Another issue lies in providers viewing the complaints of older patients as a part of “normal aging”, therefore potentially missing life-threatening problems that may have been easily resolved. “Age is only appropriate in health treatment as a secondary factor in making medical decisions, and it should not be used as a stand-alone factor” (Nolan, 2011, p. 334).
Prominent musician, Celine Dion, once said, “There’s no such thing is aging, but maturing and knowledge. It’s beautiful, I call that beauty.” To many, growing old is just a natural, beautiful part of life. It is inevitable. It is inescapable. The functionalist perspective of sociology states that the elderly perform a function in order to keep society running with ease. Functionalists focus on the disengagement theory and how people tend to disengage from society as they approach death. Symbolic interactionists focus on how environmental factors and relationships with others affect the aging experience, focusing on the activity theory and the continuity theory (Carl, 2011, p. 220). Conflict theorists focus on the discrepancies that arise between different age groups. They also focus on the economical side of aging and the issues that may arise due to an active elderly population (Carl, 2011, p. 221).
The elderly in America are thought of to be part of the population that have already lived their lives and are waiting to pass away. They are the last priority in society because they are the past and the country is focused on the future. What America tends to forget is that the elderly were once in time able to work for a living, and able to contribute their assets to add to what the country is today. As people age they are eventually not able to work and will have to retire. After the retirements, although they may receive government assistance, they still have to maintain homes and things to keep their lifestyle going for the rest of their years. Some elderly are paying a great amount of money to live in regular homes. Other seniors are
What do you really know about the lifestyles of aging population? What do you know about aging and its effects? There are more myths about older people than they are of any other stage of people’s lives. Aging in America is a success story for public health policies and socioeconomic development, and as a society it forces us to maximize the health and functional capacity of the ageing American. A portion of Americans 65 years and over will make 13 percent of the U.S. population and is expected to rise in fewer than 25 years, which will increase, to 20 percent by the year 2050. A number of ageing Americans are living longer and staying increasingly active and for older adult’s good health ensures independence. With millions of Americans aging they struggle daily with health challenges, physical changes, psychological problems which all can impact their quality of life.
An important step to decrease an ageist attitude is to take a step back and recognize biases and preconceived ideas that one has about older adults (DeBrew, 2015). Recognizing biases in combination with furthering one’s education about the effects of aging and the specific needs of older adults will help increase compassionate care. To allow for effective interventions it is important that the nurse understand that illness and infection manifest differently in older adults than they do in the younger population (DeBrew, 2015). In addition, through ethnographic study it was found that when nurses spend time doing activities with older adults it helps strengthen relationships and sense of community between care providers and elderly patients (DeBrew, 2015). According to the article, “occupational therapists who worked with older adults felt ‘stigmatized’ by their peers because their work was viewed as less challenging and requiring less skill and intellect than caring for other populations” (DeBrew, 2015). To promote compassionate patient care it is important that nurses and other professionals get support from their peers to confirm that their work is not insignificant and looked down upon. Finally, include the older adult while creating the plan of care to show them that they are a valued part of their healthcare
Aged care is becoming such a huge part of our health system and society in general. It is so important that we come to an understanding on not only how it affects the community and society that we live in but the requirements that need to be met in order to care for older adults. Throughout this paper, we will discuss active ageing and the cultural, physical, economic and social well-being of older adults, as well as the affect that community as on the older population and visa-vasa. Accompanying this essay is a flyer that well be used to define active ageing, why it is important to individuals and the community. It is important to understand what active ageing is and that health is measured by more than just physical
Some people belief that when they are old, their cognition will decrease, especially in decision-making and learning new things. On the contrary, older people have a wise brain and perfect skill because different skill of Cognition which is the process of knowing and understanding (longman dictionary) will peak at different time, some is soon while some take a longer time. Besides as people are ageing they have more experience as well as more knowledge to increase their ability to learn, that why we have a sayings like” the older, the wiser”. Furthermore, our brain is working as the same as our skin or body if only they take care of their brain in the right way they can keep their brains sharp for a certain extra time.On the other hand, people