My Interview With My Fiance 's Grandfather

The elderly population in the community has some areas that they need to overcome to be a successful learner. The limitations of the teaching and learning identified the following barriers.

The purpose of the assignment was to interview an “elder” member of society to gain valuable information and insight into an individual’s experiences and development, and how they pertain to biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development. I had the pleasure of interviewing a woman aged 68, who provided a glimpse of the wisdom she has gained over her lifetime as well as her daily interactions and age-related topics.

For the oral history project, I interviewed my grandmother. Her full name is Imelda Laborce, while she is known as “Meldy” to most family members. She was born in a small town called Calapacuan in the Zambales region of the Philippines. She was born in 1955 and is 61 years old. Like me, she was born in the Philippines but eventually moved to America sometime in her life. I believed she was a good candidate because I knew she was one of the earliest members of my family to travel to America. Hence, she must have good stories and have a rich background. I also never really knew anything about her past, so I just thought it would be interesting in general to learn about it. She currently lives in Union, New Jersey and works in a hospital as a nurse.

After spending an afternoon interviewing my elderly father-in-law, I gained insight into how he perceives the aging process and the impact on the quality of his life. First, and foremost he viewed aging in a very positive and healthy manner. He believes that a positive attitude assists in accepting physical and psychosocial changes and enjoyed the fact that he and his wife are both physically fit and cognitively alert. He felt confident that advances made in health care and the quality of their lives would continue to be empowering. He enjoys the benefits of being a senior citizen including discounted travel, free education, and other incentives marketed towards seniors. He expressed a sense of well-being with respect to the numerous

Introduction of Older Adult – This is the overall context of your interview but should not include the entire interview itself.

Despite the laws and systems in place that perpetuated racism and discrimination, he led a very successful life. He dropped out of school in 8th grade, grew up without his father and lived in poverty, but was able to have a successful career, purchase a home for his family and lead his household. In this past I had thoughts of not wanting to grow old, but after reading about late adulthood and conducting the interview with my grandfather, I realize that it is not the depressive and uneventful period I originally imagined it to be. I also realize that late adulthood is the not the ending of life, but the continuation of new experiences. My grandfather takes great pride in his life experiences and instead of focusing on shortcomings and negatives, he chooses to highlight his success and happiness. He has lived a very long and full life and his stories encompass much of the developmental information discussed in the late adulthood period. This assessment has also awakened in me, an interest in exploring geriatric social work. There is much to learn from our elders, and additional knowledge of this group will allow me to learn how to best serve and support clients in this age

After spending an afternoon interviewing my elderly father-in-law, I gained insight into how he perceives the aging process and the impact on the quality of his life. First, and foremost he viewed aging in a very positive and healthy manner. He believes that a positive attitude assists in accepting physical and psychosocial changes and enjoyed the fact that he and his wife are both physically fit and cognitively alert. He felt confident that advances made in health care and the quality of their lives would continue to be empowering. He enjoys the benefits of being a senior citizen including discounted travel, free education, and other incentives marketed towards seniors. He expressed a sense of well-being with respect to the numerous

Coming into this task, I had never put forth any interest in the aging population. I knew this group was vulnerable and in need of more advocacy to raise awareness but it was not as appealing as other populations. I did not have tremendous knowledge of what aging adults go through on a daily basis or any challenges they so often face. Therefore, when I arrived to the set location of the interview, I was a bit timid and afraid. This was my first time ever interviewing someone of this age with the intensions it was geared for. I was worried of how Denise was going to respond to my personal questions or if she even would. I was completely shocked to find that she was absolutely respectful and willing to answer anything I wanted to ask. After asking

My interviews with Jane took place in Damen Student Center on Loyola University Chicago’s Lakeshore Campus. My main goal for my learning about older adults is to overcome my fear of aging and the elderly. I have always been nervous around older people because I feel that the process of aging is scary since it is an inevitable part of life that means you are closer to the death. By talking with Jane, I hope to realize that older people are of value to society, and that they can contribute a great deal to the world at large. My three biggest challenges with this assignment are 1) worrying that I’ll offend Jane with some of my questions about aging. I know she is elderly, and she knows it too, but I still want to be sensitive about it. 2) I want to make sure I obtain as much information as possible during the interview while maintaining a sense of dignity and respect. It is sometimes difficult to find a balance between the two. 3) I also want to have the opportunity to ask as many questions as I can so that I can gather as much information as possible during our time together.

My interviews were conducted over the phone with two women whom I could not imagine my life without. The first being with my childhood best friend, now 19-years-old, whom I met at eight-years-old after I moved to Haines from Fairbanks, Alaska. We have remained best friends to this day. We had to try fairly hard to conduct a serious interview, but we were able to cover all of our ground in 10 minutes. My second interview was with my father’s ex-girlfriend, now 61-years-old, who I have the utmost appreciation for. She has only been in my life since 2014, but considering she was a large part of my 18th birthday, senior prom, and high school graduation, I could never not consider her a member of my family. She was more direct in her responses, so our interview lasted only 5 minutes.

1. Question: Share some of the background of your interviewee (or couple). What was this person’s/couple’s story?

The older adult I had the opportunity to interview was my boyfriend 's step grandmother. I met her a few years ago when we took a vacation in Florida, and thought she would be a great person to interview, because she is outgoing and has aged well. I conducted a telephone interview for this assignment, because she is currently in Florida for the remainder of the Spring season.

Gerontological social workers are experts at meeting the biopsychosocial needs of older adults (Social Work Licensure, 2011). As this type of social worker you have to help individuals with many transitional pieces in their life. It is essential that you think from multiple perspectives of how the client may feel depending upon the situation. These clients may feel they do not need assistance, therefore it is part of a social workers job to encourage and show them all the possibilities they may have for their life based on the context. The importance of human relationships is a core value in the NASW code of ethics and implies immensely to these clientele groups. The elderly are a fundamental part of the community with great insight and value

For this visit summary, I have interviewed a 90-95-year-old assisted living resident that will be re-named Joyce for the purpose of this paper. Before constructing the interview, I was very excited and anxious to meet the resident I was interviewing for the first time. Upon arrival, I was put to ease once meeting a genuine elderly woman in the lobby that was just as excited to meet me for the first time. When reflecting on the interview I am glad to have had prior knowledge on therapeutic communication of older adults. I had seemly used all of the tips that the book had highlighted. These tips include attentive listening, authentic presence, clarifying, keeping focus, and providing intervals of silence (Touhy & Jett, 2016, p. 67).

Aging, in general, refers to changes that take place in the organism throughout the life span- good, bad, and neutral (Hooyman and Kiyak, 6). Usually, someone between the age sixty-five and older is referred to as “old person.” During my orientation, pre-internship interview and internship hours I have been able to make a lot of connections between this course and my observations. I have been able to walk the facility and freely speak with some of the residents. I was able to meet the oldest resident of the facility. She was 102 years old. There are also some young residents in the facility who are in their 40’s. The age range