Social Life Interview

Joan is a first grade teacher who has been teaching for thirty-one years. After conducting my interview with Joan the main takeaway I acquired was that for her integrating and teaching social studies content and skills in the elementary school classroom was extremely important since she feels in the school she works for it in not highly important and integrated until grade three.

I believe many factors throughout a person’s life contributes to them aging better than others, but I also believe that life limitations can also get in the way of someone being engaged in the social system. Old age may contribute to disengaging in certain activities, but not all, and my idea is that their should be as many resoureces as possible to keep those “disengaged” individuals as active as they could possibly be. My fieldwork at Longview, and my internship here at CMC has shown me many activities to get older adults involved with other people and staying active. Whether it be through volunteering in the community, participating in the poetry sessions held at the local nursing home, or finding a part-time job to stay social; these are all great ways in staying involved and engaged with society, and in your local

The elderly population consists of 43 million Americans and will continue to grow with specialized experiences and needs, indicating this demographic requires public health awareness. (Ortman, Velkoff, Hogan 2014). Social isolation is one of the most prevalent health problems for the older adults, often overlooked, but important due to its detrimental impact on a patient’s physical and mental health. Social isolation is described as “ a state in which the individual lacks a sense of belonging socially, lacks engagement with others, has a minimal number of social contacts and they are deficient in fulfilling and quality relationships” (Nicholson Jr., 2009, p.1346). Evidence has shown that social isolation increases risk for morality (Perissinotto, Cenzer, Covinsky, 2012 p.1078-83), increases risk for re-hospitalization (Nicholson, 2012 p. 137-152), increases cardiovascular disease in women (Thurston, Kubzansky, 2009 p.836-42), a decline in cognitive function (Shankar, Hamer, Mcmunn, Steptoe, 2013 p.161-70) and

As mentioned, a good social network appears to help people sustain their health. Being socially involved often gives people pleasure. The ability to participate in classes or community groups can give your senior a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and pride. They may learn a new skill or coping mechanism. They might get to do something they enjoy doing in the company of other

The ability to support the older people keep up social ties with the use of technical devices such as telephone is vital, and there is indication that older people may benefit from the use of internet as a befriending opportunity (Skingley, 2013). According to Age UK (2009), there is no evidence to effectiveness of services aimed at reducing loneliness and social isolation among older people, but concludes that there is a need to focus on befriending services for older people, in particular the effectiveness of such services in terms of their impact on older people’s quality of life and their overall preventive value.

It is very important to have a positive social network that is also very supportive. Generally, the two main motives for social interaction are for information seeking and emotion regulation. Someone who does not hold all of his or her emotions in and can talk to someone is bound to be psychologically healthier than someone who does not have that opportunity. It is easy for older people to feel lonely when they are losing their friends, spouses, and family member to old age. Someone with more social interactions with others can also be physically healthier. Whether it is because they have someone there to help him or her complete tasks that they struggle to do or the fact that they can get out of the house and interact with others. The textbook states, “Decreases in negative affect and increases in positive affect and emotional control indicate that the emotional lives of older adults are more pleasant and manageable relative to their younger counterparts.”

By responding to the issues of loneliness and social isolation, it is possible that the quality of life for older people could be improved thereby increasing the level of independence towards expensive services (Ollonqvist et al 2008). Evidently it is estimated of those aged 65 and over between 5 and 6% of individuals expressed feelings of loneliness and 12% feel isolated. Having said that, these numbers are likely to increase due to demographic developments including family dispersal and the ageing in population as Greaves and Farbus (2006) discussed in their study. In addition reiterating acute loneliness and social isolation could have an impact on an individual’s quality of life more so creating detrimental health effects.

First, let discuss the activity theory of aging. The activity theory, also known as the “rocking chair”, can be best described as successful aging occurring due to older adults staying active and maintain social interactions. This theory suggests that the quality of like during aging is significantly enhanced when older adults remain socially active. An example of this would be an older person/couple joining a social group, such as an “Elk’s club”. Because they have joined the club to remain social, they have also enhanced their quality of life. This theory perfectly explains the correlation between happy aging and social activity.

Since the older adult’s age group is getting older, they as individuals are getting closer to the possible health decline and death that typically occurs in the aging process. The chances of their loved ones, companions, friends and even their support system in its entirety, could vanish before they even get to that point in life of the life cycle is greatly increased. Social support is linked to an effect on the emotional and cognitive impact on loneliness (Newall, Chipperfeild, & Bailis, 2013). Loneliness is depicted as a “source of distress, suffering, and impaired quality of life” (Perissinotto, Genzer, & Covinsky, 2012, p.1078). Loneliness can be obviously acquired in the death of a loved one. The loss of someone in their support system can impact the individual 's psychosocial health since it impacts their social support system as well as their mindset. This is due to the fact that everyone needs some sort of human interaction and when you do not receive enough of it over a period of time it has negative impacts (Coyle& Dugan, 2012, p.1347). Loneliness is more subjective and social isolation objective because social isolation

I interviewed my partner to find out a few things about him. His name is omar and we will be mentioning a few things from his background information. We will also mention his most memorable incidents or accidents so to say. Third, we will talk about his personality and what his interests are. Also, last but not least, we are going to mention a few of his goals to get know him a little better. Omar has a simple background, he has had some interesting incidents, he also has some nice interest, and has a clear mindset for what he wants in his future.

Elaborating on these categories the author has mentioned about befriending, and social group schemes and how they provide companionship to the elderlies helping in improving their health and well-being while reducing loneliness in their lives. The author mentions that “Such regular one-to-one contact is particularly welcomed by people who are frail and housebound”. We concur that elderlies require physical presence and hence, our group focuses

Today, people are living longer and with more comorbidities. With the advancement in health care more elderly are living independently. Bowling & Gabriel research (as cited in Cattan, Kime & Bagnall, 2011) has shown that there is a strong and positive association between quality of life and social participation (p. 198). One’s ability to interact with the world allows you to feel like you are apart of the world, but when you lose that connection with the world you no longer feel apart of the world. Feeling like you are no longer apart of the world leads to social isolation, loneliness, depression, low self-esteem and low self-efficacy (Cattan et al., 2011).

As we age, there are many positive events that happen in our lives. We get to witness the marriage of our children, the birth of our grandchildren or great-grandchildren, and – hopefully – enjoy the fruits of our labor during retirement. There are some negative parts to aging as well. Friends and family pass on or move away, the excitement of the workforce is replaced with endless numbers of unscheduled days, and even your closest allies, such as a spouse, may move on in divorce or death. The result of these changes, despite the many positives, is loneliness.

Every day I went to school and surrounded myself with friends who had similar interests. However, interacting with the elderly showed me that I can reach out, with a caring heart, to any person and relate to them in some way. I found, despite the age difference, the elderly are still similar to me; their opinions and

In keeping with the above-mentioned factors, one particular participant surrounded by a very limited network size, also lacking informal care being provided by close family members, was finding informal assistance by nonkin caregivers, his friends. The nature of assistance provided to him was primarily focused on assistance with his medication and its provision, transport and company to hospital appointments, praying together, while ADL’s tasks and personal care were performed by the older person himself. These types of support, as shown in this study, substantiate a couple of previous studies by Bamford, Philipson, Wenger (as cited in Nocon and Pearson, 2000), who found that friends play a pivotal role as a helping resort to many older persons with dissipated family or with no immediate relatives at all, especially in providing support and companionship. Furthermore, friendship is seen as an essential part of a person’s sense of wellbeing in old age, helping in maintaining morale and self-identity also as a fount of psycho-social support.