Introduction
As it has been observed across every place, the population of the elderly has been increasing in the United States due to both social and health issues. As a person ages, new diseases emerge as well as the inability of one taking care of him or herself. Though some people remain healthy up to 100 years of age, due to psychological and physiological issues other people begin showing signs of frailty during the early sixties even in the absence of any serious disease.
This difference has thus caused experts in the field of gerontology fail to describe where specifically the old age begins. As a result, many have proposed the fit for elderly individuals are those people who are aged above the age of 65 years and are either living in homes or under sheltered accommodations. They are healthy and are not receiving any medical prescription as such to support their survival chances.
However, frail elderly are those individuals who are above the age of 65 years old and they are usually dependent on the help from others for their maintenance either at homes or at those institutions that take care of the elderly. Their mobility requires other peoples help and whereas they might not be suffering from diseases such as heart diseases, they require prescriptions for their survival (Woodhouse, Wynne, Baillie, James & Rawlings, 1988). Gerontologists however explain that frailty is not described by the age of the person rather on how healthy they are. Barclay (2008) estimate that 3% to 7% of 65- to 75-year-olds are frail as are about 20% of those older than 80 years while this proportion increases to a third of those aged above the age of 90 years
Barclay (2008) when quoting Linda Fried indicates that
Frailty is a stage of age-related physiologic vulnerability, resulting from impaired homeostatic reserve and a reduced capacity of the organism to withstand stress. It is also characterized as a syndrome that involves a progressive physiologic decline of multiple body systems. Before the age of 75, individuals have efficient reserves to tolerate stressors or to maintain homeostasis. After the age of 75, individuals need compensation around diminishing reserves to preserve function and well being (par 4).
Sociological Issues Faced by the Frail
The sociological issues that the frail elderly faces are many and they include stress and depression fear of death and even change of behavior and personality disorders. It is important to note that any loss is painful: with old age and health problems that come along, the loss of mobility, strength, career and death of someone you love. Whereas grieving over such losses is usually normal, when an individual loses hope and all the joy that makes up life, it changes from normal and translates into stress and depression.
The feeling of isolation and loneliness has been attributed to be a leading cause of stress and depression among the elderly left behind at homes or under the care in the institutions with most of the them either alone at homes or institutions that take care of them, the decreased mobility that comes along and lost privileges, many feel like they have been abandoned or even over relying on others and thus many tend to keep things to themselves leading to sufferings of stress and depression. Other factors that may lead to the increased stress and depression are the health problems, medication, and loss of their beloved ones (Horn& Schaffner, 2003).
The other sociological issue that faces the frail elderly is fear of death. Anxiety and the fear of death is another social problem that faces most of the frail elderly in the society. When death is no longer a distant prospect, many frail elders fear with most of them becoming restless, sweating rapidly and even the blood pressure increases due to the tension. These problems lead to a disturbed relationship between the elderly and those who take care of him or her since when most of them begins behaving in unfriendly manner, the caregiver might become reluctant on offering any help. To contain this problem, the anxiety and fear among the elderly can be reduced by reassuring and using relaxation and comforting techniques (Mackenzie, 2011).
Statistics and Background Data to Document the Issues
Vardigan (2009) indicates that according to a study conducted by National Institute of Mental Health survey it is estimated that
7 depressed in their lifetimes. Another study conducted by the Epidemiologic Catchments Area (ECA), indicates that symptoms of stress and depression were observed in 15% of the elderly above the age of 65% of Americans at the age of 50 or above are currently depressed while 15 % have been (National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement, 1991).
As people get older, the chances of stress increasing also get higher and when the stress results in depression, most of these elderly people contemplate committing suicide. This is confirmed by another ECA study also which places depression among the residents over 65 to at 15%, and as a result the elderly account for 25% of suicides per year which are most likely associated with stress (Song, ND). Another study conducted by the Journal of National Cancer Institute indicates that 70% of the elderly suffering from stress and depression are likely to die within 18 months that follow compared to their peers who are not suffering (Vardigan, 2009). This shows the seriousness of stress and depression indicating that care has to be taken when dealing with the frail elderly people
Describe and Discuss the Social – Cultural Factors Contributing To the Issues
The social cultural factors associated with the high rates of stress and depression and the fear of death among the elderly are related to the people these aged people live with. With people growing older, people assume that the symptoms of stress and depression that they show are as a result of old age and not sickness. This makes most of people not concentrate on the health status of the old rather than on their psychological issues leading to increased cases of stress and depression. Sometimes if an elderly person loses his or her memory, many people tend to relate it to old age but it is important to take the elderly to hospital for checkup since they might be suffering from other diseases other than the effects of old age.
The economic factors that lead to depression are due to the fact that the frail elderly need maintenance thus there are costs which are involved. while the children of these old parents go and take employments, they leaves their parents under the care of house helps or institutions that take care of the elderly and thus these old people feel abandoned since there is no one they can relate to and this leads to their feeling that they were abandoned to die at those places not bearing in mind that their children are simply away looking for their upkeep charges.
Identify and Discuss What You Feel Are the Two Most Significant Challenges to Solving the Two Issues
When the behaviors and personality characteristics are lost, the frail elderly portray strange characters such as unfriendliness towards those who are near to them. This works as a hindrance in containing depression since it becomes very hard to communicate with them as they cannot share their problems with anyone and this can cause the problem to persist even to dangerous levels.
Another challenge towards solving the problems associated with the frail elderly is the costs required in order to access the services of a qualified physician. With standards of living rising, many people tend to give minimum care to the elderly as they cannot afford and this does not help at all. As noted by Mackenzie (2011) above.
Propose a Statistical Research Project
I would propose for a statistical research project covering the causes and the solutions of stress and depression among the frail elderly
Plan of the Research Study
I would conduct the research in the city of New York where we would visit the institutions that take care of the elderly as well as homes currently being occupied by the frail elderly. The sample of our study would be of around 500 people from the institutions since it would be easy to interact with them in the different institutions existing within the state of New York. To collect data from the caregivers of the frail elderly staying at homes, a sample of 200 would be enough due to the distance from one home to the other. Random sampling would be conducted in case of an institution while purposive sampling would be conducted for the frail elderly staying at home.
We would then investigate what the common symptoms the frail elderly show when suffering from stress and depression, are they similar or do they vary according to the individual and how the caretakers involved manage these cases and what they would recommend in order to reduce these instances. This would be important as it would give us a closer view of what the elderly as well as their caretakers undergo and how we can rectify the situation to create a comfortable surrounding of our elderly. The data would then be collected in a questionnaire and be analyzed through a likert scale before it is fed to SPSS package for a regression analysis on how factors such as age and loneliness can lead to stress and depression.
After analyzing the data and ensuring there was no bias we would provide the results to Department of Health and Human Services, institutions that take care of the elderly as well as to the families housing the frail elderly to read and understand on the possible causes of stress, signs and how such stresses can be contained before leading to depression which can lead to loss of life.
Reference List
Barclay, L. (2008). Frailty in Elderly Can Be Proactively Managed: An Expert Interview With Renee Roberts, MSN, RN, NP-C. Web.
Horn, C.E., & Schaffner, H.A. Eds. (2003). Work In America: An Encyclopedia Of History, Policy, And Society. ABC-CLIO Publishers.
Mackenzie, M.A (2011). Preparatory Grief in Frail Elderly Individuals. Web.
Melinda, S. (2010). Depression in Older Adults and the Elderly: Recognizing the Signs and Getting Help. Web.
National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement: (1991). Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression in Late Life. Web.
Song, G. (Not Dated). Major Depression in the Geriatric Population: A Case Study. Web.
Vardigan, B. (2009). Health after 60: Seniors and Depression. Web.
Woodhouse, K.W., Wynne, H., Baillie, S., James, O.F.W, & Rawlings, M.D. (1988). Who are the frail elderly? Quarterly journal of medicine, New Series 68, No. 255, pp. 505-506.