Essay on Health and Social Needs of Older People

Published: 2021-06-29
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Wesleyan University
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Critical thinking
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It is true that the rates of admission and utilization of hospital beds by older CALD people in their last year of life have been higher because they experience worse health than the general population. This is mainly due to their relocation since for them to adapt to the socio-cultural environment, their health will be debilitated. The CALD people are also vulnerable to social isolation which in turn leads to neglect of their own health and well-being therefore, most of them will be admitted to hospital.

Adverse life events such as widowhood, serious illness, and the onset of disability or dementia have heightened the need for ethno-specific support. Adverse life events could lead to circumstances such as mental impairment, language regression, and profound disability. Most of the CALD people are old refugees who have higher risks of poor physical and psychological health because of past traumatic experiences of violence and torture (Atwell et al., 2007). This makes them have additional care as compared to other older people in the community.

Policies and programs from the current government of Australia seek to enhance access to aged care services for CALD seniors (Rao et al., 2006). The government has in the last 10 years improved access to aged care services by people coming from CALD backgrounds. These government strategies clearly show that the CALD people will in comparison with the general population have more accessibility to care services also available in hospitals. People from CALD backgrounds furthermore use permanent residential care at lower rates than people from other origins.

The CALD people have been targeted for aged care services and that their individual needs are identified and addressed. This has for sure increased their number of admissions to hospital beds in their last years of life (Chad et al., 2003).

Exercise 3.1

When formal services are offered, informal carers don't withdraw their help. Scandinavian research has shown that people who need help use both formal and informal sources to maintain control of their situation and decline the feelings of dependency. Formal and informal care systems can work together in that, informal carers do complementary routines while formal services are provided. This would significantly cover the needs of the person (Deimling, 1989).

The health status of someone is what determines the quality of life and not whether the source of aid is formal or informal. A different study showed that the old adapt to what is available to them. Small amounts of community services such as car trips, isolation tend to frail old people. Whenever they preferred their loved ones to help them with informal support, they did but they would otherwise prefer formal support whenever it was available (Duner, 2007). This preference of formal support if it were available depicts how informal and formal care systems would crash.

Formal support on informal care has different outcomes as shown by many studies. The consequences that arise from receiving formal assistance on informal care can be psychological and social. The issues include depression, anxiety, client satisfaction, and carer burden. The general picture here is that positive changes can be achieved from community care whenever the use of these services is regular and long-lived. Studies have also shown that customers feel relieved when provided with some support. Formal sources or community services have been found to improve the quality of lives of individuals and those who receive services from formal sources have been found to be very satisfied with them.

References

Atwell, R., Correa-Velez, I., & Gifford, S. (2007). Aging out of place: Health and well-being needs and access to home and aged care services for recently arrived older refugees in Melbourne, Australia. International Journal of Migration, Health, and Social Care, 3(1), 414.

Chan, D. K. Y., Ong, B., Zhang, K., Li, R., Liu, J. G., Iedema, R., et al. (2003). Hospitalization, care plans, and not for resuscitation orders in older people in the last year of life. Age and Ageing, 32, 445449

Chappell, N. L., & Parmenter, G. (2005). The challenge of caregiving. In V. Minichiello & I. Coulson (Eds.), Contemporary issues in gerontology: Promoting positive aging. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Deimling, G. T., Bass, D. M., Townsend, A. L., & Noelker, L. S. (1989). Care-related stress: A comparison of spouse and adult-child caregivers in shared and separate households. Journal of Aging and Health, 1(1), 6782.

Duner, A., & Nordstrum, M. (2007). The roles and functions of the informal support networks of older people who receive formal support: A Swedish qualitative study. Ageing & Society, 27, 6785

Rao, D. V., Warburton, J., & Bartlett, H. (2006). Health and social needs of older Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds: Issues and implications. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 25(4), 174175.

 

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