Use the case scenario from your Project Presentation to:
Discuss the manner in which social determinants of health and ageing may impact on the current situation.
Provide a critical analysis of three relevant policies on ageing ensuring that you include the overarching frameworks of Person Centred Care and Active Ageing.
In the recent era, demand for aged care has increased exponentially as a result of a population of aging in Australia. In Australia, aged population over 85 years has increased to 40000 and it will be 1.8 million in 2051 (Theou et al., 2016). Underlying these trends are changes in life expectancy at retirement age of 65. In 2017, more than half of older people were aged to 65 to 74 years and one-third of them were 75 to 84 years ( 30 % approximately) and only 13 % of them were aged 85 years (Kendig et al. 2017). Therefore, the aged care facilities are crucial for reducing the morbidity and mortality rate of Australia. According to Arabiat et al. (2018), it was observed that the importance of long term aged care for the older population has become increasingly important due to the prevalence of a disease such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes obesity, mobility issues, and psychological disorders. The diversity of these diseases not only affected the health of the aged population but also increased health care expenditure exponentially (Scott et al., 2015). Therefore specific policies and practice framework need to analyse in order to manage and prevent these chronic diseases. According to Lucas et al. (2018), national legal and policy frameworks were relevant to the aging population in order to provide them comprehensive long term care. The case study represents the different perspective of aging involving a 68 years old Barbara, her parents who are 93 and 91 respectively and her friend Jim. This paper will illustrate social determinates of health that impacted the aged population of Australia in the context of Barbara, demonstration of national legal and policy frameworks for the disease and policies for prevention of management in the chronic disease. Social Determinants Of Health And Aging In Australia Essay Paper
As observed in this cases study, Barbara martini is a 68 years old woman who is a working woman and never got married on children. In the case study, different perspective were shown with respect to their aging process,
As discussed by Atkins and Tonts (2016), the social determents of the health care economic and social conditions which influence individuals and groups differ in the health status. World Health Organization suggested that these factors are health-promoting factors found as an integral part of individuals which enhances the risk of developing chronic disease or vulnerability to injury. These social determinants are often shaped by public policies and therefore proper policies are required to reduce the global burden of disease. According to Hillman et al. (2018), the social determents of health are stress, early life experience, social exclusion, work environment, unemployment, social support, addiction, accommodations, food habits, and transportation. The social determinists interfere with the quality of the life, functionality of the older pollution.
A study by Hoff and Park (2016), suggested that the current inadequate housing impacted the functionality of the older population. A majority of the people want to age in a place; the house should have age-friendly elements, zero-step entrance, and single floor living with wide halls, wheelchairs. Puts et al. (2017), suggested that only 3.5% of the house offers these three elements to the individuals, therefore, the majority of elderly individuals are suffering from the mobility issue, hip fractions, and sudden fall. In the case study, Barbara’s parents are living independently in town but due to frail health. Therefore, living away from Barbara affected their aging process.
A steady income and associated economic status support welling of the individuals as the study suggested that majority of the older people are above 65 years and due to their retirement, they have lower economic status and for few individuals, family lives away from them as observed in this case. Another study by Harling et al (2019), a considerate number of individuals are suffering from depression and social isolation due to employment. Barbara was a working lady who finds business as a way of satisfaction through income. On the other hand, parents of Barbara, as well as her close friend Jim, were unemployed and therefore, it impacted their life.
The state of the dependency affected the majority of the individuals. It was observed from the accumulated evidence that the significant number of older people are suffering from depression and other health issues because of dependency on self-care and lack of belongingness. They have to depend on other family members as observed in cases of parents of Barbara. Barbara parents demand more time from Barbara due to a health condition which Barbara failed to offer which further may result in social isolation (Hoff & Park, 2016).
Due to mobility issues and week health, the walking and travelling by transport affect the wellbeing of the older population. Aging is a painful process which affected the human anatomy and therefore transportation to access health care and other service required the assistance of others as observed in this case.
Most of the people are bound to experience aging and the age-related deterioration is affecting and growing number of people. Although the process is unavoidable, different people experienced it in a different way. Accumulate evidence showed different theories that are useful in evaluating the effect of the aging on the attitude and values (Rosset, 2017). Disengagement theory suggested that everybody expected to die one day and as older individuals experience meant and physical declines, they tend to withdraw themselves from the social effect (Reed, 2017). Moreover, the theory suggested that social withdrawal is gender-based that means it is experienced differently by men and women. Men tend to focus on work and women focus on the marriage. In this context, Barbara is fit and living a satisfied life due to the role she adopted as a working lady, it shaped her attitude. The aging process can be explained by activity theory which stated that activity level, social involvement in the key to happiness. The more active an elder person more happy he or she will be. In this context, due to social involvement and interactions, it shaped her attitude towards life (Maatouk et al., 2016). On the other hand, due to lack of activity and social involvement, her parents have different the attitude towards life. This theory is also applicable for Jim for activity, although he had many hobbies, due to retirement and lack of activity affected his attitude towards life. The Age stratification theory and exchanged theory explained how aging shaped the values and beliefs of individuals (Deane & Fain, 2016). Age stratification theory is stratified by race and gender and it showed that age serves as the basis of social control and therefore, different age group has varying access to the social resources such as political and economic. For example, in this case of Barbara, it is inconsiderate for a woman who is fit, unmarried and involves in business. On the other hand, her parents were retired and therefore unable to access the social resources equally well. It shaped their values and attitude towards life. The exchanged theory suggested that with the age, elder people experience dependence and become less active to exchange resources as observed in this case study (Ji, Ling & McCarthy, 2015). Barbara is 65 and involved in the business and able to exchange resources. On the other hand, her parents who are 91 and 93 are not able to exchange resources and had to depend on Barbara. These theories suggested that age and genders are effective in shaping the values of the individuals that further reflects their attitude towards life.
Population aging is one of humanity’s greatest triumphs and it has also become one of the greatest challenges of in 21st century and global aging increased the economic and social demands on all of the countries. Therefore, Australian human rights commission is legislated different policies for protecting the rights of older persons in order to provide for patient-centred care and active aging (Humanrights.gov.au., 2019). These aging policies and framework help in evaluating fist is an international legal framework and under this framework, the principles of older persons are integrated and second is the domestic legal frame. These frameworks provided three relevant policies which are accurate for Barbara, her parents and her best friend.
For improving the health and nutrition wellbeing of the older people of the Australia older people, National palliative care strategy. National palliative care strategy was endorsed in 2000 by commitment of common wealth, territory and state government. According to the world health organization, in the aging process, the biological changes are observed in the body that affected the wellbeing of the individuals (Ji, Ling & McCarthy, 2015). In the current context of Barbara, although she is fit and involved in business, due to the age she may develop the different chronic diseases such as back pain, heart disease, visual impairment, obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes. Moreover, her parents demand her time which she has failed to give. Consequently, it may give rise to mental health issues such as depression because of her work pressure and unable to spend time with family. These are the physical and psychological changes that may impact Barbara’s situations (Smith & Parker, 2015). On the other hand, her parents lived away, independently and required the time from her due to physical weakness. At the older age, lack of physical activity, they may develop chronic heart disease and kidney disease, mental health issues and additionally, Alzheimer’s disease (Reinharz, 2018). The similar kind of health condition can be observed for the Jim due to lack of active life. He was living a sedentary lifestyle which may affect his physical health and mental health (Alligood, 2017). Therefore, National palliative care strategy is in practice for improving the health and nutrition for the older people. For health and nutritional improvements, National palliative care strategy allows the nurses to promote active aging and aim to provide improved services. Three components of the patient-centric care conceptual framework would be aligned with the national palliative care strategy where a first component (structure) would give formal and informal support through primary service, palliative services, and rehabilitation services to parents of Barbara to cope up with the health conditions including neurological disease. In order to promote active aging, support of nurses should be given to the family members of the Barbara and Jim who will assist them to perform daily activities, consuming healthy foods (Bauman et al., 2016). National palliative care strategy assist to provide long term care including the mental health services in order to overcome the loneliness they are experiencing because of separation which is effective for their end of life. This strategy help to identify the barriers of safe delivery of palliative care services and therefore it is effective for care process.
It is usually observed that due to the aging process, older people tend to be physically weak because of weak muscles. In this current context, Barbara’s parents were suffering from these issues due to the health frail health conditions and Jim were experiencing due to retirement. Therefore, in order to improve the housing and living conditions, the residential care is in the current practice (Alligood, 2017). Residential aged care end of life care pathway was developed by collaboration of government and non-government professionals and incorporate best clinical management, accommodation, personal care and complex services for the aged people. In the current context, single floor house near the house of Barbara with proper lighting for their survival, a ground for physical activities, and frequent access to the food and water, clothing and health care services (Humanrights.gov.au., 2019). The strength of the policy is that this pathway assist nurses to guide patient perform self-care, assist them to live life independently by engaging them in income gathering activities, spiritual activities management of dementia (König & Schilling, 2016). It will shape their attitude towards life and they will feel more empowered and able to participate in social activities.
Inadequate family and community support not only increase the burden of disease but also increase morbidity and mortality rate. According to Wlodarczyk et al. (2017), strengthening the family and community is proved to improve the wellbeing of individuals and help in getting the life. The National primary health care strategic framework is the first national statement, endorsed by stand council on health for creating robust primary health care system and strengthening family and community support. In the current context, national primary health care strategic framework provide primary health care services to the Australian community in collaboration with community, population groups and family members. The unique feature of the policy is that community-based care approach is the integrated part of the policy. Through community-based approach Barbara can engage in different social activities with her family members and Jim, establishing a therapeutic communication with them in order to release their feeling of loneliness and share her experience with them (Aird & Buys, 2015). Social Determinants Of Health And Aging In Australia Essay Paper It will strengthen the relationship between Barbara and her parents and they will feel more secure about the relationship (Smith & Parker, 2015). Additionally, other community caregivers can be recruited to give support to them through neighbour helping, peer monitoring. The community-based care approach also includes the education to the Barbara to balance her work and time with the family (Bauman et al., 2016). The education should be given to them for managing the mental health issues and how to overcome it quickly. The education should be given to Jim in order to enhance his healthy aging process through different activities such as formal work, informal work, and unpaid activities at home to enhance his health (Aird & Buys, 2015). It will reduce the feeling of unemployment and boost self-esteem and change the perspective of living a healthy life.
Conclusion:
With the rapid aging process of Australia, demand for aging care also increases exponentially. With the increasing age, different individuals are suffering from different mental health and physical health issues which reduced their life expectancy. Therefore, the aged care facilities are crucial for reducing the morbidity and mortality rate of Australia. The cases study represents different perspective of aging involving a 68 years old Barbara, her parents who are 93 and 91 respectively and her friend Jim. Different social determinants such as stress, early life experience, social exclusion, work environment, unemployment, social support, addiction, accommodations, food habits, and transportation affected their life differently. Due to physical activity and mental activity, the perspective of the life of Barbara different from her parents as well as her friend Jim. These experience shaped their values and life activity. Three policies of the national legal and practical framework can be can be implemented in the context of Barbara and her family. These policies are include improving health and national wellbeing of the older person, improving the housing and living conditions of the older people and Strengthening the Family and Community to provide support. These policies promote patient-centric care and active aging nation’s older individuals that in turn improves their quality of life.
References:
Aird, R. L., & Buys, L. (2015). Active aging: exploration into self-ratings of “being active,” out-of-home physical activity, and participation among older Australian adults living in four different settings. Journal of aging research, 2015. Retrieved from : s https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/501823
Alligood, M. R. (2017). Nursing Theorists and Their Work-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Retrieved from : https://y1c6wvdx609.storage.googleapis.com/EjObTmUQU8oguhxYKW09.pdf
Arabiat, D. H., Whitehead, L., & Al Jabery, M. (2018). The 12?year prevalence and trends of childhood disabilities in Australia: Findings from the Survey of Disability, Aging and Carers. Child: care, health and development, 44(5), 697-703. Social Determinants Of Health And Aging In Australia Essay Paper