The aging process affects us all. Sooner or later, we will be faced with challenges unique to later life. As medical technology pushes the outer boundaries of longevity, we will be confronted with more and more issues related to aging in later life.
To prepare for this Discussion, review this week's Learning Resources.
By Day 4, post a comprehensive response to one of the following four scenarios about aging in later adulthood:
The changing face of retirement: Discuss the implications of retirement on health. Include in your response financial, physical, cognitive, and socioemotional considerations.
Advanced directives: Should health care providers be required to honor advance directives regardless of personal belief and institutional settings?
Coping with loss: Present a scenario in which you provide examples of bereavement, grief, and mourning in coping with the loss of a lifetime friend, partner, child, parent, or sibling.
End of life: Discuss where an individual needs to be developmentally in order to prepare to die in peace.
Include specific examples to help support your position. Be sure to use supporting documentation and cite your sources in correct APA format.
RESOURCES
Readings
Course Text: Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2016). Human development: A life-span view. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Chapter 15, "Social Aspects of Later Life: Psychosocial, Retirement, Relationship, and Societal Issues"Section 15.3, "I Used to Work at . . .: Living in Retirement"
Section 15.4, "Friends and Family in Late Life"Section 15.5, "Social Issues and Aging"
Chapter 16, "Dying and Bereavement"
In this final week of the course, you will be looking at the significant changes that occur toward the end-of-life. Your textbook reading will focus on the elements of aging that dominate the later years, including physical decline, societal issues, relationships, and dying.
Article: Grady, D. (2010, January 12). Facing end-of-life talks, doctors choose to wait. The New York Times. Retrieved from
This New York Times article looks at a study by researchers at Harvard that indicates it is unclear when, or even if, physicians are having end-of-life discussions with their dying patients.
Article: Keating, N. L., Landrum, M. B., Rogers, S. O., Jr., Baum, S. K., Virnig, B. A., Huskamp, H. A., & Kahn, K. L. (2010). Physician factors associated with discussions about end-of-life care. Cancer, 116(4), 998-1006. (PDF)
Cancer 116/4 by Keating, N. L., et al. Copyright 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.-Journals. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.-Journals via the Copyright Clearance Center.
This is the original research study that is referred to in the Grady New York Times article.
Websites
Aging with Dignity. (2009). Five wishes.
Five Wishes was developed by Aging with Dignity, a non-profit who's mission is to "affirm and safeguard the human dignity of individuals as they age and to promote better care for those near the end of life." The website offers information on end-of-life issues, in particular, how to develop an easy to understand living will.
Note: While it is not a required activity, it is highly recommended that you complete your own Five Wishes living will during this week.
Family Caregiver Alliance. (n.d.). End-of-life decision-making.
This website provides a tremendous overview of the end-of-life decision making process.
Optional Resources
Media
Video: Twin Cities Public Television. (Producer). (2010). Life (Part 2)
Video: Carnegie Mellon University. (Producer). (2007). Randy Pausch: Really achieving your childhood dreams.
Technology Innovations and Healthcare
To prepare for this Discussion, search the Walden Library or the Internet for a technological innovation in healthcare (ex: Blue button; telemedicine; computing; video gaming in healthcare; robotic and computer-assisted surgeries; simulation devices, etc.). This innovation should be different than the mobile device you discussed in Week 3.
By Day 4, post a summary of the innovation. Be sure to include comprehensive responses to the following:
What is the technological innovation and how is it used?
Whom will it impact?
How could it improve healthcare quality and delivery?
How might the innovation evolve in the future?
Support your explanation with weekly readings and the resource/s you found.
RESOURCES
Media
Video and Web Article: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2009, April 13). Games for health: Get well.
Readings
Topical Study Guide
Schiavo, R. (2008). Digital marketing: The rise of e-health: Current trends and topics on online health communications. Journal of Medical Marketing, 8(1), 9-18.
Whittaker, R., & Smith, M. (2008). M-health-Using mobile phones for healthy behaviour change. International Journal of Mobile Marketing, 3(2), 80-85.
World Health Organization. (2011). mHealth: New horizons for health through mobile technologies.
[PDF] Sections 1.2, section 2, and section 3.
Websites
American Telemedicine Association. (May 2006.) Telemedicine, Telehealth, and Health Information Technology.
Health Information Technology. (n.d.). About Blue Button.
Healthcare Informatics (2012, February, 28). Top Ten Tech Trends 2012: A Time of Exhilaration and Anxiety.
Healthcare IT news. (2016, January). 10 top healthcare technology advances for 2016, according to ECRI.
Retrieved from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Rural Health IT Adoption Toolbox.
Center for Connected Health Policy. (2017). What is telehealth?