Identification should include
- emotional responses (e.g., social support, lifestyles, loss of relationships, limited finances, decrease of independence, failing health, coping ability)
- social responses (e.g., retirement, failing health).
Refer to Unit VI in Nurse Aide Curriculum, Virginia Board of Nursing, Virginia Department of Health Professions, 2018.
Process/Skill Questions:
- How do the major adjustment periods of aging, such as retirement, the death of a spouse, major illness, depression, and nursing home/assisted living placement, manifest themselves?
- How can aging affect an individual’s social needs?
- What type of psychosocial problems might arise as a result of the lack of independence?
- What are some of the coping mechanisms the elderly display in dealing with psychosocial situations?
- What affect do psychosocial problems have on the health of the elderly?