My father died of colon cancer in 2016 two months after being diagnosed with colon cancer. He lived in Puerto Rico where the health care is horrible. In fact, he never visited the hospital for his condition. My father was 60 years of age succumbed to cancer without being attended by any doctor. According to the biopsychosocial model, the health and wellness of an individual is as a result of biological, sociocultural and psychological factors. George L. Engel discovered the model based on system perspective. This model ignores the principles of biomedical model referring it as a dogma. As such, this paper will examine the situation of my father that led to his death using the biopsychosocial model.
Biopsychosocial model is a complex philosophical approach to clinical care and guide. It examines how a disease is affected by multiple factors from societal to molecular. The principles of this model explain how the patient’s subjective experiences are important to show diagnose, outcomes and humane care. Therefore, the biopsychosocial model can explain the sudden death of my father after being infected with colon cancer. Studies show that psychosocial factors are responsible for many chronic conditions including cancer (Wades & Halligan, 2017) . The social, behavioral ad psychological factor affects an individual’s’ pathological process resulting in the development of conditions. Chronic conditions such as colon cancer is affected by aspects of social environment, which can result in early death. According to the model, the biological influences on a disease include nutrition, physical trauma, and infections among others. In this case study, these factors might have affected the patient leading to his death. Physiological factors looks at the psychological explanations such as emotional turmoil to worsen the colon cancer. The social factors are stressful events the 60 years ageing man went through when dealing with his condition.
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Biological Influence
Colon cancer is a serious health condition to deal with, especially for an elderly man of 60 years old. Being an elderly adult, the body is more vulnerable to diseases compared to young adults. As such, the state of my father’s capability to fight colon cancer is risky. The fact that he did not contact the doctor it makes even the condition worse. The genetics of the body makes it difficult for the patient to live long with the condition. Everyone has a unique genetic configuration, which through life is influenced by the environment. The longer individuals live, their genetic configurations become more singular hence vulnerable to chronic conditions ( Wade & Halligan, 2017) . Notably, the immune system becomes a weaker to handle the cancerous cells. With advanced age, vital body organs are affected making it difficult to counter diseases. As a result, the situation would have overwhelmed my father to an extent he was not able to live any more.
Studies show that elderly patients tend to lack food appetite compared to the young adults (Jacobson, 2018) . For them, even when sick, food becomes a luxury, which is dangerous for cancer patients. My father’s lack of appetite contributed greatly to his demise, especially how faster cancer drains the body. Moreover, infections among the elderly patients is common. Such infections are responsible for the diminishing physiologic functions of a person and even compromise body defense mechanism. For a person who is 60 years of age suffering from colon cancer, having other infections is dangerous. The infecting pathogens on his body with his condition would have been too much to handle. This shows my father’s demise was a result of other vulnerabilities that comes with the elderly.
Psychosocial Influences
The psychological factors are the psychological factors that likely contributed to my father’s demise. Some of the factors that may have affected the patient is lack of self-control and negative thinking. The fact that my father never consulted a doctor for his condition is a clear indication of lack of self-control abilities. Such problems have become common among the elderly. Not going to hospital questions my father’s self-management abilities. For a person diagnosed with cancer, going to a hospital should be the first priority. Due to declining cognitive functions with age, the decision making abilities of my father was affected greatly. He lacks the control due to the advanced age. In case he had visited a doctor, my father would have even lived longer. With proper medication, it would help get rid of the cancerous drugs that led to his demise.
Another issue is discomfort among the elderly to visit a hospital. Individuals of that age are not comfortable enough to get out of their houses to the hospital (Allen & Carpenter, 2018) . In fact, most of them usually have conditions that cone with age making it difficult to step out to meet doctors. Notably, the elderly are difficult to develop trust with a one-time doctor. Their trust usually comes when they deal with one doctor for a long time. In such a case, it would have been easy for my father to visit the hospital. My father probably had negative thinking towards his condition, which gave him no reason to see a doctor. The elderly have poor cognitive and social functions hence a negative frame of mind. It deprives them of confidence and motivation towards their state of illness. Accordingly, the same would have been the situation of my father. He lacked the will to check in the hospital that would likely save his life. This shows that psychological factors have a major influence on the patient’s recovery on a patient.
Social Influences
The social factors that would lead to demise of my father is socioeconomic status and culture. Puerto Rico is a country that lacks a well-established healthcare infrastructure to handle complex conditions such as colon cancer. Even though my father never made an effort to visit a hospital, the current state of healthcare is not impressive. The best solution would have been for him to visit the best hospital in any developed country. For instance, if he had enough resources, my father would have opted to for the US. This would have provided an opportunity for the best healthcare. The socioeconomic status is a major contributor for the demise of my father. In any case he was financially well off, my father would have a doctor and other caregivers at home taking care of his health. As a result, he probably would have lived longer. No doubt, socioeconomic has affected the health of persons, especially in developing countries (Jacobson, 2018) . The inability to afford a caregiver is a major problem for the elder. In fact, many are succumbing to chronic diseases because they lack the financial muscle to have the best medical team.
Also, the aspect of culture is a major contributing factor for a health of an individuals. In some cultures, people do not believe in going to hospitals. Moreover, other have a certain attitudes towards some conditions such as colon cancer. Thus, Puerto Rico might be having some cultural factors that restricted my father from going to hospital. These cultural aspects have been a hindrance for persons to receive comprehensive care in hospitals. In fact, other view cancer as a curse that should not be treated in hospitals. For my father fast demise, the social factors in the Puerto Rico’s context might have contributed greatly.
Factors that would have improved his health
No doubt, my father still had a chance of getting well and continue living a normal life. As much as it can be stressful, a cancer patient can have an opportunity to receive the best of care. The first step was getting my father a qualified medical team that would provide the best clinical care. This includes going through chemotherapy, which is necessary for cancer patients. Such sessions are important because they have a chance of killing the cancerous cells. Secondly, I would have advised my father to join a support group that would give him the confidence and energy to seek medical attention. At his age, without such motivation, it becomes a problem to visit the clinic. Even though people underrate the impact of these support groups, they have a positive contribution to sick individuals. Thirdly, at the age of 60, a cancer patient lacks the energy to perform some of the house activities for themselves. As such, having a helper at home would play a huge role for my father. Other than proving company, it would have helped in reminding him to take medications. These guidelines would have played an important role in increasing the lifespan of my father.
Culture and Health Problems
Studies show that culture has a huge impact on the health of an individual (Wades & Halligan, 2017) . The first aspect is the perspective on medication and going to hospitals. Some cultures around the world do not believe in modern medication. As such, they would not allow one of their own to visit a hospital once they are sick. Secondly, some cultures have a problem with treatment plans used. For instance, there are customs that do not believe in blood transfusion. They would rather lose their loved one instead of allowing blood transfusion. The same applies in diet when sick; different cultures take different foods. When in hospital, they may turn down some of the meals recommended by the doctor because it goes against their culture. Thirdly, the perspective on death differ across different religion globally. By knowing the perspective, the nurses would understand how to handle end of life care (Gurung, 2019) . These factors show the importance of culture in caregiving due to social and biological beliefs. For better caregiving, the nurses are expected to be cultural competent.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the biopsychological model has provided a new perspective on my father’s sudden death. The model has examined the biological, physiological and social factors that might have resulted in his demise. Being 60 years of age, the body become vulnerable to succumb to such a disease. The elderly patients are finding it difficult to handle such chronic conditions due to dynamics that come with old age. However, the biopssychological model can be used to address the complications and enhance the lifespan of many elderly individuals fighting condition such as colon cancer.
References
Allen, R. S., & Carpenter, B. D. (2018). The international context of behavioural palliative and end-of-life care: biopsychosocial and lifespan perspectives. In Perspectives on Behavioural Interventions in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (pp. 11-21). Routledge.
Gurung, R. A. (2019). Health Psychology: Well-Being in a Diverse World . SAGE Publications.
Jacobson, M. C. (2018). The Experience of Head and Neck Cancer Survivorship (Including Laryngectomy): An Integrated Biopsychosocial Model. Current opinion in supportive and palliative care , 12 (1), 65-73.
Wade, D. T., & Halligan, P. W. (2017). The biopsychosocial model of illness: a model whose time has come.
