Erick Erickson using the psychosocial development theory indicates that above the age of 65 years, older adults are faced with the need to maintain their ego and integrity while avoiding the feeling of despair. At this age, there are high chances of individuals developing anxiety due to fear of death and not having fulfilled their life goals. The anxiety can also be associated with fear of being a burden to the family or being abandoned and leading a lonely life (Sharma, 2020). In a situation where the elder adult did not get along with the family members and friends, they can be abandoned or moved to a nursing home where they will die alone. If a person feels that they did not fulfill their goals, they feel like failures, and that leads to anxiety and may end up being disengaged from the family members. A person may also have wronged others, and they feel like they have little time to live and begin a new course of life, making up for the mistakes they committed while young. Anxiety leads to some older adults to choose being taken to a nursing home and be socially-isolated as they feel it will be beneficial to everyone.
In a new era of cultural integration, older adults may be faced with issues of language barrier. Social learning theory can be used to understand the problem of language barrier. The theory indicates that new behavior can be attained through observation and imitating other people. Schools are offering language education where learners are studying native languages, thus familiar with several languages. However, for the aged, it is harder considering that older adults are socially isolated from normal social activities. Some older adults are held in nursing homes, while others are taken care of by hired employees. They rarely get time to interact with younger people who can teach them new languages. The theory insists on using reinforcement to govern the adoption of new behavior, for instance, punishment and rewards, mostly applicable in schools. When it comes to older adults, they do not need any reinforcement as long as they can communicate with the language they know and understand the message (Bozan & Mooney, 2020). However, if older adults are assigned nurses from diverse parts of the country, for instance, in nursing homes, or immigrant workers, they would experience communication issues. It would lead to hardship passing a message, such as when they require assistance. However, some older adults can be educated on patient engagement, connected health, and proactive self-monitoring methods to help reduce language barrier errors.
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A parent takes care of the children even when they are aged. It would be challenging for an older adult to take care of a disabled adult child. Some parents would consider confining the disabled child while some parents would prefer to stay with their child. System theory can help understand how such an older adult can cope with taking care of the disabled child. The system is combined with both natural and human-made environments, interacting and affecting each other. When one system changes, it causes others to change, promoting adaptation (Badcock et al., 2019). As a parent gets older, they may not be effective in taking care of the disabled adult child. To curb such constraints, the older adult has to teach their adult child to try and cope alone since the older parent will not be there to assist them forever. The parent should start teaching the disabled child at an early age, and by the time they reach adulthood, they will have adopted a bit of personal activities such as toileting and feeding. The older adult can teach the disabled individual how to handle tasks around their environment. It would be hard for an older adult to leave on their own alone, especially when disabled and that would explain how far the older adult is willing to help the disabled adult child till their last day.
References
Badcock, P. B., Friston, K. J., Ramstead, M. J., Ploeger, A., & Hohwy, J. (2019). The hierarchically mechanistic mind: An evolutionary systems theory of the human brain, cognition, and behavior. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience , 19 (6), 1319-1351.
Bozan, K., & Mooney, D. (2020). Older Adults Empowerment Through Training and Support and Its Implication on Proactive Self-Monitoring, Patient Engagement, and Connected Health. In Delivering Superior Health and Wellness Management with IoT and Analytics (pp. 511-534). Springer, Cham.
Sharma, M. (2020). Unit-8 Stages of development. Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.
