GRT 2100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Gerontology, Suicidal Ideation, Elder Abuse
20 Aug 2016
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GRT 2100 lecture 2
September 11th 2015
Introduction to Psychosocial Aspects of Aging: Defining Psychosocial Aging, and!
Aging as a Social Process
-gerontology: a a multidisciplinary field which is concerned with the physical, psychological, and social
aspects and processes of aging
-geriatrics: a medical specialty which concerns the study of health and disease in later life, and the
health care and treatment of older persons
-goal: to understand aging so that people can maximize their functioning and achieve a high quality of
life
-social gerontology is concerned with two aspects of aging:
•developing, evaluating and crating social problems or policies for older people
•describing and explaining aging processes and older persons’ status in society and the nature of
their behaviours
-intellectual functioning does not decrease as we age
-most seniors are women (across the globe)
-older people who reduce their activity are not happier than individuals who maintain a certain level of
activity; active elderly report better satisfaction of life ratings and an overall happier well being (a variety
of activities)
-individuals do not become more inflexible as they age; could be a personality trait already, but not all
old people are rigid
-generally speaking younger people are more likely to report clinical depression than older people;
however does not mean older people are reporting
-in the aging population a second dose of clinical depression gets placed
-psychosocial issues: encompass the psychosocial snd social aspects of a person’s life, which
influence their thoughts, feelings, behaviours, health, functioning, well being, and quality of life
-psychological aspects include cognition, emotions, personality, stress and coping, etc
-concerns; caregiving, isolation, financial security, level of independency, elder abuse, housing,
substance misuse
-social aspects include socioeconomic status, religion, culture, education, social supports, job
status, etc
-psychosocial factors highly influence older person’s health and overall well being
-resilience: the capacity to recovery quickly or to cope with struggles and difficulties in life
-some people are more resilient than others due to personality, or because they have access to more
help services/resources
-social wellbeing: ability to travel and use transportation, level of social participation, communication
and technology
-psychological wellbeing: mental health, mood, emotions, ping with stress, cognition
-cognitive wellbeing: action of knowing, processing info, learning , problem solving
-cognitive skills: attention, memory, ability to problem solve, concentration, thinking
-cognition is a mental processes used to acquire knowledge, learn, and understand through our
experiences and our senses
-meta-cognition: thinking about your thinking, understanding how you're thinking
-spiritual wellbeing: sense of meaning, purpose and connectedness, self determination, drive and
motivation
-safety: minimize risk or harm to self and others, prevent injury
-physical wellbeing: lack of mobility, difficulty moving from one place to another, range of motion,
strength, endurance, activity tolerance,
-older adults who experience psychosocial stress are less likely to take their medication, access routine
or preventative healthcare, obtain the necessary medical treatments or comply with medical plans
-sensation: process by which our sense gather info from our environment and send this info to the
brain
-perception: involves the interpretation of what was sensed
-Mrs. Diaz’s scenario: grief from loss, social isolation, financial stress, depression, does the drinking
have significant impact on daily activities, suicidal ideation
! of !1 3
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Document Summary
Introduction to psychosocial aspects of aging: de ning psychosocial aging, and. Gerontology: a a multidisciplinary eld which is concerned with the physical, psychological, and social aspects and processes of aging. Geriatrics: a medical specialty which concerns the study of health and disease in later life, and the health care and treatment of older persons. Goal: to understand aging so that people can maximize their functioning and achieve a high quality of life. Social gerontology is concerned with two aspects of aging: developing, evaluating and crating social problems or policies for older people, describing and explaining aging processes and older persons" status in society and the nature of their behaviours. Intellectual functioning does not decrease as we age. Most seniors are women (across the globe) Older people who reduce their activity are not happier than individuals who maintain a certain level of activity; active elderly report better satisfaction of life ratings and an overall happier well being (a variety of activities)
