Program Lesson 10 Illness and Disability


Home health care enables many older adults to remain at home	About five percent of the elderly are in nursing homes at any one time	Alzheimer's Association provides respite programs needed by patients and families	Trends for a healthy lifestyle may yield greater numbers of non-disabled elders in the future

Summary of the Video and Text

Video

The video is comprised of four segments. The first segment discusses the impact of chronic physical health problems on an elder’s ability to function independently. Described in the second segment are three common mental health problems in old age: depression, dementia, and alcoholism. The third segment provides examples of how older people cope with physical and mental illness. The important roles of family support and health providers are highlighted. The fourth segment introduces some of the services available to compensate for losses caused by chronic disease.

Video Quote: Louise Di Virgilio finds that her doctor's compassion and willingness to listen help her to cope with multiple chronic illnesses

Louise Di Virgilio: "I've gone to other doctors, and they're very cold and they don't...I like to give suggestions to doctors. Because I know my body and they don't. My doctor will say, 'Well, what do you think it is, Louise? How do you feel? How does it react?' Whereas, I've gone to other doctors and they don't -- well I'm just like a stick there, they just say -- 'well, this is it, I can't do it, I don't know anything about it.' It's just, it's a different thing, it's hard to explain. But my doctor is a person, with feelings, compassion. And because you're old, you still want someone to have feeling and compassion for you."

Text

Chapter 4, "Managing Chronic Diseases and Promoting Well-Being in Old Age," presents sections on chronic and acute diseases, causes of death in older adults, common chronic conditions, falls and their prevention, and use of physician services by older people, that are suggested reading for this program lesson.

Video Quote: Meredith Minkler, Dr.P.H., comments on the incidence of chronic illness in older adults

Meredith Minkler: "Chronic illness goes up dramatically with age. But it doesn't mean that older people are sick. In fact, if you ask older people how they rate their health, eighty percent of them will say, my health is excellent or good. Now, this is ironic because 86 percent of them have at least one chronic illness. Many of them have several. What's going on is that they're evaluating their health in terms of their functional ability; their ability to get around and...do things for themselves. Most of them do quite well, and so they evaluate their health in positive terms. And so do their doctors."

Chapter 6, "Personality and Mental Health in Old Age," describes mental disorders among older persons, depression, suicide among older people, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, alcoholism, drug abuse, paranoid disorders and schizophrenia, anxiety, and older adults who are chronically mentally ill.

Video Quote: Helen Sunahara's family pulled together to support her mother after she became a resident in a nursing home.

Susan Stamberg: "On weekends, Tatsuno Ogawa's children and grandchildren take her out for rides and visiting. Every Sunday, the family gathers at her old home, where they share dinner. The grandchildren bring her back to the facility each Sunday afternoon."

Helen Sunahara: "I'm sure deep inside she must want to stay back, you know, some days. But the kids -- the grandchildren says, are you ready, okay. And she'll go. So that made it so easy for the family. That she's not bickering about, oh, I don't want to go, not now, I don't want to go. She never said that once. She's a good lady, too. We're proud of her."

Features of the Study and Faculty Guides

Study Guide (MySocKit)

Key points of the lesson, integrating video and text, are elucidated under the learning objective topics. Self-study questions help students prepare for exams. Descriptions of discussion and essay/research topics provide instructions for a variety of activities that may be assigned by the instructor. The Study Guide also provides a glossary of key terms and concepts covered in the telecourse and a listing of participants in the video.

Faculty Guide

The descriptions of discussion and essay/research topics presented in the Study Guide are reprinted in the Faculty Guide with tips for assigning the activities effectively. In addition, in-class activity suggestions and exam questions/answers are included. The Guide offers options appropriate for faculty using the telecourse in different settings, e.g., in-class, distance learning, interactive television, or a combination of formats. A Video Index helps instructors find segments of the video by time code and topic.