Life stages . Aging - In this assignment I am going to assess the influence of the activity theory and the disengagement theory on social care provision.

by tasha25 (student)

1K, Development through the life stages, D2, Aging

Ageing D2

In this assignment I am going to assess the influence of the activity theory and the disengagement theory on social care provision. There are many different services that are available in health and social care such as, Residential homes, bus passes, home help and day centres. All these services are put in place to help and support the older people.

Residential homes offer somewhere to stay, help with dressing and bathing. They also provide meals. If a person cannot afford to live in their own property a residential home provides them security. Support in residential homes are available all through the day and the night. They support emotional and physical needs of the elderly. Bus passes are made available to the elderly so that they can travel and get about without fretting about money. Older people are offered this service because the money they get each week (pension) is probably just enough for their living for example to buy food, clothes and bills. Home help is way of offering support and care to vulnerable people to support them so they can stay in their own homes and live independently for as long as they can. This kind of help includes help with washing, cleaning, and dressing. Additionally helping to cook, giving medication and helping with the shopping. The carers will talk to the older people and try to help with any problems they may have. Carers are there to make the person feel comfortable and if the person has no other family they at least have the carer to talk to and socialise with as a companion. Day centres include activities throughout the day such as cooking, discussions, and exercise and many more activities that involve the older people to help them hold on to their independence. These centres are also good for the older people to socialise and talk to others. There will be advice from professional people if the older people have any problems with housing or money. This kind of service will improve the persons self -esteem and confidence because the people know that there will be someone there to help if they need it and to assist them.

All these services are helpful as they all offer support and help to the vulnerable people so that they can live their lives daily they are there to create a comfortable, optimistic atmosphere.

I am now going to explain the barriers to these services and also how these services help people to stay active.

Most services in health and social care settings help people to be active. More people are living longer due to these services and our good public health. More and more people are taking part in healthy lifestyles and living longer. Most health and social care provisions urge the older people to remain active because it betters the body’s functioning and boost image and self- esteem.

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Doctors’ surgeries, community centres and hospitals will have leaflets and posters with information on revealing how to stay active and will show activities and exercises that older people can do in order to keep healthy. There are several places that older people can go to, to support this healthy lifestyle.

I believe that these services help people to be involved in activities rather than pushing them away and disengaging them as these services are encouraging.

Policies and procedures have changed over the years, giving older people more respect. Having these rights help the older people feel more safe and ...

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I believe that these services help people to be involved in activities rather than pushing them away and disengaging them as these services are encouraging.

Policies and procedures have changed over the years, giving older people more respect. Having these rights help the older people feel more safe and secure in society however even though these legislations are put in place there will be some services that will not follow them resulting in poor services affecting many older vulnerable people.

I’m going to give you an example from a care home…. On this morning, it was time to help the patients get up out of bed and assist them with dressing and washing. There are only two health care staff on this one ward. There should be double the amount of staff but two of them were ill on this day. The two staff that are available are rushing around trying to get through all the patients to get them ready in time for their breakfast. Not all the patients received the care and time they should have received because of this. This is a case of a service worker not valuing and respecting the person as an individual. The service worker will have no time to talk to the patients to see if they are okay and see how they are feeling. This is disrespecting the person by not helping them concerning their needs. This is an example of a case that is known to happen in health and social care settings. This is not the service providers fault as it could not have been helped. It would be the managers of the care home that should make sure there is enough staff on board in order to care for the residents accordingly.

In most services, the carers try to deliver the best care and respect and cover all their needs of the service users. In the day centre where I was in my placement, all activities were planned throughout the day, people did have a choice in what they wanted to do and by doing this it promoted independence however there were some people who didn’t want to make a choice or were not capable of making choices due to illnesses and these people will have had their choices made for them taking into account their wants, needs and feelings and respecting them as individuals.

Showing people encouragement and respect they deserve help them to be confident and it makes them more want to be involved in the activities again, their self-esteem and self-confidence will increase from doing this. Additionally respecting the elderly’s feelings, choices and opinions will help them to feel comfortable around their carers making them want to go back and enjoy socialising and being active.

Disengagement

If everyone disengaged when they got to an older age, old age would be looked upon as bad thing. If all people were to disengage the world would be looked upon negatively and all the older people in it. All people would then be on benefits and the knowledge and experience older people have will be a waste and the younger group will not benefit from looking up to the older generation.

This will have an effect on the younger people because they will have no one to look up to and learn from as older people have a lot of experience. This could result in younger people being stuck in low paid jobs because of not having the experience to go any higher. Lower paid jobs mean lower tax and this would then have an effect on the benefits which would then have an impact on the older people the most if they were all on benefits. The benefits will then be cut and the older people will suffer badly not be able to afford to live causing lots of problems for example… if a pensioner cannot afford to eat healthy and afford the heating bills they would then become ill and more likely to get diseases. Then because of not having any money, the older people will then be separated from the society as they would not be able to afford to take part in any activities, and because of illness they may not even be able to go round the corner to visit friends or see family.

I believe that there is a role in today’s society where there is encouragement to disengage because there are more people that use drugs, smoke and drink alcohol excessively. Alcohol is a depressant and this eventually results in people wanting to be on their own and not wanting to leave their homes. Smoking, drugs and alcohol can also cause diseases such as cancer, liver disease and mental illnesses which all affect how individuals act and learn. Having these illnesses could result in people not wanting to interact with one another.

I do not like the idea of the disengagement theory as it is ignorant to the fact that older people are still individuals regardless of the process of aging, there are still people who are capable of still enjoying living and being a part of society which deserve respect and the right to have choices and be independent. These people should not be discriminated against, older people should not be looked at as incapable to work and to be made to feel useless and move away from society. Furthermore it should be a person own choice when they decide on retirement. No one has the right to take away the individuality and freedom from a person.

Lots of people now are living to an older which is may be because of them being more active and socialising which is good for the functioning of the body and makes them feel positive about themselves and happy.

There are some services that are available that could prevent a person from staying active. There is help for people that need it where a minibuses collects the older people from their door step and drops them off right outside the place they need to go. Now some people will benefit from this service which will be the people that are not capable of walking very well however there are people who can still walk that do not have severe problem that use this service also and this then stops these people from exercising their legs. The people that are capable of walking that uses this service will then become lazy and not want to walk anywhere and this will limited their activeness.

Residential homes can also stop a person from being active because they do everything inside the building such as activities, they have dinner, and they go to bed there. The care for the person is all in one place unless a carer take a person out and this all depends on the person and their illness. Some people will not be taken out side because of their illnesses and is then bound to the residential home. There becomes a barrier of these people from being active.

The type of service that encourages people to stay active is the day centres and the bus passes. Day centres provide equipment to exercise, days out and a healthy cooked meals at lunch time. Healthy foods will be good for the functioning of the body, and there will many people to socialise with there and have a natter to throughout the day. In addition there will be friendly encouraging carers that help people to be independent. Bus passes offer free travel so that people can go anywhere they want, for example, to see friends, family or even go to the park. This encourages people to be more active and be out and about more. In the past people were not able to go out on the bus or travel because of the cost.

In my opinion the disengagement theory is very negative on the society and on a person and is a weakness because no one in today’s world want to be separated from society because of their age. A disadvantage of the activity theory is that, there are people that want to be active and want to take part in activities but cannot due to illness or lack of mobility. These people would not be able to participate in the activities because of the malfunctioning of the body. A shortage of money can also be a barrier when a person wants to be socially active a go places to meet friends but cannot afford it.

Overall I would say today’s society is based more on the activity theory. I say this because of the protecting and promoting of our public health in Britain. People are becoming less ill because of the NHS and living longer. Campaigns on healthy eating, exercise and things to do to keep active is being put out there daily. Including new medicines, treatments and screening. In this assignment the activity theory has shown to be effective on the older generation as well as the young. More and more older people are living in their own homes, keeping active and cooking for themselves healthy meals because they are more alert and aware of what their body needs and what is good for them, according to the office of national statistics, the population of the UK is ageing. The proportion of people aged over 65 rose from 15% to 17% from 1985-2010, an increase of 1.7m people, and is projected to reach 23% by 2035, according to the according to .

Retired life is shown to be enjoyable of many adults which includes spending time with family and grandchildren, going out with friends and going on holiday. Many older people are volunteering which is helping them to feel happier healthier and confident.