Hospice Care for Older Adult

  • Nelson-Backer, H. B. (2006). Voices of resilience: Older adults in hospice care. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 2(3), 87-106.
  • The paper addresses elderly population who are over 65 years old suffering from various terminal illnesses that include cancer, and who are depressed about their limited future or due to the fact that they were about to face death. The research focuses on four hospices found in Illinois and Kansas, and includes a sample of older adults comprising of both male and female.
  • The author idea is that older adults who are terminally ill have the ability to live well in the dying context and thus, the hospice social workers or care givers need to know what they are going through with regard to facing death and assist them by creating the environment where they can achieve life wholeness and demonstrate resilience in their last moment of life. The strong point of the author idea is that the elderly people suffering from terminal illness and are about to experience death should still be given a reason to live and to remain happy and pessimistic about live so as to eliminate of being depressed about death. The weak point is thinking that terminally ill elderly who experience constant moments of uncontrollable pain can completely forget about their slim chances of living by having an encouraging environment. Although it may skip their mind for a moment, it is hard to completely eliminate the worry.
  • The paper focuses on elderly people; above 65 years with terminal diseases and tried to address the fear of death. As a matter of fact, any terminally ill person would think of possibility of death. In addition, an elderly person whether sick or healthy would experience fear of limited time on earth. When an elderly person is terminally ill and is placed in a care home, they tend to think more of their end day rather than their possibility of living longer. When a terminally ill person experience the worse moment of their illness, they cannot help but think about their death. This becomes worse when they witness death of their peer, which is a common occurrence in a hospice. Thus, the author topic is appropriate.
  • I learnt that it is possible to eliminate chances of developing depression due to fear of death among terminally ill elderly population. The article assisted me in understanding how creating an environment that will minimize their worries or that will assist them in seeking peace within themselves and redefining themselves can assist in reducing fear of death, and making their remaining stay on the world to be more quality
  • The question that I would like to ask the author regarding his idea is whether the employment of the identified solutions would in any way add to the population lifespan. This is based on the argument that the employed solution would reduce chances of depression and increase life quality among the population that is about to face death.
  • Social justice refers to fairness in distribution of privileges, opportunities and wealth in a society. The paper establishes that the life quality of the population can be enhanced by self-redefinition, openness to uncertainty, use of spirituality, social investment maintenance, and guarding independence even with contraction of the scope of life. The last one can highly promote social justice where elderly are allowed to make decision regarding their life without having to do all that their family members decide on or even doctors. This would ensure equal treatment of them with other adults in the society.
  • The paper contributes to the knowledge on how the quality of life can be improved in hospice and other elderly care home to reduce mental stress and depression. The paper relate to the competency by obtaining individual feedback regarding their treatment in the hospice and thus giving a clear picture on the elderly feelings and fear regarding their last moments in earth and the measures that can be employed to make it more worth.

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