the way we age

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/30/the-way-we-age-now

Respond to the questions below. These questions are designed to promote your thinking as a practitioner. Use your knowledge from the course, textbook, the article, and outside research if needed to best address these question, though most can be answered with just the article and the textbook.

1a. What is meant by the term ‘rectangularization’ and how it is different from when aging demographics represented more of a triangular distribution of age groups?

1b. What effect can not growing up or working in a society with ‘rectangularization’ have on how society perceives aging, ie., is ageism more likely to be present, does prejuidism and discrimination towards the aged exist to a greater extent? Support your position.

2a. What are the three primary risk factors for falling?

2b. Do you see any of these risks in your family members or friends of the family? What may be a psychological phenomena around the concept of muscle weakness, ie., how might the way society treats elderly persons (eg., negative labels or stigma) impact how elderly persons think about themselves and that, in turn, could impact their muscle strength? Consider the research on social break-down theory of aging and atrophy of skills in the elderly to help support your thinking and response, eg., https://www.researchgate.net/publication/18447828_Social_Breakdown_and_Competence

3a. What are four of the major concerns for people involved in the care of elderly persons (see the Guided Care Approach in fifth paragraph from the end of the article)?

3b. Which one of these concerns best matches with your personal or professional agency (Agency – action or intervention, especially such as to produce a particular desired effect)? Explain.

4. “Even this is a tall order— 97% of medical students take no course in geriatrics.” ‘This year, just three hundred doctors will complete geriatrics training, not nearly enough to replace the geriatricians going into retirement, let alone meet the needs of the next decade.” Given these two statements taken from the article, what might be wrong with concluding that our current medical system, both MD preparation programs and practice, is biased against elderly persons? Provide two reasons.