Discussion:
Later Adulthood Scenarios
The aging process affects us all. Sooner or later, we will be faced with challenges unique to later life. As medical technology pushes the outer boundaries of longevity, we will be confronted with more and more issues related to aging in later life.
Comprehensive answer to one of the following four scenarios about aging in later adulthood:
• The changing face of retirement: Discuss the implications of retirement on health. Include in your response financial, physical, cognitive, and socioemotional considerations.
• Advanced directives: Should health care providers be required to honor advance directives regardless of personal belief and institutional settings?
• Coping with loss: Present a scenario in which you provide examples of bereavement, grief, and mourning in coping with the loss of a lifetime friend, partner, child, parent, or sibling.
• End of life: Discuss where an individual needs to be developmentally in order to prepare to die in peace.
Include specific examples to help support your position. Be sure to use supporting documentation and cite your sources in correct APA format.
Learning Resources
Article: Grady, D. (2010, January 12). Facing end-of-life talks, doctors choose to wait. The New York Times.
Article: Keating, N. L., Landrum, M. B., Rogers, S. O., Jr., Baum, S. K., Virnig, B. A., Huskamp, H. A., & Kahn, K. L. (2010). Physician factors associated with discussions about end-of-life care. Cancer, 116(4), 998-1006. (PDF)
Cancer 116/4 by Keating, N. L., et al. Copyright 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.-Journals. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.-Journals via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Aging with Dignity. (2009). Five wishes.