The Demographics

of Aging

Module 2

Nurse Responses to Elder Mistreatment

An IAFN Education Curriculum

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, participants will be able to:

Identify societal assumptions about aging and how these assumptions can affect nursing care of older adults

Discuss basic demographic information about the older population

Recognize difficulties posed by various age-related impairments

Discuss data on heath of older population Discuss how generational values can affect an older

adult’s recognition of mistreatment and willingness to seek help

2

Assumptions about Aging

What negative attitudes and inaccurate assumptions do people have about older adults?

Where do these attitudes and assumptions come from?

How can these attitudes and assumptions affect care older patients receive in your practice setting?

3

Turn Assumptions Around

Focus on facts related to aging and older adults rather than assumptions!

What are some of these facts?

4

A Few Facts…

Majority of older adults have no self-care deficits

Older adults need to be treated as adultso -Put person before impairmento -Age does not equal incapacity

Each older patient has unique needs and circumstances

5

Older Population Estimates

Number of people age 65+ will increase over 50% by 2050 o 2008: almost 40 milliono 2030: more than 70 milliono 2050: almost 90 million

Some ethnic groups will see more than a doubling of their older population

Main source of data for statistics/charts in this module: Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics. Older Americans 2008: Key Indicators of Well-Being, 2008. Slide 15 from Older American 2000: Key Indicators of Well-Being.

6

Life Expectancy

People who survive to age 65 can expect to live average of almost 19 years

Of those who survive to age 85o Women can expect to live average of

7 years o Men can expect to live average of 6

years

7

Sex Ratio

For older adults 65 years and over: 70 men for every 100 women By 85 and over: more than 2

women for every 1 man

8

Potential Impairment

As people age, they are more likely to experience impaired functioning o When civilian, non-institutionalized adults

ages 65 and over were asked to rate their health, 74% of both men and women reported their health as good or better

o Self-rated health status declined with age for all groups

9

10

Living Arrangements

4% reside in long-term care facilities on any given day

96% of adults ages 65+ live in communityo -73% of older men are married /live with spouse o -42% of older women also live with spouse; 39% live

alone. Widowhood is more common among older women than older men

o -Some older adults live with other relativeso -Small % of older adults live with non-relatives

Poverty

Less than 10% of older adults lived in poverty in 2006

11

Living with Impairments

Examples… Severe visual impairment Severe hearing impairment A stroke or has an arm fracture Arthritis in fingers Peripheral neuropathy Aphasia

12

Physical Functioning

13

Chronic Conditions

14

Memory Impairment

15

Depressive Symptoms

16

Use of Health Care Services

17

Nursing Home Utilization

18

Generational Values

Historical Timelineo -Grandparents’ years of birtho -Events that occurred at different

points on the line in their liveso -Additional historic events, inventions

and norms of the timeso -Effect of generational values related

to elder mistreatment

19

20

Closing Assessment

Write down one major concept you learned from this module and how you will apply it in your practice