Gerontology Students Living in Older Adult Communities (Research, Video 5:33)

The UN predicts that by 2050 more than 20% of the world population will be over age 60. In recent years, inclusion of gerontology students living with older adults has become more common in the United States and internationally. Using elements of service-learning, community participation, and residential immersion, gerontology students are receiving broader field experience in gerontology education.

This research, which involved a gerontology student living in older adult housing for 3.5 years, is among the longest and most intensive gerontological field experience ever reported.  Based on more than 2,000 hours of observations and conversational interviews with 14 elderly residents, this study reflects the importance of shared history, support for one another, negotiation of environmental tensions, and demand for attention on the part of residents. This unique combination of physical and social proximity in an intergenerational alliance enables life enhancement for older adults and learning opportunities for students.

The research reported above recommends that student live-in roles with older adults become more formal. This video features an innovative retirement home in the Netherlands that has opened its doors to college students who live on site and help residents in return for free lodgings while they carry out their studies.

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Cancer: Telling Family and Friends (Research, Video 3:11)

You’ve received the phone call about a positive biopsy. Yes, it’s cancer. Now what? At some point after the diagnosis, a decision must be made about how family and friends will be told this information. This may be difficult, particularly for those who don’t want to burden others with their problems or who are used to handling their problems independently. But sharing this information is supported by research as contributing to quality of life.

In a study including 45 cancer patients, researchers investigated the association between cancer patients' ability to share information about their illness with selected others and their quality of life. This was the conclusion:

Encouraging patients to share information about their experience of cancer may help to improve their quality of life. Attachment security (emotional bonding with others) seems to promote social sharing.

In this video, Tamarin Severin, who was diagnosed with cancer in both breasts, shares the plan she created to inform her husband, son, mother, and later her friends. She put a lot of thought into how to do this and was very pleased with the results.

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog

Older Adults Raising Intellectually Disabled Children (Research, Video 1:33)

The numbers of older adults raising intellectually disabled children through adulthood continues to increase and will be very significant over the next 30 years. What they undergo in their parenting roles is often not fully known or understood by most people, particularly regarding their unpleasant experiences. Through unstructured in-depth interviews, research regarding older adult parenting of intellectually disabled children revealed several themes.

Bitterness is one of the four emergent themes extracted in this study, which has these five theme clusters:

1) Inappropriate behavior toward the child in society

2) Society's failure to support the child with intellectual disability

3) Sorrows experienced by parents

4) The child's problems

5) Barriers in the care of the child with intellectual disability

6) Limitations due to aging

These results suggest that older adult parents of children with intellectual disabilities experience many sorrows and unpleasant feelings. However, further investigation reveals that they mostly consider the social factors as the cause of problems and not the presence of the child. Results also indicate that older parents cannot look after the child in their old age as they did in earlier years. This gives them another level of concern. More research s needed on how these older adults can be supported better by society while maintaining their own quality of life.

This video features CJE Senior Life's Linkages program, which identifies and addresses the issues, needs and challenges of older adults and families with adult children with disabilities. Monthly support groups offer parents the opportunity to discuss their mutual concerns. Located in the Chicago, IL area, they provide a wide range of services.

Frances Shani Parker, Author
Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.

Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog