6210 Week 8 Assignment: Community Resources for Older Individuals
Volunteers, organizations, and political officials in local communities often campaign to improve conditions and provide services to enhance the well-being of residents. If you are the parent of young children, for instance, you might focus on improving the local school or creating safe places where children can play. If you are an individual in later adulthood or a caregiver for an older adult, what community resources might be important to you? What social challenges could be resolved through increased community support?
In this week’s Assignment, you evaluate the resources that your local community currently provides for its older members and propose improvements or additions to better meet older adults’ needs.
To Prepare:
- Review the Learning Resources on sociological aspects of later adulthood.
- Using the Internet and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services link in the resources, research agencies in your local community (Miami, Florida, USA) that support the issues and concerns of the older population.
- Note the services provided by these agencies and any gaps you see. Consider what improvements might be made to existing services as well as opportunities for new services to be added.
By Day 01/23/2022
Submit a 3- to 4-page paper in which you do the following:
- Identify three agencies in your local community that support individuals in later adulthood.
- Provide an overview of the services each provides.
- Identify the service gaps you notice.
- Explain how to improve existing services to address these gaps.
- Describe services that should be added to better serve this population and explain why.
Use the Learning Resources to support your analysis. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.
Required Readings
Zastrow, C. H., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.
- Chapter 16, “Sociological Aspects of Later Adulthood” (pp. 703–728)
Follow Rubric
Submit a 3- to 4-page paper in which you do the following Identify three agencies in your local community that support individuals in later adulthood. Provide an overview of the services each provides.
15.75 (22.5%) – 17.5 (25%)
Response meets expectations and exceeds by identifying more than three agencies and/or providing detailed and thorough service overviews.
Identify the service gaps you notice. Explain how to improve existing services to address these gaps.
15.75 (22.5%) – 17.5 (25%)
Response meets expectations and exceeds through in-depth synthesis that reveals clear service gaps. Explanation draws on details and examples from the Learning Resources, peer-reviewed research, or other relevant sources. Two or more scholarly resources are used to support the response.
Describe services that should be added to better serve this population and explain why.
22.05 (31.5%) – 24.5 (35%)
Response meets expectations and exceeds through details and examples from the Learning Resources, peer-reviewed research, or other relevant sources. Two or more scholarly resources are used to support the response.
Writing
9.45 (13.5%) – 10.5 (15%)
Paper meets length requirements, meets expectations, is generally error free (two or fewer), and further exceeds by showcasing an exemplary scholarly voice to develop its message or communicate ideas.
Paper appropriately paraphrases sources, using one or less quotes. Presents polished APA Style. Citations, reference list, and paper formatting are generally error free (two or fewer).
Tone and presentation of ideas are free from bias and objective, unless otherwise directed in the prompt.
Chapter 16, “Sociological Aspects of Later Adulthood
Chapter 16 Summary The following summarizes this chapter’s content as it relates to the learning objectives presented at the beginning of the chapter.
LO 1 Summarize the specific problems faced by older people and the causes of these problems. People 65 and older now make up more than one-tenth of the U.S. population and are the fastest-growing age group in our society. Older people tend to encounter a number of problems in our society: low status, lack of a meaningful role, an emphasis on youth, health problems, inadequate income, in-adequate housing, transportation problems, elder abuse, malnutrition, crime victimization, emotional problems (particularly depression), and concern with circumstances surrounding dying. Most older people depend on the Social Security system as their major source of income, but monthly payments are inadequate.
LO 2 Describe the current services to meet these problems and identify gaps in these services. Programs for older adults include Old Age, Survi-vors, Disability, and Health Insurance; Supplemen-tal Security Income; Medicare; Prescription Drug Assistance for Seniors; Medicaid; food stamps; Adult Protective Services; Meals on Wheels; senior citizen centers; day care centers; nursing homes; as-sisted-living facilities; group homes; and many addi-tional programs. There are a number of gaps in services. Some
older persons reside in substandard nursing homes, some have serious unmet health needs, and some are living in poverty.
LO 3 Understand the emergence of older people as a significant political force in our society. Older people are often politically active, and many have organized to work toward improving their sta-tus. As a result, many new programs have been cre-ated in recent years, and the rate of poverty among this age group has been decreasing in recent decades.
LO 4 Describe a proposal to provide older people with a meaningful, productive social role in our society. In order to provide older people with a produc-tive, meaningful role in our society, they should be encouraged to work (either in paid work or as vol-unteers) as long as they are productive and have an interest in working to maintain their standard of liv-ing. Older people benefit substantially from continu-ing to be productive, and society benefits also from their productivity.
COMPETENCY NOTES The following identifies where Educational Policy (EP) competencies and behaviors are discussed in the chapter.
EP 6a. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, person-in-environment, and other multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks to engage with clients and constituencies
EP 7b. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, person-in-environment, and other multidisciplinary
Copyright theoretical frameworks in the analysis of assessment data from clients and constituencies. (All of this chapter.) The content of this chapter is focused on social work students acquiring both of these behaviors in work-ing with older persons.
EP 8b. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, person-in-environment, and other multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks in interventions with
clients and constituencies (pp. 722–723) Content is presented on the roles social workers should assume in intervening with older people.
EP 5a. Identify social policy at the local, state, and federal level that impacts well-being, service delivery, and access to social services;
EP 5c. Apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice. (pp. 724–726) Material is presented on analyzing, formulating, and advocating for policies that advance social well-being for older persons.
EP 1 Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior (pp. 708, 711, 713–714, 721, 726) Ethical questions are posed.
WEB RESOURCES
See this text’s companion website at www.cengagebrain.com for learning tools such as chapter quizzes, videos, and more.
Copyright
Referral
Zastrow, C. H., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.
· Chapter 16, “Sociological Aspects of Later Adulthood” (pp. 703–728)
