SOWK 432 Week 1 DB Forum 1 Example

Discussion Board Forum 1: Thread and Two Replies

SOWK 432 Social Work with Aging Adults, Discussion Board Forum 1 (thread and two replies)

Thread by [Student Name]

The prompt, the patient, the unit and the classmates' posts are composites standing in for the course's own forum; Scripture, the textbook, the census release and the journal articles are real and described from their published sources; the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for SOWK 432.

Thread

Walter, a composite 82-year-old retired civil engineer, spent three weeks on a rehabilitation unit after surgery for a broken hip. His hearing is good and his mind is sharp; he still does the newspaper crossword in ink. Yet several aides greeted him each morning with "How are we today, sweetie?" in a slow, loud voice, and one explained his exercises to his daughter while he sat beside her. Walter told the unit social worker that the pain in his hip was easier to bear than being treated like a child.

His experience will become more common as the population ages. Census projections released in 2018 show residents 65 and over overtaking the under-18 population around 2034, something the country has never seen before (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). McInnis-Dittrich (2014) describes older adults as a highly diverse group whose needs and abilities vary widely, which makes one-size-fits-all assumptions especially harmful.

Butler (1969), who coined the term ageism, described it as prejudice by one age group against another and compared it to racism. Ageism does not only come from others. Levy et al. (2002) followed middle-aged and older adults for more than two decades and found that those who viewed their own aging more positively survived a median of 7.5 years longer than peers with more negative views, even after accounting for health and other factors. When staff treat Walter as fragile and incompetent, they risk teaching him to see himself that way, with real consequences for his recovery.

A social worker can respond at several levels. With Walter, she can affirm his competence and include him directly in every conversation about his care. With staff, she can model respectful address, using his name and normal speech, and raise the issue at a team meeting without shaming anyone. At the organizational level, she might propose brief training on communicating with older adults, since most aides who use elderspeak mean to be kind and simply have never been shown another way. She can also ask Walter how he prefers to be addressed and record it in his chart, so every shift starts from his choice rather than a habit.

Have you seen ageism in a setting where you have worked or volunteered, and how did older adults respond to it?

Reply to Rebecca

Rebecca, you described aides at your grandmother's memory care unit speaking to residents in a singsong voice and wondered whether it mattered, since many residents have advanced dementia. Research suggests it does. Williams et al. (2009) videotaped care encounters between nursing home staff and residents with dementia and coded both the speech and the residents' reactions. Behaviors such as grimacing, turning away, saying no or crying out showed up far more often after staff used elderspeak, with its short simplified sentences, singsong intonation and endearments like honey, than after ordinary adult talk. That finding matters for everyone involved: resistance makes care harder for staff and more distressing for residents. It also means that respectful speech is not only a matter of dignity but a practical skill that improves care. A social worker could share the study with the unit's staff, framing it as a way to make their jobs easier rather than as criticism, and perhaps help the unit try a month of plain, warm adult speech to see whether bathing and dressing go more smoothly.

Reply to Samuel

Samuel, you pointed out that churches can be among the few places where older adults are still honored, and Scripture supports that instinct. Leviticus 19:32 tells Israel to rise when an aged person enters and to honor an old man's face, tying that respect to the fear of God (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016). Standing up was an act of public deference, a way of saying that this person matters. For social workers, the modern equivalent might be as simple as addressing Walter by name, speaking to him rather than about him and asking his opinion before his daughter's. Those small acts carry the same message the verse commands. The verse also challenges churches, which sometimes shift older members to the margins of ministry as programs focus on youth. Inviting older adults to lead, teach and mentor would honor them in the way the passage describes, and it would show younger members what respect for age looks like in practice.

References

Butler, R. N. (1969). Age-ism: Another form of bigotry. The Gerontologist, 9(4, Pt. 1), 243-246. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/9.4_Part_1.243

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Levy, B. R., Slade, M. D., Kunkel, S. R., & Kasl, S. V. (2002). Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(2), 261-270. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.2.261

McInnis-Dittrich, K. (2014). Social work with older adults: A biopsychosocial approach to assessment and intervention (4th ed.). Pearson.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2018, March 13). Older people projected to outnumber children for first time in U.S. history [Press release]. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/cb18-41-population-projections.html

Williams, K. N., Herman, R., Gajewski, B., & Wilson, K. (2009). Elderspeak communication: Impact on dementia care. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias, 24(1), 11-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1533317508318472