Social, cultural, and psychological health related issues associated with this increase in the aged population.
The baby boomer generation is the group of people who were born between the years 1946 to 1964 which happened to be the period when World War II had just ended. This group should be of about 40 to 57 years of age. It is true that this group is slowly getting older and reaching the retirement point where they would be cut off from employment places. They are associated with rejection and redefinition of traditional values. Their cohorts are considered to be wealthy. The government has been wary about this ageing population as it creates pressure in the covering of their health and pension health bills. It is therefore regarded as crisis as it creates dilemma to the government and their siblings who are expected to take care of them.
The fact that the older people are demographically increasing in numbers as statistics show in places like Australia and some of the western countries, it creates some social, cultural and psychological health issues that the government has a mandate to assess and try to come up with solutions. Nurses play a big role in assisting in health matters and therefore they would be useful in most of health related issues that will be inherent to the aging population.
These social problems include the dependency issues that come about by the aging population. As much as some of the ‘baby boomers’ are considered to be wealthy, there are still a larger proportion which after retirement, they wholly depend on the pensions that the government will provide. At times, due to unlimited wants, the dependency may overstretch to their siblings. They may be expected to cater for some of their ageing family members. This has repercussions not only on an individual level but on the economy as a whole. Since statistics have indicated that the ageing population is on an upward trend, it shows that the dependency would also increase. This would affect the siblings being depended on in terms of their remainder of income to spend. Over dependency has an economical effect of decreasing investments and savings.
Death can happen to any person due to different factors though its probability of occurrence is higher on this ageing population than on the younger population. This would create a social problem of leaving their children orphans. Most of the ageing population has been able to climb the ranks in their business areas and have big roles in the companies they are employed. This has therefore reduced their free time. Most of the cases, they are faced by delayed marriages and therefore delayed getting children. It has been reported that they most of these baby boomers have dependent children and therefore in a case of death, the children are forced to be housed in orphanages.
The ageing generation is characterized with dependency on their siblings especially after retirement or being unable to work efficiently in a case of a self-employed person. This has a negative impact on the working group as the tax burden increase since the government tries to collect much revenue as they can so as to cater for their pension expenses. The fact that this group of the ageing population is increases shows that the tax burden will continue being experienced.
Increase in this ageing population results to decrease in the working population. In most countries, the top posts and most of the civil servant are in this bracket of the ageing population. They happen to have occupied most of the governmental jobs thereby leaving a smaller proportion of young adults in these posts. This can be considered a social problem as there would be a gap experience once this group of ageing generation exoduses at retirement. The young adults would have problems in adjusting and knowing how things are conducted.
It has been noted that poverty affects the ageing population and most of whom who suffer from lower levels of resources, they have psychological disorders. In America, it was seen that some of the older people had low education knowledge and this contributed to greater levels of depression. Not only does low education result to the increased depression witnesses with the ageing population but also they are known to have a lot of issues running in their minds. These include businesses that they may have started, life after retirement (for those who have retired or are about to retire) and other minor issues like health problems and family stress. These contribute to the increased depression observed in the ageing population.
The old generation has been through several regimes and has been able to use certain ways of doing things. In relation to health, the ageing generation of doctors is used to the ‘obsolete’ medical procedures. The new and modern methods are being adopted by the upcoming younger group who easily understand the procedures easily. Operations which used to have actual slicing of one’s body has been replaced by faster and efficient modern methods were the patients are not sliced like before. These procedures may seem hard for the old doctors and due to the traditions which they are used to, they may opt not to accept the new innovations.
Ageing population, as stated earlier, tend to have more health problems in comparison to the younger generation. If there is an increase in the ageing population, the healthcare will also have an increased demand and the government will have to increase its employment of nurses so as to cater effectively for the increased patients. Before the nurses and doctors have been employed in a considerable number to cater for the increased ageing population, there would be a period of inefficient medical services being offered.
The ageing population has a greater probability of contracting diseases as their immune systems are considered weak. This creates a problem as they have to be taken care by the government by the provision of pension health services. The government is therefore incurs expenses in such situations. The fact that this population is increasing shows that this expense will also increase therefore creating a pressure on the government finances as it is their responsibility to take care of the elderly.
Cases in certain places have erupted in terms of psychological health problems that have been identified relating to the ageing population. These are caused by the fact that this group has been, over the years, been able to take care of themselves and catered for all of their needs without much help from outsiders. The thought of not being able to cater for themselves as well as being taken to old-age care centers comes with psychological issues.
The ageing population has been seen to face marginalization upon leaving the job market. This is as a result of being considered dependent as they are a group vulnerable to poverty as they do not have a channel of income after they have retired. This mostly affects those who are in the rural and marginalized areas where they had social ties only at the employment place. This marginalization is also caused by age discrimination where people only want to interact with the younger people than the old ones.
Stereotypes have been seen being directed to people of different races, people who are not of the same class, immigrants and the poor. These stereotypes have not left out the old and ageing population as they have become targets of ridicule by the upcoming generation. This psychologically affects the old and could result to health problems.
The National Center on Elder Abuse noted that the elderly, who may have not gone to the elderly homes, are mistreated by their in-laws as they are living with their children. They suffer though they tend to keep it to themselves. Many who were observed had bruises, mounds that were untreated and could overdose their medicine at times. This showed elements of depression and physical abuse.
In Europe, the demography scale shows that the ageing population far outweighs the young population. This has brought about certain unforeseen challenges to the respective countries. In academic fields like medicine, the young generation has been shy towards therefore most of the doctors who are present are in this baby boomer group. This creates a national problem since there are no people from the young generation coming in to replace the old aged in the field. This has made the old doctors to have prolonged retirement age in an aim of keeping an adequate medical staff in hospitals. The increase in this ageing group becomes a problem as the young generation is not coming in these fields.
The ageing population especially those who have retired face both neglect from people around them and self-neglect. This is easily identified by poor hygiene observed, poor diet intake and dehydration, untreated medical conditions, dirty living quotas and other health related issues. In the earlier years, women, especially wives, were to take good care of the elderly parent of either the husband’s side or her side. Due to gender empowerment, more women have been absorbed in the working force; this has reduced the traditional form of care that was present for these old people.
There has been reported an increase in the suicide rates of the baby boomers. This has been the greatest social problem reported in 2010 from this ageing group. Most of the suicides are attributed by stress and depression that has affected this ageing group due to neglect and poverty after they have become immobile due to health problems.
Future roles of Nurses in these trends
Nurses are highly under rated though they would play a very big role in changing this ageing population trend. Nurses are considered to be like mid wives who help in conceiving process. If they perform these services well, they would reduce the children mortality rate and urge increase in birth so as to increase the young generation.
The ageing population suffers from various health issues most of which are resulted by poor diet. Nurse have a big part to play in advising these old persons on which foods would be healthy for them so as to reduce the increased cases of diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol related diseases.
Nurses are highly trained and capable of playing the role that was traditionally played by the wives of taking care of their elderly parents if he/she refused to go to elderly care. This creates a task for nurses that they should be able to run these elderly people’s homes as they are equipped with the knowledge required in keeping the ageing and aged population at good health.
Nurses can be used in health policy planning and management as they have the knowledge to expand medical care access and improve quality and at a lower cost. Due to dealing with patients on a personal level, they can be able to generate evidence and engage in research therefore shaping the medical provision. This would be very helpful in the ageing population health issues.
Conclusion
The ageing population is characterized with knowledge and wisdom as they have gained experience in several fields ranging from employment to life issues. The government is trying to integrate the ageing population in several activities so as not to be neglected. In n the recent times, there has been an increase in this ageing population has had its challenges as outlined in the paper. Nurses have been identified to be major influencers of these problems that face the ageing population health issues. They have the capability of changing the trend in the future. This shows that these professionals should not be under rated as they can revert the future and avoid certain issues that are inherent in the recent health issues.
References
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