HB II Poverty and Aging DB & Responses. Week 11

Student 1. G. Marcano

“Social Work and Aging in place” defines the concept of Aging in place (AIP) as the ability of older adults to “live in their homes or communities as long as possible”. The article describes older adults who strive to have an identity of independence while staying in the homes that they worked hard to build within their own familiar surroundings and community. Older adults tap into assistance from federal and state programs to provide a financial cushion for healthcare, and other cost of living concerns. Some barriers to AIP include physical limitations that restrict mobility and physical independence. Cognitive functioning issues, as with the case of dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease restrict an aging adults quality of life. Another barrier to AIP is that family and friends are not able to provide care because of their own struggles within the economy.Long term care is expensive and not available to all older adults. The article goes on to also not that many cities and towns in the US do not support older adult needs. For example, building ordinances restrict building additional “mother/daughter” structures onto your own home, on your own property.

“Exploring identity and aging: Auto-photography and narratives of low income older adults”, is in synch with many of the concepts of the “Social Work and Aging in Place” review. Both articles are in agreement that many older adults feel attached to the homes that they have built, and would rather stay in their own homes if they had their way. Both articles notate that independence is an important basis for the quality of life, and a crucial part of personal identity. The older adults of the latter article, describe the disruption that sudden health changes such as heart attacks or strokes can create to their lives. Although most older adults would like to remain in their homes as long as possible, financial constraints often create a disruption as well leading many older adults, such as 70 year old Larry, to seek supportive housing because they can no longer afford rent or the bills. Where the latter article diverged, from the first is in describing the reality that due to dwindling public resources many older adults seek to stay in their homes as long as they can. Many do not want to place a financial burden on their children, or the rest of their families.

Providing services through an Aging in Place model, I would bring the ideas that staying as viable and productive as possible is very important to the quality of life of older adults. As a son to mother who is over 75 years of age, and is navigating the after effects of a major stroke, I understand how emotionally draining that it can be struggling with physical limitations that were not there before. The idea that there is cognitive dissonance regarding what older adults would like to do, versus the limitations on their bodies is very important to understand. I would try to familiar myself with programs such as Money Follows the Person and the State Balancing Incentive Program to better assist older adults who need assistance with AIP or with the cost of institutional care, when they are no longer able to AIP on their own.

Student 2. M. Ferreira

The purpose of the study in the exploring identity article was to learn how low-income older adults perceive their independence, health, and identity in relation to their place of residence. Participants included residents of publicly subsidized housing and individuals who had applied for and were on a waiting list for rental assistance. The article explored the relationship between independence, health, personal identity, and place identity and the current scholarship on the relationship between environment and identity and aging in place. I learned that traditional representations of aging in place are challenged when considering persons who are very low income and/or live in distressed urban neighborhoods (Byrnes, 2011).

In the article Aging in place (AIP), it focused on aging policies, programs, and scholarship in recent years. This article presents a review of the social work literature on AIP. The authors identified 22 empirical articles published between 1980 and 2014. The studies identified in the articles focused on gerontological social work practice, including congregate housing alternatives to nursing homes, grassroots and volunteer-run organizations, and agency-based programs. The body of research is still in its early stages, many of the articles are descriptive rather than analytical in nature. I learned that this is a necessary first step in the development of research to inform policies and programs to promote AIP.