life review assignment

Life Review Paper: Instructions

(200 points)

Overview

Life review is a naturally occurring, universal process consisting of reminiscence, thinking about oneself, and a reconsideration of previous life experiences and their meaning. You will be interviewing an older adult (65 years old or older). The “Life Review Paper” will have two submissions:

1. Proposal / Script submission

2. Life Review Paper submission

All submissions will be made via Dropbox under BeachBoard. Your final version submission paper should have a length of maximum 8 pages (do not exceed 8 pages!) Check ourCourse Schedule to see all the submission dates related to this assignment.

At all times each of your submission is typed, double spaced, Times New Roman, font 12, APA 6th ed. citation (in text and as reference.)

Use the grading rubrics related to this assignment as guideline in your writing process. The grading rubric has been created to offer you an idea about how points in your grading process will be distributed. All rubrics are listed at the end of this document.

Points

Proposal / Script submission:50 points

Life Review Paper submission: 150 overall points distributed as following:

Interview: 30 points

Application of Theory: 60 points

Reflection: 40points

Paper organization, grammar, spelling, APA, etc.: 20 points

Background Information for our Life Review Paper – Why this paper is important for our class?

Life review, as described by Robert Butler, is a naturally occurring, universal mental process prompted by the realization of a foreshortened life expectancy. It potentially proceeds toward a reorganization of the self, including the achievement of such characteristics as wisdom and serenity in the aged. The process consists of reminiscence, thinking about oneself, and a reconsideration of previous life experiences and their meaning.

Butler’s description of the life review process closely parallels Erikson’s last stage of development, which is a dynamic between integrity vs. despair. For some older persons, the process of thinking about the past may lead to depression and obsessive rumination or to life’s successful resolution. Therefore, the life review process holds the potential for the older adult to reach ever-increasing levels of self-awareness. The crucial task of such life review is to evaluate one’s life and accomplishments and to accept the whole, both the good and the difficulties, as all necessarily a part of one’s own individual life. This sense of embracing life confirms that one’s story has been “a meaningful adventure in history.”

The life review process takes place gradually over a period of years for the older person and an interested other person usually assist the older adult by taking an oral history. The history can be taken over a period of several sessions and may be tape recorded. The results are life long-lasting memories, which may be given to the elder and may be shared with younger family members.

Instructions on how to conceptualize / writeyour Life Review Paper

Before you will start writing your Life Review Paper, you will need to complete and submit via Dropbox the “Proposal / Script” submission. This submission will be graded, and feedback will be provided for it. Only after this submission is graded you can start working on your paper.

The Proposal portion is a proposal of how you will complete this assignment. Before you decide what questions you will want to ask your interviewee, you must first write two to three paragraphs stating what you will want to learn from this assignment.

For The Scriptportion you will need to come up with a series of questions (script) that you will want to ask the elder adult you are interviewing. These questions should cover the history of the person’s life and capture the essence of who the elder adult is. These questions should also help you assess the older adult using a theory model. While developing the questions, you will have in mind the BioPsychoSocial theoretical approach you will use to assess the older adult. There is not a specific number of questions you should come up with, but a good set of questions for a paper of this caliber will round on average about 10-15 questions. The questions should be derived from our course concepts such as chronic disease, biology of aging, love and intimacy, social interactions, living arrangements, economic security, productive aging, retirement, death and dying, etc.,yet as theory application only Biopsychosocial is addressed.

As previously stated, only after the “Proposal / Script” submission is graded, you can start working on your paper. In writing this paper, try to think of yourself being a qualitative researcher. Therefore, in this process you have the chance to design your research study, to conduct your own case study, and later on to discuss its results. So by the first submission (Proposal / Script) you actually get to design your case research study!

Life Review Paper submission will include The Interview, Theory Application, and Reflection.

The Interview is the telling of the story of the life of the elder you interviewed. This section is written as Q& A (question and answer) format or as a narrative. Be sure to introduce your relationship to your interviewee.

Recommendations on how to conduct your interview

Begin by briefly expressing your interest in learning about the elder’s life and set an appointment for a convenient time and place where the interview will take place. Explain that you will use this interview as a class assignment and ask for permission from the older person at this time to share the interview with your professor/class.

Interview your subject in a quiet private location;it is recommended that no others are present during the interview. You can use a recorder device to register the interview process and your subject’s answers. By recording the interview rather than taking notes, it will give you the chance to focus on other types communications such as body language, facial expression, etc. which will help with your descriptive skills while writing your paper. Make sure the elder is comfortable and you are seated in a position to be heard (you could also maintain eye contact if in the elder’s cultural background eye contact is a form of being polite.) Allow adequate time for the interview but do not prolong more than two sessions.

After conducting the interview, you will then write up the questions and answers to the interview in paragraph format. When writing up the interview be as descriptive as possible. You must use critical thinking skills to make the experience flow and you want to allow the reader to feel as if they experienced the interview for themselves. Thus meaning do not just simply state I asked her if she was married and she replied her husband died 7 years ago. Instead describe the reactions and report in descriptive detail. For example: As we sat near the window a cool breeze came in the room, she grabbed her blanket around her shoulder and pulled it tightly to warm herself. I asked Mrs. Hudson if she had ever been married, adding a smile to soften the question. She replied:“I was married for 42 years to the love of my life, Charles”. She paused, it seemed for an eternity, and then continued, “… he passed away 7 years ago and I think of him each day. Be sure to use descriptive words and transitions to make this portion of the paper flow.

Application of Theory . This portion allows you to coin our leaned course material to your case study life experiences. In this section, you must incorporate what you learned from the interview to class lecture and the course’s readings. You need to state and define BioPsychosocial approach used in your assessment, as well as describing how the components of wellness areidentifiable in your interviewee’s life to describe his/hers wellness at the time of interview. In here, you will want to show course concepts’ application to the interview and you can relate to class lectures and readings. Don’t forget: whenever you cite a source you need to give the appropriate APA reference.

Reflection. Here you should reflect on what you learned from this assignment. In two pages briefly describe what you learned from this assignment. Address elements not only learned from the elder adult, but also the interview processes and application of course concepts. Moreover, state what you learned from this writing process. Describe what you would have done different through this processes and explain why. Also briefly describe your own personal reactions associated with one’s own aging process.

A final note:

This is not only a writing assignment. It is also designed to give you experience with interviewing skills. This is a case study – a qualitative research project of a single case. Give it your best effort and you will learn something valuable by listening to a real life story.

The Life Review Interview should present a full picture of your subject’s life. Details help. To accomplish this, you will need to be an engaged listener, involving yourself in the person’s story, and not just completing a class assignment. You may need to interview the person twice, going back for more detailed answers in areas that interest you. At times, you may need to rephrase some of the questions to make them better understood.

You may need to prompt the older adult, using such phrases as “tell me more,” “I think I understand, you were…” etc. Do not force the person to go into detail on a particular topic if he/she is really uncomfortable!

Allow the interviewee to talk about what interests him/her, BUT move him/her along so you can have a story that covers the whole life. You can get the interview moving along by saying things like, “I would like to hear more on that later if we have time. Now, I’d like to ask you about…”

A tape recorder really helps you to get the most out of the interview; however, it is not mandatory.

Rubric: Proposal / Script (3 pages approx)

Criteria	Exceeds Expectations	Meets Expectations	Approaches Expectations	Do not meet expectations
The Learning Proposal / The Script	50 points -Interesting and compelling questions; depth of meaningful connections made to course concepts; evidence of thorough analysis, reflection and insight for interview questions	35-49 points -Competent and well-developed questions; adequate connections made; average level of planning and organizing interview questions	15-34 points -Main ideas are indirectly supported; insufficient, non-specific, and/or irrelevant questions; repetition; lack of originality or creativity	0- 14 points -Central questions are missing or not discernible; little or no evidence of planning, reflection or insight for interview questions

Rubric: Life Review Paper (7 pages approx)

Criteria	Exceed Expectations	Meets Expectations	Approaches Expectations	Do not meet expectations
Interview (descriptive writing)	30 points - All interview questions were addressed and covered all topic areas. - Transitional phrases and descriptive writing was used to describe the interview processes. - Abundant information was obtained regarding the interviewee.	20 - 29 points - Most of the interview questions were addressed, and most of the topic areas were covered with interview questions. - Writing was moderately descriptive and the majority of the interview transitioned smoothly	10 - 19 points - Some interview questions were addressed, incomplete write up of interviewee answers. - Very little descriptive writing was used, and the interview did not transition well.	0- 9 points - Lack of interview questions and responses. - Descriptive writing was minimally or not at all utilized. - The interview write up was very unorganized and did not have any transition from topics
Theory Application (critical analysis)	60 points - Consistent evidence with originality and depth of ideas; main points are strongly supported by pertinent details and examples; support is valid and specific; ideas work together as a unified whole; original, creative and/or imaginative; little or no extraneous material. - Research used to support all course concepts	40 - 59 points - Ideas supported sufficiently; support is sound, valid, and logical; adequate cohesion of ideas; little effort at originality; some extraneous or repetitive material. - Research used to support most of course concepts.	20 - 39 points - Application of course material is unclear, too broad, or only indirectly supported; simplistic and unfocused ideas; little attempt at analysis and/or reflection for analyzing answers from interview questions. - Some research was used to support course concepts	0-19 points - Lack of support for main points; ideas are simplistic, showing signs of confusion, misunderstanding of the assignment; frequent and/or illogical generalizations; no cohesion of ideas; wordiness and repetition; lack of originality or creativity
Reflection (Learning Outcome)	40 points - Address various elements of what was learned through the interview process. - Also addresses what was learned through application of theory by stating correlational examples. - Clearly states what would be done differently if the assignment were to be completed again. - Reflects upon one’s own aging experience in relation to this assignment.	30 - 39 points - Address few elements of what was learned through the interview process.  - Addresses what was learned through application of theory, only giving few examples of correlation.  - States what would be done differently if the assignment were to be completed again, with vague examples. - Reflects upon one’s own aging experience in relation to this assignment providing limited support.	20– 29 points - Address two or less elements of what was learned through the interview process.  - Addresses what was learned through application of theory, only giving limited examples of correlation.   - Does not clearly states what would be done differently if the assignment were to be completed again, with vague examples. - Reflects upon one’s own aging experience in relation to this assignment providing no support.	0 - 9 points - Does not address elements of what was learned through the interview process.  - Addresses what was learned through application of theory, without giving any examples.   - Does not clearly states what would be done differently if the assignment were to be completed again, with no examples provided. - Reflects upon one’s own aging experience in relation to this assignment providing no support.
Paper Organization	20 points - Has varied sentence structures with no grammatical or spelling errors - It's smooth and has effective transitions - Citations are in correct APA 6th ed. format (in text and in the given reference list) - Feedback is addressed in depth	10 - 15 points - Has varied sentence structures with minor grammatical or spelling errors - It's smooth and effective transitions - Citations are mostly correct APA 6th ed. format (in text and in the given reference list) - Writing revision are made accordingly to the stated feedback	5 - 9 points - Has varied sentence structures with evident grammatical or spelling errors - It flows somewhat smoothly, but has limited transitions - Citations are not in correct APA 6th ed. format (in text and in the given reference list) - Revision is superficial	0 - 4 points - It lacks sentence structure, and has many grammatical or spelling - Does not flow smoothly and has ineffective transitions - APA 6th ed. citations is missing - No revision has been made.