Hi, my name is Ellis, and in this video, I'll be going over the psychosocial changes of the older adult. This card is found in the gerontology section in our Fundamentals flash deck, so if you have that deck, go ahead and grab it, grab this card, and you can follow along with me.
So most of the psychosocial changes that an older adult experiences revolves around loss, and that can include loss of your work role, so generally due to retirement. Older adults are no longer in the workforce. And when I am no longer working and fulfilling that work role, it can impact one's sense of self and purpose, but it also removes a purposeful social interaction, right? When you go to work, you interact with coworkers and colleagues and customers and students or whoever it is that you're interacting with, and when you are no longer going to work, all that social interaction is removed and is replaced often with social isolation. Another type of loss that older adults experience is the loss of loved ones. So of course, as one ages, one is more likely to experience losing loved ones. This can include the death of a spouse or a partner, death of long-term friends, of family members, right? And it kind of just compiles the older and older one gets. Other loss includes loss of independence. This could be for medical reasons, physical reasons, financial reasons, right? It could involve having to live in an assisted living home or a long-term care facility, right? And that financial constraint is a type of loss. People can be on reduced income or a fixed income, and that just impacts a lot of their day-to-day decisions.
Due to all these compounding types of losses, and other reasons - right? - older adults are at a high risk or a higher risk of depression and of suicide, so it is really critical and imperative that older adults are regularly screened for depression and for suicidal ideation.
