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New Release
www.cdc.gov/about/cdcdirector/life-expectancy.htm
Developing
Empathy
An Aging Simulation Exercise
July 26, 2013
This presentation is supported by
HRSA (the Health Resource and Services Administration)
The Challenge: Empathy without
Re-enforcing Negative Stereotypes
Your Aging IQ
• An Interactive Quiz
– http://www.niapublications.org/tipsheets/agingiq.asp
– http://www.niapublications.org/quiz/index.php
• Other publications
– http://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication
Ageism and Stereotypes of Aging
"Ageism" --word coined in the 70's by Robert Butler. Ageism refers to
prejudice, discrimination and hostility directed against people
because of age. (Could this apply to teens?)
Expectations about what it is to be older may lead to ageism.
However cultural definitions of old age and the status of the elderly
vary by culture, and even within a culture, images of aging are
affected by gender, class position, level of family support and
health.
Gender and ageism: double standard - women need to maintain
youthful appearance
Men are considered distinguished when women are “old”
Women are seen as needy, men - self-reliant
Medicalization of old age
Since mental and physical decline are inevitable
with aging they should be treated as disease.
William Osler, noted physician of the early 20th
century commented on the relative uselessness
of those over the age of 40.
Even Dr. Nascher who came up with the word
“geriatrics” states “We realize that for all
practical purposes the lives of the aged are
useless, that they are often a burden to
themselves, their family, and the community at
large” (Cole 1993 cf Hollis/Sawyer)
“Senectitude”
• (si-NEK-ti-tood, -tyood) noun
– Old age.
• [From Latin senectus (old age), from senex (old).
• Ultimately from the Indo-European root sen(old) that's also the ancestor of senior, sir, sire,
senate, senile, Spanish señor, and surly (which is
an alteration of sirly, as in sir-ly).]
-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)
One of the first gerontologists:
G. Stanley Hall (1922)
At sixty. . .
Sleep problems
Lack of Energy
Struggle to appear younger
Health Care and Ageism
One important area affected by ageist attitudes is health care.
Health care professionals interact with the sickest of people
and often view the elderly as on a downward journey of
decline and disability. Racism and economic inequality
interact with age to affect the provision of health care.
Myth of older people living in nursing homes. Only 5% are in
an institution at any one time, most likely an 85 year old
white woman widowed, with multiple disabilities that
require around the clock care.
Society has yet to come to terms in dealing with terminal
illness.
Does the expectation of disability lead to disability (selffulfilling prophecy)?
“Sagacity”
• suh-GAS-i-tee) -Keen judgment or wisdom.
• From Latin sagacitas (wisdom), from sagire
(to perceive keenly).
• Ultimately from the Indo-European root sag(to seek out)
• Earliest documented use: 1607.
-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)
What is So Good About Growing Old
Forget about senior moments. The great news is that
researchers are discovering some surprising
advantages of aging
•By Helen Fields
•Smithsonian magazine, July-August 2012
“We have a seriously negative stereotype of the 70s and beyond,”
says Pillemer, “and that stereotype is typically incorrect.”
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/What-is-So-Good-About-Growing-Old.html#ixzz20nFfbJDM