Chapter 13 touched on the issues that many women and minorities face in the United States not only throughout the duration of their entire lives but also, as they age and become elderly. Many of the issues they face during their lifetime can have lasting impressions on their ability to live financially stable or comfortable, afford quality health care, live in adequate housing, social interactions, or having enough resources to meet basic needs. All of these factor's can also contribute to an individual's life expectancy. Dealing with high amounts of stress and inadequate resources can lead to depression, anxiety, and a lack of will to care for one's own self. Women tend to face what the text described as a dual or double standard for aging. Not only must they deal all of the previous issues, but also their own concerns about their appearance or level of attraction to others, because the media and society pressure women to look a certain way, this often adds to the issues they must cope with.
The chapter also discussed the rise of the minority group in the near future and the patterns and needs we must address in order to meet the special needs of its members. It is important to educate ourselves about each of the subgroups culture, ethnicity, religion, beliefs, and values so that we individualize the person's make up a "general category" and work at eliminating a cookie cutter approach to meet everyone's needs.
This is particularly important to the future of student social workers because, we will be working with many of these individuals in our future practice settings and in order to be effective we must truly understand, empathize, and be considerate of our clients background to be able to assist in meeting their needs. I found it interesting to know that in our culture we may feel like we are helping and being attentive to a patient, when in fact we may be directly offending them if we are not culturally sensitive to their customs and beliefs. As a social worker we must be knowledgeable and competent because it could be easy for us to make a small but serious mistake that could have a lasting impression on our ability to provide quality services.
Reference:
Hillier, S.M. and Barrow, G.M. (2007). Aging, the
individual and society. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
This learner found that this chapter was interesting to learn about women and the double standards. This learner agrees that concerns about women’s appearance or level of attraction to others, because the media and society pressure women to look a certain way, often adds stress and feeling of doubt. The double standard that women face financially and with aging is ridiculous. The text states that, women are among the poorest in the United States and more than 50 percent of women 65 and older would live in poverty if not for social security (Hillier and Barrow, 2007). This learner found that to be astonishing because women seem to have to fight their whole lives to be beautiful and survive. The advertising today to be young and flawless is destroying the elder population image and worth as well as the younger generation.
ReplyDeleteHillier, S.M. and Barrow, G.M. (2007). Aging, the
individual and society. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.