At an older age, a person is likely to be idle, which poses physical and psychological risks. Caregivers have the difficult task of checking on their patients, more so those who have chronic ailments and may be required to be restricted in a clinical methodology. There is a need for training for caregivers, clinicians and family members due to the increased requirements for caregiving (Warnock, 2021). This paper explores two research articles on caring for older adults and advocacy for healthcare inequalities for older adults in the US. The first article is a systemic review of risk factors for loneliness in older adults that was done by Dahlberg et al. in 2022. The second article involves family caregiver perspectives on the importance of caring for older adults done by Shaw et al. in 2020. Through reading the arguments in this paper, there is an influence regarding inequalities in healthcare for older persons in the US.
The argument in the Articles
The two articles have been written professionally, fitting scientific research in healthcare. Dahlberg et al. (2020) wanted to study risk factors for adults who may be lonely by employing a systematic review that helped them identify, appraise and synthesize the longitudinal studies related to their topic. The authors suggested that interventions must be integrated with firm evidence related to risk factors in the population of interest to effectively lower loneliness in older people. The authors wanted to learn more about the risk factors that may lead to loneliness due to an existing challenge. In this case, Dahlberg et al. (2020) study was based on an existing problem which probed them to argue that loneliness in older age has various effects that affect one’s well-being in terms of physical, mental and mortal structures. The authors searched for credible information that led to obtaining results from 34 articles that met their criteria (Dahlberg et al., 2020). The authors argue that the risk factors for loneliness in this group were: not having a partner, limited social network, low level of social activities, depression and other factors.
The other article explores more the perspectives on benefits and constraints that are associated with caring for the elderly, which forms the basis of advocacy. The authors wanted to study family caregivers’ aspects regarding homecare workers. The authors wanted to learn more about caregiving and the benefits associated with the same for patients, clinicians and caregivers. Their research was based on the existing background where many older adults get care from family caregivers or paid home care employees. Shaw et al. (2020) argue that homecare workers offer effective functional and emotional aid to the elderly and face acute challenges while undertaking their duties.
Additionally, the authors put that there should be a right fit between home care workers, the patients and family members since that is essential in achieving any projected objectives. Homecare workers and caregivers from the patients’ families coordinate in matters related to home care for lonely adults (Fantasia, 2019). As a result, the authors found that home care is important to patients and family members who care for lone elderly people. The increased prevalence of caregivers requires clinicians and family caregivers to get training that supports their work as far as older people are concerned.
Evaluation of Relevant Aspects in the Research Article
The advocacy linked with the articles’ arguments is about health inequalities in care for older adults in the US. That being a separate topic means combining the relevance of these two articles and extracting credible positions that may influence the health disparities that affect caring for aged persons. The first aspect essential in linking the perspectives of caring for the elderly and the disparities that may be evident is a limited social network that leads to low engagement in social activities. One of the underlying issues evident when caring for older people is a lost sense of purpose. Older people are isolated in society due to the notion that they do not play critical roles in emerging societal issues.
The reason is that older people may not be vigorously active in society because they are rarely invited to events undertaken in the community. As a result, social activeness becomes affected, leading to healthcare inequality which risks the patients having issues such as depression (Dahlberg et al., 2021). Home care has higher chances of one being lonely than hospitalized care due to the setting that may depend on the number of people in a family and their engagement. It is common for aged people to find it difficult to undertake daily tasks, and they are mostly unavailable since mobility declines with age (Warnock, 2021). Inequality contributes to the risk of loneliness, which is why the authors’ perspective on social networks and activity enlightens a reader more on the inequality in caregiving for older persons.
The second aspect that engages the advocacy about health inequalities is providing functional and emotional support. The perspective is related to health inequality because by reading the work, an audience will realize the existing challenges that make elderly people lack emotional support (Shaw et al., 2020). Most of the time, older people in society may be marginalized and neglected, meaning they live lonely lives, which contributes to the diagnosis of mental diseases. The health disparity of inadequate care for older persons is linked with caregivers’ functional and emotional support. The reason is that if care is not provided to older persons, they might not benefit from the support; hence, that is a disparity in caregiving for the elderly. Therefore, the benefit that this population gets from caregiving helps reduce their issues.
Influence of the Research Towards Advocacy Position
The research explored give me insights into the need to incorporate caregivers into aging adults so they will not be lonely. (Shaw et al., 2020, p. 245) says that “depression and loneliness often co-occur and that there are reciprocal influences over time between loneliness and depressive symptomatology.” The quote means that when older adults are neglected, they face issues of depression which have an impact on the well-being of the individuals. The key feature that links my advocacy, in this case, is embracing social connections to caregiving to reduce loneliness. The lack of appropriate care for older adults has been a rampant inequality in the US, resulting in people during their old age. I observed that failing to involve the elderly socially is a risk factor that leads to solitude. The idea helps me build the advocacy on the need to incorporate caregivers when there is an older person within the society.
The other way that the research influences my advocacy relates to the need to create awareness about one’s condition. Clinical training in caregiving is essential since it draws evidence-based measures that can be practiced to curl any disease that may develop due to loneliness. Research from Dahlberg et al. (2020) has comprehensively boosted my understanding on positive self-perception on health regarding the elderly. In this case, the advocacy is to train this population to change their social attitude regarding any chronic issue they face while old. That will ensure the risk factors associated with loneliness will be reduced while employing a holistic approach in terms of incorporating caregiving for the elderly and linking them to social events that may reduce any underlying risks.
References
Dahlberg, L., McKee, K. J., Frank, A., & Naseer, M. (2021). A systematic review of longitudinal risk factors for loneliness in older adults. Aging & Mental Health, 26(2), 225–249. Web.
Fantasia, C. (2019). In The lingering light: Courage & hope for the Alzheimer’s caregiver. NavPress.
Shaw, A. L., Riffin, C. A., Shalev, A., Kaur, H., & Sterling, M. R. (2020). Family caregiver perspectives on benefits and challenges of caring for older adults with paid caregivers. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 40(12), 1778–1785. Web.
Warnock, M. M. (2021). Distant sibling caregiving changes in the face of covid-19 challenges. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 113(1), 25–30. Web.