Case Study: Challenges to Healthy Ageing

Case Study: Challenges to Healthy Ageing Triumphs and Challenges in Healthy Aging Stacey Obispo Everyone has got a story. Your story along with everyone else’s’ develops as you advance through life. Research theorist have studied the stories of different people and have concluded that a persons’ story develops based on; their personal characteristics, the environment in which they live, time, relationships that they have, life transitions encountered and social change (Hutchinson, 2010). The life course perspective looks at how age, life transitions, relationships and social change has formed people’s lives from birth to death (Hutchinson). Encompassing one’s life course perspective is a path full of twists and turns followed by triumphs and challenges aging brings. In this issue of Healthy Aging, an interview with Crista Doe is shared with readers to show has her her life course perspective has developed thus far and how activity and disengagement theories in aging fair in explaining her level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with aging. Interview with Crista Doe Crista Doe is a 75 years old woman living in Lake Elsinore, CA. She is a widowed lesbian who lost her partner of 50 years 5 years ago. Currently, Crista lives by herself in a modest one story cottage style home. Crista retired at the age of 65 as a records administrator. She was employed by the State of California. She chose retirement at 65 so that she could be a fulltime caregiver for her ailing wife at the time. Now that Crista has reached her later years, she enjoys gardening and being a member of the Reptile Society. However, Crista’s physical disabilities have kept her from gardening as frequently as she would like and from being an active member (one that goes to road shows and schools educating the public about reptiles) of the Reptile Society. Crista does not relate to her younger and only surviving family member. She has little to no relationship with her nephew because she never had a good relationship with her nephew’s mother (her sister) growing up. As a result of her failing relationship with her sister she distanced herself from her and her nephew. Crista is the younger of two sisters. Her sisters were 15 and 16 years older than she, both have passed away. Historical change that impacted Crista’s life was WWII. Crista was born and raised in Germany during WWII. She never saw daylight until she was five years old because she and her family lived in underground bunkers and could only come out during nightfall. Her dad was a Nazi army sergeant in Germany. He did not want his position or role in the army but felt that he had no choice but to serve. Crista’s dad and family were Mormons but out of fear of death they never revealed their beliefs to officials. At the age of 5, frequent bombings from the allied forces during the day forced Crista to run out of her bunker. She vividly remembers an American pilot flying low and looking at her then firing. At the time she was able to get cover but debris flying from the air caused by the firing left her scathed. As a result from the attack; she received a back injury and partial hearing loss. Soon after the attack, her dad surrendered to allied forces and was executed. After the war ended, Crista entered into adolescence and along with her mom, and sisters left Germany to live in the U.S. Crista says she had little to no socialization when she lived in Germany. She felt that her socialization process began in her adolescence in the U.S. However she encountered problems at school with students and staff. When she entered High School she dropped out soon after because she was angry. She was angry about the way history books retold stories about the war and how others believed it without question. Crista said, â€Å"The books did not paint an accurate picture as to what happened in the war. I know it because I lived in it†. Crista had an unstable home life due to her mother’s inability to keep a job and support her financially. Crista ended up living with the older sister she got along with and began taking dance lessons to alleviate the pain from her back issues. During this time Crista was able to develop friendships with other dancers. Health challenges Crista has encountered includes spinal injury, a broken hip, and hearing loss. Crista states that her health challenges have been a combination of both environment and age. Her spinal injury has gotten worse and her hip although healed from its break 4 years ago still does not work like it used to. Crista says that her spine, hip, and overall health has deteriorated more since her wife died. As a result of her health issues Crista now gets around using two canes in the house and a walker when she’s out on the street. The last thing Crista anticipates in this stage of her life is death. She says she senses that her end is coming soon. Crista has not experienced any changes in her living arrangements over the last five years. She says she does not plan on making any either. Crista does admit that she has some problems keeping up with the housekeeping but says she’s fine and does not want anyone’s help. Crista says, â€Å"I should be able to do all the things around this house myself, I do not need anybody and I am keeping it that way.† Crista’s has negative feelings about getting older. She says her deteriorating health has taken her away from accomplishing the things that she wants to accomplish and from the things she enjoys. Crista says she feels sad and depressed a lot of her time. Crista believes that her life experiences in Germany have really contributed to her wisdom. She believes that her experiences in Germany taught her how to keep on living and survive. She feels that her life experiences with her wife of 50 years really contributed towards her gaining wisdom about love. Crista’s one piece of advice that she would like to share about aging, â€Å"Life is beautiful, but health has major effects on being able to enjoy that beauty†. Crista explains that aging is not bad. Rather, it is the complications that accompany it that make it difficult. Activity Theory and Crista Activity theory views older adults as being most satisfied if they are able to remain in their social roles (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Essentially under this theory, successful aging equals’ active aging and activity is shown through maintaining active roles in society (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). This theory suggests that older adults should be given as many opportunities as possible to be engaged with work, family and community to encounter higher levels of life satisfaction (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Crista does not fit all the criteria for successful aging under activity theory because her social roles have lessened not from lack of desire but from lack of physical mobility and deaths of family members. Crista’s familial social roles are non –existent due to the deaths of her sisters, mother, and lack of communication with her estranged nephew. Crista’s social ties with work have been cut since retirement. On the other hand, Crista is successfully aging under activity theory profile because she has a part-time role in the Reptile Society and she is active with taking care of her home. Crista feels sad and depressed a lot of the time because she has lost some of her mobility and stamina for doing the things she once loved. Under activity theory it would be assumed that Crista has lost a major source of her identity due to losing her social roles such as work and family (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Her deteriorating health has prohibited her from reengaging in new work roles. She is not engaged socially with family since she lost her life partner and family. Activity theory explains her joy with staying connected with the Reptile Society and her feelings for being sad and depressed because of her lack of engagement in the roles of work and family. Disengagement Theory and Crista Disengagement theory states that normal and natural evolution of life causes older adults to purposefully loosen their social ties (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). This type of natural detachment is not just inevitable but desirable (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). The theory asserts that aging is accompanied by a mutual withdrawal process of the individual and society (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). Crista did not purposefully loosen her social ties. Her physical disabilities have altered her ability to stay as socially active as she would like with the Reptile Society. Her personal social ties to family have been cut due to familial death and to assert that she has cut her nephew off due to her age would be an incorrect assertion because there was never a true social connection or relationship she had with him. Under the approach of disengagement theory retirement and isolation from family members are sought out for higher levels of being (Whitbourne Whitbourne, 2014). A lot of the time Crista is sad and depressed. Successful aging under disengagement theory states that Crista should be having a higher level of well-being due to disengagement. However considering her circumstances, she is not experiencing a higher level of well-being. Furthermore, disengagement theory does not explain Crista’s current engagement with community through participating as a part- time membe r with the Reptile society. Disengagement theory should add that older adults do still desire to be active yet it is their physical limitations and family related deaths that contribute towards the disengaging process. The disengagement process therefore is not sought out by the individual nor does it make them more content it’s a natural evolution that occurs due to life events. Conclusion There are triumphs and challenges that accompany aging. Crista’s story shows that throughout her life course, she has found both adversity and happiness and they have shaped her into the independent and head strong lady that she is today. As Crista has entered her later years her health and social ties have influenced and the impacted her feelings of satisfaction with life. Crista fits the criteria set for satisfaction/ dissatisfaction under activity theory. Conversely, disengagement theory does not explain her current level of being. Understanding the different theoretical perspectives mentioned in this article can help one make sense of their distinctive life journey and in some situations, it may be possible that this knowledge can be used to help improve ones’ present-day circumstances. References Hutchinson, E. D. (2010). A life course perspective. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/hutchisonclc4e/study/chapter.htm Whitbourne, S.K., Whitbourne, S.B. (2014). Adult development and aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives (5th ed.) Hoboken, NJ Wiley.

Create and sell an accessory collection (starting a small business) Essay

The main reason I’ve chosen this topic is because as you will also read in the introduction, making accessories is something I really like doing; It is the first time I can accomplish a school task that has been given to me, doing something that I enjoy. It is just perfect! It will not only help me with my school life, but it could also be the beginnings of a promising future. The aim of my project, parallel to the fact of making accessories and selling them is to see if determination and skills are enough to start a business of my own. I do not believe it would be difficult to design and sell the new collection. What I have to see is how I will finance the whole process. But I am really enthusiastic about it and I will really try hard to put all my ideas into action. Since we had to do a project to pass the middle age program I tried to do a project that nobody else has ever done and something I really liked to do, so the best thing I could think was this topic I’ve chosen, I love doing accessories, it is very original, and I get a profit from it. Every day I work a little bit on this project since October of 2002 when they told us about it. I’ve been designing, creating, promoting, and selling my creations. But in order to do it right, I take down notes of every single thing I do as regards this job. How much I sell, I buy, I design, etc. I have divided my project into subtitles to organize the information in the way it will be easier for the reader to understand the whole process. The areas of interaction related to my project is: Approaches to learning, I had to do methodological work, my sense of effort, being able to hand in a project that hasn’t got any mistake, order of the project, communication and expression of experiences and searching for information and summarizing it. Homo Faber, I started a project of a small business and crated a project that is relatively new, inventing designs, and putting into practice purposes of Homo Faber. Environment, accessories are really involved with fashion and I take the designs from my surroundings, what is fashionable, styles, etc. Social Education, to show people that teenagers can start their own little business and to encourage young people to develop what the really like since they are little because maybe when they grow up they can still do what they did when they were young and to develop their ideas and imagination. In my opinion Homo Faber is the predominant area of interaction because I am starting a business with its pros and cons, also I am working with my imagination and time in order to accomplish my objective. When they told me that I had to write a personal project in Level 4, I wanted to do something different, something that nobody else had ever done before, and it had to be personal, something that I really like doing and what I really like is to design accessories When I was only eleven (11) years old, my mother brought home some big beads and some elastic. I started playing with them and I made my first bracelet. I realized it was entertaining and I preferred spending my time making accessories instead of watching TV. My grandmother gave me some more money and I bought my first working material, since then I have spent days and nights making accessories. My parents complained because they said that because I devoted all my time and energy to this, I did not study. But now I have my opportunity to do both things. Do what I really like doing that is beaded accessories, and also comply it with my schoolwork. This is really great! The idea is not only to design my own accessories but also to see if an adolescent can handle and manage a small company. This of course meant a lot of work, because I have to design the accessory, then promote it and sell it etc. In October 2002 Miss Pat O’Malley told us that we had to chose a tutor for our projects, she said tutors could only have 4 or 5 students, I choose Miss Claudia Zacarian but she already had her 5 students, but after talking to Pat O’Malley they allowed me to be with her. We started working and giving a little bit of shape to the project, I plan the whole essay with her. At March 2003 for my surprise, I got the news that Miss Claudia was not working at school any longer. I felt disappointed because of all the work we have been doing we came to trust ourselves and got to know us better. I had to chose someone else, but it was quite difficult because most of the teaches I Level 5 were new and I wanted to choose a tutor who liked what I was doing and that could help me with my project because she is interested and not because is a school task, so I asked Gabriela Flaiban the level 5 coordinator to be my new tutor, I asked her because I knew she liked accessories. I kept on working with her and she showed me several projects to organize myself better and what was that I had to include in the different sections and to give me a guide on what to do as regards my written work, also she proposed many things (I will explain later) which were really useful to me. It was very difficult for me to organize my work. I told my tutor and she advised me to go slowly. I wanted to sell the accessories I had to think about the colors, shapes, sizes, etc. My tutor told me to start doing surveys and end up doing the design that was the most voted in order of not loosing time or money. But I had to make a difference between people of 12- 20, 25-40, and more than 40 years old. The first thing I had to do was to design the accessories, I drew on a paper different designs and I showed them to different people with different ages and evaluate their opinion and if they will succeed or not. The results are attached at the annexes pages†¦. I went shopping, visited different places and read piles of magazines, and keep doing it actually in order of having buyable. I could get to the conclusion that on the first part of my project, spring- summer collection I stepped against a romantic, and hippie style with lots of colors. But on the other side the autumn- fall collection is full of yellow, red, orange and brown. And both of them had bright colors such as pink turquoise, blue and green in all their varieties. By doing surveys and consulting people I can get to do things that people can get identified with, and as a result they will buy it, this is a tactic that many enterprises use in order to evaluate how much will the selling be so as to produce an amount of products that is adequate to the amount of demand it has. The first thing I did after meeting with Gaby Flaiban (tutor) was the survey. The survey was organized in the following way. It was repeated several times with different accessories. There were 10 (ten) accessories and I showed them to different people of different ages, they had to put them in order from worst to best. In that way I could see which were the three accessories people different ages liked the most. After choosing the final designs, to start businesses, I must have a budget; even tough it is a small one. Five years ago I asked my mother and Grandmother for money, they gave me $100 (mom $75 and grand mother $25). So I went to buy all my working material, and started working. Time made me perfection my style, and neatness but, no matter how good the beaded crafts were I was scared that I will never return my credit, it is very common that when you start a business you can be scared or believe that it won’t be good. So I had to work really hard. Now, five years after, I also asked for a credit, this time a little bit bigger than the first inversion, I had my savings, I used $100, and asked my mother for another $100, my grandmother didn’t keep behind and bought me beads, and wool. After I do an accessory I immediately cost it, the things I take into account are: the cost of materials, hand labor, and how many exemplars I do of it (obviously if I do 10 of them and if there is a big offer of them I will price it less in order to sell it). Cost is very important because if I sell the final product in less money that the one I invested, I’ll be loosing money, but I must have an idea of how much I’ve spend on doing it because the price must be reasonable. Hand labor is also important in this branch there are included several things, time I have spent on doing it, work I had to do and promotion of the product. Offer and Demand are really important. If I do something really exclusive, I will cost more that if I do a dragonfly that are seen everywhere. And if there are lots of demand of something the price will be higher (this is the ABC, of economy) Promoting is as important as doing it, because if I do and don’t sell is the same as if didn’t do anything. As regards the estrategical view where to sell is a very big deal, especially nowadays. Propaganda is extremely important. I could say vital for this job. I usually give a certain amount of accessories to people that are close to me, like friends or relatives so whenever they go to parties or places where there are lots of people they are able to promote my collection, and that creates very good results because sometimes I get a phone call asking me to do a very important request of accessories or maybe people ask who was the one that did the accessory and when they get to see me they are still wishing to buy it, like the one they seen or maybe another they liked best. I also created a web page; you can find it at www. . com. In this web page which I specially created I will show every design I made and the final selling price, so if people like any accessory they can contact me by sending me an e- mail or calling me and buy any piece that has caught their attention. Web pages are a very interesting way of attracting people because as Internet is very used and calls a lot the attention, mainly because of the animation and colors. A very important fact is that being on the net creates a professional image, and that is what I want the customer to think about me because if people think I am professional they will believe that the quality of the accessories are better and that I am a person to trust on because a good image is really important. As an example we have Kosiuko the quality of clothes is not that good but as they do very good graphics, the clothes is original and they promote themselves very good by using very famous people as models such as Britney or Pampita they succeed on the industry. Nevertheless the most important way of selling is to get in contact with a boutique or a fair because I can leave my material and they sell it for me, in a way they make me save a step. As I said before promoting is really important. I tell everybody I do beaded crafts, and they ask me to show them, but it is not enough, shops are really important they make you save time and steps. Having good contacts is important too, the fact of having a friend working in a magazine or being a friend of somebody who is famous, can help me to sell better. This is the part I hate the most and I really don’t like it because I have problems telling the price, and persuade people to buy. I ask them if there’s a possibility of leaving them some of my accessories at their store and if they allow me to do so, they charge them a little bit, for them to be able to get profit out of it (usually 20% -25% of the price I ask for). To be able to keep continuity with the boutiques I am always renovating my stuff for them to keep calling and asking me to do different designs, keep doing that accessory that was very successful or maybe to invent new things such as napkin holders, handbags, sandals or belts, because continuity is very important if not you loose a contact and loosing contacts is a pity. I am actually giving my things to Cool Site, to Captiva and to different fairs in San Isidro. In the economical, fashionable, and practical view there are lots of advantages, but also disadvantages. To start with the disadvantages, the price of the material in Argentina has raised a lot and now I can do less with the same amount of money, materials raised 350% comparing to the past yea, with all the default problem, so it is really difficult to buy the same peaces of material I bought before with the same price or less charged as possible. Besides they are brought from, Brazil, Indonesia, china, and Thailand. A very important issue is that economical problems here in Argentina are serious; people won’t spend money buying accessories if they suffer from hunger. But in order to sell I must sell very cheap knowing the cost of the material for not to loose any money, because nowadays the hand labor cannot be well paid, as it was before. The advantages are that beads are very fashionable, so they are sold a lot, they stick to the fashion and they are really trendy, for every age since 5 to 99 but for each age there are different designs and that is something I like, I do different models following a trend and if they are for old or young people, and I can do with the same beads accessories dedicated to any age or style because it depends the person who is wearing them to see if that is an accessory is for her/him or not. Another advantages is that the crisis has pushed and prohibited people on buying new clothes and also the commodity of cotton has decreased 50% comparing to last year so every piece of clothes is really expensive, specially cotton clothes, that’s why people use old attires but they modernize them by using a beaded handbag or a big pin that calls more the attention than the attire itself so the attire doesn’t look old anymore and the whole outfit is brand new because of a little change, because beaded accessories are very cheap comparing them with the price of clothes. Another advantage is as I sell a lot I have my savings and I can use it for buying things for me like clothes or going on a trip, etc. This is a hobby that gives me money and that is really important for me. I like it and also can get a profit from it. When I started on October I asked the girls of my class, shop owners and my family what they would like me to do, it was an informal survey, because I haven’t wrote it down as a survey actually. But nevertheless I put it into practice. They asked for peace signs, lots of colors, many stars, and many earrings and pins. I kept everything I sold on a diary (annex page†¦) I worked September, October, November, December, and January. February was my holiday month so I didn’t work at all, also march, April, May, June and July. On that summer- spring collection I earned $520 with a mean of $100 a month and my expectations for the autumn-fall collection is better yet. Because I added one more store to give my accessories and promoted myself even better. BOOKS: * â€Å"Bead lings† BY Julie Collins and Candice Elton, Klutz editorial Magazines * Revista † mostacillas† 4th edition Evia ediciones * Internet * http://www.eviaediciones.com * http://www.klutz.com * http://www.mujer.tercera.cl/2001/10/27/moda.htm * http://www.derrochasvip.com.ar/latrama/canutillos.htm

Role of Religion Free Essay Example, 750 words

Lecturer: Role of religion A religion refers to the ritualized ways of beliefs and practices, which are linked to sacred things organized by a given society of believers. The 17th century marked the beginning of a new revolution to Christianity and religion was more significant than it is in the current society. Under the Roman Empire, many changes took place and religion was taken into considerations. The  Enlightenment  Age  contributed to varied challenges to Christians because of conflicts, but there was  increased  religious tolerance (Jaffary 27). Religion takes numerous forms, and different religious believers have their convictions significant for existence and personal gratification. Most people beliefs that when talking about religion, it means about the church or places of worship, but religion and society are related. Religion is inherent, and it affects many aspects in the society including politics, cultural values and social economic values. Therefore, throu gh religion, one can find significant roles and understanding of the society. Religion varies from one culture to another because it involves varied symbols invoking the passion of astonishment and ritualistic practices of a certain society of believers. We will write a custom essay sample on Role of Religion or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page

Analysis Of The Book Wild Swans By Jung Chang Essay

Family loyalty in China has had a tumultuous past filled with fluctuation between remaining loyal to the state, yet also remaining loyal to blood relatives. In the autobiography that also serves as a biography, Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, this is seen. The book, which outlines the biographies of the author’s grandmother and mother, as well as her own autobiography, gives an interesting look into the lives of the Chinese throughout the 20th century. This book is beyond eye opening, and is truly a raw glimpse into the daily lives of women throughout China, struggling with situations that no human should ever be thrown into. I loved this book and was truly scared about the world that it opened me up to. The book does many things well, but also has its faults. The author consistently and clearly exemplifies the social hierarchy that consumes China, as well as its obsession with cultural stagnancy. The author also gives intense imagery that thrusts the reader into the scene, and creates a new reality showcasing the truths of China. Although both of those things take main stage in the book, there are a few weaknesses in the book. One, asking the question of how she had such clear anecdotes on her grandmother and mother’s life, how did she have such intimate details? The second shortcoming that Jung Chang had a subjective view of China, partly being that she loves China despite the cards it has dealt her. Her life was not short of hardships, but her family was typicallyShow MoreRelatedWild Swans : Three Daughters Of China1153 Words   |  5 PagesWild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang provides a thoughtful and beautifully painful chronology of three generations of women through some of China’s harshest periods in history. This book review will proceed in two parts. The first will address the significant themes present in Chang’s novel. The second will go beyond literary analysis and delve into identifying the authorâ €™s own bias, and comment on the structure and perspective of Chang herself. This review will overview the themesRead MoreWild Swans By Jung Chang2008 Words   |  9 PagesJung Chang’s Wild Swans combines a first person narrative and real historical events to create a story that is both compelling and informative. Though the author tells different tales in the three parts of the book, the themes of violence, oppression, and abuse of power remain static throughout. In retelling stories from three generations, Chang depicts the hardships faced by citizens of opposite genders and different ages in twentieth-century Communist China. Through the author’s vivid details,