Supportive Housings

One of our clients in my practicum aged 90 cannot apply for supportive housing. She had been a widow for almost 20 years and does not have children or any family members. Her friends died a long time ago. She needs to be in a supportive housing for safety purposes since she is demented. She forgets to close the oven most of the time and tends forget her medication. She does not have any social activities as well. If she will be in a supportive housing there will be someone who can look after her and check her medication. Although there is a Home Care Attendant who looks after her but with limited time. She needs twenty four hours of care.

I conducted a tour of six supportive housing facilities here in Winnipeg last September/October 2010. I visited these Supportive Housing facilities because I needed to become familiar with the programs and services that the facilities offer. As a social work student who is doing practicum at WRHA this gave me knowledge as to who and when to refer clients.

I discovered many things during my tour. I found out that in every supportive housing facility, women have 90% more population than men. Interestingly, according to Moris et al. (1999), “women have more life expectancy than men...and women tend to outlive their husbands” (p. 3). This clearly shows that there are more population of elderly women than elderly men. I also discovered different things in supportive housing facilities. Some of them are much safer and much convenient in terms of programs and services. Seniors have different kind of activities every day and they are well taken care of. Seniors can garden during summertime and can go to the veranda and sit for a while for coffee. Some of the facilities have a friendly environment and I think seniors enjoys being in there. The services can be accessed right on the site like, salons, spas, jewellery shops, bookstore, and etc.

However, there are also supportive housing facilities that do not have many activities and are not safe for seniors in terms of people going in and out of the building especially around down town areas. There are also supportive housings that are intended for low income elderly people. Which means that services are not as good compared to those middle income supportive housing facilities. I am really concerned because those seniors who do not have sufficient income just end up with a supportive housing that does not have sufficient services for seniors to enjoy the last days of their lives.

Nothing is going to be worst if a client cannot go for a supportive housing because of the eligibility criteria set. According to Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to be eligible for a client to be accepted is to “have a family member or advocate that are in agreement with philosophy of the program and accept that a move to another suitable location will be necessary when the individual no longer meets the criteria of the supportive Housing Program” (Supportive Housing Criteria, n.d.).

What if the client does not have a family member or an advocate? Considering the fact that she has outlived all her family members and has no friends and other relatives who will visit and can take him/her for an appointment? Would that be just demeaning again on the client to be in a supportive housing? Since elder women comprise most of the elderly population then women are more affected than men. Sometimes clients don’t have family members who can take them for an appointment. I think Supportive Housing should change their criteria especially in terms of accepting the client with or without family members who can take them for an appointment.

Reference:

Morris, M., Robinson, J., Simpson, J., Galey, S., Kirby, S., Martin, L., & Muzychka, M. ( 1999). The changing nature of home care and its impact on Women’s vulnerability to poverty. Status of Women Canada. Retrieved April 2, 2011, from

http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collectionSW21-49-1999-IE.pdf.

Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Supportive Housing Entry Criteria # 4 doc. n.d.

Sexuality

Sexuality

I’ve chosen sexuality among elder because I am curious about how elders deal with their sexuality especially among elderly women who have gone through menopause. From the place where I grew up if the woman hits menopause then it is the end of her sexual life. Those are just beliefs and I want to know if that is the case.

There are different perception among sexuality among elders depending on the cultures. According to Ehrenfeld et al. (1999), “sexuality is an integral part of human life throughout all stages of the life span” (p. 145). This means that sexuality needs to be part of care among elders. “Many younger people have a negative attitude toward sexuality among older people; some even view it as immoral and disgraceful. Elderly people, in contrast, see sex as a natural extension of their way of life, especially since love in later life usually undergoes transformation and amplification, and people feel love more strongly…. Therefore it is not surprising that the human need for touch, hugs and kisses increases with age in both men and women” (Ehrenfeld et at., 1999, p. 144). Sometimes it is perceived that as women get to the menopausal stage sexual activities are much lesser. A woman’s ethnic and cultural background shapes her attitude to the menopause, as well as her expectations regarding sexuality and intimate relations. “There are number of factors that can impinge on sexuality…. These includes hormones, ageing itself, length of a relationship, declining physical health, chronic conditions and their medication, education and mental health” (Pitkin, 2011, p. 34).

In my field practicum I have experienced a widowed lady, aged eighty years old who is demented and at the same time had alcohol problems. She spends time with the man living in the same building where she lives. He is demented as well but not as bad as she is. They both have alcohol problems and spend most of the time together. It struck me when one of the health care attendants found her underwear over the man’s laundries, which made me think if she is aware sexual activity. There were reports that it happens all the time and it made me wonder. I don’t want to assume things but I think something is happening. Based on this lady, though she is eighty years old, it clearly shows that though she passed menopause she has sexual life.

I also talked with another woman and asked her about sexuality, she is around sixty five years of age and she said she also have sexual life and stated that women can have it or not based on their own personal choice and perception about sexuality. Women’s sexuality is multifaceted and it is difficult to separate the effects of ageing and changing of hormones especially if women are passed menopause.

On my own perception being a Social Work student where I am doing an assessment it is also important to have an understanding that older people are not just merely experiencing memory loss, health concerns, needs assistance from their caregivers and are sexual beings. Based from the articles that I read it is so easy from the workers perspective to understand that elderly do need love and care but difficult to accept romance. It is important to understand that they are also human beings who have biological needs. I guess it might be too personal to ask them if “they are sexually active or not” who cares? But then again it is important to have an understanding on this kind of issue rather than attach stigma on it.

Reference:

Ehrenfeld, M., Bronner, G., Tabak, N., Alpert, R., & Bergman, R. (1999). Sexuality among institutionalized elderly patients with dementia. Nursing Ethics. 6 (2) 144-149.

Pitkin, J. ( 2009). Sexuality and the menopause. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetric and Gynaecology. Retrieved April 2, 2011, from http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/science.

Suicide among Elders

Suicide among Elders

I personally had experienced a relative who committed suicide because of various reasons. He was around seventy five years of age that time. It was so hard to accept the fact that he committed such a thing. There were varieties of reasons that the family suspected why he committed the act. Some of the reasons were loneliness, being dependent on his wife, does not have social network, illnesses, and difficulties of accepting the death of his favourite grandson. It is said that “social isolation is an accepted factor for suicide. Living alone and loneliness may be the most highly correlated social variable in late life suicide” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 351). By that time I really did not understand why he did such thing and I felt really sorry for him. I consider this man very tough in terms of dealing with different kinds of struggles. He was well respected in their town in fact he and his wife were awarded as one of the most promising couple in their town, since they were able to raise eight children with academic degrees. Considering that they were belong to low income family during their days. I was only sixteen years old that time and his immediate family did not reveal to the people how he died. They said it was because of heart failure but the reality is he killed himself. It was a top secret among the relatives. Now having the knowledge regarding aging population, I realized that though elders are said to be tougher and wiser, they are also human beings who have struggles in life. I became aware that although suicide is a well known predicament among teenagers, it also happens among elders. Sad to say, because my relative’s needs were not well addressed, he committed suicide. He never told anybody, not even his wife. Now having some knowledge about how elders deal with great loss in terms of privacy, power, independence and so many more, I can understand how life would be if I was in their situation.

The elderly more often cite loneliness as the major reason to consider suicide...some other reasons are financial problems, poor health, depression, alcohol problems, not taking prescription drugs properly, feelings of worthlessness and isolation” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 354). Kanel (2007) also stated that “factors associated with a risk of suicide include unemployment, illness, impulsivity, rigid thinking, several stressful vents and release from hospitalization”(p.77).

Among biomedical and psychopathological explanations about suicides among older adults, physical illness which means that older adults kill themselves because they have the perception that there is no point in pursuing life as they are just suffering from chronic illness or some are terminally ill people. In my relative’s case this might be true but no one knows what the real reason. “Firearms are the most common method of suicide among older men and women. The usual household methods of suicide, death by hanging, suffocation, knifing and poisoning with non prescription medications vary by locale” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 351).

“Depression and bereavement are common in women but men suicide more frequently” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 358). Some older men have the tendency to commit suicide and it seems that older women are tougher in dealing with difficulties in their lives. It just makes me think that probably because women are in relationship and are more emotional that they can release their emotions with friends whereas, men on the other hand cannot be open in terms of their problems. “Explanations for the high rates of suicide in older males include divorce and loss of status are related to retirement”( Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 350). There are several facts about the social character of suicide “men commit suicide at all ages at rates from two to four times that of women culminating in twelve to one by age 85. Rates for both men and women increase with age rising precipitously at 75 years” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 349).

Although we have different kinds of services for elders there is a need to more crisis intervention units that basically deal mainly with elders. There is Klinic Community Health Centre but I think there should be more.

Reference:

Kanel, K. ( 2007). A guide to crisis intervention. Davis drive, Belmont, CA.

Kennedy, G. & Tanenbaum, S. (2000). Suicide and aging: International perspective. Psychiatric Quarterly. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://www.springerlink.com/content/k2g71214541wq178/

Consistent Economic Burden is a Contributor to affect Older Women’s Health

Women are amazing, particularly those who are mothers because they take responsibility for everything for their families. Although their housework is not paid, they generally work more than their husbands; they even care for their older parents who have dementia in a personal home. In my practice setting, I observed many family members that visit their loved ones are mostly women who are also the young-old adults. Where are the men? In general, these young-old women frequently contribute their care to the family before the older parents are placed in the personal care home even though they also have their own problems. Such a traditional gendered role and economic burden in gendered workplaces have negative mental and physical health effects to the women’s later life.

In terms of women’s traditional gendered roles, it is meaningful to see the reason that women take more responsibilities for families through a life course framework. Women’s lives cannot be clearly described without considering women’s income inequality, which is a huge factor that affects women’s lives, and where the gendered inequality stems from. Gazso (2010) articulates that mother’s management of their market, such as paid workplace and family experiences, were manipulated by structural constraints in our society, which are imposed by political and economic contexts based on gender, race, sexuality and class. In particular, it is understandable for me why many feminist gerontologists, who focus on studying aging and gender, have paid attention against income inequality for a long time in our society. These feminist gerontologists investigate privilege and oppression by taking look at the life situation of women.

Interestingly, according to Gazso (2010), wage inequality is one of the reasons women are expected to care for their families because women’s unstable jobs help them often quit immediately and take on greater family responsibilities when they face problems in family. This means that men are more likely to be employed on a full time basis with good benefits. In other words, such income inequality in gendered workplaces may account for why women live poorly in their later life.

According to Novak and Campbell (2010), older women traditionally live below the poverty line compared to older men. While “men tend to have more diverse sources of income, including pension income, in retirement in our society” (p. 200), women generally have part-time jobs without pension income, which makes women’s lives insecure in their later life. This perspective supports my assumption that women who suffer from income inequality in their younger life may have negative effects in their later life in terms of both their mental and physical health.

For example, observing older women who are struggling with their insufficient finances in my practice setting, I feel that their emotional well-being status may be influenced by their income which was not enough. Some older women I observed wanted to spend more money for managing their beauty or purchasing necessities, but they could not buy what they wanted. I, therefore, wonder how women’s economic burden in terms of income inequality in younger life affects their later health.

According to Lynch et al. (1994), “men who had experienced economic hardships both as children and adults were twice as likely to die as those whose economic fortunes improved in adulthood. Moreover, the effects on health exerted by persistent economic hardships are over and above those of other [health] conditions that might also be harmful to health” (as cited in Kahn & Pearlin, 2006. p. 27).

Unfortunately, I fail to find studies that clarify how economic burden on gender differences affect older women’s later health. However, based on this perspective, and the idea that explains how many older women live below the poverty line, it is not difficult to assume that older women may face more financial difficulties compared to older men. According to Kahn and Pearlin (2006), economic burden over the life course are more persistently harmful to later health. However, economic burden alone does not affect health. Instead, the health is consistently affected by the ability of economic burden that establishes disturbance in other areas of life.

In addition, these economic stressors may become greater for Black, Aboriginal, and lesbian older women because, as might be expected they experience fewer opportunities for good jobs in their younger lives in light of racism and discrimination in workplaces. It is not difficult to imagine how these women experience greater stress from greater responsibility, and more obligations in terms of their roles in paid and unpaid work. As a social work student, it is important to know how these women’s diverse oppressions or inequality were shaped through their life courses. It is also important to know how I perceive these oppressions and help them improve their strengths, and empower themselves. By examining women’s experiences through the lens of life course, we can help older women reduce their emotional stress. -Eunkyeong

References

Gazso, A. (2010). Mothers’ maintenance of families through market and family care relations. In N. Mandell (Ed.), Feminist issues (pp. 219-246). Toronto: Pearson

Canada Kahn, R. J., & Pearlin, I. L. (2006, March). Financial strain over the life course and health among older adults. Journal of Helath and Social Behvaviour 47(17), 17-31. DOI: 10.1177/002214650604700102

Novak, M., & Campbell. L. (Eds.). (2010). Aging and society: A Canadian perspective. United States: Nelson Education.

Issues on Care giving

Care givers being oppressed

What is care giving? Care giving can include assistance with personal care needs, such as bathing, dressing, and eating or other activities necessary for independent living, such as shopping, medication management, and meal preparation. Family caregivers do care giving themselves may arrange, supervise, or pay for formal or paid care to be provided to the care recipient.

Canadian study (Fast and Keating cited in the Canadian Nurse journal staff 2000) reported that non paid caregivers of the elderly are saving Canada’s health care system more than 5 billion dollars annually. “Saskatchewan has more than 80,000 informal caregivers helping chronically/terminally ill, disabled or elderly adults and children at home . Three out of every four caregivers are women and as many as 10% of these are older than 75 years of age” (Sawatzky & Fowler, 2003, p. 277). While homecare services are available to assist in care, the burden of care often falls disproportionately on mothers, wives and daughters, who are unpaid for their services. Physical effort combined with lack of support, medical knowledge and sleep can often place the health of caregivers at risk. “It is estimated that 60% of caregivers have a health crisis after 18 months of care giving” (Sawatzky & Fowler, 2003, p. 277). Physical, emotional, social burdens as well as economic costs have been reported as negative consequences to care giving.

Another aspect that some care givers experiences are the emotional, psychological and physical effects. Care givers are prone to suffer from emotional pain. This affects her psychological aspect to the point of not having enough sleep and self-care. Their physical aspect is jeopardized that eventually may develop to some illnesses. These care givers also experiences pain because of the situation they are in. They also experience isolation from their loved ones. Their relationship with the one whom they give care is at stake and as well as their relationship with other members of the family and /or friends. Some of the care giver copes with having deep faith believing that their loved ones will be cured and that their agony will end soon. I am not really surprised about this fact because based on my own experience working in home care and knowing a lot of my friends and relatives, the woman mostly become the caregiver. This caregiver goes through many process of change as they experience great loss where they need to strategize how to cope with the situation that affects their lives.

I think women suffer from great loss in terms of their personal identity is what hurts the most, like change of relationship and lifestyle. One of the women that I know of had to give up her employment because she wants to make sure that her husband is well taken care of. According to her, she is doing it because of her great love for the husband. However, the time came when they were not financially getting enough money to support the family so the woman decided in going back to work and applied respite home care for her husband. Though there is home care, it is not enough support as the home care attendant only stays four hours a day. The woman has to work eight hours a day, so she ended up working part time. In most cases it is always women who needs to adjust in this kind of situation. It is not only their personal lives that are jeopardized but also their financial lives. Of course it is a decision to provide care but who is going to suffer again at the end? Women? “ A women’s issues perspective that underlies many current care strategies defines care giving as a woman’s problem, rather than a societal problem” ( Hooyman et. al, 2002, p. 13). It is clear that in this sense women are being taken advantage of.

It is demeaning to know that although the government is saving money for care givers, it is women who are again oppressed here. For me working at WRHA and assessing whether or not the client needs Health Care Aide support is important but I need to understand what the caregiver is going through. This is an eye opener for me to assess objectively what is good for both the client and the caregiver.


Reference:

Hooyman, N., Cloette, B., Ray, R., & Richardson, V. (2002). Feminist Gerontology and the life course. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 22 (4), 3-26.

Sawatzky, J.E. & Fowler-Kerry S. (2003). Impact of caregiving: listening to the voice of informal caregivers. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 10, (277-286)

Old enough to look out for myself!

During one of the group meetings in my practicum the other day, I heard two very similar stories from two of our group members. Despite the similarity of the underlying circumstances, however, the ways in which these individuals dealt with the situation could not have been more different.

In the first story, a gentleman about 80 years old but quite fit informed us that his home-care agency had just called to announce that they were withdrawing his care on grounds that they considered him capable of doing so on his own. The man disagrees with their assessment but claimed that he did not think it worth making a battle out of the issue.

In the second story, a lady of about the same age told us about how she was riding in a handi-transit van when the driver announced that he had to drop her off immediately. This woman is partially deft, and controls her balance problems by walking with a cane. The driver let her off at a bus stop without checking whether even had funds (fortunately she did), if a bus would take her to her home. Compared to the first story, however, this lady is highly self-advocating. She immediately made a formal complaint to the company and has demanded an investigation into matter. At the moment, it looks like an investigation will indeed be carried out.

These stories really got me thinking about the concept of advocacy within the seniors' own world. Very often in social work, we talk about advocating for this group or that group. This is very important, of course, but I think a fascinating subject field may be that of seniors advocating on behalf of themselves and other seniors.

Epstein, West, and Riegel (2000) present an interesting account of an organization called the Joint Public Affairs Committee for Older Adults, which aims to help train seniors to be their own advocates. For myself, I feel that this is a far superior solution to the problem because it honors the self-determination and respect that seniors deserve, not as helpless child figures, but as fully-functioning adults. When the lady in the story above gets her formal apology from the transit company, it will affirm the efficacy and effectiveness that she still possesses and will be a statement of her own relevance. Even representation by the best social worker advocate in the world could never get her that same confirmation.

Clearly, as seniors age, their facilities will inevitably begin to diminish and their ability to be strong advocates for themselves and others will be reduced, as well. Nevertheless, giving seniors the tools to maintain their ability to stick up for themselves for as long as possible seems to me to be one of the best, noblest, and most sustainable long-term solutions to the problem of ageism.

Secondly, the story of gentleman whose homecare was withdrawn provides what I consider to be another interesting comment upon overcoming ageism. Admittedly, this is far from the usual ground we cover, but I would like to introduce it as a discussion point, nonetheless. There is definitely more than one interpretation to be made from this story, however, the one that interests me most is that this particular senior, despite not necessarily going to bat for himself as enthusiastically as the other lady, had the financial resources on hand to suffer only an inconvenience instead of a disaster. As a result, despite the decision of his homecare agency, he avoided being marginalized by this outcome.

As we have often found in in these blogs, seniors are a much-oppressed group, and oppression often comes hand-in-hand with powerlessness. Like it or not, in our modern world, a significant source of power is financial. Donald Trump is 64. Bill Gates is 55. Warren Buffett is 80! Despite each of them technically being senior citizens, none of these individuals is likely to be marginalized anytime soon. These are extreme examples, of course, but the principle is the same. I often worry for the way old-age pension is administered in Canada today, as it is almost a perfectly designed system to marginalize seniors. You pay into the system all your life, then when you retire you hope to heaven that the country actually pays you back as it promised to do. With today's booming senior population, there are serious questions about whether the country can do so. Even if it could easily do so, however, the system still turns seniors from self-sufficient to dependents on the state - and when a person is dependent they find themselves open to all sorts of abuse.

The most important point I want to make is not to blame the victim by suggesting seniors are at fault for their own marginalization - there are, after all, many different avenues of abuse against which finances are no defense. Nevertheless, I think that there is an opportunity here to improve outcomes by reducing risk factors. As a big part of trying to help single teen mothers, we as a society conduct sex education to teens to help avoid unwanted pregnancies. To reduce rates of lung cancer we try to discourage healthy people from smoking. There are many other examples of this; workers safety initiatives, drug and alcohol prevention education, and so forth. Clearly, not everyone in Canada is in a position to save large amounts of money for retirement. Health issues, family demands, and many other factors can make saving difficult. Nevertheless, financial authorities in Canada continue to warn that Canadians who could be saving a great deal more are not doing so (Moore, Robson, Laurin, 2010). I think this is a major potential opportunity for education. How is it that we spend years teaching school children Shakespeare but rarely a single afternoon teaching them about RRSPs, how interest rates really work, the amount of money they need to save for a comfortable retirement, and so on? I think that this kind of education is a must-have, along with sex and health education, as mentioned previously. This is not a one-stop solution, of course, but I think our current system of essentially planning for dependency in old age is a significant cause of marginalization. After all, many years ago seniors were a dominant force in society. They had far more wealth, experience, and political power than did the young. This situation has reversed itself in recent years and I feel strongly that our current pension system has played a role in that reversal. I believe that to a certain extent, this planning for dependency is something that we can and should take steps to address. This sort of education is not likely to be of much use to the current generation of seniors, but tomorrow's seniors are today's youth, and I firmly believe that by building financial literacy and a culture of self-sufficiency today, we may reduce at least, a small fraction of old-age marginalization in the future.

References

Epstein, D., West, A.J., & Riegel, D.G. (2000) The Institute for Senior Action.
Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 33(4), 91-99

Moore, K.D., Robson, W., & Laurin, A. (2010). Canada's looming retirement challenge: Will future retirees be able to maintain their living standards upon retirement? C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, 317, 1-25. Retrieved from http://ideas.repec.org/a/cdh/commen/317.html

Everybody Needs Somebody

Being accepted into the Faculty of Social Work two years ago evoked many different feelings. Mostly, I enjoyed a deep sense of accomplishment; I would finally start working towards becoming a counselor. I have been volunteering at a women's centre offering one-on-one counseling to young women and I felt really comfortable in my role. Offering individual counseling is something I find very fulfilling and I knew that it is what I wanted to do. I think, however, at the same time, it had become my "safety blanket".
A year later, when it was time to submit field practicum preferences, I hoped to continue expanding on what I already enjoyed. Well, either God, destiny, or the universe seemed to have other plans, and I started my field practicum in areas I had never considered before; group work and seniors!
As scary as it seemed to me 9 months ago, today I definitely would not change my experience. With this blog entry, I want to share what I have taken out of the process of group work and how effective and powerful it can be even when professional involvement is minimum.
The group I help facilitate consists of 10 members; 6 women and 4 men. Through the meetings, we have been able to get to know each other and members have shared amazing stories about their pasts and their present circumstances. At the same time, the group members have been able to provide feedback and support to those who need it and the participation from the group facilitators has become minimal as the weeks have gone by.
As in any group, however, we have had moments of confrontation and sometimes rivalry. One occasion that really stands out occurred during our fourth week into the program. As we discussed the importance of feelings and how we often mask them, a group member expressed how he was perceiving a female senior. He said something along the lines of, "I tend to see life in a positive note, but I can't help to notice, that you [referring to the lady] always seem unhappy and depressed". She was overwhelmed by his comment and replied defensively that he didn't know her, and she was going through a lot in her life. She then left the room leaving the group in an awkward silence behind her.
As the facilitator of the group, I met her outside and helped her calm down. I explained to her the importance of coming back into the group and discussing what had occurred. Although she was very hesitant to do so, she at last agreed and reentered the room. When we discussed the problem, it became evident that everyone in the group wanted her to feel better, explain the (harmless and helpful) intent of the comment that had upset her, and offer her support. It was actually a very uplifting experience. I realized that this was the sort of support that can only come from a group of peers, and that one-on-one counseling would never be able to provide it to quite the same level.
In general, I have felt during this practicum that the element of peer support has an important power that small groups or one-on-one situations never really can. For example, if I or another social worker encourage a member to cut down on their addictions, eventually we become just another "mother figure" whose words go in one ear and out the other. When it comes to a large group of peers expressing concern for a person and urging them to modify their behaviour in certain ways, this becomes a voice that is more difficult to ignore. Interestingly, just yesterday, one of our group members who has made major progress in reducing their drinking gave heartfelt thanks to the group for helping provide the motivation and support for doing so. In addition, as Lee and Ayon (2006) note, the inclusion of group members with a similar background helps the group to share problem solving solutions and skills for members with similar issues to work through.
From a broader perspective, there is a major "byproduct" of the group experience that has side benefits in terms of addictions. Fredriksen (1992) points out that the socialization aspect of the group is a huge help in reducing the loneliness and isolation experienced by many seniors, which can lead to direct reductions in the motivation to start or continue addictive behaviour like drinking, gambling, or drug use. This is a powerful result, since it suggests that even a group that achieves no "officially" useful work would probably still be beneficial in many ways simply by bringing otherwise isolated individuals together. Women, especially, may be most affected by this outcome, since they are more likely to outlive male relatives and at higher risk of isolation as a result. This is a main premise of my own practicum work, and it has been very enjoyable and enlightening to see how well this theory plays out in practical experience.

References

Fedriksen, K.I. (1992). North of market: Older women's alcohol outreach program. The Gerontologist, 32(2), 270-272.

Lee, C.D. & Ayon, C. (2006). The power of groups for older adults: A comparative study of European American and Latino senior mutual aid groups. Social Work With Groups, 28(2), 23-39.