Long-Term Care Preferences among the Diverse Elders - Essay Example

"Long-Term Care Preferences among the Diverse Elders" is a perfect example of a paper on social and family issues. In the United States, older adults prefer to choose long-term healthcare facilities offering preventive care based on their individual preferences. The elderly may prefer home care services based on their gender, the need for attention, and the current living situation. The elderly may prefer home-based care services due to flexibility, comfort, and efficient adaptive care to suit their chronic illnesses (McAuley, 1985).
Patients may also prefer care in a relative's home, and this is reliant on the number of children they may have the living situation and the place of birth of the patient. Such patients choosing to be taken care of by relatives may have confidence in the quality of care offered depending on the next of kin’s financial ability to provide quality care. Patients may also prefer to care in assisted living institutions based on the need for care and their age. Patients can also prefer care in nursing homes due to the professionalism and the competence in such institutions in handling the challenges that they face daily, in the conduct of their activities due to chronic illnesses. In some cases, patients can prefer care offered in a foreign country, which can be associated with their age, place of birth, and levels of education (Kasper, 2000).


Diverse women, health disparities affecting African American elders
Diverse women have many challenges in aging compared to white women due to several reasons. Diverse women are from various ethnicities, cultures with different values, morals, lifestyles, beliefs, and backgrounds. This diversity leads to different attitudes towards long-term healthcare services, and this is directly related to their interest in seeking managed care. Diverse women with different beliefs may choose not to find long-term healthcare, leading to poor health conditions compared to white women who are well aware of the importance of quality managed care. Different cultures and ethnicities dictate the approach and attitude of the diverse women towards long-term healthcare compared to white women (McKinnon, 2000).
The health disparities that affect the black Americans in the United States refer to the higher burdens of illnesses, disability, or higher mortality rates that the blacks face due to different health coverage plans, limited access to quality care, and minimal or low incomes for the dark. The disparities are due to economic, social, and political disadvantages that the African American elderly patients may be susceptible to, affecting their access to quality managed healthcare. Disparities faced by the African American patients are due to a combination of individual, health provider, environmental and societal factors that significantly contribute to these health disparities (Williams, 2003).

Social constructs
Gender- in diversity, gender is a term used to represent both male and female individuals to facilitate equity, and in some cases, the term can also include non-binary individuals (Sharon, 2006).
Ethnicity- in diversity, ethnicity refers to the different categories of individuals that identify among themselves based on a similar language, similar norms, and values, similar cultural beliefs, similar environmental and social backgrounds, and the individuals also share the same origin (Heyer, 2009).
Race- in diversity, race refers to the human grouping based on social and political aspects into distinct categories recognized by members of the society. Race refers to a societal construct that gives individuals identity based on the community (Barnshaw, 2008).
Sexual orientation- in diversity, the term refers to the protected characteristics that relate to an individual's attitude and approach towards people of similar gender and the opposite gender. The term refers to the emotional attraction to particular genders (Beth, 2007).

Demographic trends associated with growing numbers of the elderly
In the United States, the increasing number of older adults is associated with increased life expectancy, increased fertility rate, and a rise in the price of migration into the U.S (Barusch, 2013). The increase in life expectancy by the Social Security Advisory Board set the life expectancy age at 84.5 years, leading to an increased number of older adults in that age bracket. Social-economic improvements have led to an increase in the fertility rate, contributing to a vast population of the elderly. An increase in legal and illegal migration of people into the U.S, led to a rise in population, leading to a rise in the number of older adults in the U.S (Gilford, 1988).