Retirement Preferences and Nursing Plans of Baby Boomers - Research Paper Example

?Research Evaluation The of retirement preferences and nursing plans of ‘baby boomers’ (the sandwiched generation who are aged between 45-55)is one that needs careful consideration and thought. Many researchers have attempted to address this issue in both qualitative and quantitative manners. In this study, the attempt is to evaluate three such researches to and to identify the scope for improvement (if any). The papers that are taken into consideration are Baby Boomers in the Middle: Analysis of Social Supports Among African-American Caregivers (Gadling-Cole, 2010), Baby Boomers' Needs and Preferences for Retirement Housing: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study (Elridge, 2010) and Cultural Competency in Nursing Homes' Activities Programs (Boyd-Seal, 2008). Baby Boomers in the Middle: Analysis of Social Supports Among African-American Caregivers (Gadling, 2010), attempted to answer the critical question whether the caregiver burden is a predictor of social supports for African-American baby boomers. According to the researcher, many baby boomers are in the ‘middle’, which means that they are caught in between their young children and their aging parents because of the commitments and responsibilities that they have towards both these groups. Due to these care-giving obligations, they are not able to focus on their own needs. The research focused on the African American community to find out if the caregiver burden were high because of the low level of social support. The researcher conducted a thorough review of literature where the concepts of care giving care giving stress and the peculiar case of African American caregivers was highlighted. The research methodology was to conduct personal interviews to a group that had four specific groups belonging to the age group of 45-55, the African Americans, non-Hispanic Whites, Latinos/Hispanics and Asian Americans. The theme of the research was around four key variables like social support, caregiver burden, quality of life and family obligation. Even though these variables provide an overall picture, it would have been better to include variables that specifically stand out for the African American community, rather than including it in the broad variable of quality of life. In addition, as the answers to the survey were collated through the process of interview. However, the questions were strictly close ended, just like in a survey. If some open ended questions were also included, it could have provided an added advantage of some qualitative results too (Creswell, 2007). The research concluded that family obligations, caregiver burden and quality of living as composite variables were not predictors of social support among African-American baby boomers. Social support had an intense effect on the caregiver; hence, social support can have a very high impact on the caregiver. Overall, the research was very elaborate and was carried under ethical considerations. In the research Baby Boomers' Needs and Preferences for Retirement Housing: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study, Elridge explores the options that Baby Boomers have in retirement housing and tries to understand their requirements. Through a qualitative approach, the researcher has a goal to understand the specific housing requirements of baby boomers with regards to the retirement housing configuration. The research also identifies an additional issue of a huge population approaching the retiring age and hence, adequate housing options are increasingly important. The researcher carried out the research through the Qualitative phenomenological Q-sort method, which is a study individualizing subjectivity as a part of the observation of a phenomenon. This is a very interesting method of research because phenomenology as providing information based on lived experiences. Hence, this method would be able to add the element of subjectivity in the research. However, the researcher has conducted the research with only a very limited sample of 20 respondents. The assumption in the research is that this sample of 20 would be an adequate representation of the baby boomers in El Paso, County, Colorado because of lack of time, lack of sufficient candidates and absence of sufficient funds. However, this is a very small sample to make sufficient conclusions, especially since the researcher has a high focus on finding out the specific requirements that Baby Boomers would have regarding their home. The size of the sample is one key issue that many research analysts and evaluators debate about. Most of them unanimously agree that a small sample size would result in subjective opinions being considered as popular opinions because of lack of statistically significant data (Polit and Beck, 2004). Therefore, the assumption becomes a limitation in this particular instance. The researcher has carried out a very comprehensive review of literature as well as theoretical frameworks to set a good context for the research. The research was also carried out to ensure the validity and with the informed consent of the respondents. The two major themes that emerged out of this research was about living in a home and living in a retirement community. The results showed that the respondents preferred living in a home to living in a retirement community but the margin was very low 13%. Furthermore, many respondents did not answer specific questions regarding the specific configuration of their retirement homes. Hence, the recommendation was that more education is required. In the research Cultural Competency in Nursing Homes' Activities Programs, Boyd-Seal, examines the cultural practices as well as the competencies of nursing homes when they relate to the social activities program for the nursing home residents especially for the baby boomers generation. The researcher used mixed methods research methodology and chose the semi structures interview method. Both qualitative and quantitative components were analyzed through the research. One of the assumptions made in the research was that the activities directions were aware of the importance of cultural competencies and were empowered to provide culturally competent activities. However, this assumption can prove to be a big limitation to the research because one of the key questions that need to be answered is the level of cultural competency of the activity directors. The researcher has carried out an extensive review of literature by looking at the concept of culture, activities in nursing homes as well as cultural sensitivity. The methodology used was of that of correlation research and one on one face-to-face interviews. The advantage of the semi-structured format of interview is that it gives scope for open-ended questions, while adhering to a structure or a format. In the research, around 62% of the sample, or 38 activities directors rated themselves as culturally competent. However, only 4.8% or 3 directors’ scores reflected the level of competency. Hence, the assumption that activities directors are culturally competent becomes a big limitation of the research. On the positive side, the research concluded that 43 activity directors or around 70% of the total sample, selected and celebrated other non-religious culturally based holidays/observances. The researcher also highlights the caveat that the existent literature has failed to operationalize the construct because of which there are different ambiguities that surround culturally competent behaviour. All the three researches have focussed on very specific accepts related to Baby Boomers. All the three of them have focussed on extensive review of literature and have followed different research methodology. The overall theme that emerges from them is that there is lack of significant research on many important subjects such as nursing homes, residence facilities and social support for the generation of baby boomers (Whitbourne & Willis 2006). In addition, it was also noticed that the research in this area is still in a very nascent stage and has covered only very specific aspects. Moreover, these studies are carried out within a limited scope and there is potential to expand it to a much larger level. Therefore, all the three researchers feel that the subject has tremendous scope for research in the future. References Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2004). Nursing research: Principles and methods (7th ed.) Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Thousand Oaks: Sage Whitbourne, S. K., & Willis, S. (2006). The baby boomers grow up contemporary perspectives on midlife. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Works Cited Gadling-Cole C , (2010) Baby Boomers in the Middle: Analysis of Social Supports Among African-American Caregivers. Howard University. Washington Elridge, L K (2010), Baby Boomers' Needs and Preferences for Retirement Housing: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study University of Phoenix. Phoenix Boyd-Seal, D. L. (2008). Cultural Competency in Nursing Homes' Activities Programs. 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