Life Interview with My Grandmother Nana - Case Study Example

Life Interview and Case Study Why this particular person The main rationale of the report is to examine the life of my grandmother, Nana. She is 72 years-old she born in Texas, and she is third in a family of seven siblings. The main reasons for choosing her are my intention of understanding more about her life on matters of health, education background, her life, and get to recommend some ways that she would use to improve her life in terms of health. Family system My grandmother currently lives in Washington D.C she moved to the state shortly after her college level where she got married. She lives with her son, and his family who has been helping her gets by during her aging process. Being at the middle child among the seven siblings, she had a lot of responsibility of taking care of the little siblings. Childhood My grandmother, Nana, had a very happy childhood; she states that they were not wealthy, but life was smooth since her parents provided to them with the necessities and most significantly unconditional love. She also added that, her siblings and she were always happy, despite the fact that their dad died when she was just 15 years leaving behind their mum, to provide them and take care of them. I asked her how life was then, and she stated that it was very difficult for their mum to raise seven children with the fact that she did not have a stable job but finally they made it through life. Marriages or significant relationship When I asked her about her relationship or her marriage life, she was emotional when talking about it. She said that she got married to her best friend, Adam, at the age, 23 years, and they were blessed to have four children, but unfortunately, her husband died in a road accident soon after her fourth child was born. Since then, she has raised the children alone, thus, she had to work an extra harder to ensure that her children did not lack anything. Person’s first job She can remember it clearly it was two years after their dad died, and she found a part time job in one of the McDonalds outlets as a waiter. However, in her college level, she studied nursing, and it was after she graduated she got her first career job in George Washington University Hospital, where she worked as a nurse for 30 years as a nurse. In her early 50s, she got a job in Friends Nursing Home where she worked for 10 years and later retired. She said working as a nurse was one of the most amazing experience she had since she had an opportunity of helping helpless people. Hobbies As she was growing up, she developed a hobby in swimming, and this lead her to participating in several competition in high school. Additionally, she also stated that she also like cooking, and even though her age, she still cook for her son and the family whom they live with. Spirituality/religion Nana said religion was a large part of their life as they were introduced to church at a very tender age and ever since, they have grown to love and practice all the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. How the person views their age or the aging process Although her health is deteriorating, she assured me that she views aging in a positive and healthy way, and she said that perceiving things in a positive attitude helps in accepting the psychological and physical changes in a person. Nana enjoys the quality healthcare provided by the government and does not consider going to a Nursing Home since she thinks it would isolate her to doing some of the activities she like doing, for instance cooking. Discuss life questions I asked her overall, what kind of life do she think she has had, and she replied by saying she think she has a generally good life despite her not so fortunate childhood. She added and said she has made the best out of her adulthood and in her old age; she is still enjoying the fruits of her hard labor. How the person views their health status Despite the rough road she has passed through, she has not had major illnesses in her life, apart from one time she was diagnosed with Tuberculosis at the age of 65 years, but with the help of her children, she was able to get the right treatment. She added by saying, the government has done a good job in developing diverse healthcare system that is able to take care of all citizens. Being a nurse in her career, she said nurses are people to be respected since they play an important role in the health sector. Advice on your professional career With a lot of experience in the nursing profession, she said that she came to realize that despair is one major factor in worsening someone’s health conditions, and besides administering medication, listening and encouraging patients is a virtue, as a nurse I should embrace. Complementary or alternative therapies Through her life, she has encountered several challenges that would have crushed her she did not attend some therapy sessions with a shrink, who helped her understand some of the stages she experienced. She said that physical exercise is another important therapy she used to undertake, and this helped her relieve daily stress in her profession. Provide an assessment of the person including appearance and developmental stage From the responses I got from my grandmother, I would rate her to be a woman of integrity and who stands on her principles. Nana’s has successfully gone through the psychological development stage that is from her childhood to her old age. For example, through her childhood where she learned whom she could trust and who she cannot trust to the last stage where she is happily living with her family. Physical and psychological theory of aging applying to the interviewee Two major theories that apply to interviewee is disengagement theory, where the elderly tend to withdraw from the society by, for example, retiring. Nana retired when she was 61 years and the proponents of the disengagement theory explain this. The other theory is the activity theory, where researchers have concluded that people, who have had active young and middle life, are likely to have an active life. Thanks to swimming and some other exercises she was undertaking in her later life has contributed to the healthy older life she is experiencing. Article Review The article “Reminiscence: An Important Task for Older Adults,” is relevant in the discussion of the elderly. The article discusses some important methods that the care providers for the elderly to undertake to ensure their aging process has no problem. On the other hand, the articles also provide suggestion and reviews of how a nurse should handle an elderly person in either a hospital or a nursing home. The author has provided significant insights in his findings in research on the chronic diseases and the health status of the elderly and how they should be handled in their age. Summary My interview with my grandmother went off well, and I had a lot to learn from her in terms of my life and most importantly my career. The life interview with an elderly is important and beneficial since the process is attributed to promoting understanding and self-understanding. By summing up her life, I had a clear picture of how she coped in every stage of development, and will be helpful in understanding my patients in my nursing career. However, due to her age, I encountered some difficulties such as lack of clear memory of the past events. According to researchers, natural foods will be the best for her health; I would recommend her, to use natural food to ensure that her body is strong enough to fight aging diseases. Frequent walking is another therapy that would be helpful for her muscle relaxation. In the community, today, there are several support groups for the elderly that would help her not to feel isolated from the active part of the community. Sharing with other elderly people would also help her in realizing that she is not alone and can count on them for social support. The interview experience was an enlightening experience to me, and I believe D.A also enjoyed it, as well. Through the interview, I was able to experience firsthand information and interaction with an elder adult besides the classroom learning. It was also enlightening considering the fact that we bonded well, and I was able to receive all the necessary information that was essential to the assessment. References Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. (2010, July 26). Reminiscence: An Important Task for Older Adults. Retrieved from Family and Consumer Sciences: http://fcs.tamu.edu/families/aging/reminiscence/reminiscence_important_task.php Read More