Incontinence as a Health Issue among the Aging Population - Essay Example

Incontinence as a health issue among the Aging Population Introduction Old age marks a period where individuals are faced with various health problems and as such, they require appropriate care from significant others and social care programs. Because of the health issues prevalent at this stage of life, most of the aging population are incapacitated and require assistance to carry out different tasks in their life. Family members or home care aides can provide this help for instance. A major health concern affecting the aging population is bowel and urinary incontinence. As such, proper care is necessary to ensure that the elderly live a productive life (de Carvalho & Fuschs, 2013). On the other hand, aging also marks a period where individuals tend to resist care because they feel they are relinquishing their privacy. However, the presence of the family is critical in terms of providing moral support. During this period in life, most people are in denial with regard to loss of independence and thus make the provision of care and support difficult. As a result, most elderly people suffering from bowel and urinary incontinence tend to isolate themselves from significant others and the community in general. In extreme circumstances, they often view themselves as a burden to their families and the society in general. In this regard, the support provided by the family and other support networks is essential in enhancing the elderly’s well-being both physical and psychological (de Carvalho & Fuschs, 2013). This paper explores health concerns such as bowel and urinary incontinence among the elderly and the role the family, health and social care can play to improve their wellbeing. Incontinence in old age and how the family can help During old age, most individuals suffer from bowel and urinary incontinence that require proper care from significant others such as the family, for instance. In different cultures around the world, the care for the elderly is a responsibility that is often handed to other family members. This has helped to avoid a situation where the elderly are taken to retirement homes or hospices. This situation leaves the elderly more isolated and impacts negatively on their health since they need moral and psychological support to face a health problem such as the lack to control bowel or urine that come with old age. Among the psychological challenges associated with bowel or urinary incontinence in old age include low self-esteem and the denial of loss of independence. In extreme circumstance, the distress caused by incontinence among the elderly contributes significantly to the increased cases of depression (Silva et al., 2013). Family support is also necessary in old age because, most of the elderly people cannot handle this problem on their own, for example. On the other hand, while taking the elderly to resident nursing homes is prevalent in the modern society, it is still important for the family members to visit them regularly since this help to prevent them from falling into depression due to the embarrassment they face as a result of embattling bowel or urine incontinence. According to studies, life expectancy for the elderly tends to improve due to the availability of support networks such as the immediate family. On another note, it is often challenging to be a family member of an individual whose health is failing due to the frequent care and support that is needed to ensure they live a productive life. However, the best option for the family is to help their elderly with personal care. The family also needs to make sure that elderly access proper medical care and regularly monitor their progress health wise. The role of the family in terms of taking care of the elderly is necessary because some of them are incapacitated or bedridden and need help, for instance, with their dressing and grooming. Most of them suffering from incontinence also lack the ability to perform most the daily tasks in life. Therefore, family care offers the elderly with an opportunity to continue living a productive life (Bhalla et al., 2014). On the other hand, the population of the elderly is expected to increase in the near future, and this requires the family to take a greater role in elderly care. Over the years, the family structure has undergone changes, and adult children leave home to start their own life. As a result, their elderly parents are left alone and sometimes lack proper care needed for those with health condition such as bowel or urine incontinence. Because they cannot carry out most of their daily tasks, adult children are often left with no options but to take their elderly parents to resident nursing homes. However, the isolation from their family members’ affects their health negatively. The elderly rely heavily on the support from family members to meet the demands of everyday life. However, their adult children who leave away from home cannot provide this support at times (Gautun & Hagen, 2010). Among the support that family members can offer to the ailing and elderly include emotional such as listening to their problems, instrumental support that include helping with personal care. In addition, other support systems that family members can offer to the ailing and elderly members include financial support and informational support that include, for instance, advice on medical treatment or sharing family news. Traditional and in almost every part of the globe, the elderly often choose their spouses as their care providers. However, where a spouse is unavailable or cannot help, then adult children and relatives are tasked with the responsibility of caring for the elderly. Professional care in this sense is often considered as a last resort due the unavailability of support network from family members (Pradhan & Aruna, 2014). As a social institution, the family is important in the daily lives of individuals and including the elderly in the society. In essence, the family provides individuals with comfort, encouragement and security that is necessary for leading a healthy life. In most cultural settings, the elderly prefer to live in their homes and closer to their communities rather than face isolation in the nursing homes. While there is an increase in family generations in the modern world, most of these families are fragmented because of different family patterns contributed by marriage or divorce, for example. On the same note, the trend where families live separately has also increased in the contemporary society. As such, fewer younger members in the family are left to take care of the elderly and in some cases, the elderly are institutionalized in nursing homes due to lack of proper care from family members (Muller-Mundt et al., 2013). Quality life essentially encompasses an individual’s physical, social and psychological wellbeing. In this regard, the quality of life for the elderly with health condition such as incontinence is enhanced by the support that they can receive from the family and other support systems. However, due to a prolonged life, the elderly are also faced with a lower quality of life that is accompanied by challenges such as decline in psychological and physiological functioning and a decline in cognitive ability. Hence, family support is critical for the elderly in the society. Most of the elderly expect their immediate family to help in terms of coping with health condition such as bowel or urine incontinence. Without proper support care from the immediate family, the elderly tend to suffer from loneliness, rejection, social exclusion, and this impact negatively on their quality of life (Friedmann et al., 2014). In essence, the role of the family becomes more important with advanced age because, the elderly will require more support later in life. In addition, health condition such as incontinence is a symptom of other chronic illness suffered by the elderly and as such, it is important for the immediate family members to be close and provide the needed care. Since most of the elderly with a condition such as incontinence also suffer from diseases such as Parkinson, the presence of family members is necessary to help with most physical tasks such as feeding and giving medication, for example. The presence of the immediate family is important especially in situations where the elderly are in danger of sinking into depression due to the loss of independence. In addition, the elderly who are residents in a nursing home also need family support in terms of ensuring they access quality care. On the same note, the supportive roles that family members provide to the elderly suffering from incontinence are necessary for quality care (Alpert & Womble, 2015). Further, it is important to note that, the elderly like to spend time with their family members rather than acquaintances. In most cases, the lack of social support is considered a key contributor to poor medical outcomes among the elderly in the society. Consequently, establishing a social network of family and friends helps to minimize stress, loneliness and promotes well-being among the elderly. In terms of supporting the elderly that are resident in nursing homes, the family members can engage in a number of roles geared at improving the quality of life for the elderly. For example, assistance from family members can involve active participation with the caregivers working in nursing homes to improve the care provided to the elderly residents. In addition, higher levels of family support and frequent visits play a role in improving the health of the elderly in resident nursing homes. On the other hand, family visits to resident nursing homes can be impeded by the mental or cognitive impairment of the elderly patient. Further, a poor past family relationship can also affect the ability of other family members to provide quality care to the elderly (Gautun & Hagen, 2010). In the nursing homes that take care of the elderly, family visits are often necessary in terms of helping the caregivers understand the history and personality of the elderly to enhance individualized care. Improving communication networks is another way that family members can connect with the elderly. This is necessary especially where the family members of the elderly resident in nursing homes live far away. On another note, informal caregivers such as the family normally provide most of the care targeting the elderly, for instance. In addition, informal care in the modern society has remained extensive despite the introduction of formal care. Most of the care provided by the family members is in the domain of professional caregivers, for example, families now care for the elderly suffering from health condition such as incontinence despite the need for specialized treatment. In addition, due to the increase in life expectancy, the services of caregivers are now focused on providing care at home. As a result, family members are also required to understand the knowledge and skills necessary to take care of the elderly suffering from incontinence, for instance (Kwak et al., 2014). However, because of demographic and social changes, for instance, informal care is exposed to a number of challenges. For example, the shift of roles where women are now joining the labor market impacts negatively on informal care provided to the elderly. While the care of disabled relatives is not a new phenomenon, the challenges that the elderly face require their relatives to provide care for longer periods. In addition, there is consensus regarding informal care’s role in helping the elderly remain in the community and thus preventing their institutionalization. Most elderly people prefer to remain at home, and this is important in enhancing their quality of life. In addition, providing care for the elderly at home also help to save public resources that are channelled to manage nursing homes for the elderly. In this regard, it has become a necessity for professional caregivers to train family members to provide care for the elderly (Silva et al., 2013). The training is necessary to improve effectiveness and quality of informal caregivers. Further, in order to avoid incidents of aggressive behaviour towards the elderly, for example, it is necessary for professional caregivers to support informal caregivers who in most cases are immediate family members. Sometimes, the care for an elderly relative can affect the quality of life or physical and mental health of the caregiver. As such, it is important for the professional caregivers to lend their support to the informal caregivers in terms of coping with the burden of taking care of an elderly and ailing family member. The caregiver’s health also affects the level of support they can offer and need to cope with stress or burden that comes with taking care of an elderly family member. Previous studies indication that a significant number of caregivers consider their health status as poor. For instance, some of the primary caregivers complain of functional disability and particularly, the spouses who themselves are at advanced ages. In this regard, providing support to informal caregivers requires the development of various intervention programs that caters for caregivers needs. This includes counselling, social and emotional support and financial support (Alpert & Womble, 2015). The role of health and social care in supporting the elderly with health condition such as incontinence The populations of elderly who need help with basic tasks, for example, but are struggling on their own due to lack of social care continue to increase. In the UK alone, over 900,000 people that are 65 years and above lack state-funded social care and this figure is expected to rise in 2015. In this regard, the establishment of long-term care is necessary to help deal with numerous challenges that the elderly face in the society. In addition, social care targeting the elderly particularly those suffering from various health conditions that include incontinence, should be accessible free at the point of use. The funds needed to develop an efficient social care program can be generated through taxes, for instance. The aging are considered the largest users of the NHS in the UK, for instance, where they account for approximately 75% of activity. In addition, the elderly occupies at least 60% of beds in the hospitals, and it is expected that their health and social care needs will continue to rise especially in elderly patients with long-term health conditions that include, for instance, incontinence (Stewart, 2012). Since the population of older people aged 85 and above is expected to rise in the near future, it is important for the NHS to develop the capacity needed to cope with the increasing demand of the aging population. In this regard, there is a need for reforms to establish an integrated health and social care program that focuses on a holistic and seamless care for the aging population. While most of the aging populations are in contact with the health care system, only a few can access personal social services. In the UK, approximately 15% of the aging population access social care established by their local authority and 2.5% are provided access to nursing home care (Stewart, 2012). In both developed and developing world, a significant population of the elderly cannot afford to pay for their health care. As a result, the health condition of most of the elderly people becomes worse due to lack of proper medical attention. In this sense, government-funded health, and social care is necessary to cater for the elderly population who cannot afford to pay for their health care. While informal care is preferred particularly for the elderly with severe disability that requires personal care such as toileting, for example, there is need for support from responsible authorities to ensure the quality of life for the elderly is maintained (Horton & Johnson, 2010). The support from relevant authorities ensures that the elderly access long-term care at home where they can receive informal care. In addition, most elderly people prefer informal care than being institutionalised in a nursing home where they are separated from family members and the community. As such, there is a need for a program that integrates both formal and informal care to improve the quality of life for the elderly who prefer to receive care from their home. On another note, the elderly also need a subsidised long-term care and particularly those with severe dependency needs (Kehusmaa et al., 2012). An improvement of health and social care services is important in terms of ensuring that the older people suffering from various health conditions that include incontinence have an opportunity to access proper treatment. In addition, it is also necessary for the responsible authorities to strengthen community teams, for example, to ensure that the elderly capitalise on the care provided by the community networks. Further, it is also beneficial for the responsible authorities to establish sustainable services such as a making sure that enablers are in place to improve community services. This involves, for instance, investing in better technology and workforce planning to enhance health and social care services provided to the elderly (Dilworth-Anderson et al., 2012). On the other hand, a successful integration of health and social care services for the elderly may involve, for instance, giving priority to older people with complex needs. Since the need for care often emerge unexpectedly and the most of the elderly do not know where to seek help, rapid intervention is necessary to enhance the provision of care for the aging population. For instance, the creation of rapid response teams plays a role in minimising unnecessary hospital admissions or nursing homes (Ilnca & Calciolari, 2015). Further, the integration of intermediate care and intensive rehabilitation is important in terms of helping the elderly to regain their health and independence. In terms of improving health and social care, the responsible authorities should also focus on preventative visits particularly in nursing homes where older people are the residents. This helps caregivers to keep in touch with the clients and facilitates the provision of care at an early stage (Dahl et al., 2015). In addition, strategies where the local authorities and hospitals work together also help to enhance follow-ups for the elderly in their homes. This further helps to improve the integration between community care and hospitals that serve the elderly (Robertson, 2011). An efficient health and social care program for the elderly should also focus on improving the social, physical and psychological needs of the aging population. On another note, the role of care managers in the hospitals is also important in terms of fast tracking hospital discharge by focusing on the client’s needs. In essence, efficient health and social care services entails a focus on the general needs of the elderly patients and matching them with the existing resources. In this regard, the introduction of multidisciplinary assessment teams is necessary to cater for the needs of elderly people suffering from various health conditions such as incontinence (Dahl et al., 2015). Conclusion Old age marks a period where the elderly are vulnerable and need care from family members or other support systems such as health and social care services. Most elderly people suffer from various health conditions that include incontinence, for example, and thus require proper medical treatment. In this regard, the family members play an important role in terms of ensuring that the elderly lead a quality life. On the other hand, an improvement of health and social care services ensures that the elderly in the society can access services that for instance include medical treatment and care in nursing homes that are funded by the government. References Alpert, J.M., & Womble, F.E. 2015. Coping as a caregiver for an elderly family member. Health Communication, 30(7), 714-721. Bhalla, A., Suri, V., & Kaur, P. 2014. Involvement of the family members in caring of patients in acute care setting. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 60(4), 382-385. Dahl, U., Johnsen, R., & Saetre, R. 2015. The influence of an intermediate care hospital on health care utilisation among elderly patients - a retrospective comparative cohort. 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