International journal of aging & human development
-
Recent literature on the relationships among dementia, depression, and social support was reviewed, with particular emphasis on the diagnostic differentiation of dementia and depression, and the role of these three entities in elderly individuals with cognitive impairment. Dementia-like symptoms arising in depression and the coexistence of dementia and depression are discussed. Research is necessary to determine more objective criteria for depression and dementia, to provide cognitive and psychiatric testing for elderly individuals, to clarify the diagnostic or prognostic value of the term pseudodementia, and to further elucidate relationships between depression, dementia, and social support.
-
Int J Aging Hum Dev · Jan 1988
Case ReportsClarification and application of Erik Erikson's eighth stage of man.
Erik Erikson used the film character of Dr. Borg from Wild Strawberries to flesh out his life cycle conception of ego integrity versus despair in old age. The present application of Erikson is to three women: Augusta Turnley (fiction), Florida Scott-Maxwell, and Arie Carpenter--three distinctly different lifestyles and educational backgrounds. Both the dialectical struggle contained in Erikson's model of old age and the specific concepts of ego integrity, despair and wisdom are made concrete in this theoretical exploration.
-
Int J Aging Hum Dev · Jan 1982
Humanizing nursing home environments: the relevance of hospice principles.
At the heart of the rapidly growing American hospice movement is a philosophy of care that emphasizes patient individuality and responsiveness to total needs of the dying and their families. To date, the response to this model of terminal care has been favorable. The hospice is viewed as a humanizing mode of health care with a capacity to enhance the quality of life experienced by persons defined as terminal. ⋯ There are, however, crucial differences between a hospice and a nursing home which may hamper direct transference of humanizing hospice principles, e.g., hospice patients are defined as terminal; staff, thus, can be motivated to put forth their best because of perceived time limits. There are also important differences in the characteristics of patient populations, length of stay, economic constraints, ability to attract volunteers, and emphasis on task-orientation. The time has come to apply increased ingenuity to a adapting humanizing hospice principles to the care of elderly in nursing homes.