From a strength’s perspective, critique your colleague’s approach to addressing Francine’s case.
Respond by Day 5 to at least two colleague’s post in one of the following ways:
From a strength’s perspective, critique your colleague’s approach to addressing Francine’s case. Provide support for your critique.
Critique your colleague’s strategy for applying knowledge of the aging process to work with older clients. Discuss how cultural, ethnic, and societal influences might affect the application of this strategy.
The aging process can be hard to understand and accept by any human being. “Aging is an individual process that occurs at different rates in different people, and sociopsychological factors may retard or accelerate the physiological changes” (Zastrow, et al. 2018). The process of aging includes physical changes, losing close ones to death, and having to adapt to physical limitations. G0ing through this process while having to hide our true self from society, and family members can exacerbate the process resulting in depression, feelings of inadequacy, isolation and even an early death if left untreated. I think in Francine’s case, the fact that she was hiding her sexual preference and not being able to recognize her partner made the aging process harder than it can already be.
Francine’s young and middle adulthood was probably hard since she had to hide her sexuality and her partner from everyone including society. Gay marriage first became legal in Massachusetts in 2004 (Zastrow, et al.), which can give us an idea of the oppression that she might have gone through in her young and middle adulthood. Now, in her late adulthood she can’t turn to her family and close ones that were not aware of her sexuality now that her partner is gone. “She felt that there was little recognition from her family, and even some of her close associates, of the impact and meaning of Joan’s death to Francine” (Plummer, et al., 2014). Now that she has lost her loved one, she can’t find a support system from her family and close ones that don’t know her sexuality because she can’t reveal the nature of their relationship. To cope with this isolation Francine was turning to alcohol and this could affect her aging process even more, than just the isolation and depressive symptoms.
As a social worker the focus of my strategy would be to get Francine out of isolation. As she has lost her lifelong partner, she would benefit from finding a new support system. By working with her isolation, her depressive symptoms can decrease. Her formative years during young and middle adulthood were spent in a heteronormative society, which impacted her personal beliefs. A support group for lesbians would help her feel normal. Francine is in a stage in her life where having social integration and support is very important. Late adulthood is a stage in which social support and social interaction are very beneficial as they can normalize their experiences.
As a social worker working with older clients, I think finding a good social network is imperative. Older clients can feel isolated through the loss of loved ones and close friends, such as in the case of Francine. The loss of mobility older people go through, either by not being able to drive or other physical effects, can cause isolation. It is important that I address this first with my older clients because a support system is a good way to add meaning to our older clients’ lives. As a social worker working with older clients, I need to be competent with the process of grieving, as many older clients go through the loss of loved ones.
Reference
Plummer, S. -B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Foundation year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
Answer preview to from a strength’s perspective, critique your colleague’s approach to addressing Francine’s case.
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