How Social Determinants of Health and Ageing Impact the Psychology of Old People

The Case

The case scenario four of 92-year-old Asian female Yu Yan has been discussed with the help of social determinants of health and ageing and these determinants are also used to identify how they impacted the psychology of Yu Yan and her family members to deal with her health issues. It also provides a brief overview of the legislation and policy frameworks implemented by the Australian government to deal with the ageing population of the country. The management of complex and chronic diseases of the ageing population of Australia has also been shown in context to Person-Centered Care and Active Ageing.

This social determinant also effects on the health of the older aged people. Proper housing environment is needed to maintain the health of older aged people. Older aged people believe that effective housing environment provides proper security to their health. The high income older aged people maintain the proper housing environment and change their housing environment as per their needs. High income older aged people have also maintained the clean environment in a house which is preferable for their health condition (Garg et al., 2016). But the low income older aged people not properly maintain the housing environment which preferable for their health. The low income older aged people do not have an afford to improve their housing environment and also not maintain the clean environment in the house. Majority of the older aged people prefer the housing environment in every place.

This situation also affects the health of older aged people. In this case study of the Yu Yan Lee, she is a 92 years old widow female who is admitted in the hospital for treatment of tumour on her right calf. She lived with her son and daughter in Law. She refuses the food facility from the hospital. She prefers food from the house. Proper clean housing environment is needed for her treatment. Proper house caring for her leg infection is required to improve the condition of her leg but she also raises the question about the quality of the caring after getting proper personal care from the staffs of the hospitals. These are the factors which create an impact on the health of the older aged people because they are always preferred the housing environment in every location.

Economic security is playing an important role in ensuring the well-being health of old aged people. Majority numbers of the old people stated that they satisfied with their financial and economic state and others are stating that they are facing financial difficulties to pay their monthly expenses of living. The proper income facility is required to maintain the health of older aged people. This social determinant creates an impact on the health of the older aged people because they are always tensed with the income factor because older age people not have an ability to income by own competence (Adler et al., 2016). Income is the factor which is related to the economic states of the family. Poor economic state decreases the health condition of the older aged people, and comfortable economic state maintains the wellbeing health of the older aged people.

In this case study of the Yu Yan Lee, she is a 92 years old widow female who is admitted in the hospital for treatment of tumour. She lived with her son and daughter in Law, and there is also no income facility by herself in this age. This economic factor effect on the health of the older aged people and Mrs Lee also faced this phase. So she refuses the food facility of the hospital and also raises a question about the quality of the caring because she is depending on her son financially.

Belonging also creates an impact on the health of older aged people. Belongings like community belonging are needed for ensuring well-being condition of the older aged people’s health. Community Belongings means psychological connection. It creates feelings that they are also part of the community and community provides proper value to the older aged people. Also, society accepts the decision of older aged people. This social connectedness creates an impact on the health of older aged people. This factor also reduces the loneliness and maintains the health condition of older aged people (Thornton et al., 2016).

Older aged people prefer community belongings. They are also want to engage with their family members through proper communication. This effective family connection helps to improve their health condition. In this case study of the Yu Yan Lee, she is a 92 years old widow female who is admitted in the hospital for treatment of tumour on her right calf. She lived with her son and daughter in Law. She refuses the food facility of the hospital because she prefers the foods from the house because she wants to connect with her family and wants to communicate with them. Effective and positive communication increases the will power.

This social determinants factor transport also creates an impact on the health of older aged people. Reliable transportation service is required for the older aged people for medical appointments, for attending social events. Proper transportation services do not affect the health of older aged people. High income older aged people have the ability to afford adequate transportation services for medical appointments and for attending social events (Taylor et al., 2016). But the low income older aged people do not have an ability to afford adequate transportation services for medical appointments and for attending social events.

The poor transportation services deteriorate the condition of the health of older aged people. In this case study of the Yu Yan Lee, she is a 92 years old widow female who is admitted in the hospital for treatment of tumour on her right calf. She lived with her son and daughter in Law. She depends on her son financially. The proper transportation services like will chair facility and ambulance facility is mostly needed for her health condition because she is suffering from infection on her right calf.

Attainment of education is directly associated with better health throughout life. Studies have shown that education helps to equip people with better employment options in the future and have a secure income to provide adequate housing for themselves, provide for their families and also prevent ill health through informed health care choices (Marmot, 2018). The education level of an individual not only impacts his health in the future but also the health of their family members, especially small and dependent children.

In the case of Yu Yan, an elderly Asian female, the education level of the patient was not adequate due to cultural and ethnic norms, and that is why she was unable to make better health choices that would help her heal faster and deal with the situation. As education also helps to understand the necessity of social interaction, she was unable to interact with the hospital staff and was fully dependent on his son for intensive care. Also, without the education she was unable to understand why prescribed food is necessary for her recovery and was willing to eat the home-made food provided by her family.

Multiple studies have shown that employed people have a lesser risk of death and less prone to illness and disability compared to other unemployed people of the same age. Unemployment also causes psychological stress and impacts the physical and mental health and well-being of the individual.

Likewise, the opposite is also true for some as illness causes them to become unemployed, and in return, they face health problems due to the psychological consequences and financial problems associated with it. Once people are employed, they are able to use their work arena which influences their health as well. Participating in quality work helps to instil self-esteem and positive energy in the individual and also provide an opportunity for social interaction and personal development which is necessary for good mental and physical health. In the case of Yu Yan, she is 92 years old and is unemployed. She is dependent financially on her family for the intensive care she needs. As suggested by the study, without employment she has very low self-esteem and is not confident enough for making social interaction and personal development. Additionally, she is also stressed and unable to lead active ageing due to the unavailability of workspace.

The Australian government has made certain legal and policy framework for helping the ageing population of the country. These legislations and policies have been enforced for quite some time although some of them still require changes and amendment. The national legislation and policy frameworks of Australia related to ageing are as follows:

The government has implemented the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act in 2018 which follows a set of rules to take care of the ageing population in the country (Beard et al., 2016). Additionally, the Aged Care Act of 1997 is considered as the overarching legislation which determines the limitations and responsibilities that should be followed by the aged care providers of the country to qualify for the subsidies provided by the Australian government (Carr, Biggs & Kimberley, 2015). In the UK, Aged Care Act of 1997 is governed by deprivation of liberty safeguards. This has been a subject of criticism in the country (Alrc, 2019).

The policy framework of the Australian government is supported by a number of documents and policies, and they are The Aged Care Complaints and Guidelines (Legislation and policies | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, (2019), Policy for managing the unreasonable conduct from external parties, Complaints about the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Policy, Privacy Policy and Notice of Collection. The Aged Care Complaints and Guidelines helps in dealing with any disregards with respect to the provision of the proper care to the elderly in the country.

Of these, the first two policies are still under progress and will be introduced and enforced soon in Australia. Other primary legislation of Australia includes Aged Care Act 1997, Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997, Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Act 2006, Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Levy Act 2006, Australian Aged Care Quality Agency Act 2013 (Eaton, Roberts & Turner,2015), Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (Transitional Provisions) Act 2013. The Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 deals with the charging of an accommodation bond for an elderly under residential care service.

The Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Act 2006 deals in providing accommodation payment balance of an individual who has been approved provision of. Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Levy Act 2006 guarantees the individual to get the accommodation payment (bond) balance if the provider becomes insolvent. The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency Act 2013 and Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (Transitional Provisions) Act 2013 establishes the principles governing the aged care agencies (Eaton, Roberts & Turner,2015).

There is also the Aged Care Amendment Act of 2016 that amends the act of 1997 in the following way. The amendment changes the process of transferring the patient between places which was previously approved by the providers and is now replaced with an application form consisting of a clear notice of transfer and is signed by the transferring parties (Blank, Burau & Kuhlmann, 2017).

It also increases the total time period required by the approved providers to make an approved place operational (Policy design for an ageing population, 2019). The time was increased from 2 to 4 years in the amendment but also limited the number of extensions the providers can ask for.

Some of the other legislation that is indirectly related to aged cure is as follows. Quality Agency Reporting Principles 2013, Accountability Principles 2014, Certification Principles 1997, Information Principles 2014, Quality of Care Principles 2014, Records Principles 2014, Sanctions Principles 2014 and User Rights Principles 2014 (Thomas, Lobo & Detering, 2017).

Under the Aged Care Act 1997, Quality Agency Reporting Principles 2013 establishes a guideline for the CEO of the new agency to be reporting to the Department of Social Sciences for the matter related to the home care and residential care services. Under the section 96-1 of the Aged Care, The Accountability Principles 2014 deal with the tax provisions of the agencies providing services for aged people (Thomas, Lobo & Detering, 2017).

There are some additional social media policies as well that the government of Australia follows in connection to the aged care. They are Acceptable Use Policy, Privacy Statement and Disclaimer.

The legislation and policies discussed above provide some features to the person-centred care in Australia. One of the features is that the patient-centered care gives the patient and his family members the ability to make important decisions regarding the planning care and treatment of the patient. The concept of person-centred care focuses on the importance of individual preference and diversity while receiving treatment and health care (McCormack& McCance,2016). This type of care is based on the personal needs of the patient and provides the right to make one’s own health decisions and choices regarding treatment. It also gives the right to comment on health care treatment, raise questions to the healthcare provider authority and even complain about treatment facilities.

In context to the case scenario, the treatment Yu Yan received promotes the idea of person-centred care which allows her family members to provide food of her own choice instead of the prescribed food served by the hospital and also provide intensive care to the patient. It also shows how the family members of Yu Yan are unhappy with wound care and has raised questions regarding its effectiveness. The Australian government wants to concentrate more on person-centred care and this why the recent legislation and policy frameworks provide such care facilities for the ageing population of Australia.

As studies suggested, older people make up a substantial amount of the Australian population. As of 2017, one in seven people is over the age of 65, and the government of Australia is using legislation and policies to manage chronic diseases in the diverse and growing population. One of the ways of dealing with health issues is the usage of active ageing or healthy ageing (Maritz et al., 2015).

Active ageing can be described as the maintenance of positive well-being, good physical, the social and mental health of an elderly individual through active involvement with his family, peer group and community. As defined by the World Health Organization, Active Ageing is the process of providing the optimised opportunity of health, participation and security for enhancing the life of the individual at an old age (O’Loughlin, Kendig& Browning, 2017). The research about active ageing is focused on the central idea of cognition, health and wellbeing of the individual. Further studies and research on the field would provide better ways so that individuals can attain autonomy and independence of their own well-being and lead a better lifestyle even in old age.

The social determinants of health and age have been discussed conclusively in the assignment for better understanding the case scenario of Yu Yan who has been admitted to a hospital for tumour operation in her right calf. Additionally, due to the interference of her family members in intensive care provided by the hospital, the assignment also discusses the legislation and policy framework of the Australian government to deal with similar future scenarios. Also, the way these legislations and policies impact person-centred care and active ageing has also been discussed in the assignment.

Reference List:

Adler, N. E., Glymour, M. M., & Fielding, J. (2016). Addressing social determinants of health and health inequalities. Jama, 316(16), 1641-1642.

Legislation and policies | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. (2019).

O’Loughlin, K., Kendig, H., & Browning, C. (2017). Challenges and Opportunities for an ageing Australia. In Ageing in Australia (pp. 1-10). Springer, New York, NY.

Policy design for an ageing population. (2019).

Taylor, L. A., Tan, A. X., Coyle, C. E., Ndumele, C., Rogan, E., Canavan, M., … & Bradley, E. H. (2016). Leveraging the social determinants of health: what works?.PLoS One, 11(8), e0160217.

Thomas, K., Lobo, B., &Detering, K. (Eds.). (2017). Advance care planning in end of life care. Oxford University Press.

Thornton, R. L., Glover, C. M., Cené, C. W., Glik, D. C., Henderson, J. A., & Williams, D. R. (2016). Evaluating strategies for reducing health disparities by addressing the social determinants of health. Health Affairs, 35(8), 1416-1423.

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