Essay Example on Older Adults: Mental Health Challenges & Health Promotion

Introduction

Older people face special physical and mental health challenges which need to be recognized. The most common mental and neurological disorders in this age group are dementia and depression (Coulton, Clift, Skingley, & Rodriguez, 2015). Anxiety disorders and substance use problems also affect the older population and around a quarter of deaths from self-harm are among people aged 60 or above.

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Health Promotion

The mental health of older adults can be improved by promoting active and healthy ageing. This involves creating living conditions and environments that support wellbeing and allowing people to lead a healthy life. This depends largely on strategies to ensure that older people have the necessary resources to meet their needs.

Holistic Modalities

Physicians can effectively manage pain in the elderly by understanding different types of pain (nociceptive and neuropathic), and appropriate use of nonopioid, opioid, and adjuvant medications (Coulton et al., 2015). Opioids have become more widely accepted for treating adults who have persistent pain, but their use requires physicians to have an understanding of prevention and management of side effects, opioid titration and withdrawal, and careful monitoring.

Barriers

Assessing pain in the elderly is often associated with significant obstacles. Firstly, older adults frequently fail to report pain because they may view that it is an expected part of old age or because they are fearful that it may lead to more diagnostic testing or added medication. Secondly, some patients may accept pain as punishment for past actions. Thirdly, rather than admitting to the presence of pain, the elderly may use terms such as aching or hurting. Furthermore, communication and cognitive disturbances are additional barriers to such assessment.

Available Resources

The resources which have been designed to help older adults overcome these barriers and minimize risk behaviours include: Health promotion media-There are a number of local media stations which are established purposely to create awareness and educate people especially the older population on the need and importance of creating living conditions and environments that support wellbeing and allow people to lead healthy life (Ong, Uchino, & Wethington, 2016). Furthermore, through the use of other media platforms such as written magazines and newspapers, people are educated on the strategies to ensure that older people have the necessary resources to meet their needs.

References

Coulton, S., Clift, S., Skingley, A., & Rodriguez, J. (2015). Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community singing on mental health-related quality of life of older people:a randomized controlled trial. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 207(3), 250-255. Retrieved from http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/14571/1/14571.pdf

Ong, A. D., Uchino, B. N., & Wethington, E. (2016). Loneliness and health in older adults: A mini-review and synthesis. Gerontology, 62(4), 443-449. Retrieved from https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/441651