Eldercare in Singapore: Son's Challenges in Caring for the Elderly Parents
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Question.
Case study in Singapore about Eldercare.
Mr A, 79, has an advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
He is community ambulant but requires a portable oxygen concentrator when he uses his motorized scooter to move around in the neighbourhood.
Mrs A, 75, is the primary caregiver at home.
She has early-stage dementia but still tries to cook and do the grocery.
They live in a small apartment.
Mr and Mrs A are closely knitted and have enjoyed staying in their neighbourhood for nearly 35 years.
Their only child, a son, 49, is married with two primary school-going children.
His family of four lives in an average size apartment.
His wife is a homemaker.
The son visits his parents weekly, worrying about their well-being and ability to look after themselves.
The son has advised his parents to consider moving in to stay with him, but the elderly couple insists they could still manage independently.
A few worrying signs include the following:
i) A passer-by found Mrs A asking for help and direction after missing her way back home.
ii) Mr A gets breathless, especially in the evenings, and wakes up quite frequently for toileting.There were a few occasions when he fell at home.
iii) The elderly couple previously had a foreign domestic helper, but the latter was sent back to the domestic helper agent after she was found stealing from Mrs A’s money box. Since then, Mr and Mrs A have been paranoid about hiring another domestic helper. Moreover, they did not wish to burden their son by hiring a foreign domestic helper, which would incur additional expenses.
You may assume further related case information where relevant.
a) Explain the son’s main challenge in caring for his elderly parents.
(5 marks)
- Caregiver burdens/stressors/stress
b) As a social worker, discuss FIVE (5) main considerations in planning and developing relevant interventions for this case.
(20 marks)
- Financial?
- Safety needs?
- Family relationships? (e.g. the wife of the only son might feel tension over the whole issue).
c) Apply THREE (3) main social work skills in working on this case.
(15 marks)
You MUST use the three skills.
- Referral
- Needs Assessment
- Counseling
TEN (10) marks for appropriate referencing and overall organization.
(10 marks)
THE END.
Singapore Social Work: Eldercare
Name of Student
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Caring for older people offers a distinct set of difficulties in the social work profession. As the population ages, its needs vary considerably. Therefore, it is increasingly essential to comprehend the requirements of Mr. and Mrs. A and how to satisfy them (Hillier & Barrow, 2014). Social workers, in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team, must evaluate the requirements of older adults and create a care plan that fits those needs. This work identifies the primary considerations when planning and designing interventions for the family. They include difficulties that the elderly’s son faces when caring for them, the planning and creation of pertinent initiatives, social work skills required to handle the situation appropriately, and the difficulties in organizing solutions.
Son's Challenges in Caring for the Elderly Parents
Weight caregiving is the primary task for the son in providing for his elderly parents. Caregiving is often physically, mentally, and monetarily taxing, and the son is confronted with combining his family's requirements with those of his aging parents (Mendes et al., 2019). He is concerned about his parents' well-being because they cannot care for themselves. Besides, they need help with everyday tasks (Popli & Panday, 2018). He must also consider the expense of employing a foreign household helper and the chance of sacrificing some of his time and resources to care for his parents (Faronbi et al., 2019). He must also deal with the mental stress of seeing his parents' health deteriorate and possibly having to move in with them. If his parents' health deteriorates further, he may need to explore other long-term care choices, like eldercare facilities.
Planning And Developing Pertinent Interventions
As a social worker, there are several factors to make when planning and creating interventions for older people to ensure the best possible result. The first aspect is financial assistance for the old pair, which includes government rebates, long-term insurance plans, and other aid such as grants, discounts, and loans available to help with eldercare expenses (Tang et al., 2022). The effort will assist in covering the costs of medical fees, medications, extra medical equipment such as a portable oxygen concentrator, and other expenditures related to their treatment. Safety needs should be evaluated to spot possible risks and ensure the elderly couple's house is secure (Zhou et al., 2021). This could include the installation of guard rails and other safety features, providing an alert system connected to a medical response center in the event of an emergency, and providing medical apparatus such as a portable oxygen concentrator.
The third element to think about is family ties. It is critical to consider the relationships of the aging couple, their son, and the latter's family (Zhou et al., 2021). The son may have trouble balancing his own family's requirements with those of his parents, and therapy may be required to help the family settle any conflicts. The social worker should assist the son in exploring methods to improve family ties and ensure everyone is comfortable with the care arrangements. Furthermore, social support should be considered to expand the senior couple's social support system (Tang et al., 2022). This could include enlisting volunteers to assist with domestic tasks or making respite care services available. The initiative will assist in alleviating the son's and his family's weight of care.
Mental health evaluations must also be performed to determine any mental health problems that the elderly pair may be having (Tang et al., 2022). This could include melancholy or anxiety. Therapy or support groups may be required to handle the son's and parents' problems.
Challenges in Planning the Interventions
Integrating various perspectives and theories is one of the most challenging tasks for the social worker when planning and creating interventions for this situation. Therefore, the social worker must consider the elderly couple's bodily and emotional health and financial and societal support networks. From a psychological standpoint, the social worker must evaluate the senior couple's needs and skills to create successful solutions (Graffigna et al., 2021). For example, the social worker must ascertain the couple's present functioning and care level required. They must also evaluate the couple's s...