Vulnerability in Elderly - Essay Example

of the Sociology of the Teacher 15 April Vulnerability in Elderly The term vulnerability tends to be a highly flexible and expansive concept that includes within its ambit a range of reasons and factors, which make people especially susceptible and vulnerable to exploitation, fraud, abuse illness and diseases and a marked fall in their ability to take care for themselves or to be able to do things for themselves. The factors or a range of factors that may make a group susceptible to vulnerability are education, lack of community participation, social isolation and neglect, compromised income and financial well being, miniscule opportunities to socialize in the community one lives, lack or absence of support from the family, living in communities imbued with an array of risk factors like crime and unemployment, etc. The irony is that most of these factors that make people susceptible to vulnerability do stand to be valid and applicable in case of the elderly people (Cox 1995). Elderly people do happen to affiliate a state of life which rather accentuates and increases the causes that make them vulnerable. Thereby the elderly people are a part of the community and constitute such a population segment that is proportionately more vulnerable to a series of social ills, medical and health conditions, emotional and physical abuse and financial frauds, etc (Cox 1995). They are a segment of the population that are utterly susceptible to a range of problems and issues and thereby do need a concerted help and assistance from the social communities and state welfare agencies. It is a social fact that for multiple obvious reasons, elderly people do happen to be way more vulnerable as compared to the young people. The thing is that the elderly people who are in their 80s and 90s do tend to outlive many of their family members and thereby have a limited access to a pool of people who loves them and could provide them with the access to the requisite emotional and medical support, emotional stability and financial help (Alpert 1994, p. 95). It is such a patch of life in an individual’s overall life that not only deprives one of the much needed familial and social support, the physical and mental capacity to participate in the social and community life in a proactive and energetic way, and the capacity to take care of oneself in varied sphere of one’s life are they public, social, medical, emotional or financial. Thereby the elder people are more vulnerable to an array of societal and community issues and the larger capacity to protect themselves from varied kinds of physical, mental, and financial abuse (Brogden 2001). Thereby, studies have shown that elderly people are to more or less extent susceptible to social vulnerabilities. Besides, studies have also shown that in case of the female elderly people, the susceptibility to social vulnerability is way more as compared to the male elderly individuals (Dalhousie University 2012). This needs to be taken in a serious context because it has been found that each instance of social vulnerability makes the elderly more susceptible to ill health and even death. A Canadian study has found that in case of the elderly people, each successive factor contributing to their social vulnerability increases the incidence of death in them by five to eight percent (Dalhousie University 2012). Thereby the issue of social vulnerability in the elderly is of immense importance and does warrant much attention and concern. Hence the social welfare and academic community needs to put in more concerted effort into identifying and understanding the causes and reasons that augment vulnerability in the elderly people (Mogey 1990, p. 115). They also need to see as to how the variations in age, gender, race and such other factors do contribute to the enhancement of vulnerability in the elderly people (Mogey 1990). This will indeed provide the much needed information required by the social welfare and health professionals to decide as to what assistance and facilities be extended to the elderly people so as to curtail the incidence of ill health and even death in them. It has been found that the older people tend to be the population segment that is most targeted by fraudsters. It is primarily the loneliness of the older people and many a times the absence of social sources of care and protection that makes them so vulnerable to fraud (Kim & Geistfeld 2008). People engaging in fraudulent business practices are more liable to target older people. The other thing is that as compared to the young people, older people happen to be more in need of social interactions that makes them so susceptible to telemarketers (Kim & Geistfeld 2008). It is a fact that the older people are more deficient in market knowledge as compared to the younger people that makes them vulnerable to deception and fraud. A study also found out that the older people were more ignorant as compared to the younger people about the eventual consequences of missing timely payments they incurred on their home equity loans (Kim and Geistfeld 2008). Many of the older customers were totally oblivious of the fact that they could end up losing their home if they missed the payments on home equity loans. Besides, it has also been found that as compared to the younger people, a greater proportion of the older people are unable to find an individual whom they could trust with their consumer affairs. When it comes to financial markets, the elderly stand to be an utterly disadvantaged lot. A study also found out that many a times the elderly are more vulnerable to financial frauds because they are cognitively impaired (Kim and Geistfeld 2008). Another study also found out that being deficient in financial management skills, the elderly are always more vulnerable to financial overcharging and losses. It is a fact that in the contemporary financial markets, financial literacy is a skill that goes a long way in protecting an individual from engaging in financial distress. In that context the elderly owing to their socially constrained status and also because of their impaired cognitive abilities are more susceptible to incurring financial loses and more than often end up being victims of fraud (Kim & Geistfeld 2008). A recent study has concluded that hundreds of elderly people are abused in their own homes by care workers who treat them with least sanctity and concern (Ross 2011). A prolonged enquiry has found out that the pensioners are more than often vulnerable to physical abuse, suffering abuses such as privation of food and drinks, rough handling and humiliation and robbery (Ross 2011). The researchers found many elderly people vulnerable to such a profound abuse that it amounted to violation of human rights and made them end up feeling distressed, in tears and suicidal (Ross 2011). The Equality and Human Rights Commission has indicated that the elderly are extremely vulnerable to physical abuse by their care givers who treat them in a way that compromises their sense of self respect and takes a heavy toll on their sense of dignity (Ross 2011). The Commission did tell the media that almost 250,000 elderly people in the United Kingdom are vulnerable to utterly poor or very poor standards of physical care at their homes (Ross 2011). A series of enquiries in the past have found out that the NHS in case of many elderly people have been unable to extend to them dignified standards of care and the older people many a time ended up being malnourished and dehydrated (Ross 2011). The other thing is that because of their frail physical condition, the elderly people are also immensely vulnerable to psychological and emotional abuse. Elderly people are more vulnerable to abuse because they mostly lack the familial and social care system that could protect them from psychological and emotional abuse. The elderly are more vulnerable to being treated by people in a way that could cause them great distress or intense emotional pain. The varieties of ways in which the elderly are psychologically abused are intimidating the elderly by yelling at them or making them subject to vicious threats, humiliating and ridiculing the elderly people in a way that makes them feel emotionally disturbed and disoriented, blaming and teasing the elderly people as a matter of habit or as a part of some regular routine (HELPGUIDE 2015). The thing is that the levels of vulnerability of the elderly to psychological and emotional abuse are sometimes so acute and depressing that they find themselves totally unable to protect themselves from it. It is the duty of the citizens and the concerned caregivers to protect the elderly from all sorts of financial, physical and psychological abuse as and when they come across it. Protecting the vulnerable elderly from abuse involves taking three measures that are carefully and sensitively listening to the vulnerable elderly people or the caregivers, who are actually concerned about them, making a direct intervention wherever possible when on sees that an elderly person is vulnerable to some sort of abuse, and educating others as to how the elderly people are vulnerable to an array of social issues and encouraging people to help protect the elderly from a range of social vulnerabilities they face (NHS 2015). Lay citizens and social caregivers can do much to protect the elderly from many social vulnerabilities and problems. They should keep an eye open to watch out if they find any elderly person in a vulnerable situation and must take measures to report the situation to the concerned authorities (Schroder-Butterfill & Marianti 2006). Besides the elderly people can themselves take a series of measures like assuring that their financial affairs are properly organized, keeping in touch with family members and close friends to protect oneself from getting isolated, and in case of blatant abuse, contacting a close confident and requesting one to report the abuse to the concerned authorities (Matsumoto 2011). The heartening thing is that there are some legal remedies in place that could protect the vulnerable elderly people from some kinds of abuse. The Care Standards Act 2000 Wales intends to set the national minimal standards for independent healthcare and also intends to align the future standards of independent healthcare with the NHS standards (Welsh Government 2015). Thereby the vulnerable elderly facing abuse at the hands of their medical caregivers could resort to this statutory provision to seek redress and justice. Everybody deserves to lead a life of dignity and respect, and especially more so the elderly who wish to lead a hassle free life after serving the society in their youth. It requires a concerted effort on the part of the citizens and the caregivers to look to it that the elderly people being vulnerable to an array of abuses of financial, physical, medical, psychological and emotional nature are not taken advantage of by the unscrupulous people and groups. The citizens and the concerned authorities and caregivers need to affiliate to a proactive and dedicated attitude when it comes to helping and protecting the vulnerable elderly. Reference List Alpert, MJ 1994, The Chronically Disabled Elderly in Society, Greenwood Press, London. Brogden, M 2001, Geronticide, Jessica Kingsley, London. Cox, C 1995, The Frail Elderly, Auburn House Paperback, London. Dalhousie University 2012, Social Vulnerability, Faculty of Medicine, viewed 15 April 2015, . HELPGUIDE.org 2015, Elder Abuse and Neglect, viewed 15 April 2015, . Kim, E & Geistfeld L 2008, What Makes Older Adults Vulnerable to Exploitation or Abuse, The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues, NC State University, viewed 15 April 2015, Matsumoto, Y 2011, Faces of Aging, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. Mogey, J 1990, Aiding and Aging, Greenwood Press, London. NHS 2015, Abuse and Neglect of Vulnerable Adults, Care and Support Guide, viewed 15 April 2015, . Ross, T 2011, ‘Vulnerable Elderly Abused by their Careers, Says Enquiry’, The Telegraph, 23 November, viewed 15 April 2015-04-16 . Schroder-Butterfill, E & Marianti, R 2006, ‘A Framework for Understanding Old-Age Vulnerabilities’, Ageing Society, Vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 9-35. Welsh, Government, Care Standards Act 2000, Consultation, 2015, viewed 15 April 2015, . 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