Reflection on the Quality of Physical and Mental Health Research Paper 2022

Running head: NURSING
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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
This paper intends to present a reflection on the quality of physical and mental health of
the elderly. Advancing age is accompanied with social and emotional insecurities that
significantly diminish the quality of life of the senior adults. In this paper a patient-centred
assessment would be conducted on a senior adult who is currently experience depressed mood,
loneliness, poor social interaction and is also suffering from Diabetes, a chronic health disorder.
On the basis of the retrieved patient information by means of a qualitative interview, the holistic
needs for the patient would be identified and a patient-centred care plan would be developed to
assist the patient with the recovery process.
This paper would therefore address the holistic needs of the patient and devise a patient-
centred care plan by establishing a positive therapeutic relationship with the client. Further, an
exhaustive review of literatures would also be conducted so as to correlate the issues experienced
by the patient with the evidence base and understand the associated implication on the overall
health outcome of the elderly.
Critical Reflection:
A qualitative interview was conducted with Mr. X over the telephone who lived alone in
a 1 BHK. Mr. X was 76 years old and had a son who was settled in the states. He stated that his
wife had passed away a year ago and since then he had been finding it difficult to cope with
health and wellbeing. He further stated that is independent and can efficiently manage his
activities of daily living but longs for his wife. He further states that he does not want to bother
his son and wants to spend his last few years in his wife’s memory in the same house where he
had lived for so many years with her. Upon asking whether he has considered shifting to a

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residential care home where he would be given optimal care facilities, he refused. The reason for
his rejection being the increase in the number of elder abuse cases where the elderly are ill-
treated and the sick get sicker. He further shared the story of his friend Mr.K whose son had
placed him within a residential care home so that he would be provided advanced care facilities
but within a span of 8 months, his friend died because of negligence and medical error (Sutin et
al. 2015). Mr.X further mentions, he does not like to socialize with people as young people often
discriminate the old age adults which makes him feel low. He also states that he has lived his
happy phase of life and now prays to God for his death so he would not have to live alone for
long.
Literature Review:
In order to evaluate the psychological factors that diminish the quality of life for the
elderly and gives rise to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, an exhaustive
systematic review was conducted. Specific exclusion and inclusion criteria along with
appropriate key words were used to conduct the search so that relevant research papers could be
obtained from the electronic database of Google scholar. The inclusion criteria comprised of
papers published between 2015 to 2019 and papers that were full text accessible and were only
published in English. The exclusion criteria on the other hand, included papers that were
published in foreign languages and were published before 2015. The key words that were used
included the following:
Old age, elderly, mental health, factors, psychological factors, mental wellness, outcome, quality
of life

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The search terms were used in combination with the BOOLEAN operators OR/AND and papers
that satisfied the inclusion criteria were integrated within the literature review.
A total of six research studies were integrated within the review. According to Byles et
al. (2014), a significant percentage of mental wellness among the elderly is dependent upon the
ability to independently carry out activities of daily living such as spatial mobility, driving and
regular physical activities. The research study further suggested that mental health and level of
emotional distress was directly associated with the independence level of the elderly to address
activities of daily living. Another research study conducted by Silve at al. (2016) states that lack
of appropriate social support and absence of a caring family environment evokes emotional
distress among the old age adults. Liu et al. (2014) also conducted a research study to evaluate
the causative factors of mental illness among the elderly. The research findings of this paper
supported the findings of Silve et al. (2016) and suggested that lack of an appropriate care
environment and reduced social interaction on account of retirement and poor quality of life due
to chronic health illness lead to mental health issues among the elderly. Guo et al. (2014)
reported that familial cultural conflict and negative interaction with family members led to
poorer mental health outcome among the elderly. Jong-II Park et al. (2015) also conducted a
research study in order to evaluate the factors that contributed to mental health illness among the
senior adults. The findings suggested that the burden of coping with a chronic illness burden,
cognitive impairment and poor health status increases the chances of developing depression
among the elderly. Carrie Henning-Smith (2014), reported that senior adults who lived alone or
with other were most likely to be emotionally distressed than those who lived with their spouse.
This research study critically reported that the living arrangement greatly impacted the mental