The Demographics
of Aging
Module 2
Nurse Responses to Elder Mistreatment
An IAFN Education Curriculum
Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, participants will be able to:



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Identify societal assumptions about aging and how
these assumptions can affect nursing care of older
adults
Discuss basic demographic information about the older
population
Recognize difficulties posed by various age-related
impairments
Discuss data on heath of older population
Discuss how generational values can affect an older
adult’s recognition of mistreatment and willingness to
seek help
2
Assumptions about Aging
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What negative attitudes and inaccurate
assumptions do people have about older
adults?
Where do these attitudes and
assumptions come from?
How can these attitudes and
assumptions affect care older patients
receive in your practice setting?
3
Turn Assumptions Around


Focus on facts related to aging and
older adults rather than assumptions!
What are some of these facts?
4
A Few Facts…
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Majority of older adults have no selfcare deficits
Older adults need to be treated as
adults
o -Put person before impairment
o -Age does not equal incapacity
Each older patient has unique needs and
circumstances
5
Older Population Estimates

Number of people age 65+ will
increase over 50% by 2050
o
o
o
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2008: almost 40 million
2030: more than 70 million
2050: almost 90 million
Some ethnic groups will see more
than a doubling of their older
population
Main source of data for statistics/charts in this module: Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics. Older
Americans 2008: Key Indicators of Well-Being, 2008. Slide 15 from Older American 2000: Key Indicators of Well-Being.
6
Life Expectancy


People who survive to age 65 can
expect to live average of almost 19
years
Of those who survive to age 85
o
o
Women can expect to live average of 7
years
Men can expect to live average of 6
years
7
Sex Ratio


For older adults 65 years and over:
70 men for every 100 women
By 85 and over: more than 2 women
for every 1 man
8
Potential Impairment

As people age, they are more likely
to experience impaired functioning
o
o
When civilian, non-institutionalized adults
ages 65 and over were asked to rate their
health, 74% of both men and women
reported their health as good or better
Self-rated health status declined with
age for all groups
9
Living Arrangements


4% reside in long-term care facilities on
any given day
96% of adults ages 65+ live in community
o
o
o
o
-73% of older men are married /live with spouse
-42% of older women also live with spouse; 39% live
alone. Widowhood is more common among older
women than older men
-Some older adults live with other relatives
-Small % of older adults live with non-relatives
10
Poverty

Less than 10% of older adults lived in
poverty in 2006
11
Living with Impairments
Examples…
 Severe visual impairment
 Severe hearing impairment
 A stroke or has an arm fracture
 Arthritis in fingers
 Peripheral neuropathy
 Aphasia
12
Physical Functioning
13
Chronic Conditions
14
Memory Impairment
15
Depressive Symptoms
16
Use of Health Care Services
17
Nursing Home Utilization
18
Generational Values
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Historical Timeline
o
o
o
o
-Grandparents’ years of birth
-Events that occurred at different
points on the line in their lives
-Additional historic events, inventions
and norms of the times
-Effect of generational values related to
elder mistreatment
19
Closing Assessment
Write down one major concept
you learned from this module
and how you will apply it in your
practice
20