Effect Of Environmental Factors On Old People †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Effect Of Environmental Factors On Old People. Answer: Evidence exist that supportive environment model helps the older people to live a healthy life with active engagement in occupation and health management. The participation requires interaction between the characters of the individual and the environmental factors. As the participation relies more on the environmental factors than on personal level, emphasis should be given more on the environmental barriers and enablers. Studies have revealed that environment with supportive model can affect the wellbeing of the aged people in a positive way. For an example community with good walking pathway and easy accessibility to parks, supermarket can have better impact to the health of the aged people in comparison to the environmental attributes (Morland et al., 2017). According to World Health Organisation, International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) study shows various environmental factors acting as barrier or facilitator. The enablers such as high education le vel with good economical condition of the aged people can act as protective measures against the limitations of the physical functioning. Studies have showed that satisfied services provided by the community and improved neighbourhood facilities can be successful enablers linked with better health (Kok et al., 2016). Apart from the enablers, environmental barriers plays crucial role on the aged people in active participation within the community. The environmental barriers are the factors that restricts in doing daily work. Therefore, identifying the diversity of both the male and female population of the aged people is necessary. The main goal of this overview is to correlate various environmental enablers along with barriers related to the active participation of the aged people in the community. The different environmental barriers are described below. Environmental factors- The older people living alone experience more barriers in order to avail the support to participate actively in the community. Barriers related to transportation affected the physical activities more in female than in male. Thus a study on how the environmental factors affect the participation of the older age people can help to gather knowledge to develop interventions (Parke et al., 2013). Economic and social conditions can also affect the participation. Low income, lack of education and limited access to health facilities can hinder the active participation of both the male and female. Study conducted- The population of the world comprising aged people over 60 years is estimated to rise by 22% by 2050 (World Health Organization, 2012) that brings out vulnerable challenges. The current study is conducted on aged population of Western Australia (WA). According to Government of Western Australia the WA population is surveyed to be 397,063 people of whom 17% of the population are above 60 years (Hill et al., 2012). Recent statistical studies have showed that the aged population is growing at a faster rate in WA with 4.2% of annual growth rates (Abs.gov.au, 2017). The potential rise in the population of the aged people gives an insight to maintain the health, independence and well processed life of the older adults. Ageing with active actions can actually contribute positive effect to the society and thus lowers the demand on expensive health services (Who.int, 2017). Enablers and barriers- The ultimate aim of this overview is to find out the enablers and barriers that influence the participation of older adults in the community. Individual and group interviews were conducted to explore the influence of the environmental factors that challenge the participation in their community. The occupational activities that was taken ranged from daily life activities such as going to the market or shopping centre, using the transport system, going to events, movie or theatre, visiting friend and other daily activities like using automatic teller machine, filling the car with petrol and visiting cemetery. Among the various facilities the major concern lies in the mobility of transport in the WA community. The private car is the main source in transportation used by the aged people to meet their basic needs. The access to car is more difficult in women than men of old age groups It can be due to their inefficiency to drive the car or their complete reliability on their husbands that leaves them more vulnerable to face difficulties in transport (Tyrinopoulos Antoniou, 2013). The old aged people who were more than 70 years old faced more difficulties in transport. The reasons were their poor health condition or impaired function and poor economic condition to maintain the car. Other environmental factors were the physical environment which either enabled or acted as barrier to the old aged people both in male and female individual. The female experienced more inhibitions than men. In the study evaluated most of the women couldnt access the physical space and restricted them in participating in the community activities as they have to either depend on stick to walk short distances or wheel chair for longer distances (Abc.net.au, 2017). The sidewalks of the community were although fine, that made the old aged men to actively walk through the community. Some people referred about limited resources in community in terms of community groups fo r exercising, theatres and limited public transport. This lack of resources in the community made the old aged people to stay back at home as it is not always possible for them to drive by their own (Harper, 2014). The decrease in social interaction was found to be a potential barrier reported by the old aged people. In the community studied, the people actively interact with the each other that help them to avoid the isolation from the busy schedule of the family members and getting engaged in the occupations such as going to the super market, gym, movies thereby improving their ageing life style (Sun, Norman While, 2013). The aim of this overview was to discover the different environmental factors that challenge the participation of the old aged people in the community. The person living in isolation is at higher risk to get influenced by negative impact affecting their lifestyle. The individual with old age and with disabilities is a group of population to be taken care with supportive foster care. It is important to understand the healthy engagement in order to suppress the environmental barriers. The infrastructure of the community should be enhanced more to help the old aged people to lead a healthy life style. The policy makers can aid in making the community broader providing healthy ageing by building smooth and continuous path within the community itself, easy to access transport system and community services to help them get involved in their daily life activities. References: Abs.gov.au. (2017).Census.Abs.gov.au. Retrieved 16 August 2017, from https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/Home/Census Harper, S. (2014).Ageing societies. Routledge. Hill, D. L., Thompson, P. E., Yano, Y., Smith, E. C. (2012). Reported road crashes in Western Australia 2010. Kok, M. C., Ormel, H., Broerse, J. E., Kane, S., Namakhoma, I., Otiso, L., ... Dieleman, M. (2016). Optimising the benefits of community health workers unique position between communities and the health sector: A comparative analysis of factors shaping relationships in four countries.Global public health, 1-29. Morland, K. B., Filomena, S., Scanlin, K., Godbold, J., Granieri, E., Evenson, K. R., ... Bordowitz, R. (2017). Neighborhood Environment and Adiposity among Older Adults: the Cardiovascular Health of Seniors and the Built Environment Study. Parke, B., Hunter, K. F., Strain, L. A., Marck, P. B., Waugh, E. H., McClelland, A. J. (2013). Facilitators and barriers to safe emergency department transitions for community dwelling older people with dementia and their caregivers: a social ecological study.International Journal of Nursing Studies,50(9), 1206-1218. Sun, F., Norman, I. J., While, A. E. (2013). Physical activity in older people: a systematic review.BMC public health,13(1), 449. Tyrinopoulos, Y., Antoniou, C. (2013). Factors affecting modal choice in urban mobility.European Transport Research Review,5(1), 27-39. Who.int. (2017).Ageing and Life Course.World Health Organization. Retrieved 16 August 2017, from https://www.who.int/ageing/en/ World Health Organization. (2012). World Health Day 2012: ageing and health: toolkit for event organizers.