The role of the community social worker when encountering old age dementia

Abstract

In societies existing in various parts of the world, one meets many elderly people who suffer from Old Age Dementia. Apart from its demographic and sociological aspects, old age can be considered as a biological phenomenon since the elderly person's organism displays certain characteristics. From this point of view, one can say that ageing is a process of loss of energy. Old age is to be considered a blessing when life is enjoyed to the full - here one must refer to the eight stages of psychosocial development spanning from the first year of life to the ageing years, as illustrated by Erikson (see table 1). Erikson explains each stage individually, indicating its psychosocial crises, its significant social relationship as well as its favourable outcome. If this favourable outcome is not experienced, old age is dreaded, with the consequence that the elderly person concerned tends to feel rejected by society. In view of the impact of such a situation in so far as elderly people are concerned, I felt inspired to write this dissertation, enlightening me to hopefully strike a balance and keep the elderly as active, as happy and for as long as possible within their community. With old age, the days of enjoying the routine of active work and duty are past, so that one has enough time to pause for reflection and evaluation of one's life. It has been shown that ageing is a period of decline, where losses of all kinds are suffered. This is particularly true in the case of dementia, as this is a disease where the cells of the brain die more rapidly than in normal ageing. It therefore produces loss of memory, confusion, odd behaviour and personality changes. In view or the fact that the causes are not yet sufficiently understood, there is no cure, and therefore little treatment can be offered. Since the same symptoms may result in other disorders, which may be curable, it becomes important to make a correct diagnosis. […]