Caring For Elderly People Level 3 Certificate Course

There are 9 lessons:

1. Understanding Ageing
   • Gerontology,
   • What do we mean by Ageing? Population Ageing,
   • The Effects of the Ageing Population,
   • Theories of Human Development, Erikson’s Theory of Development,
   • Levinson,
   • Theories of Retirement,
   • Disengagement Theory,
   • Activity Theory,
   • Atchley’s Model of Retirement
2. Lifestyle Changes
   • Relationships,
   • Relationships with Children,
   • Relationships with Partners (Husband/wife),
   • Relationships with Grandchildren,
   • Friendships, Sexuality and Older People,
   • Cognitive Changes,
   • Intelligence,
   • Depression,
   • Determining Type of Depression,
   • Unipolar Disorder, Bipolar Disorder,
   • Causes of Depression,
   • Risk factors for Depression,
   • Men and Depression,
   • Depression in Older People,
   • Symptoms
3. Deterioration of Health
   • Physical Changes Skin,
   • Hair, Height,
   • Senses,
   • Reflexes,
   • Sex, Eyes,Chronic Health Problems,
   • Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Gout, etc.
   • Exercise, Diet, Nutrition, Eating habits, etc.
   • Pain relief, Medication, Stress.
4. Support Services
   • Preventative Services,
   • Occupational Therapists,
   • Physiotherapists,
   • Complimentary Practitioners,
   • Counseling Professionals,
   • Other Support Services (eg. Meals on Wheels, Funeral Services)
5. Enablement Techniques
   • Common Risks for Elderly: Risk of Falling, Vision, Hearing, Nutrition, Sexuality.
   • Techniques to maintain Quality of Life: Driving a car, banking, shopping, house cleaning, Gardening, Socialising, Pets, Exercise, Sport
6. Grief and Loss Counseling
   • What is grief,
   • Psychological aspects of Long Term Grief:
   • Family, Work, Financial, Loneliness, Morality after bereavement,
   • Counselors Response and Intervention,
   • Practical Intervention, Depression
7. Debilitating and Terminal Illness
   • Dementia,
   • Kinds of Dementia (Alzheimer's, Vascular Dementia);
   • Strategies for Counseling the Demented Client;
   • Communication, Daily Activities, Sleeping Difficulties, Hallucinations and Delusions, Wandering, Depression, Terminal Illness: Patients Response, Anxiety, Depression, Guilt & Anger, Defense Mechanisms.
   • Preparing for Approaching Death; Practical Preparations, Emotional Responses, Responses of Friends and Family
8. Losing a Loved One
   • Importance of Loss,
   • Assessment,
   • Role of the Deceased,
   • Death of a Child,
   • Stigmatised Death,
   • Co-Morbidity.
   • Counseling Strategies: Bibliotherapy, Use of Rituals, Bereavement Support Groups.
   • Special Therapeutic Situations: Traumatic, Sudden, and Stigmatised Loss, Ongoing Support, Social Stigmas of Suicide
9. Ethics and Intervention
   • Barriers to Aged Care Counseling,
   • Addressing the Client€™s Needs,
   • COMMON LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN AGED CARE: Decision Making Capacity, Competence, Informed Consent, Confidentiality, Euthanasia, etc

Your learning experience with ADL will not only depend on the quality of the course, but also the quality of the person teaching it. This course is taught by Iona Lister and your course fee includes unlimited tutorial support throughout. Here are Iona's credentials:

Iona Lister
Licentiate, Speech and Language Therapy, UK, Diploma in Advanced Counselling Skills.

Iona has been a clinician and manager of health services for fifteen years, and a trainer for UK-based medical charities, focusing on psychosocial issues, mental health disorders, and also the promotion of communication skills for people in helping roles. She tutors and facilitates groups via workshops and teleconferences, and now specialises in Sight Loss. As a freelance writer, she contributes regular feature articles for magazines, has written five published books, as well as published courses relating to personal development and counselling skills.

Iona has also written published books, courses and articles across a wide range of subjects, mostly in the areas of health, counselling, psychology, crafts and wildlife.

She has drawn experience from clinical and managerial experience within the NHS as well as medical and humanitarian subjects. She has been a regular feature writer and expert panel member of a national magazine for six years.

Books include: A Guide to Living with Alzheimer's Disease (and associated dementias), The Psychology of Facial Disfigurement; a Guide for Health and Social Care Professionals, When a Medical Skin Condition Affects the Way you Look; A Guide to Managing Your Future, Facing Disfigurement with Confidence, Cross Stitch: A Guide to Creativity and Success for Beginners.
Courses written include: Mental Health and Social Work, Counselling Skills, Understanding and Responding to Substance Misuse, Journalling for Personal Development, Guided Imagery, Stress Management.

Current work includes: Tutor: Courses associated with Creative Writing, Counselling Skills, Psychology, Holistic Therapy, Certified Hypnotherapist and Hypnotension Practitioner.

Facilitator of Teleconference Groups: Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)

Trainer (Skills for Seeing): Macular Society

Reviewer of Books/Information: Macmillan Cancer Support

Fundraiser: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Embroidery/Art Groups Facilitator, Board Member

Website Manager: The Strathcarron Project, Coordinator (Delaware & Tennessee) Human Writes

Excerpt from the course

PROFESSIONALS INVOLVED IN SUPPORTING OLDER PEOPLE

There are a wide range of other professionals whose services may be called upon by the elderly.

Occupational Therapists

Occupational therapists help people to find ways to remain independent despite any physical difficulties. They will give practical advice on how to cope with everyday tasks such as cooking, dressing, washing. They can also provide special equipment to help with these chores, and inform older people where they can find the necessary equipment. They also practice basic medical skills, such as making splints to support and protect joints in those affected in a severe way by arthritis. They can also offer advice on:

• Employment
• Health benefits
• Cars
• Wheelchairs
• Ways to get around
• How to look after vulnerable joints
• Leisure activities
• Making homes more accessible
• Aids and adaptations.

An older person will usually be referred to an occupational therapist by their doctor. The occupational therapist may visit the person’s house to see how it can be altered to suit the person better.

Physiotherapists

Physiotherapists specialise in human movement with the aim of keeping the person active and free of pain. They are usually based in hospitals or clinics. They can provide a range of services such as:

• Hydrotherapy: exercise sessions in heated water that can help to lessen pain and improve mobility.
• Advice on how to minimise the impact of conditions, such as arthritis on a person’s lifestyle and work.
• Pain relieving treatments, such as:
  • Acupuncture
  • Massage
  • Electrotherapy

Physiotherapists can also help elderly people by:

• designing special exercise programmes to mobilise their joints and strengthen their muscles
• demonstrating to the person relaxation techniques aimed at reducing stress and muscle tension, which can help alleviate conditions such as arthritis.

Complementary Practitioners

Older people may sometimes seek complementary practitioners to help with their physical and emotional changes. Before they seek a complementary practitioner, it is important to ensure that:

• The advice of their doctor is sought.
• The practitioner is reliable. Do they belong to an organisation that sets standards?
• They are experienced in working with older people
• They are experienced in working with people with the elderly person’s condition.
• The treatment does not interfere with their medication
• It is affordable
• The number of sessions required before the benefits are felt is discussed
• The client feels comfortable with the practitioner
• The practitioner provides their credentials
• The client is not encouraged to believe in miracle cures
• The client does not stop taking medication or stop any other treatments.

Aids to Communication

There are professionals who are involved in helping older people to continue to communicate. For example, older people may be reluctant to use a hearing aid. Perhaps they are reluctant to accept the physical effects of ageing or are concerned about the stigma of deafness. Modern hearing aids are very much improved compared to a few decades ago. They may not return hearing to normal, but they will help a person substantially.

SOME EXAMPLES OF ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

Alexander Technique: This is a way of teaching people to stand better in order to improve their posture and to move more efficiently. In so doing, a favourable alignment of the head, neck, and back can be developed and maintained to reduce unnecessary bodily stress. It can be used to alleviate pain and to promote rehabilitation.

Aromatherapy: Involves the burning of essential oils from trees, plants and flowers, and is considered to be soothing and relaxing. It can be combined with bathing, but is usually combined with massage.

Chiropractic: This involves manipulation of the bones and muscles to improve mobility and reduce pain, by adjusting the joints in the spine and limbs where there are signs of restricted movement. The spine is of particular focus because disorders are considered to emerge from the nervous system. This is not recommended for people with inflamed joints or osteoporosis.

Homeopathy: This is a system of remedies based on giving people very small amounts of a substance that in larger amounts can produce symptoms similar to the condition that is being treated. In other words, some diseases can be cured by administering minute doses of the disease to stimulate the body’s own defence mechanisms.

Osteopathy: Osteopathy involves physical manipulation of bones and muscles to restore normal action to the body and reduce pain. This is also not recommended for people with osteoporosis or inflamed joints.

Reflexology: This is massage which uses pressure to stimulate certain reflex zones of the feet, hands or head which are thought to improve the health of various organs of the body, or to promote general well being.

Yoga: This involves using a combination of relaxation, breathing techniques and exercise to combat stress and help movement and circulation to the joints.

Acupuncture: Acupuncture involves inserting the tips of needles along the energy lines of the body, which are thought to stimulate the energy flow and reduce pain by restoring a healthy balance of energy.

Herbalism: This is the use of plants and herbal remedies to treat illness.

COUNSELLIING PROFESSIONALS

Counsellors: Counsellors provide guidance for clients and a support system, rather than working with the deeper levels of the psyche. However, there are other therapists who work with people with difficulties.

Psychoanalyst: This is someone who has been trained in the theory and techniques of psychoanalysis. Initially they may have been trained as a physician, psychiatric social worker or psychologist. However, it is possible for people from many different backgrounds to train to be a psychoanalyst. Their training will involve several years of personal analysis. Psychoanalysis is the term used to describe Freud’s set of theories about human behaviour and the form of treatment of mental disorders he devised. However, psychoanalysis has developed considerably since Freud’s time.

A psychotherapist is a practitioner of psychotherapy. S/he is usually a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist or a psychiatric social worker. Psychotherapy is the use of psychological techniques to treat psychological disturbances. The four main forms of psychotherapy are behavioural, cognitive, humanistic and psychoanalysis. There are many variations of the four approaches.

A clinical psychologist is a practitioner of clinical psychology. They may also be psychotherapists, but this is not essential. They may work in hospitals or clinics or may have a private practice. Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the application of psychological theory and research to the treatment and diagnosis of mental, emotional and behavioural problems.

A Psychiatrist is a person who specialises in psychiatry. Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that covers mental illness. The subject matter of psychiatry overlaps to a great extent with clinical psychology, the main difference being in the training of the psychiatrist and the clinical psychologist. A psychiatrist has no training in psychology, other than psychopathology and uses the medical model to deal with mental disorders.

The clinical psychologist is not medically trained, cannot prescribe drugs and tends to view normal and abnormal behaviour as on the same continuum.

Role of the Counsellor

Counselling means different things to different people. It is not a get well quick option, offering quick answers, but is asking the person to engage in a process and an exploration . There are many...