This article is based on a review of a growing literature that examines disasters as experienced globally by older adults. The authors utilize a life course perspective that allows them to view the impact of experiencing a disaster for individuals within the context of their life experiences, memories, values, and views. The authors urge consideration of how individual and social history and memory affect the experience, coping strategies, and effects of disasters on older adults. The analysis is organized by the following four themes derived from the literature: (a) physical impact, (b) psychological impact, (c) social support issues, and (d) predictors of mental health distress. The authors highlight the challenges and issues of disasters, specifically for the aging population, including age, gender, and coping styles.
We examine the experiences of older adult survivors of the August 2007 "Southern earthquake" in Peru within the cultural context of gender roles and family relationships. The data include 24 semistructured videotaped interviews conducted in Pisco in December 2007 with survivors of the earthquake aged 60-90. The responses, experiences, and adjustments of the older adult disaster survivors will be discussed in terms of their family and social support systems and gender roles. These older adults sustain their personal identities and deal with their health concerns in the aftermath of the earthquake in the context of these cultural systems of support.
This article has been retracted due to the republishing of this article in the December 2009 issue of Traumatology, 15(4). The republishing is due to the necessity of including this article as a part of a Special Issue on “History, Memory and Trauma” in 15(4), for which this article was originally picked by Special Issue Guest Editor, Dr. Joseph Gabriel. Please find the republished article now in Traumatology, 15(4) 35–43. DOI: 10.1177/1534765609359729.
A pilot project introduced 12 minutes of text and video materials and a reflective online interaction about elder abuse into the online component of a hybrid course in nursing assistant training leading to certification. Didactic presentations on issues of ethics and standards had been given in two different units of the face-to-face component of the course using both the course textbook and an online module keyed to state certification standards. However, student responses suggested that their online writing to each other about the new materials brought issues of elder abuse to the forefront in ways that they could finally internalize.
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