Thesis Proposal
The aging process is inevitable. It will happen to you, it will happen to me, it will happen to our parents, our parent's parents and so it goes.In addition to this being a concept everyone has to deal with in a sense, adult care facilities such as assisted livings are an industry that isn’t likely to go out of business in our lifetime. With that, there is an opportunity that many potential employees can find job opportunities in these communities. It is important to have an understanding of what these workplaces are like. For my senior these I will be attempting to understand how experiences between the different genders of the elderly effect their interactions with employees in assisted living facilities. While there is research published on the psychological soundness of the elderly and studies on cultural issues in communication and aging, there is little research connecting experiences between the genders of the elderly to how they communicate with individuals they interact with. This will be beneficial to anyone who interacts with the elderly whether it be through personal or professional relationships.
METHOD
To come to a conclusion of my research question, I will use ethnographic research to observe how residents in multiple assisted living facilities interact with each other and employees of the facility in which they reside. I would also like to observe interactions with residents and their families, although this will be harder to do naturally. After these observations I will interview the employees of the facility to understand how their relationship with residents, their feelings for their job, and how their communication may vary between residents.To support my decision to conduct both observation and interview I have pulled information from Ethnographic Choices by Bollinger and Menchaca.
After observing I will conduct my interviews. Having the period of observation will allow potential for even more questions to be asked. My Interviews will be in person as “face-to-face interview is the most advantageous… this approach allows you to both see the body language and hear the voice and tone of the participant. The combination of nonverbal and verbal signals gives you a fuller understanding of their experiences, thoughts and emotions.” (101)
LIT REVIEW
As previously stated, the concept of gender and its influence on communication is researched minimally, I have been able to find sources analyzing the psychological well-being of assisted living residents. This is important to understand for my research as an unstable mental state could cause outliers in my data, these outliers wouldn’t be problematic but will need to be understood. The main purpose of this journal entry is to bring an understanding of how prevalent depression is in assisted living facilities, how difficult it is to recognize and why it is important to address and understand. “the mental health of elderly people is critically related to their physical health and functioning. Researchers report that many elderly people in residential care suffer from depressive symptoms (Grayson et al.; Lawton et al.). This depression is often unrecognized and untreated and is significantly related to disability and mortality” (Cummings, 293). This thought continues further in the journal and explains “ALFs attempt to minimize resident isolation and bolster social support through congregate living in a homelike atmosphere. Many ALFs also offer a variety of social programs throughout the week. Although research on the effect of social support in residential care communities is extremely limited, findings do suggest that social support variables, such as attendance at social activities, are related to lower levels of depressive symptoms (Mitchell & Kemp, 2000). The portion that sticks out to me is underlined, essentially saying that the social activities in the ALF could minimize the potential of depression. This is important to understand in regard to my research as it will be important to understand how depression could play a part in the results of my observation through interaction during facility activities. In addition, residents that may be depressed both diagnosed and undiagnosed, could (unwillingly) affect the resident’s relationships with those they interact with whether it be employees or family members. The results of this study show that “Consistent with other gerontology studies, female residents suffered from significantly higher levels of depression and lower levels of life satisfaction than male residents. In addition to being female, increased functional impairment and lower levels of self-reported health, satisfaction with social contacts, participation in social activities, and perceived social support were all found to be related to poorer psychological well-being” (Cummings, 299).
An additional aspect I will be analyzing to help in forming a conclusion will be the cultural aspects in communication and aging. I am expecting that the cultural influence will play a large part between both men and women in how they communicate with those around them as these influences likely shaped their lives affecting what they see as their cultural capital. The interesting aspect with this chapter is that it strictly analyzes the cultural influence of eastern and western cultures and doesn’t include the gender influences that could be present. Even at that, this is an important concept to thoroughly understand before I observe residents. From the Handbook of Communication and Aging Researchit is stated that “culture plays an important role in defining the self (the identity function of culture) and the meaning of and attitudes toward aging, as well the roles that are considered to be appropriate (the group inclusion and intergroup boundary regulation functions) (Pechioni, Ota, Sparks, 174). The chapter then analyzes Eastern and western cultures explaining the Eastern Cultures “have been built around Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism as moral, ethical, and philosophical principals of life (Chang, 1997; Ho, 1994; Kim & Yamaguchi, 1995; Slote & De Vos, 1998; Yum, 1988). By way of formal and informal education, people are socialized to act toward others with human heartedness and other-orientation to achieve group, or collective, goals in harmony with others in the same group (Kim & Yamaguchi, 1995; Markus and Kitayama, 1994; Triandis, 1995)” (Pechioni, Ota, Sparks, 175). Eastern cultures have collectivistic values, and family usually falls in the center. People from Eastern culture usually have string self-awareness and power is based on status and age, with social class being a focus in interactions. People from these cultures respect their elders and are more likely to communicate indirectly. They are considered to work in harmony with other and be strong in group orientation.
The western culture, on the other hand, is described to hold the “strong philosophical principle” of liberalism. “The hallmark of liberalism is an encouragement toward the development of an autonomous individual who is capable of making rational choices of his or her own” (Pechioni, Ota, Sparks 176). The power distribution of western cultures is based on social classes more than age and role. People of western cultures are more likely to be explicit in their communication “for the sake of message clarity” (Hall 1976; Kim, 1993).
These differences are important to understand as the assisted living environment involves a community of elders, while likely from the same area there is the potential to expose residents to new cultures from other residents. Its biggest importance is understanding the cultural influence that may have shaped the residents of these communities.
DATA
I have already collected portions of my data that can be supported by my sources above. From my period of observation at one ALF I was able to observe morning exercise, a coffee and donut social hour, a daily news recap, along with half of their lunch time. From these observations I was able to conclude that more women participated in facility events. This leads me to wonder if men in these facilities, if this proves to be a commonality with observation in other faculties, relating to my sources analyzed above, could be depressed and it be missed by staff and family with gender stereotypes that could come to mind. I also concluded that women were more detail oriented and were more nurturing than male residents. This causes me to wonder what past experiences they may have that cause that desire to have control.
In addition to my observation I have already conducted my interviews of ALF employees in one facility. The results of my interviews led me to find commonalities between the actions of residents of: violence and aggression, flirtation and finally detail orientation. As previously stated, the concept of detail orientation is supported in the female residents through my observation and something I saw less in male residents. I have included below specific quotes from my interviews that led me to want to further my research.
This first slide shows dialogue that informs us that women tend to be more physically aggressive than men who are “outspoken” or simply get upset with each other rather than acting on it. In furthering my research, I would like to make connections to what could be causing this difference in actions.
These excerpts of my transcription show the flirtatious nature in residents of both genders. While it doesn’t seem like there is a major difference between the male and female residents, in my discussion with Alberteen, I found that residents likely make statements and act in the way they do as a response to a disease affecting brain activity whether it be a form of dementia or Alzheimer’s. This happens potentially due to the brain deteriorating, causing the frontal lobe (that controls your filter essentially) to be less developed. If this is the case, it is still important to understand how this can look between the genders, how it is received by employees and how we can better communicate in these instances.
To finish up my current data collection we have the aspect of detail orientation that is primarily found in female residents. From what I observed, female residents are more likely to be controlling of scheduling and placement where men primarily had concerns when the food didn’t taste the same way as it was prepared prior to their time in the ALF or if it doesn’t taste the same as the last time, they had the meal. To further my research, I would like to understand what could be causing individuals to desire control, have the residents that are very detail oriented always been controlling or is this a new trait? How can understanding this influence and effect how we communicate?
I still have a long way to go in my data collection and in my support findings. Upon establishing a well thought thesis with strong data to support, I believe that anyone can benefit from my work. We will all have to deal with aging at some point in our life. We are aging as you read this! It is likely we will have to experience aging in our parents or grandparents before it is something that affects you and I, but it is important to understand these aspects of aging and their effect on communication before we reach that milestone. With this being an industry that isn’t likely to go out of business, it is important to understand the employee and resident relationship in the event we find ourselves employed in an ALF. Upon the completion of my assignment I will stand out among other graduates as I will have the ability to conduct ethnographic interviews and have an immense understanding of Assisted Livings, different qualities between the genders and the relationships in these communities.
Resources
Bollinger, Christopher, et al. Ethnographic Choices: a Primer on Doing Complex Social Research. Publisher Not Identified, 2014.
Cummings, S. M. “Predictors of Psychological Well-Being among Assisted-Living Residents.” Health & Social Work, vol. 27, no. 4, Jan. 2002, pp. 293–302., doi:10.1093/hsw/27.4.293.
Nussbaum, Jon F. Handbook of Communication and Aging Research. Routledge, 2008.
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