CNA153 Foundations For Professional Practice 2 -Assessment Task 4 Assignment Solution

Introduction

The given case study presents several different clinical issues. The most significant issue is being faced by Violet who is suffering from numerous medical ailments which has made her dependent on others. Since she is living with her daughter Gemma who is the sole bread-earner of her family that comprises of her husband, two children and now her sick mother too, it has put Gemma under undue pressure. The children have also become quite cranky as they have been made to leave their room which is now occupied by their grandmother. Gemma’s husband, Matthew, is suffering from addiction of alcohol. This can be attributed to his unemployment. 

Even though each one of these clinical issue is worthy of investigation, I will limit my inquiry to the clinical issues being faced by Violet and Gemma’s husband Matthew.  

Quantitative Questions

Quantitative questions are most appropriate for clinical issues when the issue at hand concerns a particular segment of the population, focuses on a specific issue, relies on a comparison, is based on an outcome of an intervention, or has a time frame given to achieve the desired outcome. Such questions are usually very specific and well-defined. 

The quantitative question that will be my focus regarding Violet’s clinical issue is “Does the use of therapeutic intervention or counseling improves the psychological condition of old age people who have restricted mobility within 8 weeks?”

In this question, population consists of old age people with mobility issues; intervention is psychological therapy; comparison is being done with nothing; and the desired outcome is better psychological condition.  

Literature Review

The existing body of research on the psychological well-being of old age people who have restrictive mobility due to their health condition is rather limited. Even though numerous studies have been conducted on similar topics, the available data is still not thorough enough to reach a conclusive argument.

One important research that covers this aspect is Czaja and J. (2016). The research mainly talks about how technological innovations can be used to improve the lifestyle of old age people. Over the years, technology has drastically advanced. It has advanced to such an extent that the areas which were previously considered far beyond the reach of the influence of technology are now very much influenced by it. Technology can be used by older adults who are suffering from chronic health conditions to find online support groups. These support groups help in uniting people from across the globe who are suffering from a similar ailment. Hence, such groups provide emotional support and help in improving the psychological well-being of old age people.

Similarly, another important research also focuses on incorporating the use of mobile phones for giving psychosocial therapy to vulnerable people (Vazquez et al., 2016). Vulnerable people are usually not easily approachable. They find it hard to come to another location for therapy regularly. This can be due to social, cultural, economic or personal barriers that these people face. Therefore, it is in their best interest to get therapy remotely on their mobile phones. Since Violet can also be considered vulnerable as she is suffering from multiple chronic diseases and mobility issues, she can be given psychosocial therapy through a mobile phone.

Likewise, a group of researchers claimed that ‘Aging is often characterized by declines in physical and mental health and increased risk for depression and social isolation. A protective factor that has been found to effectively moderate these phenomena is psychological well-being’ (Friedman et al., 2015, p.1). This research claims that programs that foster positive emotions such as gratitude, forgiveness, humility and pride in the participants can improve their psychological well-being significantly. The researchers designed a program named ‘Lighten Up!’ which was ‘an 8-week program consisting of 90 min group session designed to teach participants to identify and savor positive experiences across multiple domains of eudaimonic well-being’ (Friedman et al., 2015). At the end of this program, the participants reported high level of psychological well-being on various psychometric tests and scales. Hence, Violet may benefit from participating in such a light-hearted program that will help her in recounting the positive experiences of her life and letting go off the negative aspects.