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Medical and psychosocial impacts on a senior living in a retirement home after losing a life partner
LUKŠAN, Filip
This bachelor's thesis addresses the health and psychosocial impacts on elderly citizens living in a nursing home after the loss of a life partner. The introductory theoretical part deals with the process of ageing and old age in terms of the changes in the body, structure and function. These changes are subject to internal and external stimuli and do not happen in synchronisation with all people. The literature states that a person of old age loses the ability to adapt. The functioning of an individual is restricted in terms of health, psychological and social aspects. This is described in the chapters dedicated to aging. The next chapter describes the impact of a partner's death on an elderly person. The elderly are exposed during this time to a sense of danger, loneliness and emptiness. After the death of a loved one, the daily regime of the individual is disturbed in terms of daily rituals and the meaning of life. A widowed person no longer has someone to live for, many everyday activities become pointless, some lose the essence and the meaning to all activities, which they were previously involved with. The aim of my thesis was to describe what may be the health and psychosocial impacts on elderly citizens living in a nursing home after the loss of a life partner. In order to meet the objective, I have chosen a qualitative research strategy. The data collection methods include a semi-structured interview and observations. The observed group consisted of four nursing home clients who have lost their partners. Two of the clients lost their partner while they were residing at the home, the other two before they decided to move to the nursing home. I also conducted interviews with six employees of the nursing home. As a source of information, I have also used an individual client plan prepared in the nursing home and basic data collected from the documentation. The research was conducted in a timeframe of eight weeks; I conducted three 30 minute interviews with each resident. The applied data processing methods included the biographical research and qualitative content analysis of the recorded interviews, observations and the documents obtained. The research was approved by the management of the nursing home; the text does not identify the respondents. The results are presented in two ways. First, the topic is presented in context, i.e. as the stories of the individual clients, and second as a way of obtaining a more general answer to the research question. The results of my research show that each elderly citizen is affected by their partner's death in a very specific, unique way. It was, therefore, difficult to find any general features, except perhaps that it is a very sad and serious event. I, therefore, believe that it is extremely important to set all health and social care in the nursing home in a non-rigid, flexible way, according to the actual needs of the particular client. The findings of this study could be used as information material for social workers and other social care employees in the nursing home.
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