Caring for Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease does not form part of the common ageing process but a higher risk of experiencing this disease is more prevalent in the older population. Alzheimer’s disease emerged as a term when Dr. Alois Alzheimer reported in 1906 the condition of a fifty-five year-old woman suffering from the effects of progressive dementia, a condition that is strongly linked to old age. Edwards et al.Due to the progressive nature of the disease, the individual with Alzheimer’s disease together with the community within which the individual belongs also becomes affected. In the latter stages of the disease, the individual may suffer dementia manifested in the disorientation of surroundings, inability to recognize family members, and lack of awareness of daily needs and wants.Mahoney (2003) states that around four million of the American population is already suffering from Alzheimer’s disease with the number expected to multiply three-fold in 2050. The effects of the disease together with the expected increase in the population of people with Alzheimer’s disease has given importance to the enhancement of knowledge and practical experience on the part of caregivers with family members suffering from Alzheimer’s disease stressing on vigilance as a standard of care.Family Caregivers of Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s disease has been the subject of many studies covering its various areas from the determination of the causes and effects of this disease to the access and availability of healthcare for people with Alzheimer’s disease and then to the focus on caregivers and care giving standards.Some studies on caregivers are continuing because of the need to collect and collate information on the importance of families caring for members with Alzheimer’s disease together with the concurrent important role of nurses and other healthcare professionals in providing family caregivers with the informative and other forms of support they need to take on the task of dealing with the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Mahoney (2003) explains that caregiver burden emerged in studies on the caregivers of family members with Alzheimer’s disease to describe the aggregate demands and issues faced by the caregivers.These cover the financial burden incurred by the family in caring for their family member with Alzheimer’s disease from seeking professional healthcare to continuing care at home as well as the emotional and social burdens of seeing or experiencing the symptoms of dementia such as the inability of the individual with Alzheimer’s to recognize family members or frequent disorientation. The failure of family caregivers to understand and effectively deal with these demands and issues could lead to fatigue and stress or even to psychological problems on the part of family caregivers.This means that apart from studying the cause, effect and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, there is also need to focus on providing multi-faceted support to family caregivers based on the underlying principle that family caregivers also need care. This implies the important role of health professionals, especially nurses that constantly deal with family caregivers to extent care to family caregivers. Care Issues of Family CaregiversWith the expected increase in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease in the succeeding decades, it is then important to make sure of the proper care not only for the patients but for their caregivers as well. As individuals depend on them for optimum care so that keeping abreast with current care giving trends and applications covering patient care and keeping themselves less stressed and fatigued are imperative. This ensures the caregiver’s health and competence in handling Alzheimer’s disease cases and patients.Sufficient and relevant data exist that prove the increased probability of caregivers of those with Alzheimer’s disease to experience symptoms related to depression. The financial burden, coupled by the physical and emotional turmoil of caring for elderly with Alzheimer’s may be some reasons for the increased risk of depression and health problems of caregivers. Wykle (1996) conducted an earlier study on family caregivers and recognized the extent that the Alzheimer’s disease takes its toll on the families caring for their members suffering from this disease.While studies on the cause and cure of Alzheimer’s disease are ongoing, there is also need to conduct parallel studies on alleviating the stress and pressure on families caring for their members with Alzheimer’s disease. Based on the recognition of the increases responsibility of families in caring for members with Alzheimer’s disease, these families are calling for appropriate and effective interventions in reducing family stress and supporting caregivers man aging the manifestations of dementia. After almost a decade, studies on caring for family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease continue to advance.Vitaliano, Katon and Unutzer (2005) studied caregiver health in the context of geriatric psychiatry in the five areas of: 1) caregiver outcomes in relation to the manifestations of the link between caregiver distress and physical indices in order to determine the intervention to caregivers; 2) assessing caregiver status and condition; 3) relationship between the caregiver and the recipient of care; 4) future studies; and 5) important areas to consider in applying interventions to family caregivers.These constitute important considerations for nurses providing support and care to family caregivers. Nursing Support for Family Caregivers Roper, Logan and Tierney (2001) developed a model for nursing care that incorporates a consideration of five factors, which are:1) activities of living,2) lifespan,3) continuous relationshi p of dependence and independence,4) factors affecting activities of living,5) individuality in living experiences.This means that throughout a person’s lifetime, a number of biological, psychological and environmental factors experienced by individuals either improve or threaten the physical, mental and emotions well-being of individuals. To prevent the threats, individuals engage in preventive activities such as being in a safe environment, communication, and having a healthy lifestyle. People go through these activities with other people, such as other family members, other families and healthcare professional, creating a continuous relationship of dependence and independence with the dependenceIn relation to nursing support for family caregivers, this model suggests that nurses play the important role of supporting family caregivers especially in the stages of dependence. This means that importance of determining when the dependence stages occur, the extent of support need ed by family caregivers, and the appropriate intervention to apply. To assist nurses in this task, Mahoney (2003) discuss the model of vigilance that applies to the relationship between the family caregiver and care recipient and the nurse’s relationship with the caregiver and care recipient.By applying the concepts of watchful supervision, protective intervening, anticipating, being on duty, and being there, patients with Alzheimer’s disease will be effectively cared for by family caregivers in the same way that family caregivers will be supported by nurses and other healthcare professionals. Salient Learning on Family Caregivers of Person’s with Alzheimer’s Disease Proper orientation prior to taking on the job of caring for family members with Alzheimer’s disease is important, so is periodic evaluation and assessment of the patient’s condition and the degree of influence it has over the caregiver.Caregivers must also allow sufficient time for leisure activities, rest and relaxation. It is also important for caregivers to be aware of the symptoms which may lead to their stress and fatigue. The symptoms they must look out for include denial, short and hot temper, anger (which may be prolonged or manifested in spurts), withdrawal from family members, friends and activities which were enjoyed previously, anxiety and agitation, sleeplessness, irritability, and exhaustion.These symptoms, if undetected, may give rise to serious health problems or even depression later on. Nurses play an important role in facilitating understanding and stress alleviation. Important Topics for Continuous Learning Although many studies have directed focus on diagnosing and treating family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, there are still areas that need further investigations and learning.On the part of nurses providing support to family caregivers, the existence of healthcare infrastructures to support the recognition of the importance of supporting family caregivers through the sharing of knowledge and experience to family caregivers constitutes one important topic for learning. This is because it is common for hospitals and nursing homes not to have their own Alzheimer’s disease care unit. Nurses and other healthcare providers may be commonly assigned from one station or area to the next which may limit the expertise gained if the said people concentrate only on a particular area.The lack of an Alzheimer’s disease unit may be due to lack of funds, hospital space, facilities, and different priorities. A possible area of learning could be the viability of establishing Alzheimer’s disease units in hospitals or nursing homes or stationing nurses in the care of Alzheimer’s patients to allow nurses to develop learning and best practices not only in treating patient’s with Alzheimer’s disease that they can use in understanding the issues of family caregivers and they can share as practical lessons to family caregivers.Another possible area of learning could be the differences in the experiences of family caregivers, caring for family members with varying manifestations of dementia, in terms of the degree of stress and fatigue and ways they apply in care giving. Concurrently, effective practical means that caregivers apply to alleviate care giving burden such as relaxation and leisure or group support become equally important. These areas of learning constitute important consideration in the orientation, evaluation, training and development of nursing care to family caregivers to assure the best care possible given to and extended to care recipients.Pertinent Actual and Potential Nursing Diagnoses of Family Caregivers Enough relevant and significant data are available that discusses the high risk of clinical depression and anxiety in family caregivers. The said depression and anxiety may be a result of the demanding physical and emotional w ork that caregivers who take care of patients with Alzheimer’s disease experience daily as part of their care routine. This may give rise to certain conditions that afflict the caregiver him/herself.â€Å"Hidden† patient is the term used to describe nurses or caregivers who suffer from anxiety and clinical depression, coupled with health problems (Parks and Novielli, 2003). Hidden in a sense that their despair and symptoms are commonly denied, not given attention to, or altogether ignored, which may give rise to graver threats later on. Caregiver depression is a condition that family caregivers may experience. These include persistent and untreatable pains and aches, irritability, weight loss and loss of appetite, exhaustion and lack of energy, insomnia and feelings of guilt and anxiety (Vitaliano, Katon, & Unutzer, 2005).Thus, nurses supporting caregivers should be well aware of the symptoms that may lead caregiver depression. Conclusion Due to the extent of the impac t of Alzheimer’s disease to the various people, including the family of the individual suffering from the disease, other people comprising the social network of the patient, and healthcare professionals, there is need to apply collaborative learning and information sharing in order to derive optimum and comprehensive understanding of best practices on the alleviation of the care giving burden of family caregivers.This is important since family caregivers able to handle and adjust to the care giving burden would lead to effective care outcomes for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.References Edwards, J. , Handy, R. , Lancaster, M. , & Turnbull, J. (Eds. ) (1998).Alzheimer's Disease: A Handbook for Caregivers. St. Louis, M. O. : Mosby. Mahoney, D. F. (2003).Vigilance: Evolution and Definition for Caregivers of Family Members with Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 29, 24-30 Parks, S. M. , & Novielli, K. D. (2003).Alzheimer's Disease Caregivers : Hidden Patients. Clinical Geriatrics, 11(5), 14-16. Roper, N. , Logan, W. , & Tierney, A. (2001).Roper-Logan-Tierney Model of Nursing: Based on Activities of the Living. London: Churchill Livingston. Vitaliano, P. P. , Katon, W. , & Unutzer, J. (2005).Making the Case for Caregiver Research in Geriatric Psychiatry. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 13, 834-843. Wykle, M. L. (1996).Interventions for Family Management of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. International Psychogeriatrics, 8, 109-111.

Visual Rock Music Stars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Visual Rock Music Stars - Essay Example Above I provided some background information on the topic of rock and roll that will help me get closer to the topic that will be dealt with lower. The aim of my study is to examine the relationship between dress and ideology of visual rock music stars. This group was chosen as the visual nature of the group allows for a thorough analysis of the ways in which the beliefs of the group may affect their decisions relating to dress. In the frameowkr of my project, an interview was conducted with members of a rock music group in order to collect primary data on the topic. The interview is used in this study to ascertain the history of the group and the beliefs of the group. The interview was also used to obtain information about how the group's beliefs have changed over time. The information from the interview is presented here alongside with the relevant current literature to ascertain how the two are interlinked. The interview revealed several things, some of which were expected, but others which were surprising. The interview found that the band did not claim to hold any strong beliefs which related to politics or religion. The band members claimed that their ideology, focused more on having fun, and this was the image that they tried to portray. The band did acknowledge that there are many rock bands which do have strong ideologies. One such example, which they quoted was the British group the Sex Pistols, who were famous in the Punk Rock era of the 1980s. They were as famous for their strong beliefs in anarchy and hatred of the British political regimes as they were for their music. The interview also revealed that the rock group was heavily influenced by other counterpart rock groups. Though, not only other... This "Visual Rock Music Stars" essay outlines the history of rock’n’roll music and how it affects the fashion. There was a rock band specifically mentioned in the interview that was the Sex Pistols. This band is considered to be an iconic rock band on many levels. Their music was highly controversial and being produced and released independently. That state of things allowed the band a large degree of freedom that many other bands which having signed to corporate brands did not possess. The entire stance which was adopted by the group was â€Å"anti-establishment†. It is for this reason that the Sex Pistols selected their dress. They aimed to take the clothes which were seen as socially acceptable at that time and transform them into a dress code, which would be highly controversial. It was not only the clothes which the Sex pistols altered in an attempt to shock, moreover, they also adopted hairstyles such as the Mohican, died their hair dramatic colors, and dec orated their bodies with tattoos and piercings. Other rock bands at the time did not possess the same levels of freedom, and as a result, their images were far more controlled by the record label and have not been so distinct. Goshert (2000) suggests that although the majority of modern bands would not consider themselves to be ‘punk’ bands, they are still heavily influenced by the ideology of bands such as the Sex Pistols. For example when the photos of the band interviewed were inspected it would be possible to see some elements of ‘punk’ dress in their early photos.

Leadership of Turkish Founder Mustafa Kemal Atatrk Assignment

Leadership of Turkish Founder Mustafa Kemal Atatrk - Assignment Example Turkey could have been a colony of the British or the French had it not been with the bold and daring leadership of Ataturk. When Germany lost to the allied forces of which the old Turkey allied itself with, allied forces occupied the whole of the country of which it nearly made a colony and its caliphs already considering on whose side it would make itself a colony. But Ataturk wanted independence in Turkey and left Istanbul on small boat Bandirma to Samsun on May 19, 1919, and begun the Turkish War of Independence. From then on, Ataturk became a charismatic leader of Turkey wading off invading allied forces against all odds. Finally, Ataturk became victorious ending the War of Independence with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923, where Turkey was recognized as an independent state. Ataturk became its President on October 30, 1923, until his death on November 10, 1938, and immediately instituted sweeping reforms on all aspect of Turkish life from the political, social, legal, economic, and cultural spheres and laid down the foundation of a modern Turkey which is based on democracy and sovereignty. In assessing the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, it is important that we have to contextualize his leadership to allow us to make an accurate analysis of his leadership. To put it in perspective, we have to consider that at the time when Ataturk led, Turkey was in a national crisis and was about to be colonized by allied forces.

Youtube Time to Start Charging Users Case Study

Youtube Time to Start Charging Users - Case Study Example The move was experimental; first it offered five movies to help promote the Sundance Film Festival at a price of $3.99 for a 48 hour-viewing period. Under this plan, YouTube hoped to later allow producers to come up with their own prices to charge users (Elberse and Gupta). This was very much in line with the second revenue generation strategy fronted by Munster. The strategy sought to charge users for viewership similar to the way iTunes are operated, on subscription basis. However, like every new move, this strategy was laden with uncertainties mainly based on the users’ response to paying for a service that was initially free. Furthermore, such a move would need to come up with the category of users and content that would be charged. This is in line with the fact that not all material in YouTube would constitute value for money, a factor that would prompt YouTube to reevaluate its content (Hartley, Jean and Axel 410). Under this consideration, YouTube would have to establis h a completely new relationship with content owners who in this case would upload material based on commercial viability. In summary, getting this strategy to work would require decisions touching on users’ categories, content, and payment channels. The other strategy in monetizing YouTube’s content is charging users for uploading videos. Charging users to upload their videos would provide the resources required to meet he assortment of costs that come with running and maintaining YouTube. These costs which include cost of bandwidth, site maintenance, and storage costs represent a significant part of YouTube’s cost outlay, if this cost is offset fully or partly by users, YouTube would record significant profits (Elberse and...This is if the number of viewership and users are to be considered from a business perspective. At the moment, given the YouTube’s popularity three viable options have been considered as potential sources of YouTube’s revenues. The three are; a hybrid model where YouTube charges a portion of its users to upload their videos, charge users for downloading movies and lastly continue with the current strategy of depending on advertisement generated revenues. YouTube would have to establish a completely new relationship with content owners who in this case would upload material based on commercial viability. In summary, getting this strategy to work would require decisions touching on users’ categories, content, and payment channels. To augment their ad dollars, YouTube needs to constitute an able sales force as opposed to the current Google’s seller’s products. The other change YouTube has to enforce is shifting focus to sell individual shows and networks as opposed to the current focus on broad â€Å"audience† buys. These changes have been highlighted by YouTube programmers and very much represent the key changes likely to turnaround YouTube’s fortune. In conclusion, the best strategy remains focusing on advertisement revenue. This presents fewer risks and has great potential as well. This is given the fact that lesser entities have been able to augment their ad money and now generate much more revenue that YouTube. This underlines the fact that it is not the business that has a problem but the approach and the adopted model.

Carmen by Georges Bizet - Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Carmen by Georges Bizet - Report - Essay Example The costumes of the opera singers were typically in the character of a Spanish Seville setting. At one point we saw actual Toreador clothing. PERFORMANCE SETTING According to the Grove Music Online the opera was chosen after a French book. A distant cousin of Bizet was one of the two people who wrote the libretto. The librettist were Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. (Grove 2011)They wrote for other French composers. Bizet chose the subject himself. He wanted to use melodrame as it had been used since 1850 in opera comique . (Grove 2011) An opera where there was dialogue accompanied by music was a technique that came from Italy in the opera buffa. TYPE(S) OF MUSIC . The opera was an opera comique taking after the opera buffa in the classical period. There were spoken parts. Carmen, the provocative bohemiane gypsy was a mezzo- soprano. Don Jose was a tenor which is higher than a bass. Before the opera began there was a short spoken introduction. I did not listen. I was too excited to hear the performance begin. Carmen is a gypsy who provokes men into loving her. A soldier, Don Josee, sees her kill another women and takes her to the police. He falls in love and lets her go. When he finds her again, she is already married to someone else. He becomes a bandit. He kills Carmen out of jealousy or madness because she won't come back to him. This soldier is Don Josee. Carmen, Don Josee, Micaella, and Escamillo are the principal characters. It was so different seeing the opera on stage than seeing it on a screen; the sounds of hearing the whole hall were amazing. Knowing that Bizet never had been to Spain makes one wonder how he could have written such Spanish sounding music. The Grove's said his opera changed the Spaniard's conception of their own music. The two parts of the opera chosen were. Carmen's Fate aria, and the Duet in Act IV before Don Josee kills Carmen. Carmen's Habanara "aria" is using all of Bizet's use of musical genres. 1. It starts with the use of voi ce as if were spoken drama with music being played under the voice. Please note the music is not accompanying the voice at certain points where it is at others. 2. The voice is used in dialogue with the chorus answering 3. The voice is used as an accompaniment to the chorus 4. The voice is used as a solo without any instrumental accompaniment. 5. The full orchestra with the full chorus begins the Fate "aria" The second part chosen is in Act IV of the opera. It is the final duet which ends the opera. The duet between Carmen an Don Josee is exquisitely beautiful. It is long for a duet of the Romantic Era. Bizet uses many techniques to change the emotions and the color of the aria. In the beginning there is very little instrumental intervention and the voices are calm. He is singing of how he loved her and she is saying she doesn't anymore. There is a build up of emotions when she says in the bottom of her soul she doesn't love him. The percussion and strings are playing and there is a change of attitude of Don Josee. He starts to beg and she sings in duet that she cannot go away with him. At one moment we hear the chorus and orchestra playing the Toreador theme. Don Josee knows Escamillo is coming and starts to sing more quickly. When he sings he is going to kill her, the key (tone ) changes to minor and the bass instruments play to show the gravity of the situation. He does kill her and the Toreador, Escamillo comes. This is a duet with

Globalization (Korean-wave or Korean-pop) Research Paper

Globalization (Korean-wave or Korean-pop) - Research Paper Example This research will help the people to understand what the effect of globalization of different culture is and how it helps the Korean Pop culture to spread all across the globe. Apart from that this research paper will also help us to discuss the effect of globalization on the Korean Pop culture and also how it influences other music types across the globe. With the help of this research paper we can analyze the effect of globalization in a particular field like culture and music. Being a culturally rich country, the main aim of Korea is to spread their culture all across the globe. These reviews will help us analyze different positive and negative effects of globalization, how Korean wave culture uses this concept of globalization in their advantage to promote their culture. The working thesis of this paper will be â€Å"globalization is just a supporting tool not the essential one to promote the Korean Pop culture as this culture have the essence in it to get noticed by the world†. The answer of the research questions will be based on the literature review, primary research. Through literature review we will discuss about different author’s and scholars viewpoint about how the globalization plays a role in cultural mix and match across the globe and how it plays a role in the journey of Korean pop music. The primary research will help us to get the present conception about the effects of globalization on the Korean culture in terms of both positive and negative, along with the opinion of common man regarding how the globalization helps in popularity of Korean pop or Korean wave. While answering this paper we will take a primary research based approach with supporting the view of the positive impact of globalization based on different author’s viewpoints. The primary research will be based on 10 questions, out of which 8 will be close ended questions and rest 2 open ended. The answers of the open ended questions

Self and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Self and Society - Essay Example Each "healthy" society needs people capable of looking forward into the future and capable of showing us the path that leads outside the polluted atmosphere of intrigues of the group of the "little" people we all belong to. Namely, people who serve the truth and not the group or the public opinion are predecessors of the society who warn us of the dangers on our way to freedom. While the group is characterized with sluggishness and inertia, the individual is capable of rapid changes of his/her opinion towards the light that glows over the new facts and warns of new danger. However, those who serve the truth only, are rare and few. Many philosophers and famous writers have tried to find answers to these and similar questions concerning the individual versus society. Camus, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Thoreau and Emerson are only a few of those who have tried to criticize the society they have lived in, to cynically laugh at and mock their own time, to warn of the dangers of the moral and ethical erosion they have been witnesses of. Knowing the characteristics of existentialism to which Camus belongs, it is understandable why in his short novel "The Stranger" Albert Camus criticizes the judicial system and depicts the irony of a case when a man is condemned for his indifference and avoidance of societal code. Mersault, the protagonist, is condemned not only by the judge but the spectators in the courtroom as well for something else, that is, his lack of emotional response at his mother's funeral, etc., other than the crime he committed (killing the Arab) and the sentence is for him to be decapitated in the name of many people whom he has never known or whom he will never meet. Mersault is forced to be the outsider when he wants to speak on his behalf. Mersault's story is the story of everyman. To Mersault (i.e. to Camus) life's only meaning is seen from the death point of view. According to Camus, people strive to make their lives meaningful in the face of God but it is absurd, because hope and faith are only p ointless measures constructed by each individual to provide purpose and avoid responsibility. Yet, Mersault is not a person who avoids responsibility for his deeds. On the contrary, he accepts responsibility for what he has done, changes into a person readers would like him to be, i.e. he shows that he is fully capable of feeling, he has emotions, he comes to terms with death, and gives a clear picture of what others are like - people hiding their true selves behind the veal of moral and societal code, when in fact they are nothing else but people full of hatred. "With death so near, Mother must have felt like someone on the brink of freedom, ready to start life all over again. It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still. For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration" (Camus, "The Stranger", p.76). Does not hatred equal less than zero "Someone must have been telling lies about