Question

GERONTOLOGY

"Aging in Place" is a popular term in the field of aging, however, there are some experts in the field that believe promoting the idea of "Aging in Community" should be preferred. Why?

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Research both terms and explain the pro's and con's of using either term and then decide which if either term you would prefer to use and explain why.

Answer 1

AGING IN PLACE:

PROS:

• Satisfaction of being independent
• Homely feeling
• Improves physical fitness as not dependent on others

CONS:

• Financially taxing as you're all by yourself
• Mentally challenging as there is no support from others.
• On the events of sudden deterioration of health, due to lack of financial and emotional support, the condition may worsen or take a lot of time to cured.

AGING IN COMMUNITY:

PROS:

• Promotes sense of social connectedness.
• As the people in the community are interdependent, there is no lack of emotional support. This leads to a sense of satisfaction while ageing.
• Health is taken well care of as there's always someone to look after you.

CONS:

• The people in the community may tend to become over dependent on each other.
• Freedom is limited.
• There might be a feeling of abandonement at times as you haven't got your near and dear ones near you.

Hence, I would prefer ageing in community as it is much beneficially socially, emotionally and mentally. As we're all social animals, living away from the community is not what we're actually made for. Therefore ageing in community is much more beneficial.