Sociocultural Differences in Perspectives on Aging

Sociocultural Differences in Perspectives on Aging

Respond to at least two colleagues who addressed cultures other than the ones you addressed in the Sociocultural Differences in Perspectives on Aging assignment.

Share an insight gained from reading your coworkers’ postings.

Describe how you might incorporate your colleagues’ cultural perspectives on aging into your own social work practice.

Make specific references to the resources to back up your Sociocultural Differences in Perspectives on Aging responses. If you use additional articles, make sure to include complete APA-formatted citations for your references.

Sociocultural Differences in Aging Perspectives: Colleague 1: BM

Americans are living far longer lives than in the past, with the average death age being around 77 years old (Ryman, 2003).

This increase in years could be attributed to our advanced medical discoveries, ranging from research to cure, which have resulted in people living longer lives who would not have lived as long otherwise.

With our citizens living longer lives, amenities for these people have been improved, including senior housing facilities and additional units in nursing homes.

Furthermore, it is an unfortunate reality in our society that the elderly are frequently regarded as a burden (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2016).

This is commonly heard when people discuss driving behind an elderly person or shopping in the same stores.

Their slower pace does not always correspond with our fast-paced, instant-gratification society that is typical in the United States.

The mental and physical health of the elderly can also have an impact on society, as financial resources are allocated to this population, extending their lives even further (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2016).

However, in countries such as Japan and China, the elderly are held in much higher regard than in the United States.

Their role within their families becomes more ingrained as they age, with the majority of the elderly living with their grown children and their children (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2016).

This becomes the standard.

The elderly are regarded as wise in these cultures, possessing knowledge that can only be obtained through years spent on the planet.

On the contrary, if grown children consider a nursing home for their parents, they are viewed as uncaring and unconventional (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2016).

Furthermore, the elderly are revered in Indian culture, and they are often raised in joint families.

In these families, the patriarch is frequently the grandfather or great grandfather.

It is customary for grandparents to have a direct role in raising their grandchildren, including child care and decision making (Ryman, 2003).

The disparity between the United States and the other aforementioned aging perspectives is most likely due to societal speed.

The United States takes pride in its technology, economy, and resulting power.

While these are undoubtedly elements that have shaped America into the country that it is today, some may argue that a sense of family and the value of forged relationships have been lost.

This would correspond to the various perspectives on aging held by our country.

According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), our elderly population is a burden on society because they are unable to maintain the rigors of today’s world.

This is in stark contrast to other cultures where the elderly are revered for their wisdom gained through experience.

This difference in perspective will undoubtedly have an impact on social work practice.

The professional must understand the cultural factors that come into play when dealing with the elderly.

A Chinese grandmother, for example, might have a very different story to tell than an American grandmother being transferred to a nursing home.

Cultural competence is essential once again.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource

Sociocultural Differences in Aging Perspectives Colleague 2: Sk

The concept of aging and how various societies react to it may differ in a variety of ways; for example, the Japanese and Latinos view aging differently than Americans. According to NCBI (2009), aging in the United States takes place against the backdrop of cultural ideologies such as the Protestant work ethic and the American Dream, which define personal worth in terms of active participation in work, individual achievement, and responsibility for control over one’s own actions. This viewpoint views American culture as one that considers a person’s worth in relation to their age and how they function as they age. In Japan, aging has a more positive connotation than in the United States. Japanese ideas about aging are rooted in Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist philosophical traditions that characterize aging as maturity; old age is thus understood as a socially valuable part of life, even a time of “spring” or “rebirth” after a busy period of working and raising children. The Japanese culture regards their elderly as a wealth of knowledge because they have gained so much experience, demonstrating that they do not consider what they can physically contribute. Latinos are another group whose culture embraces their elderly and seeks to make them an active part of their society because of the insights they possess that are critical to the upbringing of the younger generations. The elderly are thought to have inner strength in Latino cultures. The elderly also regard themselves as important members of the family and are not ashamed to seek assistance; Latino elderly continue to play a central role in the family and are treated with respect, status), and authority (MHAGING 2016).

These differences exist simply because of how these societies view their elderly, industrialization, and how individuals can contribute to their society’s advancement. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), our society fears aging more than other societies; industrialization created a demand for workers who are energetic, agile, and strong. More modern societies, such as the United States, would embrace this change because it propels them up the economic ladder, which is not possible with elderly working, so they are better suited in settings that are far less demanding, which unfortunately makes them redundant. Whereas Japanese and Latinos have advanced with the times, they have not lost sight of the fact that their elderly are valuable, so they keep them as a source of knowledge rather than seeing them as no longer valuable to their society. Different perspectives on aging may have a significant impact on social work practice because the services that social workers advocate for will be heavily influenced by how these cultures perceive the need for assistance. In the Japanese and Latino cultures, people are more likely to rely on their family for help and support in caring for them as they get older, so social work agencies are seen as interfering. This will influence how they communicate with the social worker, so it all boils down to the social worker being culturally competent, allowing them to be very empathetic and sensitive to these individuals in order to develop a good relationship. Elders in the American culture may be less sensitive to working with social workers because there are more elderly people living alone and without families who require the assistance of social workers. To summarize, social workers must be fluent in the cultures with which they work in order to advocate for services that will empower them in their later years.