Developmental Needs and Task and Common Health Problem of Adult

Subject: Medical and Surgical Nursing I (Theory)

Overview

Terminologies

Growth: Growth is a size expansion and physical transformation. It can be measured using techniques like height, weight, measurements of the size and density of the bones, among others.

Development: Growth has a behavioral component called development, which is the period of time during which a person's ability for complex function and skill development increases.

Developmental Tasks: A developmental task, according to Havighurst (1972), is one that enters our lives at a specific point and is successfully finished to make us content and successful with other tasks in the future.

Adulthood: A person or other living thing is considered to be an adult if they have attained a relatively mature age, which is frequently associated with reaching sexual maturity and becoming of reproductive age. At least three definitions exist for the term "adult":

  • Grown biologically
  • Being able to reproduce
  • Legal

Adulthood is divided into three phases:

  • Young Adulthood 21-39 years
  • Middle-Aged Adult 40-59 years
  • Late Adulthood:60 years onwards

The Young Adulthood

The young adult years span the ages of 21 and 39. What young adulthood is characterized as, as well as the expectations and fears associated with it, are all influenced by factors such as socioeconomic status, urban/rural residency, racial and educational background, various life events, the historical era, and the country of residence.

Physical Growth and Development

  • Generally in good health, resistant to sickness or aging-related problems.
  • Physical ability and biological function peak between the ages of 20 and 35 before declining.
  • Age 25 is when strength peaks, then it plateaus through ages 35 to 40 before it starts to decline. Flexibility also gets less as you get older as an adult.
  • Male sex desire is still very high.
  • Women are most fertile when they are in their early 20s.
  • The physically ideal time to have children
  • When a person reaches their full adult height and alters their secondary sexual features, physical maturation is complete. Changes in adult life occur more gradually and in lesser doses than those in childhood.

Cognitive Changes

  • Has a propensity for logic.
  • Improved intellectual, analytical, and motor skills.
  • Identifies suggested industries for employment.

Psychological Changes

  • Possesses the emotional maturity required to establish long-term sexual relationships
  • Chooses a profession, a spouse, and whether to have children.
  • Significantly emphasizes social and professional efforts in order to advance one's socioeconomic status
  • Adjust to a new situation
  • Abandons one's biological relatives

Developmental Tasks of Young Adult

According to Erik Erikson (Young Adults 20 to 40 years) Intimacy vs. Isolation

According to Havighurst

  • Accept self and stabilize self-concept and body image
  • Acknowledge and resolve conflicts between the emerging self and conformity to the social order
  • Establish independence from parental home and financial aid, resolve difficulty of home ownership
  • Become established in a vocation or profession that provides personal satisfaction, economic independence, and a feeling of making a worthwhile contribution to society; uptake skills as necessary
  • Learn to appraise and express love responsibility through more than sexual contact
  • Establish an intimate bond with another; either through marriage or with a close friend.
  • Establish and maintain a home and manage time schedules and life stresses
  • Find a congenial social and friendship group
  • Decide whether to have a family and carry out tasks of parenting
  • Achieve a more realistic outlook about other cultures and political systems.
  • Become involved as a citizen in the community
  • Formulate a meaningful philosophy of life and reassess priorities and values
  • Resolve changed relationships with the couple's parental families

Developmental need of Young Adult

Physiological Needs:

  • Nutritional need: To prevent storing too much body fat, an adult must balance their energy intake with their degree of physical activity. Dietary habits and dietary preferences have an impact on wellbeing and can help with weight management, exercise, and the avoidance of chronic diseases like osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Adults who want to achieve health and wellness must control their weight. Adults must balance their energy intake in accordance with changes in their energy requirements based on their level of physical activity in order to stay healthy.
  • Needs for energy: Depending on levels of activity
  • Weight management: Prevent persistent health issues such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
  • Rest and sleep: The biological clock of sleep is tightly linked to the rhythms of rest and other bodily processes. Every person's existence includes sleep as a normal behavioral condition. About one-third of a person's life is spent asleep. However, most people are unaware of the significance of this crucial exercise. Sleep is more than just a way to pass the time when one is not doing anything. Sleeping is not a choice; it is a necessity. Actually, it seems that sleep is essential for:
    • Survival
    • Work
    • Leisure
    • Physical Fitness

Psychosocial Need:

  • A suitable environment for creativity and critical thought
  • Positive body image and self-concept
  • Wholesome family dynamics
  • Choice of lifestyle
  • Emotional development
  • Build moral/ethical/religious values
  • Intimacy and support by spouse, family or friends

Young Adults' Common Health Issues:

  • Violent death is linked to the following four major causes of death:
    • Vehicle crashes and other mishaps
    • Murder and suicide
    • Depression and anxiety brought on by the strain of independence and workplace competitiveness. a consensus among peers.
    • Stress and a sense of newfound freedom may cause people to experiment with different lifestyles and increase their use of and abuse of drugs.
  • Complications during pregnancy, breast and cervical cancer, and orthopedic injuries are examples of physical health issues.
  • The main causes of mortality are a reflection of the strains in this time and the effects of past bad lifestyle choices.
  • According to sex and race, several causes of death exist.
  • External environmental variables like employment stress, other occupational dangers, marital issues, and parental adjustments are among the factors that cause disease and mortality.

Common Health Problems of Young Adult

Physical Social

Accidents

Upper Respiratory Tract 

Influenza

Dental Crisis

Pneumonia

Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS

HTN, IHD,CVA

Malaria

Diarrhea

Iron Deficiency anemia

Cystitis

Migration Headache

Cancer- testicular, cervical, hodgkin's lymphoma 

Pregnancy complications

Anxiety and depression

Suicide, Homicide

Alcoholism, Drug Abuse

Excessive smoking

Battered or abused

Divorce

Abortion

Infertility

Homosexual/ Transsexual

Nursing Implications for Health Promotion and Prevention of Illness

  • Health education to help develop good life style:
    • Stress reduction
    • Utilizing tools and receiving parenting and home management training
    • Managing one's diet, cutting back on sugar and sodium intake, and maintaining a healthy weight
    • Increasing understanding of the risks associated with substance abuse
    • Human sexuality, family planning, child care, and household management issues
    • Creation of wholesome behaviors for smokers and obese people
  • Promoting a routine of modest physical activity
  • Periodic evaluation of cholesterol, STDS, HTN, anemia, dental care, and tests for testicular, breast, and cervical cancer
  • Prevention of accidents and safety measures
  • Influenza, tetanus, hepatitis, and other vaccinations
  • Involves patients and their close friends or family in the care plan
  • Investigates the effects of hospitalization, illness, work, family, and children
  • Keep an eye out for body language cues about feelings.
  • As much decision-making as possible should be let
  • Check for any potential stressors brought on by the young adult's many responsibilities.
  • Identify and treat pain based on the needs and reactions of the patient
  • Encourage the employment of a preventive strategy, including safer sex, a safety program, a healthy diet, and taking vitamins, among other things.
  • Provide necessary instruction based on the person's preferred method of learning.
  • Increased availability of crisis counseling, support groups, and other community resources, as well as public knowledge of issues

Middle Adult (40-59 Yrs)

Middle age is the age bracket that comes after adolescence but before the start of old age. Developmental Tasks of Middle Aged Adult : "Generativity vs. Self   Absorption or Stagnation" Erik Erikson

The steady aging of the physical body provides a biological foundation for middle-age developmental activities. Social pressure and expectations provide a cultural foundation. Individual life styles and self-concepts that mature adults have created provide a psychological foundation. People in their middle years should complete the following developmental tasks:

  • Preserving or maintaining a healthy lifestyle
  • If a person is married, they can find and build new pleasures by engaging in activities together, supporting their spouse, and growing closer to them.
  • Assisting children, both growing and mature, to become content and accountable adults
  • Taking pride in one's accomplishments and those of one's spouse, and making a lovely, welcoming, and comfortable house that is congruent with one's ideals and resources.
  • Juggling work and other commitments while planning for retirement
  • Maintaining a level of living that is based on needs, values, and available money.
  • Accepting the role-reversal that comes with aging parents and mentally preparing for the passing of surviving parents
  • Accepting and responding to the physical changes that come with middle age while maintaining healthy lifestyles
  • Making friendship an art form; cherishing existing friends and selecting new ones; engaging in a lively social life with friends of all ages and genders; Accepting at least a few pals into close emotional sharing can assist prevent self-indulgence.
  • Developing adult social and civic responsibility, and getting involved in charitable endeavors and issues
  • Developing a life philosophy and religious affinity further while learning new aspects of God's workings.
  • Making financial arrangements, creating hobbies and leisure time activities, and revising one's philosophy and values are all steps in retirement preparation.
  • Utilizing leisure in a satisfying and creative manner while avoiding over-subscribing to social pressures and trends

Causes of Health Problems

The following factors, both internal and external, are responsible for the decline in health status in middle age:

  • Bone mass starts to diminish
  • Height decrease and calcium loss, particularly after menopause
  • If not used, muscles lose strength and mass; their endurance also declines.
  • Skin elasticity loss, dryness, and a rise in wrinkles
  • Dkin elasticity loss, dryness, and a rise in wrinkles
  • Decreased metabolic rate, heat/cold tolerance, and susceptibility to infection
  • Sluggish reflexes
  • Muscle activity might go up or down.
  • Loss of taste and hearing that is noticeable
  • Male hairlines are receding, while females have more facial hair.
  • Joints and muscles react more slowly.
  • Decreased coordination and balance
  • Longer reaction time to stress

Common health problems of middle age are as follows:

Physical Social

Sinusitis

Hiatus hernia with esophagitis

Peptic ulcer

Hypertension

Diabetes type II

Gout hyperuricemia

Prostatitis

Lung and Breast Cancer

Cirrhosis of the Liver

Respiratory problems

Presbyopia

Hormonal Changes

Sexual Dysfunction

Cardiovascular Disease

Dental caries, pridontal disease

Lumbosacral Strain

Generation Gap

Social mibility

Difficulty in relating to his/her spouse- negative, critical feelings about marriage, divorce, extramarital affair

Stagnation/Self absorption

 

Irritability, depression, and  achange in sexual desire may occur in response to physical changes and their meaning

Depression, Hopeless, sleep probles, ostility, low self esteem

Widoehood increase depemdancy 

Change in body image

Alcohol and tobacco use 

Conflicts, feelings of fraustation, guit, and anger about the increased responsibility and past conflicts or old hurts from parents or siblings

Middle-aged people's health promotion and illness prevention nursing implications:

  • Health Care Needs
    • Pertaining to maintaining and extending the window of greatest energy and best cognitive and social function
    • 50-year-olds should undergo a physical examination every year to rule out cancer, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, and hypertension.
    • Evaluation of diet, exercise, occupational risks, menopause adjustment, sexual dysfunction, usage of over-the-counter drugs, alcohol, and smoke

Interventions for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for Middle Age:

  • Give options if you can
  • Examine how illness and disease affect career and body image.
  • Providing possibilities for care-related decision-making
  • Promote as much self-care as you can
  • Teach or offer advice to people in their mid-life who are struggling with marriage, menopause, midlife crisis, etc. Encourage the desire to alter the conduct so that the two persons can advance collectively rather than independently.
  • Encourage women to take hormone replacement therapy, and schedule regular pap tests, breast self-examinations, and blood pressure checks. When an activity no longer satisfies personal requirements, encourage the person to stop doing it.
  • Encourage the individual to embrace change, join groups, and make stimulating eye contact with others.
  • Inform the individual of the significance of retirement planning.
  • Encourage acceptance of one's own capabilities and limitations, a strong sense of self, and guilt-free life.
  • Encouragement to try new things, broaden interests, join organizations in the community, volunteer, make new acquaintances, and develop as a unique individual
  • Emphasize the importance of exercise, rest, a balanced diet, and regular health checks.
  • Encourage the pursuit of creative endeavors as well as a creative approach to roles, duties, and tasks.
  • Emphasize ongoing education through workshops, refresher courses, and other means

Elderly Adult Above 60 Years

Old age is defined as ages that are close to or above the normal human life expectancy, marking the end of the human life cycle. The terminology for old people include the elderly, senior citizens, and seniors (in both American and British usage).

Developmental Tasks of Old Age People  : According to Erik Erikson's "Integrity vs. Despair"

According Havighurst

  • Recognize the aging process and define instrumental limitations.
  • Adjust to decreasing physical strength and healt changes.
  • Decide where and how to live out the remainin years. Redefine physical and social life span.
  • Continue a supportive, close, warm relationship wit the spouse or significant other, including a satisfyin sexual relationship.
  • Find a satisfactory home or living arrangement an establish a safe, comfortable household routine to fi health and economic status.
  • Adjust living standards to retirement income supplement retirement income if possible wit remunerative activity.
  • Maintain maximum level of health; care for se physically and emotionally by getting regular heal examination and needed medical or dental ca eating an adequate diet, and maintaining person hygiene.
  • Maintain contact with children, grand children, a other living relatives, finding emotional satisfact with them.
  • Establish explicit affiliation with members of cage group.

Physical Changes

  • People frequently experience a general physical decline and start to become less active.
  • Liver spots and wrinkles on the skin
  • Gray or white hair color change
  • Hair fall
  • Lessening or stopping of sex, mainly due to a reduction in desire but sometimes as a result of physical symptoms like erectile trouble in men.
  • Increased propensity for bone problems like osteoarthritis.
  • Reduced capacity for clarity of thought
  • Difficulty remembering past events
  • Decreased vision
  • Slower agility and response times
  • Diminished hearing

Psychosocial Aspects

  • In "Integrity vs. Despair," written by Erik Erikson, the focus is on looking back on one's life.
  • If this stage is succesful, the person will feel their life has been a waste and have numerous regrets.
  • The person will have feelings of resentment and hopelessness. Those with a sense of integrity will feel proud of their successes.
  • Looking back after completing this phase successfully means having few regrets and generally feeling satisfied. These people will develop wisdom even when facing death.

As the body changes, other things to be aware of are:

  • A slower reaction time, which is crucial for determining whether someone can drive.
  • Smokers in particular may experience impaired taste or smell, which might cause them to lose their appetite and become dehydrated.
  • A compromised immune system, which makes fending off viruses, germs, and illnesses challenging
  • Thinner skin, which can cause breakdowns and slowly healing wounds

Common Health Problems of Old Age

The process of aging is a natural, progressive one that starts at conception and ends with death. Although diseases are not always associated with aging, they do become more prevalent as people get older. The majority of the time, diseases have numerous, non-specific symptoms that affect a variety of organs. Ageing is linked to higher morbidity and more frequent use of medical services in the elderly.

Physical Problems

  • Orthostatic hypotension, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and decreased peripheral circulation are all symptoms of cardiovascular disease.
  • Alzheimer's condition
  • Incontinence (urine and stool) (urine and stool)
  • Osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and frequent falls that can result in fractures
  • Diabetes
  • Parkinson's condition
  • Cancer
  • Eye issues (cataracts, glaucoma)
  • Digestive issues and constipation Anemia caused by malnutrition, including secondary anemia.
  • Hypothyroidism and BPH tooth loss causing a change in eating habits.
  • Respiratory illnesses, both acute and chronic, such as COPD.

Psychological Problems of Old People

  • Elder abuse: Typically, the victim's partner or children are the abusers. Elderly or middle-aged caregivers who abuse their elderly relatives are frequently suffering from emotional disorders like alcoholism or drug addiction.
    • Elderly people who are subjected to psychological abuse, such as instilling dread or making them perform humiliating chores,
    • Brutality like beating, slapping, or burning Abuse of money, such as stealing from someone or pressuring them to sign away their assets.
    • Neglect, such as failing to provide basic care, food, or medication.
    • Personal rights violations include keeping someone in a restraint for a long time against their will or excluding them from regular social connections.
    • Sexual assault
  • Stress and Depression
  • Confusion/Dementia
  • Feel isolated and marginalized

Nursing Interventions for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for Old People

  • Health needs:

    • The control of a chronic illness
    • Extend the window of time when activity in the body, mind, and social realms is at its peak.
    • Annual dental and physical examinations
    • Retirement preparation
    • Reduce physical limitations and suffering caused by sickness
    • Nutritional evaluation and guidance, high fiber, reduced sodium, simple carbohydrates, and calorie intake
  • Nursing interventions for health promotion and disease prevention for old people:

    • Examine the person's network of support Examine associated current situations
    • Include family in your care.
    • Give enough nourishment
    • Maintain a safe environment by locking the wheels, raising the side rails, lowering the bed, etc.
    • Often check the integrity of the skin
    • Keep an eye on bowel movement
    • Continue to monitor and treat your pain
    • Adjuvant analgesic use should be cautious as it can increase negative effects.
    • After bathing, immediately apply lotion to the skin. Be cautious if a warmer climate becomes necessary (extra blanket, room temperature)
Things to remember

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