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Transcript
This stage is from 40 to 60 years and it’s really that stage of life in which aging begins to show.
Lifestyle decisions that people have made will really start to impact health and quality of life.
Physically, the major aspects of aging that come through are bone density loss, decreasing stamina and strength, worsening vision and hearing, skin and hair become more dry and brittle, and women will begin to experience menopause.
Cognitively, there may begin to be signs of decreased mental flexibility toward the upper end of this stage. Making new habits and learning new information may be more difficult if efforts aren’t made to stay intellectually active and engaged.
Psychosocially, they are in erikson’s generativity vs stagnation phase and this all about trying to contribute to the world- to feel like you’ve made a difference.
Sometimes patients in this stage may begin to struggle with the idea that they are getting older and the stereotypical midlife crisis may occur.
A few other things happening in this stage are that children are leaving home, making those in this stage of adulthood empty nesters.
The term sandwich generation is often used to describe this stage because they experience the demands of supporting their kids and also taking care of their aging parents.
A lot of patient interactions are geared toward health screening so that diagnoses that are common in this age group can be detected as early as possible. Examples of this would be high blood pressure, high cholesterol, breast cancer, and testicular cancer.
In planning care it’s important to be sensitive to the pressures they feel in caring for others. Because they are caring for kids and for their parents it’s very possible they will neglect their own health.
Patient education should be directed toward adult learners as these patients benefit by having their experience acknowledged.
Health issues seen in this age group are hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and obesity.
Your priority nursing concepts when caring for a patient in middle adulthood are human development, patient centered care and health promotion.
Alright, I’ve listed some key points from this lesson here, so let’s quickly run through them. Middle adulthood is from 40-60 years and they are in the generativity vs stagnation stage of psychosocial development.
This is the time when aging becomes noticeable. Chronic health issues begin to be more of an issue, having an impact on quality of life.
Health screening is extremely important because we want to catch these health issues early on to prevent complications.
Patient education should keep in mind that the patient is an adult learner and it’s important to keep in mind that patients at this stage may be slower to learn new things and develop new habits.
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