lifespan development assignment critically analysing Baptist care services Australia

Question

Task: How to perform a critical analysis investigation of Baptist care using lifespan development assignment research techniques

Answer

Introduction
The human service agency that is selected for this lifespan development assignment is Baptist care, which is a non-profit organisation that serves old age people and people with disadvantages. The NPO has been working for people for 75 years. Baptists Care supports people with 160 facilities and different programs, and it has been recognised as one of the most respected care providers in Australia. The mission of Baptist Care is to bring equal treatment and opportunity to Australian communities and also advocate nationally on different social issues such as domestic violence, homelessness, and aged care. The strategy of this human service agency is to stay focused on being coordinated, collaborating and strong advocate for social issues and highly collaborated with member organisations(Baptist Care, 2021).

From the lifespan development assignment research it has been established that People from different age groups receive service from this human services agency as it provides a wide range of social care services. The people who receive aged care services are mainly older age people who are over 65 years old and more than 65 years old. There are different social issues and healthcare issues addressed by this service, and one of the issues in dementia care for older aged people. The dementia care for older age people that are provided by Baptist Care carried an aim of well-being and independence of those people(Baptist Care, 2022).

Normative developmental changes and impact of dementia on development
Changes in cognition (thinking) that are connected with ageing are often moderate and do not substantially interfere with day-to-day functioning for the majority of older persons. Even later in life, older persons are still able to acquire new abilities, even if the process may be more time-consuming for them than it is for younger ones. Memory for the short term is more likely to suffer significant reductions as people become older, whereas memory for the long term suffers less. As per lifespan development assignment investigations, There are some cognitive shifts that are natural to experience with advancing age, such as decreased response times and diminished ability to solve problems(Duong et al., 2017). As people become older, it is not only the rate at which information is encoded but also the rate at which it is stored and the rate at which it can be retrieved. On the other hand, many older persons get higher scores on IQ tests than their younger counterparts do because they have a greater amount of collected knowledge and experience. Memory loss is one of the most prominent impacts of dementia identified during the lifespan development assignment investigation. Hallucinations are experienced by some persons who have dementia, and these hallucinations may lead to acute anxiety, fear, and even paranoia. Memory abnormalities reported as a sign of dementia are distinct from memory loss that occurs naturally as a result of ageing. Dementia is not synonymous with memory loss(World Health Organization, 2021). Typical examples of forgetfulness include losing track of where people with dementia put their vehicle keys or entering the kitchen without remembering why they got there. It is possible that the person with dementia would misplace their automobile keys and eventually forget what they're used for altogether. All of the impacts altogether make it very challenging for dementia patients of old age to acquire new skills or abilities and develop themselves.

Addressing the issues through lifespan development assignment research
Baptist care promotes independence and well-being by deepening their knowledge about their understanding of the issues people with dementia face. The corporation supports people with dementia by promoting independence and well-being and what brings purpose and meaning to the lives of each individual. In order to achieve this, the organisation has built a MyTeam Approach, which is all about people and the way they want to live their life. Families, residents and consisted team members are partners in MyTeam. The organisation, through its relationship-based approach, delivers personal care through a smaller number of carers that gets to know each resident's preferences and choices.

The lifespan development assignment investigation also revealed, the burden of stress and care in caring for patients with dementia can be challenging. However, through facilitating personal care, the organisation of Baptist Care provides care that is responsive, flexible and compassionate to the needs and desires of each and every resident. The Lifestyle Teams of the organisation support their residents to live their lives in their own conditions by offering a varied range of special programs and activities, including Sensory Connections Clubs and Connecting Through Music, designed to maintain and build connections, enable active bodies, minds and senses, offer celebration, purpose and fun, improve communication and reduce agitation. According to LoGiudice & Watson (2014), preventative strategies state evidence from observational human and animal studies that a higher rate of physical activity has been associated with a decreased risk of the disease.

The residential aged care homes of Baptist Care offer their team members to the residents with whom they can communicate and share details of their life with. The supportive environment facilitated by Baptist Care offers a supportive wayfinding orientation and cues features and landmarks comprising personalised memory boxes which can assist the patients in identifying their rooms. The team members of BaptistCare are committed to providing support and care in a way that responds to their needs and feelings and their unique circumstances and backgrounds and minimises the use of restraints.

The theoretical underpinning of the dementia care service provided by the agency
The stereotype related to ageing leads to several problems faced by the people who are actually going through this phase of life. According to finding from the lifespan development assignment investigations, ageism is a systematic stereotyping regarding the discrimination against people for being old, and it is like sexism and racism and other discrimination that are followed in the society based on gender or skin colour. The negative stereotype about older people includes different physical traits and personality traits. The ageing perceptions that highly influence the stereotype of ageism at the cultural level are everyday tasks, knowledge, family authority, and life satisfaction. Likewise, in the other age groups, the older age people also experience changes in their physical development as the life expectancy for older age people also increases. Older people who come from different backgrounds need a wide range of cultural, social and economic conditions for their care. The senescence theory of physical ageing is the degenerative pause of the process of ageing that leads an individual to more vulnerable to mortality and disease (Hoffnung et al., 2019).

The age group supported by Baptist care aged care services is 65 years and above people. The aged care service for people with dementia provided by the agency aims to promote independence and well-being. It is important for the agency to work on the skills of the staff who work for aged care services as well as the older age people who have dementia as they need extra care. The staffs that are recruited for the aged care and to serve people with dementia soul have experience and skills in social care and health or public health management to provide better care for the people (Dai et al., 2020). Along with that, better training of the staff to provide integrated services and on-time services to the people is also important to address the care need of older age people.

Conclusion
The human service agency chosen is Baptist Care, Australia, which provides services for old-age people with dementia. The organisation provides a wide range of services to aged people. People with dementia face numerous issues related to normative development in old age. Loss of memory, forgetfulness and many more are the major impacts of dementia. Thus, people with dementia find it very challenging to acquire new skills or maintain the skills that they already possess. The development in old age people with dementia can be described to be challenging due to the prevalence of dementia. Baptise care addresses the issue with great efficiency. This lifespan development assignment investigation concludes that the organisation encourages well-being and independence by gathering more knowledge about their understanding of the issues of people with dementia.

References
Ang, A. (2020). (PDF) Integrated Community Support for People with Dementia. ResearchGate.lifespan development assignment https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339089564_Integrated_Community_Support_for_People_with_Dementia

Baptist Care. (2021). Baptist Care Australia - About us. Www.baptistcareaustralia.org.au. https://www.baptistcareaustralia.org.au/about-us/#:~:text=Baptist%20Care%20Australia%20acts%20to Baptist Care. (2022). Dementia Care. BaptistCare. https://baptistcare.org.au/dementia-caregclid=CjwKCAjwnZaVBhA6EiwAVVyv9P93zPrV3qfBXORYeDpwWB7sUEgTjpiAkebShwpenTq6-98UeuWiNBoCGZAQAvD_BwE

Dai, Y., Zhao, J., Li, S., Zhao, C., Gao, Y., & Johnson, C. E. (2020). Caregivers’ Dementia Knowledge and Care Approach in Residential Aged Care Facilities in China. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 35, 1533317520937096. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33089701/

Duong, S., Patel, T., & Chang, F. (2017). Dementia. Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue Des Pharmaciens Du Canada, lifespan development assignment150(2), 118–129. https://doi.org/10.1177/1715163517690745 Hoffnung, M., et al. (2019). Lifespan development (4th Australiasian ed.). Milton, QLD : John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uwsau/reader.actiondocID=5561263&ppg=939 LoGiudice, D., & Watson, R. (2014). Dementia in older people: an update. Internal Medicine Journal, 44(11), 1066–1073. https://doi.org/10.1111/imj.12572

World Health Organization. (2021, September 2). Dementia. Who.int; World Health Organization: WHO, lifespan development assignment. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia