Description
A series of three videotapes entitled “Being Old and in Care”. In this series Malcolm Brown interviews elderly residents from residential homes in the Strathclyde region and from them draws insights about both growing old and living in residential care.
Each interview paints a picture of the person’s life and the circumstances which led to admission to residential care. The level of help offered in reaching the decision to come into care and the amount of control the individual had over the decision are commonly covered.
Part 3 of the series contains five interviews. Three have come to live in residential care within a matter of months prior to the interviews and thus demonstrate the difficulties of adjusting to life in residential care. Two of the interviews demonstrate the problems of memory loss in old age, one with impaired recent memory, the other with impaired past memory. They are not disoriented or confused but are honest about their impairment.
One of the residents interviewed is in constant pain, so that although he has adjusted to his wife’s death and finds pleasure in reading, cigarettes and whisky, he would find death a release. Each of these residents has close links with family and/or friends which has made a positive contribution to their mental health. The losses demonstrated in this tape are mainly loss of faculties and independence, loss of home and possessions and for those with family living abroad limited family contact. Each has experienced the loss of a spouse but demonstrate good adjustment at this stage. 38 mins
