Download
1 / 12
E N D
YOUNG ADULTHOOD 18 – 40 Years of Age
Introduction Early adulthood is a time for establishing long-term, intimate relationships with other people, choosing a lifestyle and adjusting to it, deciding on an occupation, and managing a home and family. All of these decisions lead to changes in the lives of young adults that can be a potential source of stress for them. It is a time when intimacy and courtship are pursued and spousal and/or parental roles are developed.
Physical, Cognitive, and Psychosocial Development • Physical abilities for most young adults are at their peak. • The body is at its optimal functioning capacity. • Cognitive capacity of young adults is fully developed. • Young adults continue in the formal operations stage of cognitive development. • The interests for learning are oriented toward those experiences that are relevant for immediate application to problems. • Motivated to learn about the possible implications of various lifestyle choices. • Erikson (1963) describes the young adult’s stage of psychosocial development as the period of intimacy versus isolation. • Individuals work to establish a trusting, satisfying, and permanent relationship with others.
Teaching Strategies • As Havighurst pointed out, this stage is full of “teachable moment” opportunities, but it is the most devoid of efforts by health providers to teach. • Risk factors and stress management are important to deal with to help young adults establish positive health practices for preventing problems with illness in the future. • The major factors associated with increased risk of death in later life: • High Blood Pressure • Elevated Cholesterol • Obesity • Smoking • Overuse of alcohol and drugs • Pertinent family history of major illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. • If the individual is planning marriage, then teach about: • Family Planning • Contraception • Parenthood • Encourage to select what to learn (objectives). • How they want material to be presented (instructional methods and tools) • Which indicators will be used to determine the achievement of learning goals (evaluation). • Important to draw on their experiences to make learning relevant, useful, and motivating. • Must be directed at encouraging young adults to seek information that expands their knowledge base, helps them control their lives, and bolsters their self-esteem.
Teaching Strategies • Nurse as educator must find a way of reaching and communicating with this audience about health promotion and disease preventive measures. • Readiness to learn does not always require the nurse educator to wait for it to develop. • The motivation for adults to learn comes in response to internal drives, such as need for self-esteem , a better quality of life ,or job satisfaction, or in response to external motivators, such as job promotion, more money, more time to pursue outside activities. • When faced with acute or chronic illnesses, they are stimulated to so as to maintain their independence and return to normal life patterns. • Because they tend to be very self-directed in their approach to learning, young adults do well with written patient education materials and audiovisual tools that allow them to independently self-pace their learning.
Group discussion is an attractive method for teaching and learning because it provides young adults with the opportunity to interact with others of similar age and situation, such as parenting groups, prenatal classes, or marital adjustment sessions.
Spinal Cord Injury Spinal Cord • Residual impairment from spinal cord injury affects all areas of life—physical, social, psychological, vocational, and spiritual. Typically, spinal cord–injured persons are males between the ages of 16 and 30 years old. • Fink (1967), a psychologist, described four sequential phases of recovery: shock, defensive retreat, acknowledgment, and adaptation. • The most common problems are urinary tract infections and skin breakdown • Much of the rehabilitation as it relates to patients’ functional living is actually done by trial and error. It is wise to remember that most teenagers’ concerns center on their friends, especially a boyfriend or girlfriend. -the spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain (the medulla oblongata specifically). The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system (CNS). The spinal cord is the only main pathway for information connecting the brain and peripheral nervous system.
Denial is the most frequent obstacle to learning readiness in the young spinal cord–injured patient. Although the object of this denial is often the bowel program, denial frequently reappears whenever a task seems overwhelming. Although denial may be an effective coping mechanism, it can also interfere with learning readiness. • Denial is the most frequent obstacle to learning readiness in the young spinal cord–injured patient. Although the object of this denial is often the bowel program, denial frequently reappears whenever a task seems overwhelming • Lack of readiness will occur when any physical or emotional limitations are present. • Everyone has to work through the injury at their own pace. It is critical to understand that significant others and children need support throughout this experience, too. There are some circumstances that the nurse must consider such as the readiness of the learner because Readiness is the learner’s ability in terms of physical and mental development. Readiness in both respects is necessary for effective teaching
It is imperative that at whatever juncture the nurse encounters a person with a spinal cord injury, a careful assessment of the patient’s learning readiness be carried out first. Brain injury • With the appropriate support and knowledge, the client and family will be successful in learning and maintaining independence. brain • A fall, car accident, gunshot wound, or blow to the head are just a few potential causes of traumatic brain injury • Closed head injury refers to non-penetrating injury. Open head injury refers to penetrating injury resulting in brain tissue exposure and • disruption of normal protective barriers. -The brain is the most complex organ in the body. It is the organ that allows us to think, have emotions, move, and even dream.
Most members of this special population, ages 15 to 24 years, were previously healthy and active young people. • Cognitive impairments may include poor attention span, slowness in thinking, confusion, difficulty with short-term and long-term memory, distractibility, impulsive and socially inappropriate behaviors, poor judgment, and mental fatigue, as well as difficulty with organization and problem solving. • The treatment of people with severe brain injury is most often divided into three stages: • Acute care (in an intensive care unit) • Acute rehabilitation (in an inpatient brain-injured rehabilitation unit) • Long-term rehabilitation after discharge (at home or in a long-term care facility) • Personality changes present the biggest burden for the family. Studies have shown that the level of the family stress is directly related to personality changes and the • relative’s own perception of the symptoms arising from the head injury • Brain-injured persons will always need the involvement of their family.
Families are faced with a life-changing event and will require ongoing support and encouragement to take care of themselves. Recovery may take several years, and most often the person is left with some form of impairment. • Symptoms of Brain Injury: • Personality Change • Slowness • Poor Memory in the head-injured population. • Guidelines for effective teaching of the brain-injured patient • DO • Use simple rather than complex statements. • Use gestures to complement what you are saying. • Give step-by-step directions. • Allow time for responses. • Recognize and praise all efforts to communicate. • Ensure the use of listening devices. • Keep written instructions simple, with a small • amount of information on each page. • DON’T • Stop talking or trying to communicate. • Speak too fast. • Talk down to the person. • Talk in the person’s presence as though he or she • is not there. • Give up (instead, seek the assistance of a speech-language pathologist).
