Alcoholism among older homeless men and women
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Alcoholism among older homeless men and women
The extent of Alcoholism among older homeless men and women and why it interests me personally
According to Briggs and Flanagan, (2016), older adults comprise of individuals aged 50 years and above. Among the factors rendering such individuals homeless include medical illness that spends much of their savings, financial hardships and loss of financial support. In connection to that, public health programs associate alcohol abuse among older adults with homelessness. Alcoholism among older homeless men and women is a social problem that has affected over 50% of the older homeless population in the United States. Unlike the general trend where the prevalence of alcoholism reduces as an individual age, there has been a notable increase in its prevalence in the last ten years. Nevertheless, there is no enough information about why the older homeless population is abusing alcohol than before. Considering that about 1% of the U.S population become homelessness annually, which translates to about six hundred thousand Americans the problem of alcoholism is likely to escalate in the long-term. Homeless adults tend to abuse alcohol than housed adults. According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, alcoholism among adults aged above 50 years has risen by two folds since 2002. This section of the homeless population abusing alcohol are likely to experience additional health issues as most of them live with chronic health problems and are in constant medications that are likely to interact with alcohol. This topic interests me because I grew up with my cousin after he lost both parents to alcohol-related complications. The family had suffered a lot of financial difficulties that saw them lose their home upon failing to sustain their home mortgage plan. The elder siblings had also taken after their parents in drinking out of influence that led to one of them committing suicide. I have an interest in counseling older adults especially the homeless on alcohol-related issues and that is the other reason am pursuing the topic.
The importance of knowing about this problem
As a health educator, it is paramount to know about Alcoholism among older homeless men and women. According to Guerrero, Henwood, and Wenzel, (2014) statistics indicate that older adults aged above 60 years concurrently take alcohol and medications, which may lead to interactions. In their study Guerrero, Henwood, and Wenzel, (2014), argued that older homeless adults are likely to live in outdoor hazardous environments that may expose them to infections, falls and insecurity, which render them under frequent medications. The changes in the metabolism of alcohol that occur with age cause most of the interactions between alcohol and medication. Therefore, this group of individuals is at more risk of suffering interactions between alcohol and most of the medication depending on the quantity of alcohol taken.
According to the National Association of Social Workers (2015), a national survey conducted in 2016 indicated that 40% of the adults aged above 60 consume alcohol. Besides this age brackets experiencing issues related to interactions between alcohol and medications, many of them have other independent health problems and also tend to drink uncontrollably. Most of them are therefore likely to become more sensitive to alcohol due to their reduced body's tolerance to drugs. The effects of alcohol, therefore, increases by several folds among older adults compared to their youthful past. It is therefore common to find older adults falling when drunk, causing car crashes and experiencing injuries that could otherwise have been avoided. Consumptions of alcohol among older adults are also likely to escalate already existing health issues such as congestive heart failure, mood issues, memory lapses, and diabetes.
The causes of this problem among this group
Ewing, Golinelli, Kennedy, Rhoades, Tucker, and Wenzel, (2014) argue that the issue of Alcoholism among older homeless men and women comprise of two problems in one. First is the issue of homelessness and second the problem of alcoholism. The fact that not many people imagine of homelessness among elderly people further complicates the problem by rendering the older victims of homelessness forgotten. Part of this population has grown old in shelters while another portion has become homeless in the recent past. It would also be to regard any older individual risking to lose home within the next two months as homeless. Poverty and scarcity in affordable housing for some of the older population have largely contributed to homelessness. According to Ewing, Golinelli, Kennedy, Rhoades, Tucker, and Wenzel, (2014) on average, nine older individuals hope to be the next lucky person to benefit from a single occupied unit. Only about 33% of conventional households from low-income areas whose head is an older individual are likely to be considered as worst-case needs despite the directed focus on assisting elderly people with housing. Considering that the older adults have to meet other regular necessities such as food and healthcare it is not surprising for them to lose homes. In a study Gilman, Littlewood, and McLoughlin, (2018) argued that even if the country benefits from economic growth older individuals may not directly benefit in terms of income and housing because they may not return to work. Most of the homeless older men and women indulge in alcoholism due to long-term effects of traumatic childhood experiences and dysfunctions in their families that saw them suffering low esteem, stress, and poor health. Social influence among each other on alcohol abuse also strongly leads to alcoholism among older homeless individuals.
Mainstream attitudes in society about this problem and specifically toward this group
According to Coyle and Hecht (2016), the mainstream attitude in society about the problem of Alcoholism among older homeless men and women is that the effect of alcohol is the same for the user regardless of the age, which is unjustifiable. However, the fact is human tolerance to alcohol diminishes with advancing age, which is attributed to poor metabolism of alcohol for people aged above 60 years. That has seen many healthcare providers neglect the role of educating elderly individuals especially the homeless on the importance of controlled alcohol intake. For the same reason, clinicians have had little exploration on the problem of alcohol among the older adults, which has caused under-recognition of victims of alcohol among the group. The most affected are the homeless elderly since they may not access adequate health facilities. The problem of the clinicians not exploring the elderly alcoholics further trickles down to the society through minimal or lack of awareness about the problem. The society receives no sensitization about the issue, which lead to the stereotype that alcoholism is only a problem of the youth. Consequently, senior citizens rarely gladly welcome screening for alcohol abuse. Despite there being a link between other medical issues and alcohol abuse among older homeless adults, society mostly fails to correlate the two. The society mostly, therefore, attributes every medical issue among the older adults to age and rule out alcohol abuse. For instance, it is difficult for a layman to distinguish between an elderly individual with insomnia from the one using alcohol. The society also confuses alcohol use among the elderly homeless with a confused state due to age.
One organization in the US that deals with the prevention and treatment of this health issue for this group
In a study, Herrmann and Stergiopoulos (2016) acknowledged that American Public Health Association (ALPHA) is one of the organizations in the US that deals with prevention and treatment of this health issue for this group.
Goals
ALPHA’s goal is to represent the public in advocating health needs including those for the homeless older adults.
Types of services
The organization protects the Americans from extreme health issues that are within human power to prevent and ensures that even the homeless older adults access adequate health services. It represents key stakeholders from the health sector, environment specialists, clinicians, education and policymakers on matters on health. One of the areas the organization is focusing on is the ongoing issue of Alcoholism among older homeless men and women as a public health concern. The organization ensures that this group accesses healthcare, and protects the funds allocated for their health needs and services and ensure zero disparity regarding their health. It also responds to emergencies for all including the homeless older adults and ensures adequate safe food provision for the group. ALPHA coordinates public health infrastructure and alcohol use control for all including the homeless older adults.
Problems
The organization has recently experienced the need to revise its code to operate in tandem with new techniques in research on human health. There has also been an influx of training programs on human health in the United States and the organization must raise its bar in ensuring that the programs meet formal ethics courses. Last yet importantly, is the emerging issues on climate trend and social disparities across health and economic sector. These changes may impact negatively on the administration of health services, especially for the homeless older men and women. The two factors always work together and if neglected may hinder effective connectivity to the minority groups due to the poor transport network and vectors of infectious diseases migrating to new geographical regions due to climate change.
Recommendation of a website, movie/documentary, and a book about this health issue
Website
I would recommend Recovery Worldwide, LLC. [US] with the link https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/resources/homeless-alcoholism/ for basic details regarding homeless alcoholism in the society including older men and women. This website deals with the rehabilitation of the homeless alcoholics. Upon visiting the website one learns more about the issues of homeless alcoholism and why such a group of people also needs healthcare, love, and compassion.
Movie on homeless alcoholism in the society including older men and women
I recommend this movie for the homeless individuals using alcohol especially the older women and men. The link to the movie is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-LULLfCT1g. The Movie is about one woman called Denise who was once a victim of homelessness and alcoholism but later reformed. The movie is a campaign about coping with homelessness, alcoholism, depression, social, sexual and physical abuse in relationships. The movie fits well in the problem under focus on homeless older adults using alcohol.
A book on homeless alcoholism among older men and women
I would recommend the book titled “Down on Their Luck: A Study of Homeless Street People authored by David Snow, and Leon Anderson. The book gives the image of how homelessness and alcoholism have wretched older men and women. After reading the book one can understand the meaning of homelessness, the lifestyle of homelessness, and how they end up abusing alcohol.
Summary of the main ways in the prevention and treatment of the health issue in the US
According to DeWees, Harris, and Kimbler, (2015), the population of homeless older men and women is fast increasing in the United States in urban cities and their environs. This group in society is living with serious health issues such as abuse of alcohol. Unfortunately, the government has failed to establish a cohesive response to the problem may be due to a lack of understanding of how alcohol interacts with homelessness, especially for older adults. Organizations such as ALPHA have come in handy to respond to the problem by initiating alcohol treatment and ways of rehabilitating the victims. Among other responses by ALPHA is to provide housing opportunities, research and policy initiatives to address the challenges facing the US community especially the older men and women.
One educational approach that has been developed to address this issue
Friedner, Polcin, and Sheridan (2017) argued that the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has researched on the healthcare for the homeless including the older adults with the mandate of the secretary of the Department of Health and Human service. The congress took this action as one of the measures to address homelessness with its focus also narrowing down to older men and women taking alcohol. Doctors, nurses, experts from social sciences, and two public officers administering health service programs formed part of the committee that undertook the study. The study evaluated the eligibility need for healthcare services among the homeless especially the older adults using alcohol. The study came with recommendations for the federal state to act. Among the recommendation was the need to provide better access to the residence, healthcare, and love for the homeless including the older adults and rehabilitate those depending on alcohol.
The contribution I could make in everyday life to addressing the health issue among this population
As a future health educator, some of the contributions I would make in everyday life would be to include individuals that were once victims of homelessness and alcohol abuse in my campaign for the society to reveal individuals living with this problem. According to Aubry, Boyd, Cherner, Pettey, and Sylvestre, (2017), community team spirit link up such individuals with relevant organizations such as ALPHA in responding to the housing and healthcare needs. I anticipate this would work well for the homeless older men and women using alcohol. I would propose for the federal government to fund such campaigns for my team to reach as many victims as possible and even sensitize the society on the dangers and interactions of alcohol with medications, especially at an old age. I would focus more on the homeless group since they may not have reliable access to such information as the housed population may do.