The Value of Rehabilitation

In healthcare, rehabilitation is paramount as it combats impairments and disabilities. Both challenges manifest more in older adults than in younger adults and children. Therefore, rehabilitation and gerontological expertise are critical for comprehensive healthcare for older adults and understanding situations such as when some patients heal faster than others.

There are several reasons for differential progress among older adults in a rehabilitation program, as found in the case study. Firstly, older people with impairments or disabilities of recent onset are likely to get better faster than those with prolonged disabilities or impairments (Cameron & Kurrle, MB BS, DipGerMed, 2002). Also, the premorbid functional and cognitive capabilities – which are critical determinants of the outcomes of therapy, vary from one person to another. Lastly, Cameron & Kurrle, MB BS, DipGerMed (2002), found that rehabilitation of older people requires a multidisciplinary intervention of healthcare professionals; thus, given that I am alone, the rehabilitation may not be effective.

In other studies, attitude is linked to healing. Therefore, I think that healing is part of the healing process. This falls mostly in the principles of emotional vitality. That is, people with emotional vitality are mostly optimistic and acknowledge opportunities and strengths. For instance, older adults with emotional vitality would not dwell on their age. They believe that they are strong to counteract their impairments and disabilities. That is in line with Harvard Women’s Health Watch (2016) that people with a positive attitude are healthier than their counterparts.

Therefore, a patient’s self-efficacy is paramount during rehabilitation. It takes several roles that determine the outcome of therapy. For instance, it is through self-efficacy that people develop strong belief in their abilities (Pasupathy, 2018). Such people are optimistic, hence likely to heal faster (Harvard Women’s Health Watch, 2016). Besides, self-efficacy is directly linked to cognitive ability, which is paramount in Rehabilitation (Cameron & Kurrle, MB BS, DipGerMed, 2002; Pasupathy, 2018). Lastly, self-efficacy improves self-confidence, thus optimism in succeeding even on health issues.

While self-efficacy is mostly psychological, there are debates concerning whether related subjects like spirituality play a part in healing. Note that spirituality and self-efficacy are different at the baseline by definitions. Spirituality concerns the perspective of an individual on the purpose of life, while self-efficacy entails the view of life through success. In that, one may have a doom spirituality, where they view their purpose of life as a failure. However, the other side of this concept is that one may have spirituality in which they view the purpose of life with a positive attitude, such as to win or live healthily. Therefore, both self-efficacy and spirituality are different but play a role in healing.

Studies have shown that spirituality plays psychological roles rather than medical ones in healing. A study has found that coping is a major spiritual strategy that suppresses the symptoms and signs of illnesses (Puchalski, 2004). Puchalski contends that through spirituality, some patients have coped with their illnesses, pain, and stress. He adds that spiritual people can do that through a sophisticated belief system, attitudes, and paradigms. That is in agreement with the Harvard Women’s Health Watch (2016) that people with positive attitudes are often healthy.

In healthcare, a wide range of activities that reduce threats or risks to health are known as interventions. They may be preventive or rehabilitative. Preventive intervention refers to activities or measures taken to prevent people from contracting diseases, impairments, or addictions, rather than curing them. It may be primary, secondary, or tertiary preventive intervention. In contrast, rehabilitative intervention entails the promotion of recovery from intensive care due to disease, impairment, or addiction. It is aimed at increasing comfort to people who are undergoing limiting or challenging moments due to a health issue.

Besides interventions, nurses complete specific assessments to determine a patient’s functional level. They include physical status, cognitive status, activities of daily life, and environmental or social assessment. They are critical in geriatric care, to determine which daily routines an elderly adult can accomplish without adding risk to their health.

One of the determinants of health is a lifestyle (Short & Mollborn, 2015). Also, lifestyle encompasses an individual’s behaviors. In that view, behaviors are a subset of determinants of health, and thus an individual’s health behavior is a critical factor in their health history. The health behavior theory analyses the consequences of present human behavior to their future or vice versa. That way, Short & Mollborn (2015) contends that past health behaviors affect present health outcomes.

Supplementary insurance is the type of insurance that would increase the subscriber’s choice of provider and improves access to services financially or through an increased approved network of providers (Dewar, 2017, p.64). It helps with the daily health expenditure on injuries, severe sickness, or death, and reduces the out-of-pocket costs of medical insurance. It may be considered health coverage over the minimum essential medical cover.

References

Cameron, I., & Kurrle, MB BS, DipGerMed, S. (2002). 1: Rehabilitation and older people. Medical Journal Of Australia, 177(7), 387-391. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04847.x

Dewar, D. (2017). Essentials of health economics. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Harvard Women’s Health Watch. (2016). How your attitudes affect your health – Harvard Health. Retrieved 4 July 2020, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/how-your-attitudes-affect-your-health

Pasupathy, R. (2018). Rehabilitation Sciences Doctoral Education: A Study of Audiology, Speech-Language Therapy, and Physical Therapy Students’ Research Self-Efficacy Beliefs. Clinical Archives Of Communication Disorders, 3(1), 59-66. doi: 10.21849/cacd.2018.00255

Puchalski, C. (2004). Spirituality in health: the role of spirituality in critical care. Critical Care Clinics, 20(3), 487-504. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2004.03.007

Short, S., & Mollborn, S. (2015). Social determinants and health behaviors: conceptual frames and empirical advances. Current Opinion In Psychology, 5, 78-84. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.05.002