For this final assignment, you will have the opportunity to harness what you’ve learned about healthy aging through an imaginative process of engaging in the world as a person who is significantly different than you actually are in terms of age, gender, sexuality, class, race or ethnicity, mental and physical abilities, and other dimensions of diversity. The analytical framework with which you will engage in this imaginative process will foreground the life-long impact of social disparities and social determinants, and the significant ways in which inequality impacts health and aging, as well as lived experience more generally.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The overall learning objectives of this course are to:
Use sociological theories and multi-disciplinary perspectives to provide quality care for older adults, based on the knowledge of how the health and aging process is influenced by social structural and cultural factors, including age, abilities, nationality, race/ethnicity, social class, gender, sexual orientation, and religious and spiritual community.
Use resources and services to work with families and older adults to plan for culturally and socially appropriate aging in place, health care needs, and care management.
Develop health policies, programs, and care plans to ensure a safe and healthy aging process.
Work with increased confidence as professionals in the field of Gerontology and further the development of their professional portfolios.
The learning objectives of this final assignment include:
Employ imagination to explore how an individual’s health and aging experiences relate to social structures and cultures (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, age, etc.).
Analyze the ways in which social inequality and systems of power impact health and aging over the life-course and result in differential outcomes for older individuals.
Demonstrate an approach to inquiry about health and aging that draws on and integrates reflection on personal experiences and analysis of social science theories.
Collect and review quality information through applied or traditional research, with an eye to the sources, rigor, and accuracy of the data and soundness of theoretical models, beyond personal assumptions or opinions.
FOCUS AND APPROACH
Imagine being in a different body and moving through the world, a body that is different on multiple dimensions: age/generation; gender; sexuality; race/ethnicity; class; ability/disability, etc. Note: your assignment must address age (envisioning yourself as an older person) as well as address at least two additional dimensions listed above.
How would others know by looking at you where you fit into various categories of difference and diversity?
How would your external characteristics potentially influence how others treat you as you move through the world, such as going to the food market, a medical office, using public transportation, walking down a city street, etc.?
Your experiences moving through the world are not only influenced by what others interpret about who you are, but also by your experiences over the life-course in terms of how your social characteristics are connected to systems of inequality. How might the characteristics of the person you are imagining yourself to be have influenced your access to care, you physical and mental health, and your overall well-be
This assignment includes both collective and individual components.
PROJECT GUIDELINES
Outside Sources
In addition to the course text and online lecture notes, you are expected to find at least 2 outside sources in addition to our course materials that support your explorations for this final project paper.
These sources can be in the form of books or articles but should be scholarly in nature. For example, the articles should come from peer reviewed academic journals and the books should be written by reputable authors. For the purposes of this assignment, you will not be using source materials from social media or popular information sources such as magazines, newspapers, or websites (though you may use online library databases and other search engines to find sources!). When in doubt about the suitability of a source, feel free to ask!
Be sure to integrate your take-aways from your sources, as well as an in-text citation, in the body of your paper. (For example: In a study of the social determinants of health in later life, Faber and Sasser (2020) found that social inequality is an important force shaping individual outcomes.)
Paper Structure
Your paper should include the following elements:
An introductory paragraph letting the reader know what you will be exploring in your paper.
A rich and detailed description the sociocultural characteristics of the person whom you imagined yourself to be as you moved through the world, accessing services, and interacting with others. A “rich and detailed description” is one that goes beyond the surface of labels and concepts to provide a more fully developed discussion. In this context, more is better because I want to get a sense of who you are imagining yourself to be in all your complexity. Note: It is very important that as you imagine and describe the person whom who are embodying for this project that your ideas are informed by the social determinants and social disparities frameworks that we’ve been exploring in this course. Avoid using simple descriptions and stereotypes.
An analysis of how the personal experiences of the person you imagined yourself to be connects to specific course content and your chosen outside sources. Begin with summarizing the key concepts of the theory you are using and how this theory does (or does not!) inform your understanding of the experiences of the person you have imagined. Also, this section is where you will incorporate relevant take-aways from any of the course readings and lectures, as well as from the 2 outside sources you have considered.
A concluding paragraph in which you discuss new insights and questions you have developed while engaging in this final project.
NOTE: As this course meets an Information Literacy outcome, properly cite your sources (including course materials) using either APA or MLA documentation format. This link with take you to information for how to correctly for cite your references using either APA or MLA notation
Paper Format
Please use a standard 12-point font, with double-spacing and one-inch margins.
Include the name of this course, the title of your paper, and your name at the top of the first page. Do not have a separate title page.
Include the bibliography at the end of your paper in which you properly cite your sources (including course materials) using either APA or MLA documentation format.
Include page numbers throughout.
Save your paper as a Word document or PDF and submit to the Assignment drop-box.
The total page length for your paper should be between 4-6 pages.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|