Presbyacusis And The Biopsychosocial Model

From the family tree, I observed a pattern of Presbyacusis, which originated from my father’s grandmother. Presbyacusis is hearing loss that affects people usually the age of 55. The affected person will have difficulty using the telephone and holding a conversation (Wilhelim, p.1129). Ten years ago, my grandmother needs the support of hearing aids to hold a very basic conversation. According to my grandfather, the age-related hearing loss was present within her family for many generations. From a study by Huang and Tang (2010), presbyacusis has a tendency to be a family inherited disease. In my family tree, my father and aunt 2 has hearing loss during their mid-40s. Additionally, my aunt 2 needs hearing aid to hold conversations. Unfortunately, …show more content…
From the study and the family tree, I might have presbyacusis through genetics. In this discussion, I will use the biopsychosocial model to assess the wellbeing of the individuals. The model suggests that a person’s health is assessed by social factors (sense of community, family and friends), psychological factors (mood, personality and behavior) and biological factors (genetics). Additionally, I will analysis my family member’s life determinants.
In my opinion, the determinants within my family’s health are genetics (presbyacusis), the physical environment of Hong Kong, the lifestyle choices and employment/income factors. The physical environment of Hong Kong is heavily overcrowded, with little green spaces, poor air and water quality. According to the Hong Kong government, it identifies motor vehicles, marine vessels and power plants as the main source of pollution (GovHK, 2017). Additionally, a report submitted to the Environmental Protection Department of Hong Kong, suggests that China is a large factor to the poor air quality (Lau, A. el et, 2012, p.87). Due to the poor air conditions, my father developed respiratory allergies in 2007 and needs to take medication daily to relieve cough symptoms. The allergy made my family moved in 2008 …show more content…
However, at the age of 5, I moved to Canada without any education of English. Additionally, I was forced to make new friends because I was moving to a different country. Fortunately, the neighborhood my family moved into had minimal traffic, health care and amenities were present, a local Hong Kong community, a school, a park and a recreation center. According to a study on childhood development, positive development is associated with a safe neighborhood; good built environment features like parks, recreation centers, health care facilities and schools. While environments with high traffic, little/no parks and recreation centers tends to minimize a child’s physical outdoor activities (Ferguson, K. T., el et, 2013). I experienced both of these environments and I wished my family considered staying in Canada. I remembered many interactions with my Canadian elementary friends in parks; compared to Hong Kong, all interactions were indoors like shopping malls. In Canada, I was able to explore many different activities like gardening, biking and swimming with friends. The physical environment in Canada provided me a space to “play and physical activity and developing motor skills” (Ferguson, K. T., el et, 2013, p.30). In contrast to my development in Hong Kong, I was forced to stay indoors due to residing in business districts with high amount of traffic and the perceived unsafe neighborhood. My outdoor physical activity was