Case Study Edda's Situation

What I know about the elderly woman (I would like to call her Edda) is that she is an older adult who is showing signs of not being able to take care of herself much longer. These types of information are subjective data. In evaluating Edda’s situation, I also need to consider subjective data—my personal considerations. Before meeting a client, even if we try to avoid personal opinions about the client’s situation, behavior, and attitude, often we guess the situation. By guessing, our cultural habits, personal experiences, and bias are inevitably blended with facts. Therefore, in reviewing Edda 's situation I might guess that Edda is vulnerable and lacking physical and emotional strength. She might be dependent to other for daily help and might complain of being tired during the day. Being old, she might also be more susceptible to having problems with stairs and might need assistance with bathing and dressing. Since I do not want to fill my file with subjective data, I need to collect objective data before meeting Edda. A medical report on Edda’s physical and emotional condition would help to figure out Edda’s degree of frailty. Her residential lease would help figuring out if the property …show more content…
In Edda’s case, there might be relief in knowing that a new situation might bring more assistance with her daily activities and, perhaps, more social interactions. However, the new situation might also bring loss of freedom and the gain of a restricted life. Edda might feel more secure about her physical situation but might feel emotionally drained by the loss of her house, independence, and freedom. She might also feel the burden of aging and the proximity of death. Once again, preparatory empathy can greatly help in understanding Edda’s situation. Also, thinking of personal experiences and comparing them to Edda’s situation might help in understanding Edda 's case