“How have you managed to carry on?”
“How have you managed to prevent things from becoming worse?”
“Are you coping?, Doyou have problems”, are not effective questions. This question will always receive a “Yes” response. The reason for this is that geriatric clients are fiercely protective of their independence, thus such a question is perceived as threatening; a client will not admit to not coping, because in their mind this may indicate to us (social workers), that we should place them in a facility. INSTEAD - ask “On a really bad day tell me how you managed to get dressed?, Who plans your dialysis appointments for you? (if they reply ‘family’ this is an indication that they cope well since they ask for help), Who do you call if you need to get to (insert any location/place)?, If you have a set-back in your health, what do you do?”
You must be logged in to post a comment.