The New York Times published an article about the power of language as it relates to elderly patients. A study to be published in The American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias found that "elderspeak," belittling language directed toward the elderly, may cause psychological harm. Such language includes referring to elder patients as "sweetie" and "dear" rather than by a courtesy title or behaviors such as discussing the elder's health with an adult child rather than the elder. The psychological harms comes when people mutely accept the attitudes behind the language and develop a negative perception of aging. Those with a negative perception of aging have worse functional health over time.
You can find the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/us/07aging.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
And the discussion here: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/how-not-to-offend-the-aging-a-primer/
The study raises interesting questions about the power of language and the responsibility to communicate with elderly patients in a respectful way. What do you think? Are there other communication relationships and behaviors that have the potential for psychological harm?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment