Life Experiences of the Elderly Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Research Paper

Life Experiences of the Elderly Patients with Diabetes Mellitus - Research Paper Example accord to the most recent forecasts, the number of patients with different types of diabetes will reach more than 360 million globally by 2030 (Wild, Roglic, Green, Sicree, and King, 2004). The lions share of such occurrence is attributed to the sr. population. Most likely, the main reason for high vulnerability of the elderly population to diabetes is the ageing process that leads to a broad range of physiological changes, including diminutiond or deteriorated functionality of decisive aliveness organs (Rother, 2007).A number of studies have been conducted up to date to explore the effects of diabetes on the general health condition of the elderly patients. However, only few works are available to ask specific flavor experiences of the elderly patients with diabetes though such research is necessary to modify the woodland of health care for the elderly.Various types of diabetes and chron ic illnesses associated with late adulthood represent a serious challenge for youthful health care practitioners. According the estimates provided by the National Academy on an Aging Society (NAAS) and APA nearly 4/5 of the elder adult population suffers from at least one chronic illness, magic spell majority of seniors have multiple chronic health problems the most common of which are arthritis, hypertension, hearing impairments, stub disease, cataracts, various types of diabetes, osteoporosis, vascular diseases, neurological diseases, including stroke, and respiratory diseases (APA, 2003). Absolute majority of these illnesses and health problems are associated with specific animation experiences, mental issues and mental health problems, which should be taken into consideration during treatment (Frazer, Leicht, & Baker, 1996).Understanding of specific life experiences of senior diabetic patients is highly essential in the clinical setting for several reasons. Firstly, it wil l change the health practitioner to design a correct treatment strategy to cope with the disease and improve quality of the patients life. Secondly, such understanding is likely to contribute greatly to the efficiency of non-clinical (social) support of the diabetic patients and decrease the occurrence of complications, such as, for example, hypoglycemic episodes. This study employs phenomenological approach to investigate the specific life experiences and meaning of life of senior patients with diabetes.Literature reviewThere is sufficient literature addressing various aspect of diabetes and particularly its affinity with the quality of patients life. The following review briefly describes several most notable publications that provide valuable undercoat information in the context of this study. One of the most recent studies carried out by Peck (2003) establishes a link between several chronic illnesses including type 2 diabetes in the elderly population and quality of life. Th e concept of quality of life covers a number of different aspects such as food preferences, level of physical activity, psychological issues and social status, etc. Besides, the author provides some credible evidence that ability of the elderly diabetic patients to effectively cope with the illness normally results in substantially improved qualify of