developmental stage for alzheimers res.

[tiffanyleigh0212]

I'm working on my physical assessment for a resident I had. Res. is 87 y/o and has Alzheimers and dementia. I'm having a hard time figuring out which developmental stage she would be in seeing as she couldn't really tell me about her life. She didn't talk much unless I asked her questions, and when I asked her questions, you could easily tell she wasn't aware of what she was saying. Her husband does live with her at the nursing home and they have a room together (he has skin cancer and in a wheel chair) and you can tell how much he cares for her. She did have flowers a family member had brought and some pictures, she also had a stuffed animal dog that she believed was her real dog. Her chart listed she did have a daughter and step daughter who visited at least once a week. From all this information I am leaning more towards generativity vs. stagnation, with her being in generativity. How do you assess this on a pt. such as mine and really know what developmental stage they're in? Any help would be great!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

She is certainly not in generativity, which is a state of creation and doing. She is in decline.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

http://www.bigtreemurphy.com/SOC%20STages%20of%20Alzheimer%27s.htm

[tiffanyleigh0212]

I thought generativity was more related to generation, she has a child who she visits with often and spouse who lives with her in the nursing home, I'm sure if she could remember she would tell me all about them. I see you have experience in LTC, how can I assess the developmental stage of a resident with alzheimers? I'm used to being at the hospital and this was my first week at the nursing home and things are so much different so it's taking some time to adjust.

[tiffanyleigh0212]

Interesting site, but I guess I should of been more specific, I have to go by Erikson's developmental stages.

[Moogie]

Sometimes when people have cognitive impairments, they can stagnate or they may regress in their behavior, thus devolving from one state of development to another.

If you don't find an answer, do take this to your instructor's attention prior to a care plan being due because you want to learn what the right developmental state (as per Erickson) your client is. Good question and I hope you find a good answer!

[tiffanyleigh0212]

That's what my instructor had told me, she said that they're not necessairly in the developmental stage according by age (which I know is the same for everyone) but that she can actually regress back. I posted this over in the LTC forum to see if I could get anymore responses over there, also I'm awaiting an email from my instructor. Thanks for the help, both of you!