Erikson Development Level

[sjalv]

Hi guys. This is my first care plan, so bear with me. We are in an LTC facility, and my patient is an 83-year old female whose primary diagnosis is Alzheimer's disease. She also has a secondary diagnosis of depression. Our care plan must have one nursing diagnosis which is to be psychosocial. So with that background information, I am trying to assess her development level.

I think she would fall into the stage of Autonomy vs Shame (3rd stage). She has impaired cognitive functioning due to her Alzheimer's, but during the patient interview, I got a few statements that point me to this stage. She stated "I hate it when the workers have to help me.", "I don't like using my walker.", "I like feeding myself." Some background info I've observed: She can walk without her walker, but it is much slower with smaller steps. She can feed herself, but it takes her a while. When I went to wipe her face during dinner, she told me to just give her the napkin because she wanted to do it.

I came to my conclusion about the developmental stage because she strives for independence, and is irritated when she needs help. Please give me any feedback on this that you can.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I think part of this assignment is to get you to give evidence of having read Erickson :) and then being able to defend your choice with your own observations.

One thing you might try, for fun, is to look at a few other stages and see if you have any evidence, at all, for any of them in her behaviors. You might find overlap, especially in a cognitively-impaired population.

I think you've done well, though.

[sjalv]

I think part of this assignment is to get you to give evidence of having read Erickson :) and then being able to defend your choice with your own observations.

One thing you might try, for fun, is to look at a few other stages and see if you have any evidence, at all, for any of them in her behaviors. You might find overlap, especially in a cognitively-impaired population.

I think you've done well, though.

Thanks for the response. I have read the entire chapter over Human Growth & Development, which includes a section over Erikson's theory of development. I also compared her behaviors to the other stages, because I wouldn't want to just pick one and assume it is correct. But most of her statements and actions lead me to this level. I think it is the one I will go with, but the case study isn't due until Oct 3rd, so I will check back in case others might have reason to think it is another stage.