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Week 5 - Final Paper

Summative Assessment

To complete this assignment, read the scenario below and address the specific questions and issues indicated. Review the SOC313 Family Document for specific information on each member of the family. 

Grandmother Ella has had cancer for years now and has followed alternative remedies from the time she was first diagnosed.  Ella had a period of remission; however, the cancer returned and has metastasized to her bones, liver, and lungs.  She is in the hospital after collapsing from weakness.  She is being released from the hospital as she wishes to spend her last days and months at home.  Ella has her preferences for care, though she is now so weak that she has given up in many ways.  The family members are each experiencing their own fears and are grieving as they face the loss that will occur when Ella’s life ends.  Ella feels stressed by the discord and discomfort of family members.  

For this final assignment, you are the social worker for this case.  You meet this family in the hospital setting.  You learn that Ella wants to return home with care from the Hospice nurse and health aide.  Ella’s husband also wants her to return home; however, several of her children and their spouses want Ella to remain in the hospital or move to a nursing home so she gets professional care. 

For this assignment, you are required to use the outline form with subtopic headers from the Week 3 assignment.  Address the following items in your work:

1. Synthesize the current research that is relevant to this scenario.  Discuss the current practices for end of life and palliative care from the Western Medicine as well as the Complementary and Alternative Medicine perspectives.
2. Comprehensively discuss the cultural and/or traditional issues that could arise at this time.  Consider how the integration of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and beliefs, mainstream medical practices, and cultural/traditional rituals and practices might create issues and what they might include.

• Describe how the family might react to each of the following possible scenarios:
  • Ella wishes to continue the Complementary and Alternative practices.
  • Ella is coerced into following mainstream medical advice.
  • Ella’s husband, John, insists that, as father and husband, his family traditions should be followed.
• Examine the biological basis for care and describe how the choices for care might affect the other family members with respect to their individual problems, if at all.
  • Son Sam, the alcoholic
  • Daughter Lila, with Type II diabetes
  • Grandson Josh, starting to have drug problems
  • Granddaughter Lucy, bipolar with more entrenched drug problems
  • Daughter-in-law, Sarah’s stress related to her family’s medical issues (son with leukemia and brother with HIV)

Discuss the micro, meso, and macro influences affecting both the patient and the diverse family members in this scenario as impacted by Ella’s medical condition and prognosis.

• What are the pertinent and likely family (micro) conflicts and differences, and concerns that could be encountered? 
• How is the neighborhood and extended family (meso) reacting to the situation?
• Using your local area, research and discuss two community resources (macro) that support Ella’s needs for care and/or improve her quality of life.  Evaluate the ability of these community resources to meet the needs of this diverse family’s circumstances adequately.

Discuss the relevant medical issues and the advantages and disadvantages of hospital versus home.  In this case, when discussing medical issues use appropriate medical terminology. Discuss the psychological and social issues that are present and will possibly be more pronounced at this stressful time.  How has the fact that this illness has been ongoing (chronic) affected the family?Analyze the current scenario as it pertains to diversity, as well as to cultural, psychological, and social perspectives and influences, taking into account the stories that you have been discussing throughout the course.Discuss the impact of lifespan development on the perspectives of the various members of the family (i.e., their intellect, cognitive abilities, insight, and judgment) as well as their sociocultural perspectives, preferences, understandings, and positions on the situation.

The Final Paper

• Must be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must use five scholarly sources in addition to the course text (six total).
• Must document all sourced material in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.