How does the changing demographic profile of older adults over the past decades lend itself to the need for changes in social policies?
Demographic profile of older adults over the past decade lends itself to the need for changes in social policies, due to life expectancy has dramatically increased over the past century almost by 10 years. “As the clock ticks away, every 8 seconds a baby boomer turns 60” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018a). Therefore, an increase in older adults and individuals with severe impairments and disabilities will occur. As a result, a larger aging population will require more usage of our resources and more professionals working in the aging field will be necessary. As the world evolves older individuals will
How do the changes in demographics for minorities suggest a need for policy changes to address the needs of ethnic, racial, and gender minorities when shaping social policies and programs?
I believe that the change in demographics for minorities suggests a need for policy changes to address the needs of ethnic, racial, and gender minorities when shaping social policies and programs as it relates to educational level, income levels, social, cultural, and service expectation of the community will all play a significant role to changes within social services programs.
Given the demographic trends to date, what social policy arenas do you think will need to be addressed over the next decade at the federal and state levels?
Personally, at a federal and state level the demographic trend to date, that I believe would need to be addressed from social policy arenas would be the movement of the Human Population, the reason being is with new laws taking place in Illinois starting January 1st, 2023, such as the Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act (the Act) implements sweeping reform impacting many aspects of the criminal justice system, including pre-arrest diversion, policing, pretrial, sentencing, and corrections. This could have many effects on our aging population and those with disabilities as well as others. This could increase physical health issues as well as mental health issues. This law can as well make it harder to encourage health promotion efforts for our aging population who are actively involved in their communities. In other words, our elderly and disabled becomes more prone to victimization.
How do these demographic changes play a role in the professional development and training in your discipline and the professional disciplines of others?
Demographic changes play a significant role in the professional discipline of social work. Demographic changes allow social workers to tap into detailed information related to social, economic, and housing characteristics of communities such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
Consider a current policy that is moving through the legislature (either at a local state, or federal level), and identify what philosophical paradigms are at play within the congressional testimony or presenting arguments.
Consider a policy at either your local/regional level or at the federal level that interest you (ABORTIONS) What implementation strategies have been implicit within the policy as you track it from its first appearance as a public law and at the current time?
Identify a social policy of interest and analyze it through the framework presented. (EXAMPLE, (Social problem issues/affected population) (Policy or legislation/intended impact) (Implementation of aging-related programs and services/Actual impact)
If you want to identify the need for a specific policy in your community, how would you go about identifying the need, and what data sources could you utilized to document the population and need from resources identified (Examples of resources:) Evidence-Based Approach, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Local Disability Data for Planners, Congress, Library of Congress)
How can you use Healthy people 2020 benchmarks to build a baseline and goals for specific policy and program initiatives you want to address in your community/or state?
What uses can the Government Accountability Office (GPO) documents be for building advice on specific programs or policy issues that you would like to draw attention to either within your community/state or at a federal level?
How can you and your colleagues or classmates build a needs assessment intervention strategy that would address specific policy/program needs using the secondary data sources outlined in this chapter? (Examples: Evidence-Based Approach, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Local Disability Data for Planners, Congress, Library of Congress)
Consider the data sources in this chapter and Identify how you can use some specific aspects of quantitative data to go along with anecdotal data or case-specific examples in efforts to address a specific aging/disability-related gap that exists.
