Module Code - Title:
AE6013
-
WORKING WITH OLDER ADULTS
Year Last Offered:
2026/7
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
* To equip the trainee with the necessary knowledge and skills to apply psychology to meeting the needs of older adults in the context of the range of services available to them.
* To help trainees understand the difficulties faced by older people within life span development and systemic frameworks.
* To understand the normal and abnormal ageing process.
* To equip trainees with assessment and therapeutic skills appropriate to the needs of older people, and be aware of the adaptation necessary to approaches used with other age groups for older people.
* To equip the trainee with the necessary knowledge and skills to work within the organisation of services, both in terms of service evaluation and intervention with organisational units, and understanding of legal and ethical issues
Syllabus:
Normal Ageing and influences on ageing.
Biological aspects of aging.
Psychological aspects of sensation and perception; learning and memory; intelligence; personality.
Social, cultural, economic and medical aspects.
Losses in old age.
Depression in Older life.
DementiaÆs.
Physical disorders of old age influencing mental health includingStrokes, Anxiety in old age, Axis I and Axis II disorders of old age.
Evaluation of the older adult in their social context.
Differential diagnosis of dementia, depression and DSMIV disorders.
Institutional versus community interventions.
Individual interventions.
Group interventions.
Family interventions.
Systemic and environmental interventions.
Interventions with carers
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
* To equip the trainee with the necessary knowledge and skills to apply psychology to meeting the needs of older adults in the context of the range of services available to them.
* To help trainees understand the difficulties faced by older people within life span development and systemic frameworks.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
To equip trainees with assessment and therapeutic skills appropriate to the needs of older people, and be aware of the adaptation necessary to approaches used with other age groups for older people. To understand the cultural and societal influences on a
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
To equip trainees with assessment and therapeutic skills appropriate to the needs of older people, and be aware of the adaptation necessary to approaches used with other age groups for older people.
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
A model of adult learning will be adopted that reflects:
self-direction as a motivation to learn,
the use of previous experience to inform current learning,
current learning as a developmental task in a lifelong process of professional development,
the importance of applying current learning to a work setting.
Prime Texts:
Woods, R. (1996)
Handbook of the clinical Psychology of ageing
, Wiley
Other Relevant Texts:
Jones, G & Mieson ()
Care giving in Dementia
, Routledge
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
DOCTOR OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Module Leader:
elaine.m.rogers@ul.ie