500-700  words in APA with 2 scholarly references

Topic: Case of Elderly Couple  Thread: Read the Case Study below and then answer the following questions:

1.Consider Lydia’s and John’s cognitive and physical limitations as well as their social support. If you were presenting this case to a team of other human services providers, what developmental theories, concepts, and principles help explain this case? (Use the readings from Modules/Weeks 7–8 to help you answer this question).

2.What other information might you need to fully evaluate the situation in which Lydia and John live?

3.If you were the protective service worker, what are the options for this couple?

Identify several feasible plans with explanation and support from a source of information. Include the risks and benefits of each option. Then, identify what your final recommendation would be and why.  Case Study   Lydia and John were a couple in their nineties who lived in their own home and had been married over sixty years.

Both were confused and forgetful. They had two sons who were in their seventies and lived in nearby towns. One son was estranged from them. The other was somewhat involved in their lives, but he had a mentally ill wife and health problems of his own to deal with. The couple first came to the attention of a protective service worker when John was hospitalized after a fall. When left on her own, Lydia’s confusion became more pronounced. A referral was made for home care services, but, when a worker went out to assess the couple, their son was present and refused services. Based on concerns of benign neglect, a protective services report was issued. A case worker investigated and substantiated the report, citing the son’s interference with services and the couple’s own inability to provide adequate care for each other. The protective services worker found both John and Lydia to be very forgetful and somewhat confused, though Lydia was the more impaired.

Due to their increased physical frailty, they had been using only the first floor of their home. Since the bedrooms and bathroom were upstairs, the living arrangement presented several problems for the couple. Lydia had a regular bed, but John was sleeping on a cot. The low height of the cot caused him to lose his balance easily, resulting in several falls. Since there was no toilet downstairs, they were using a bucket in the kitchen and emptying it outside. They were unable to maintain their home and conditions became unsanitary. The son tried to help, but he had his own limitations. The elderly couple was well able to afford assistance, but they did not want to spend the money. Furthermore, even though the son who helped with paying the bills was not taking advantage of his parents financially, he was obviously concerned with “preserving his inheritance.” Meanwhile, John and Lydia were extremely conservative in terms of how they chose to spend their money; they insisted they could not afford help.

Choosing a research approach will determine the kind of outcome your study yields.  For example, imagine you were interested in studying a mentoring program for nursing students.  A qualitative study of the mentoring program might result in data that addresses nursing students’ perceptions of the mentoring program and how they describe their own participation in the program and their relationship with their mentor.  Contrast this with a quantitative study on the same topic.  A quantitative study might explore the relationship between nursing-student satisfaction with the mentoring program and their success in clinical classes.  In the first example, qualitative data would reveal a rich synthesis of information about the experiences and perceptions of nursing students.  The quantitative study would provide statistical information about the correlation between student satisfaction with the mentoring program and his or her subsequent academic achievement.

Both types of studies—quantitative and qualitative—would produce potentially interesting information that could be used by scholars and practitioners to understand the impact of a mentoring program for nursing students.  However, the different study outcomes answer different research questions and yield different types of data.  Which study is more valuable?  That can’t be answered, because both studies have merit.  A researcher must determine his or her objectives for a study and the use of potential data prior to choosing either a quantitative or a qualitative research design.  This assignment challenges you to think about your own research topic and proposed question and how the topic and question could best be studied, quantitatively or qualitatively.

Written Assignment Instructions:
In a paper of at least 1,700 words (not including title, abstract, and reference pages), describe how your research topic and question could be studied both quantitatively and qualitatively.  In your paper, demonstrate your understanding of quantitative and qualitative research approaches by discussing the following:

• How the two research approaches (quantitative and qualitative) would lead to different types of studies with potentially different research questions
• The types of data each study approach (quantitative and qualitative) would yield
• The kinds of conclusions that could be reached in each type of study (quantitative and qualitative)
• The advantages and disadvantages of each research approach (quantitative and qualitative) in answering your proposed research question
• The approach (quantitative or qualitative) that you believe would be best to answer your research question and the justification for your decision

Support your arguments with references to at least three different scholarly articles (academic journal articles) in addition to any required course readings.  Include title, abstract, and reference pages in your paper.