Open Air

Silverville related study units on OpenLearn

July 29th, 2009 Posted by: lukebeaman

A new Open University (OU)/BBC produced TV series called Silverville starts this Wednesday at 10:45pm on BBC One. The six part series documents the lives of residents at a 300+ retirement community in Milton Keynes.

The OU has two academic advisors on the series, who are both involved in researching identity and environment in later life. In the next 20 years, the over 80s will be the fastest growing age group in the country with more people in this age group than any other. The OU is also carrying out an online survey to find out how much people know about the options and services available for caring for the elderly.

OpenLearn has study units on retirement and ageing as well as more broadly in the areas of care, community and social work:

Caring: A Family Affair (K100_1)
Care is needed at all stages of life. This unit makes care in the family its focus because the overwhelming majority of care, including health care, is supplied in families, much of it in private, much of it unnoticed and unremarked upon. The meaning of the term (informal carer) and the word (care) itself are explored.

Care relationships (K100_3)
To set up a care relationship that works well is a delicate matter, whether you are at the giving or the receiving end. In this unit we explore the very varied meanings of care relationships and how these meanings arise. Millions of care relationships are going on as you read this, and each carries its own particular meanings for those involved. But where have all those people picked up their ideas of how to relate to each other? How does any of us know where to begin?

The boundaries of care (K100_8)
In this unit, we are going to look at a number of situations which put a strain on the idea that caring is just ‘being ordinary’, including times when people are giving intimate care. In these special circumstances, since the normal rules do not apply, we have to develop a set of special rules to guide practice.

Introducing social work practice (K113_1)
Social work is a vital element in how our society cares for those in need. This unit looks at the meaning of ‘social work values’ as well as the different approaches to social work and the skills involved.

Retiring lives? Old age, work and welfare (DD305_3)
Retirement, pensions, care homes – old age may not be as rosy as we think. This unit looks at old age taking us from the Workhouse to the basic state pension. Why are people expected to stop work at a certain age and what impact does this have on their lives?

Ageing and disability: transitions into residential care (K216_1)
Moving into a care home can have a profound emotional impact on an individual – just the anticipation of residential care is one of the biggest sources of fear for the elderly. This unit discusses the role of social workers and care staff in supporting individuals through the transition, and how residential environments affect quality of life.

Addiction and neural ageing (SD805_2)
This unit looks at two topics that are of immense worldwide social, economic, ethical, and political importance – ‘addiction’ and ‘neural ageing’. You will develop a Master’s level approach to the study of specific issues within these two important subject areas.

What’s in a title: understanding meanings in community care (K222_1)
What do we mean by ‘community’, ‘care’ and ‘welfare’? In this unit you will explore the meanings of these words in their historical and cultural settings. The unit does not discuss these terms exclusively in terms of social work practice so service users, carers or anyone interested in community care and the ways in which welfare services are provided would find this unit useful.

Living with death and dying (K260_1)
This unit will explore how knowledge and beliefs about death and encounters with death affect people’s lives. It will also examine the concept of a ‘good death’ from an individual perspective in order to enhance the quality of dying.

Moral and ethical principles in end of life care (K260_2)
‘The role of medicine in death, dying, and bereavement’. This unit is for people who are interested in issues surrounding the role of medicine for people who are dying and/or bereaved. It will also be of interest to those working with dying …
In many areas of health care, and especially in such areas as palliative care, increasing attention has been paid in recent years to patient autonomy, and the need to respect it. Autonomy has come to be seen as a very important aspect of the interaction between patients and those looking after them, and forms the basis for many ethical commitments, such as telling the truth to patients, and seeking their consent for health care interventions. In this unit we look at quite a wide range of ethical issues. They all have one thing in common, however: autonomy. Each of them is a pressing ethical issue because of our concerns about how best to respect patient autonomy, and about whether it should be ignored or overridden in certain cases.

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