Silverville related study units on OpenLearn

A new Open University/BBC documentary, Silverville, starts on Wednesday 29th July at 10:45pm on BBC One. Silverville is a six part series which follows the lives of residents in a Milton Keynes retirement village.

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 Open University has two academic advisors on the series, who are both involved in researching identity and environment in later life. The Open University is also carrying out an online survey to find out how much people about the options and services available for caring for the elderly (see related link below).

OpenLearn has study units on retirement and ageing as well as more broadly in the areas of care, community and social work. For a full list and links directly to the study unit, visit the Open Air blog related link below.

Study units include:

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.