Geneva Quinn: A Case Study

Geneva Quinn is in a major crisis. Geneva is an eight four years old African American woman. She recently lost her husband, Anthony, of sixty four years to cancer and now feels depressed. Since Anthony is gone, she does not have her role as a wife and caretaker. She doesn’t feel like cooking meals as well as eating. She can financially support herself with Medicare and Social Security if it does not get cut. She also have her husband’s pension from the railroad and the small social security checks she gets. Geneva resides in the house where her and her husband Anthony lived in for sixty years, the house is paid for, but she have to cover the cost of repairs and property taxes. She wants to continue aging in that house. Geneva worries about her independence and fears that her forgetfulness and depression will keep consuming her life.

According to the Life-Span Development, Geneva is at the later-adulthood stage, characterized by her “retirement and lower income” (Zastrow & Kirst- Ashman, 2013, p. 644). In terms of her biological development, Geneva is a breast cancer survivor. Additionally, Geneva have some normative aging issues like her arthritis, hearing loss, forgetfulness, sleepiness and her diabetes. Regardless of her issues, Geneva like most late-adulthood people continues to do her “social and civic responsibilities” (Zastrow & Kirst- Ashman, 2013, p. 644). According to Erikson, Geneva, resides in the “Integrity vs Despair stage characterized by ability to accept the facts about one’s life and face death without any fear” (Zastrow & Kirst- Ashman, 2013, p. 646). Geneva is more of in the Integrity stage than