Ego Integrity Versus Despair Stage: A Case Study

Developmental Stage The client is in the Later Adulthood Stage better known as the “EGO Integrity Versus Despair Stage” (Taylor et al., 2015, p. 378). The client is retired and has suffered through the death of his first wife. He has reached a place in his life where he has accepted his mortality and feels that his life has been fulfilled with a sense of meaning and purpose. He has many accomplishments that he feels brings him a sense of well-being; from his second wife, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, friends, woodworking, traveling and many more. He states, “he is satisfied and content with his life” (Taylor et al., 2015, p. 378).
Interview / Communication Techniques
Open Ended Questions are a way for a patient to express their understanding on a matter and specific enough to allow them to offer explanations. With this type of questioning the patient is automatically discouraged from giving a yes or no answer, it encourages them to freely communicate what needs to be said (Taylor et al., 2015, p. 468). For example, in my interview I asked the client, “how do you spend your days?”.
Verbal Communication “is exchanging …show more content…
Eye contact is essential in proper communication and in many culture, it is a sign of respect and a willingness to listen and if eye contact is absent it can indicate anxiety or defenselessness. One must keep in mind the culture you are working with as ins some Asian culture eye contact is a invasion of privacy and are taught to avoid eye contact. Finally, the eyes themselves can give their own type of nonverbal message such as anger, disgust, fear (Taylor et al., 2015, p. 451). An example of a question that I asked to the clients for this type of non-verbal communication was “do you feel safe in your home?” I wanted to see if his eye contact would change indicating that there might me something else going on. However, the client maintained eye contact with me the entire