The Effects of Aging and Mental Health Essay

1. INTRODUCTION

This research proposal has been written to show how the elderly are able to access information regarding their mental health. This is important, as many people are now living longer and the prevalence of mental health issues, which may be associated with the elderly, is growing.

Over the past, few years’ newspapers have reported on how the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK) is failing to meet the needs of the elderly (Age Concern, 2007; Guardian, 2007).

This demonstrates that there is a need to improve the information and advice that is available to the elderly regarding their mental in the UK. This is imperative, because if this group of the populace suffers from mental health problems it has the potential to seriously impact upon their daily lives and place more pressure on the health care services in the United Kingdom. Therefore, to attain a quality of life the elderly need to understand how they can access services through the NHS to enable them to gain access to advice or the treatment, which they may need. This study seeks to explore how effectively the elderly are able to access this information and services through the NHS. This shall be considered by undertaking a qualitative study (Saks and Allsop, 2007) into whether or not elderly patients have access to this information and how this may be improved if necessary. The Effects of Aging and Mental Health Essay Paper