Gerontology Interview: Aging, Identity, and Healthcare
This paper presents a reflective gerontology interview with Ms. S, an older African American woman from Germantown, Pennsylvania. The interview explores her self-perception of age, the defining historical events of her lifetime, shifts in family and technology culture, experiences of age-related workplace discrimination, and attitudes toward healthcare. Ms. S offers candid observations about raising a family through financial hardship, the significance of Barack Obama's election, and the role of diet and positivity in healthy aging. The student interviewer reflects on lessons learned about community, family, nursing care, and the diversity of aging experiences, concluding that biological age does not determine outlook, vitality, or openness to the future.
- Introduction: Ms. S's Background and Early Life: Biography, family, race, and educational barriers
- Self-Perception of Age: Ms. S's active, future-oriented self-image
- Historical Events and Social Change: Obama's election as a defining collective moment
- On Change: Technology, Family, and Young People Today: Digital devices, parenting, and shifting social norms
- Preparing for Old Age and Attitudes Toward Healthcare: Diet, positivity, discrimination, and unheard patients
- Learning Reflection and Changes in Perception: Student lessons on aging, nursing, and community
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds abstract gerontological concepts in a specific, richly detailed personal narrative, making themes such as age-related discrimination and healthcare communication immediately concrete and relatable.
- The student interviewer explicitly connects Ms. S's experiences to professional nursing practice, demonstrating applied learning rather than passive observation.
- The reflective sections are candid and specific — the writer identifies what surprised them, what confirmed prior assumptions, and how their professional perspective shifted, fulfilling the assignment's reflective purpose.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses a structured qualitative interview format organized by thematic categories — self-perception, historical context, social change, healthcare — a method common in gerontology and nursing education. This thematic scaffolding allows the student to move systematically from biographical data through attitudinal and behavioral observations, then to professional reflection, mirroring how researchers analyze lived experience in aging studies.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with biographical context establishing Ms. S's identity and socioeconomic background. It then proceeds through seven thematic sections covering self-perception, historical events, cultural change, advice for aging, and healthcare experiences. The final two sections shift to first-person reflection, with the student drawing professional and personal lessons from the interview. This two-part structure — subject portrait followed by student reflection — is characteristic of gerontology practicum assignments at the undergraduate level.
Introduction: Ms. S's Background and Early Life
The interview subject is from Germantown, Pennsylvania, and is the third of seven children. For the purposes of this report and to preserve her anonymity, she will be referred to as Ms. S. Ms. S's mother did everything she could to keep her family together through difficult financial times. The entire household had to squeeze into their grandmother's house, and the family even had to go "junking" — sifting through trash to find valuable items that others had thrown away. As Ms. S reflects on those years, she bears a great deal of joy and pride. She remembers learning how to sew her own prom dress and other practical skills of survival that many people today neglect to learn. Although it was a struggle, her family stayed together, and because of their love and support for one another, they retained something money cannot buy.
As a Black woman, Ms. S was never told that she should prepare herself for college or a lucrative career. The messages she received in school were that it would not matter. Even though she performed well in high school, it was not until later in life that Ms. S earned her degree in criminal justice. Looking back, she recognizes that the school system has failed Black students — and especially Black girls — by not providing them with the tools and resources needed to plan for their futures. Systemic barriers in American education have historically limited the opportunities available to students of color, a reality Ms. S experienced firsthand.
Self-Perception of Age
Ms. S does not consider herself old, although she is fully aware of her years. She still works full time and does not think about retirement. Although she has seen some of her friends die, Ms. S does not feel any sense of impending doom. She has four grown children and grandchildren whom she sees often, and she also cares for her elderly aunt. Caring for family members takes Ms. S outside of herself, reminding her how fortunate she is to have people who count on her and need her. Because she has so much love and energy to give, she never feels old. She has no time to dwell on the problems that besiege other people as they age, lose loved ones, or face loneliness.
Ms. S also thinks a great deal about the future, much as a young woman might. She plans on traveling the United States with her husband and feels confident that they will have many more years together. This outlook is consistent with research in gerontology suggesting that subjective age — how old a person feels — can differ substantially from chronological age and is strongly associated with well-being.
Historical Events and Social Change
Ms. S identified the election of Barack Obama as the defining moment of our time. The president symbolizes hope and freedom from oppression. For so long, African American youth had no role models — no one to show them that they were entitled to earn privileges and positions of power. Barack Obama represents the fulfillment of the dreams of countless Black Americans. His election was a moment of collective victory. Ms. S said she felt "a sense of accomplishment" because there was a feeling that "we" had arrived, and that dreams could be achieved.
She hopes the younger generation takes this lesson to heart, learning that hard work will pay off rather than giving up and channeling their energy into resentment and anger. Ms. S understands that the system has failed in the past, but she believes the future is bright. The 2008 presidential campaign and election resonated for many African Americans as a historic turning point in the long struggle for civil rights and equal representation.
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