PSYCHOLOGICAL COPING AND SOCIAL ASPECTS IN THE CASE OF THE ELDERLY WITH METABOLIC SYNDROME
PSYCHOLOGICAL COPING AND SOCIAL ASPECTS IN THE CASE OF THE ELDERLY WITH METABOLIC SYNDROME

Summary/Abstract: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) represents a disease with a complex pathogenesis being associated with a constellation of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, and not only, resulting from the co-occurrence of obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to the American Education Guide “National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment – Panel III”. We present the case of a 67-year- old patient, female, pensioner with metabolic syndrome diagnosed by the co-occurrence of stage I hypertension, grade I obesity, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia with hypercholesterolemia. People with MetS have a poorer quality of life, with references towards physical and social functions, regarding both general and mental states of health. With the help of a trained psychologist we interpreted the obtained results of the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI) and a Psychological Coping Questionnaire-Personal Needs Evaluation Questionnaire (V33A-GoldInc) and had a perspective upon patient’s views regarding her personal illness and the involvement of spirituality, socioeconomic status and ethics in the management of the metabolic syndrome as a complex pathology, and particularly of the cardiovascular component of the disease. Regarding the presented case, it is indicated that the social worker, within the inter multidisciplinary relationship social worker- psychologist-doctor, interferes more with elderly on informing them about different sort of abuses against them, the risks of exposing their personal lives excessively, the matter of trust both within society and medical systems through community projects and information campaigns.

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