Reflective Statement

         During my first two years at college, I worked at a nursing home. At the time, I did not think about the relevance of how working at a nursing home affected me as a person and as a sociologist. After completing sociology classes at the University of Iowa, I started to think about what effects working at a nursing home had on me, as well as, what effects I had on others around me. I will explain these effects on me and how they play a part in my growth as a sociologist.
            At first, I thought that working at a nursing home would be just another job. I didn’t expect the different types of relationships that I would encounter. I had relationships with coworkers, residents, nurses, and visitors. I had to react to the different relationships in different ways, and I had to adjust accordingly. As I look on these relationships now, I can see that each of them had importance. I think that relationships with the residents had the most sociological significance though.
            While working at the nursing home, I learned how to effectively communicate with an older generation. Some of the residents could not properly speak or let their intentions be known so I had to adjust to this by finding a way to communicate. Not only did I speak with directly with these residents, but I also observed the relationships of the residents with others. Some residents reacted positively while others acted negatively. The most important relationship in their lives became the nurses because each resident depended on their care. Sometimes the generation gap led to problems because some residents did not want to follow advice from a younger person.