Application of the Ethnogerocounseling Model

I am a Nigerian male who arrived as an adult in the United states to pursue my education; my parents and grandparents all live in Nigeria, a country that is home to many different ethnic groups and which has experienced civil war and ethnic strife since the 1960s (Rubenstein, 1989). For my grandparents, aging (including raising my parents, making a home and running a business, leading to retirement from active work), has been a struggle for survival and for self system maintenance. The Gero Chi Model as described by Burlingame (1999) suggests that my grandparents can be understood as interdependent selves within a flexible extended family system in which kinship and tribal ties are of enormous significance.

Nigerian culture emphasizes respect for elders and the authority of elders within the family unit. For my male grandparents, a patriarchal family structure affirmed the primacy of the male in the family unit; however, for women, much respect is associated with the roles of wife and mothers, and mothers have a great deal of influence over their children and grandchildren as they age. Spirituality û my grandparents are Christian û is an essential component of the aging process, but my maternal and paternal grandparents also view the world through the lens of African and Nigerian culture and tradition, relying for example on indigenous medical practice more than Western medicine.

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d the tendency toward family interdependence. For example, women in the Edo, Hausa and Yoruba are all expected to focus their lives on the home and on child-rearing; relatively few Nigerian women (and even fewer Edo women) own or run their own businesses or attend university. Most Nigerian and Edo women move from their father's home to that of their husband, where they become subject to the authority of their husband, his father and their mother-in-law. As these women age, however, they acquire greater status within the family unit as noted above. In comparison to mainstream (i.e., White) Americans, all Nigerians regardless of their ethnicity must be recognized as highly traditional peoples for whom family and kinship relationships are more important than individuality. The lens of ethnicity applied to the Gero Chi lens, understood in this sense, is far more authentic in assessing the ethnogerocounseling needs of members of this population. For Nigerians, because interdependence is a fact of family life, the decline of personal independence as part of the aging process is less significant an influence than it may be in other societies (Burlingame, 1999). Maintaining independence is de-emphasized in a collectivist
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Nigerian Edo, Caucasian Americans, Yoruba Hausa, Britain Throughout, African Nigerian, Chi Model, Unlike American, Model Nigerian, Dominant Culture, Gero Chi, burlingame 1999, social worker, rubenstein 1989, family unit, children grandchildren, grandparents live, difficulties aging, parents grandparents, historical events, male grandparents, civil war ethnic, family immigrated united, described burlingame 1999, gero chi model, ethnicity û edo,
Approximate Word count = 2401
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)