save many people who once would have succumbed to various illnesses.
The elderly, as might be expected, are major users of health services. Statistics collected by the National Center for Health (1992) indicate that:
(1) People 65 years of age and above average 9.1 physician visits per year.
(2) Although the elderly comprise about 12 and 1/2 percent of the population and are responsible for 19.6 percent of physician visits.
(3) People between 65 and 74 years of age have an average hospital stay of 8.2 days whereas people between 75 and 84 average about 9.1 days while people 85 and above stay about 9.6 days.
The center estimates that health care costs for the elderly are approximately one-third of the nation's total health care expenditures. Of these costs, the elderly pay around 25 percent; the rest is paid by Medicare and Medicaid.
Against this backdrop of increased susceptibility to poor health, the elderly--like most people--must also face a variety of psychological and psychosocial problems. Just like younger people and middle-aged people, one of the problem many elderly people face involves their marriages. However, the experience of a problematic marriage for the older person is not necessarily the same for the younger or even for the middle aged person (Gilewski, Kuppinger & Zarit, 1985).
Just as the individual is compelled to modify to successfully accommodate to old age, so must the aging marriage or family (Gilewski, Kuppinger & Zarit, 1985). The challenges facing older adult couples have been complicated and multi-faceted (e.g. declining health and retirement). At times, the intricacies of the issues have been intimidating, and it has been questioned in the literature whether these clients have the emotional and financial resources, life expectancy, or capacity to change to warrant the investment in time needed by the psychotherapeutic process (Beckham & Giordano, 1986; Gafner, 1989; Gilewski...