BTEC National Diploma Health & Social Care

Unit 4: Development through the life stages

Assignment brief

You have been studying and developing aspects of lifespan development and may now link these to your work experience placement. Use your experiences whilst on work placements to complete the tasks below.

Task 1

Describe the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development through the life stages.

You must include all life stages:

Pregnancy, birth & infancy(0-3 years)
Childhood(4-9 years)
Adolescence(10-18 years)
Adulthood(19-65 years)
The final stages of life

Within your work you mustalsoinclude definitions for the following:

Growth
Development
Developmental norms
Life course
Maturation
Life expectancy

You must also demonstrate an understanding of holistic development: the changes along the continuum of life and the potential causes and effects of delayed development.

Task2

Describe the potential influences the following five main life factors may have on the development of the individual.

This mustinclude a short introduction to each life factor.

You must then explore one example from each life factor. Identify the example and discuss how it may have an effect on the individual.

Genetic eg. Cystic fibrosis, Down’s syndrome
Biological eg. Infection during pregnancy
Environmental eg. Pollution, access to leisure facilities
Socio-economic eg. Social class, housing
Lifestyle eg. Exercise, substance abuse

You must also include how some factors have interacted to have an influence on the individual

Discuss the nature nurture debate in relation to the individual.

Using examples from work experience or case studies relate the nature nurture debate to the individual.

Evaluate the nature nurture debate in relation to development of the individual.

Consider the relative importance of each of the life factors on the case study. Write a conclusion about whether nature or nurture has had the most influence on their development.

Task 3

Describe the influences of two predictable and two unpredictable major life events on the development of the individual.

Either use information from your placement or you may use someone from your family. You may also use case studies.

Explain how major life events can influence the development of the individual.

Using your case study discuss the life events you have chosen and how they involve adapting to change and coping with stress. You need to be able to explore ways in which these major life events interact with life factors.

Task 4

Describe two main theories of ageing.

You must discuss five main points of each theory and write a description of the theory.

Relate both theories to the case studies, demonstrating an understanding of the potential effects on the individual.

Use examples to compare two major theories of ageing.

Compare the two theories of ageing by explaining how each of them relates to the case studies.

Evaluate the influence of two major theories of ageing on health and social care provision.

Discuss the influence of two major theories of ageing on health and social care provision. Describe how far the services encourage older people to stay active and how services may create a barrier to remaining socially engaged with others.

Task 5

Describe the physical changes due to the ageing process, during lifespan development.

You must discuss the effects on the individual of hormonal changes during puberty and the menopause. You may use a case study to identify the key developmental stages.

You must discuss the degenerative changes within each of the systems and give one condition that may result due to these changes. Describe the condition explaining what happens; the symptoms and any conventional treatment available.

Describe the psychological changes due to the ageing process, during lifespan development. These may include the effect on confidence and self-esteem.

You must describe both the negative and positive perspectives on the individual, giving at least one example of each. You may use a case study.