| Course | HCA 508 Mental Health Assessment and Intervention |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Humanities reflection paper |
| Length | About 700 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Arizona State University |
| Program | MA in Aging |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HCA 508 Module 4
Three Windows on Growing Old: A Book, a Film and a Poem Through the Lens of Life Review
Student Name
MA in Aging, Arizona State University
HCA 508: Mental Health Assessment and Intervention
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Three Windows on Growing Old: A Book, a Film and a Poem Through the Lens of Life Review
The Counseling Model: Life Review
Butler (1963) argued that reminiscence in later life is not idle wandering but a normal process of reviewing one's life, prompted by the awareness of approaching death. Through life review, older adults revisit past experiences and unresolved conflicts, which can lead to reintegration, meaning and acceptance, or, when it fails, to anxiety and despair. Gerontological counselors use structured life review to help older adults make sense of their histories. I chose this model because my work with hospitalized older adults often happens at moments when patients are already looking back.
Resource 1: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Gawande (2014), a surgeon, writes about how modern medicine handles aging and dying, mixing his father's final illness with stories of patients, nursing homes and assisted living. The book's central claim is that medicine focuses on safety and survival while people near the end of life want to keep a sense of purpose and control.
Effect on My Understanding
Before reading it, I measured a good discharge by safety: the right equipment, the right placement. Gawande showed me that safety can come at the cost of what makes life worth living. His account of asking patients what trade-offs they are willing to make reframed my role.
Application
I now ask older patients what matters most to them and what they are afraid of before discussing placement. These questions are a brief form of life review: they invite patients to look back at what has given their lives meaning and to carry it into their choices. A patient recently told me that gardening was the thread of her life, which led us to an assisted living community with a garden rather than the closest available bed.
Resource 2: The Father, directed by Florian Zeller
The Father (Zeller, 2020) follows Anthony, an aging man with dementia, and is filmed so that the viewer shares his confusion: rooms change, faces are recast, time loops. The audience experiences dementia from the inside rather than watching it from outside.
Effect on My Understanding
The film made me feel the fear and anger that can look like "difficult behavior" on a hospital unit. Anthony's charm, accusations and final plea for his mother are responses to a world that keeps shifting. I understood for the first time that agitation can be a reasonable reaction to disorientation.
Application
Life review must be adapted for people with dementia. Rather than structured review, I now use simple reminiscence prompts tied to long-term memories, such as old photographs or a familiar song, which can reassure rather than test. I also coach families to respond to the feeling behind a confused statement rather than correct the facts.
Resource 3: "Warning" by Jenny Joseph
In the poem by Joseph (1961), a woman imagines the freedoms she will take when she is old: dressing in purple, spending her pension on pleasures and breaking the small rules she has kept all her life. The poem has become an emblem of playful aging.
Effect on My Understanding
The poem reminded me that old age can bring release as well as loss. Much of my work focuses on decline; the poem insists on desire, humor and self-expression in later life. It also made me notice how often older women in my practice speak of having lived for others.
Application
In life review conversations, I now ask not only what patients regret but what they have always wanted to do. The question can open a different kind of review, one aimed at the future as well as the past, which fits Butler's view that review can lead to new purpose.
Synthesis
Together, the three works widened my view of aging from a medical problem to a human story with fear, meaning and freedom. Life review gave me a way to bring that story into practice: asking what has mattered, adapting the process when memory fails and making room for joy as well as grief. Research suggests that structured reminiscence can reduce depressive symptoms in older adults (Pinquart & Forstmeier, 2012), which supports bringing these conversations into routine care.
References
Butler, R. N. (1963). The life review: An interpretation of reminiscence in the aged. Psychiatry, 26(1), 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1963.11023339
Gawande, A. (2014). Being mortal: Medicine and what matters in the end. Metropolitan Books.
Joseph, J. (1961). Warning [Poem].
Pinquart, M., & Forstmeier, S. (2012). Effects of reminiscence interventions on psychosocial outcomes: A meta-analysis. Aging & Mental Health, 16(5), 541-558. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2011.651434
Zeller, F. (Director). (2020). The father [Film]. Sony Pictures Classics.
What the HCA 508 Module 4 instructions ask for
HCA 508's Understanding Aging paper, a 250-point assignment, is due in Week 4. Identify three substantive resources from the humanities or arts, such as books, films, poems, plays, music or visual art, that are not already on the syllabus and that shaped your understanding of what it means to grow old. Choose one model of gerontological counseling presented in the course and use it as the lens for your analysis. For each resource, describe the nature of its effect on your understanding and how you apply that understanding in your interactions and work with older persons. Five APA pages are expected, and the rubric sets a meets-expectations bar for a passing B. Count your resources against the syllabus requirement before you begin drafting, and confirm none of them is already on the syllabus.
How this HCA 508 Module 4 example is built
The sample opens by explaining the life review model in a paragraph and why it fits the student's work. Each resource then has its own section with three parts: a brief description, its effect on the student's understanding and its application in practice, including a concrete example. The film section adapts life review for people with dementia, and the poem section extends the model toward the future. A synthesis ties the three together and adds one meta-analysis supporting reminiscence work. The application paragraphs each include a brief, realistic example from practice, which shows the rubric's application criterion in action.
Reading the HCA 508 Module 4 grading rubric
The paper is worth 250 points. Readers look for three substantive resources outside the syllabus, a correctly explained counseling model applied consistently, depth in describing how each resource changed the student's understanding and specific examples of application in work with older adults. Marks drop when resources are summarized without reflection, when the counseling model is named but not used, when applications are vague, when resources are trivial or already assigned and when the paper ignores APA style or the five-page length. Graders also notice whether the chosen counseling model is used consistently across all three resources rather than mentioned once.
HCA 508 Module 4 help with common mistakes
Choose resources that genuinely affected you, since the reflection depends on honest change. Pick works with enough depth to discuss, such as a full book or film rather than a short clip. Re-read the course's counseling models and choose the one that best explains your experience. For each resource, write one sentence on what you believed before and what you believe now. Give a concrete example of application. Cite every work in APA. If you are unsure which counseling model fits, the desk can help. Avoid choosing three resources that all say the same thing; variety gives the paper depth. Give each resource roughly equal space so none feels like an afterthought, and end with a synthesis that ties all three to the counseling model.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Arizona State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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HCA 508 Module 4 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HCA 508 Module 4 sample paper?
The full Understanding Aging paper on a book, a film and a poem read through life review is on this page.
How many resources does the HCA 508 Understanding Aging paper need?
Three substantive resources from the humanities or arts, beyond the syllabus.
What is Butler's life review?
A normal process in later life of revisiting past experiences and conflicts, which can lead to meaning and acceptance.
Does reminiscence therapy help older adults?
A meta-analysis of 128 studies found moderate improvements in depressive symptoms and ego integrity.
How long is the HCA 508 paper?
Five pages in APA format.