A new study says that hairstylists could be of great help to steer their elderly clients to needed health services as such clients often or always shared their problems during appointments.
A new study says that hairstylists could be of great help to steer their elderly clients to needed health services as such clients often or always shared their problems during appointments.
Over 80 percent of 40 Columbus-area stylists surveyed said that older clients shared their problems with them.
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Hair loss, referred to as alopecia, is a common yet distressing condition that affects young as well as older individuals.
The study included 40 stylists from the Columbus area who responded to a mail survey and the participants reported that, on average, about one-third of their clients were 60 years old or older.
Anderson said the results suggested that most stylists do develop close long-term relationships with their older clients.
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More than a third of stylists said clients have discussed problems with depression or anxiety, while a large number of stylists said their response to hearing their clients' problems is to offer sympathy and support, and to try to cheer them up.
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However, about two-thirds said they are willing to refer an older client to appropriate services.
But he said that the problem is that more than half - 52 percent said they were not familiar with community services that may be helpful to older adults.
"It seems like a perfect setup - stylists have access to older adults who may need someone to point them to the help they need. But at least this sample of stylists suggests they don't know what services are out there to help these folks," he said.
The researchers asked participants to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the highest) their ability to recognize symptoms of depression, dementia and neglect in their older clients. In all three cases, stylists rated their ability between 7.6 and 7.8.
Stylists could play an important role by just learning about local community services and offering brochures to older adults that have information on how to access the help they need.
The study has been published in the Journal of Applied Gerontology.
Source-ANI
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