Interview with an Adult age 65+ years old
Age: 65
Gender: Male
Relation: Friend of Dad
1. Describe a typical day.
[Interviewee]:
I wake up in the early morning, around 5 am I go to work, I work from 5-6, I then go to the gym
for around 2 hours, I eat something and then go to bed.
[Interviewer]: Alright, awesome.
2. What activities do you enjoy most?
[Interviewee]: I love to work out, I love eating, going to the movies or the theatre.
[Interviewer]: Do you like dancing, hanging out with friends?
[Interviewee]: Rarely, I am more of a loner guy. If I go out I like to enjoy things on my
own.
3. What activities do you enjoy least?
[Interviewee]: I hate washing dishes, I hate fixing up my room. I hate when people make
me wait. For example, in a relationship I hate the lack of punctuality.
[Interviewer]: Sounds good to me, we all have issues with that.
4. Describe your best friend, what qualities does he or she have?
[Interviewee]: Andrew is my best friend, he is the opposite of me, he likes to go to parties, he
loves alcohol, he is somewhat of a lady’s man, but we coincide in honesty, loyalty,
transparent. Those are the reasons why he is my best friend.
[Interviewer]: If you are so close, then what do you have in common?
[Interviewee]: We are both very focused and disciplined, we met in college and it has
been a very long friendship. It has been years. He is also single and we both live in the same care
center.
5. Um, what is your greatest achievement thus far in life?
[Interviewee]: I would say helping my family members get their own homes. I tried to
make a fund for everyone and we pitched in on a yearly basis. I tried to save up 10% of the
monthly income, and additional to what they would give me as their part, I would put in my
10%.
[Interviewer]: Well, that is amazing. I think that is a great work of service.
6. What is your greatest regret thus far in life?
[Interviewee]: I guess not being able to share more with my brother. We both were very
apart in the past, and even when we had the opportunity to patch things up we never did. Now he
has passed and I don’t have the chance anymore.
[Interviewer]: I am so sorry to hear that. I know you will probably have the chance, just
have faith.
.
7. What are you looking forward to in the near future so within the next year?
[Interviewee]: I want to do an MBA in logistics, I feel like it is never too late. I also want
to run another marathon. I ran one in Chicago and another in Berlin. It is expensive but it
is what I have always done.
[Interviewer]: Sounds amazing, I wish I could do more exercise like that. I am in my 20’s
and I have a really bad physique for running.
8. What are you looking forward to in the far in the future so, five to ten to twenty years
down the road?
[Interviewee]: [laughs] Oh, if I live 20 more years I would just consider myself lucky!
[Interviewer]: Well you have a pretty good health and physique, I would give you even
30 more years.
[Interviewee]: Well that is adorable, I guess I just want to enjoy everything I do in life,
what makes me happy, running marathons, finishing that MBA I mentioned, maybe
meeting someone that I can finally spend the rest of my life with.
[Interviewer]: That sounds like a great 20-year plan, I hope you find what you are
looking for, thank you for answering.
Analysis
[Interviewee] has not really experienced major physical changes with age, in fact he has a
great athletic physique and trains on a daily basis, he looks around 20 years younger than he is
and he knows it, he has no difficulty in carrying out activities of daily living (ADLs), and has
great pride in that considering his age. [Interviewee] has never required any type of aid to walk,
he still has what he likes to call “selective hearing”, which is basically being able to listen to
what he wants, and when he does not he plays deaf and blames it on his age. He has no
difficulty in carrying out instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). He is cognitively in
perfect health and experiences no drains on his cognitive competence, he still works and wants to
do an MBA which requires a lot of cognitive vitality. In fact, I would dare say that maybe he has
been stuck in a certain age that counts years back, nevertheless, his body and mind correspond to
the age he apparently wants to be in. He has never had any major surgeries or any minor
procedures. [Interviewee] showed that he has reached the final psychological conflict of
Erikson’s theory, ego integrity versus despair. Involving the fact that he is now at ease and has
come to terms with life. He is happy with his achievements, however, during his last question I
noticed a little bit of remorse of not having a spouse this late in life. He expressed that the did
regret actions or events that he once missed or took for granted, but feels like it has led him to
where he is at the moment. Maybe there is a possibility that he shows a little bit of loneliness,
like in a temporal way he has achieved what he wants, money, studies, commodities,
nevertheless you can tell he is bitter of not having a companion.