Jennifer is a 52-year-old female. She has been married for 26 years and has three children 24, 21, and 19 years old. The oldest child has recently graduated from college and is about to get married....

Jennifer is a 52-year-old female. She has been married for 26 years and has three children 24, 21, and 19 years old. The oldest child has recently graduated from college and is about to get married. The other two children are currently in college, with the youngest moving out of the house two months ago. Jennifer identified with being a mother and is a very active and devoted mother. Since their last child left home, Jennifer has noticed that she and her husband are really distant with each other and frequently arguing. The tension between Jennifer and her husband only adds to her stress level. Jennifer’s father passed away a year ago, leaving her to care for her ailing mother. Her mother has advanced stage dementia and requires around the clock care. It is getting increasingly difficult to care for her mother at a distance, and therefore, Jennifer is contemplating having her mother move in with her and her husband. Jennifer’s mother is adamant about remaining at home and becomes violent when conversations about changing her living arrangements are brought up. Her mother is often confused, has started wandering off, and without nursing care would fail to complete activities of daily living and take medications as prescribed. Jennifer feels guilt that she cannot care for her mother better and is unsure of what the next step is for them as a family. Jennifer also feels caught in the middle between caring for her mother and upholding obligations to her marriage. Jennifer’s husband thinks that they just got the house to themselves, and he wants to start a new chapter in their life together. He believes that Jennifer should find a nursing home to put her mother in, and again, this is another source of tension between them. Jennifer has worked as a pediatric nurse at the local hospital for the past 15 years. She notes that in the beginning, this was her dream job, and she felt that being a nurse and helping others was her calling. However, Jennifer reports that lately, this has become more and more difficult. She has noticed that over the past two years, she is not as fulfilled with her job and has lost interested in the field altogether. The stress at home has only exacerbated this, and she was recently placed on a performance improvement plan following an incident where she failed to document contact with a patient properly. If she does not meet all of the requirements of the performance improvement plan, she will be terminated. Jennifer has thought that this might not be such a bad thing, and she is not sure she wants to be a nurse anymore. Jennifer is seeking counseling for assistance with the stress that she is experiencing in her life.

Identify the stressors that you believe Jennifer is experiencing and describe them according to this stage of human development.