Science is a knowledge that has evidently been useful to us throughout the history of mankind, through objective and verifiable knowledge, we can systematize the understanding of certain areas, for example: physics, chemistry, medicine, psychology, computer science, geology, economics, among many areas of knowledge. Each one of these areas of science is dedicated to investigate about our world and how to transform it for a better future. The "problem" is that these areas are quite dedicated to a specific topic and can naturally answer only the questions that concern them.
But what happens in situations involving several areas of knowledge? There are several proposals for the solution of this: the first is the so-called multidisciplinary approach: where different disciplines of knowledge give their contribution to a specific topic, for example: in the issue of an optimal development of the elderly, in the study of their optimal development, there may be proposals from doctors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, nutritionists, physiotherapists, biologists, architects, etc.
However, this proposal would be what would be popularly known as: "each to his own way". Because although they are all doing research on older adults, they do it from each approach separately, not taking into account the contributions of each of their peers in knowledge, which is a problem if we want to address the situation from different approaches.
The proposal that have emerged in recent years is an interdisciplinary approach, where collaboration, integration and enrichment of knowledge that are involved in the study or intervention of a subject is encouraged, bringing greater knowledge to the subject and to the professionals (Garcia, 2018).
This means that in the process of improving the quality of life of older adults, professionals in nursing, medicine, psychology, nutrition, etc., take into account the knowledge of others, work together towards a common goal and each provides recommendations to meet the needs.
This proposal allows us to better understand each topic to investigate or intervene, because if each field of knowledge can give us a lot by itself, what will an interdisciplinary contribution give us? It will give us a more complete understanding of our reality and more efficient results.
Interdisciplinary contributions are quite valuable as long as they are actually applied and do not remain only in discourse. For linking several scientific approaches towards a single goal is not an easy task and requires prior planning. But once achieved, great things can be done, for example: in the case of older adults, a high level of technological treatment with human warmth. In Verdeza we work from this approach, if you want to know more about our community, do not hesitate to contact us at: www.verdeza.com
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The next Blog will be: The importance of emotional intelligence in the older adult.
Bibliographic references:
García, T. (2018). Research competencies from an interdisciplinary approach for Health Technology teachers. Cuban Journal of Health Technology, 9(2), 87-96.
