scholarly journals The Capability Approach in Research on Ageing Well at Home for Frail Older People

2022 ◽  
pp. 95-107
Author(s):  
Synneve Dahlin-Ivanoff ◽  
Qarin Lood ◽  
Katarina Wilhelmson ◽  
Kajsa Eklund ◽  
Emmelie Barenfeld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Older People ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Frail Elderly ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Frail Older People ◽  
Support Research ◽  
Broad Understanding ◽  
The Capability Approach

AbstractThis chapter describes the work of the Frail Elderly Support Research Group (FRESH) in relation to the capability approach as a theoretical framework. The FRESH research group works with people who are at risk of developing frailty, as well as those who are already frail or very frail. In this chapter, FRESH aims to utilise the capability approach as a theoretical framework for research with and for frail older people, and to focus on the older people’s opportunities to realise their goals in relation to contextual factors that may influence them. A broad understanding of the concept of frailty in general is also presented. The capability approach makes a fundamental contribution to the understanding of the process of becoming frail, and how it may influence people as they age, because it focuses on people’s real opportunities, what it is possible to achieve and what people have reason to value, in relation to the resources that they have at hand. This chapter will hopefully encourage future researchers to consider evaluating the capability approach and implementing it in their own research.

Approccio delle capacitŕ e sociologia economica: un matrimonio vincente per lo studio delle politiche

2009 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
Gianluca Busilacchi
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Economic Sociology ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Empirical Level ◽  
The Capability Approach

- Over the last year the capability approach has been widely used by social scientist. Its success is mainly due to the richness of its theoretical framework and the possibility to enrich the interdisciplinary researches also at the empirical level. However the empirical applications in the field of public policy, especially social policy, are still very limited: what is the reason? And which is the role of economic sociology in contributing to the analysis of social policy endorsing the capability approach? The first part of the paper concerns the explanation of the theoretical framework of the capability approach, through an analysis of its main concepts and empirical applications. Then we will try to see why the capability approach can be especially used by economic sociology, and why this social science can be enriched by the capability approach to analyse social policy with a richer toolbox.Keywords: social policy, capability approach, economic sociology, public policy, Amartya Sen, poverty

Using Nussbaum’s central capabilities to understand caring for older people in New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-547
Author(s):  
Barbara Horrell ◽  
Mary Breheny ◽  
Christine Stephens
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Older People ◽  
Informal Care ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Online Forum ◽  
Care For Older People ◽  
The Capability Approach

In this article, we use the capability approach and Nussbaum’s list of essential capabilities to understand the experiences of people providing (informal) care for older people. Nussbaum’s ten essential capabilities were used as a template to analyse contributions to an online forum created for the research. The carers’ posts indicated they valued these capabilities, though, in some instances, struggled to achieve them in the context of providing care. The capability approach provided a useful framework to move beyond caring as beneficial or burdensome, to view care as valued and as influencing other capabilities among carers for older people.

Social Policy and the Capability Approach

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Policy Fields ◽  
The Capability Approach

The capability approach, an increasingly popular conceptual and theoretical framework focused on what individuals are able to do and be, offers a unique evaluative perspective to social policy analysis. This book explores the advantages of this approach and offers a way forward in addressing conceptual and empirical issues as they apply specifically to social policy research and practice. Short conceptual and empirical chapters provide clear examples of how policies shape the capabilities of different groups and individuals, critically assessing the efficacy of different social policies across multiple social policy fields, providing both academic and practitioner viewpoints.

scholarly journals ‘Paying our own way’: Application of the capability approach to explore older people’s experiences of self-funding social care

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Tanner ◽  
Lizzie Ward ◽  
Mo Ray
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Political Interpretation ◽  
Political Form ◽  
The Capability Approach

Adult social care policy in England is premised on the concept of personalisation that purports to place individuals in control of the services they receive through market-based mechanisms of support, such as direct payments and personal budgets. However, the demographic context of an ageing population and the economic and political context of austerity have endorsed further rationing of resources. Increasing numbers of people now pay for their own social care because either they do not meet tight eligibility criteria for access to services and/or their financial means place them above the threshold for local authority-funded care. The majority of self-funders are older people. Older people with complex and changing needs are particularly likely to experience difficulties in fulfilling the role of informed, proactive and skilled navigators of the care market. Based on individual interviews with older people funding their own care, this article uses a relational-political interpretation (Deneulin, 2011) of the capability approach (CA) to analyse shortfalls between the policy rhetoric of choice and control and the lived experience of self-funding. Whilst CA, like personalisation, is seen as reflecting neo-liberal values, we argue that, in its relational-political form, it has the potential to expose the fallacious assumptions on which self-funding policies are founded and to offer a more nuanced understanding of older people’s experiences.

scholarly journals Reconceptualising the Child’s Right to Development: Children and the Capability Approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noam Peleg
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Alternative Framework ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
Children’S Agency ◽  
The Capability Approach ◽  
The Way

The article proposes adopting the Capability Approach as a theoretical framework to analyse the child’s right to development. Currently, the child’s right to development is realised as the child’s right to become an adult. This interpretation is problematic on several grounds, primarily its usage of developmental psychology as an underlying narrative to conceptualise childhood and interpret children’s rights, and its lack of respect for children’s agency. Using the Capability Approach’s conception of ‘human development’ as an alternative framework can change the way in which childhood and children’s development are conceptualised and, consequently, change the interpretation of the child’s right to development. It can accommodate simultaneously care for the child’s future and the child’s life at the present; promote respect for a child’s agency and active participation in her own growth; and lay the foundations for developing concrete measures of implementation.

scholarly journals Moving residence in later life: actively shaping place and wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manik Gopinath ◽  
Vikki Entwistle ◽  
Tim Kelly ◽  
Barbara Illsley
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Older People ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Ageing In Place ◽  
Residential Settings

Policy discourse favours the idea of “ageing in place” but many older people move home and into different kinds of residential settings. This article extends the understanding of how relocation can promote as well as diminish older people’s well-being. Using relational understandings of place and capabilities (people’s freedoms and opportunities to be and to do what they value) we explored well-being across the relocation trajectories of 21 people aged 65–91 years living in diverse residential settings in Scotland. We found that a diverse array of capabilities mattered for well-being and that relocation was often motivated by concerns to secure “at-risk” capabilities for valued activities and relationships. Moving residence impacted several other capabilities, in addition to these, both, positively and negatively. We suggest that a capability approach offers a valuable lens for understanding and supporting well-being through behavioural models of late-life relocation.

scholarly journals The Capability Approach in Social Work with Older People

2022 ◽  
pp. 149-162
Author(s):  
Inger Kjellberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Older People ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Developmental Studies ◽  
The Capability Approach

AbstractThis chapter reports the findings from a scoping review of the use of the capability approach in social work with older people. Four peer-reviewed articles using the capability approach and addressing social work practice with older people are discussed. The purpose was to examine how the use of the capability approach is linked to policies, practices and social justice approaches in social work research. Two main applications of the capability approach were found: to explore the subjective sense of well-being, and to address social inequalities at a structural level. The capability approach was framed as congruent with the aims of social work, and as a call for action for social workers to promote social justice, human dignity and well-being. Only a few studies were found in this scoping review; however, more seemed to have been done within the fields of healthcare and developmental studies. Despite these limitations, the conclusion is that the capability approach has attracted some attention in social work with older people, and the number of studies elaborating on the capability approach in social work in general is growing.

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