scholarly journals The construction of the risk of falling among and by older people

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAIRE BALLINGER ◽  
SHEILA PAYNE

Risk is frequently invoked in contemporary accounts of ill health, but its construction is often constrained by a rationalist perspective that focuses on physical causes and functional outcomes, and that presents risk as external to the self and predictable. This paper describes an empirical study of the ways in which risk was realised and managed in a day hospital for older people. An ethnographic approach, with participant observation and semi-structured interviews, and discourse analysis were used to explore these issues with the staff and fifteen users. Whilst the service providers were orientated to the management of physical risk, as through the regimes for administering medication and their attention to risk reduction in the physical environment, the service users were more concerned with the risk to their personal and social identities, and they more frequently described its manifestations in inter-personal exchanges, sometimes as infantalisation and stereotyping. The paper develops this understanding of the potential for falls among older people to elucidate a broader interpretation of risk, and reveals that it is commonly constructed as a challenge to a person's self-image and identity. Such constructions help to explain older people's responses to complex health problems and to the services and treatments that attempt to solve them.

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilanjana Sinha ◽  
Himadri Roy Chaudhuri ◽  
Jie G. Fowler ◽  
Sitanath Mazumdar

PurposeThis paper aims to explore authenticity as a multidimensional construct from both consumer and service provider perspectives in the context of culturally themed restaurants in Kolkata, India.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing a phenomenological design, data have been collected through participant observation, photographs and semi-structured interviews in Bengali-themed restaurants over a two-year period.FindingsBy articulating the processes and dimensions that operate behind the narrative of authenticity, the findings display the interaction between market/cultural forces and the perception of authenticity. These reveal that authenticity embraces four major categories, namely, traditional, staged-form, postmodern and constructivist.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides insights into the collective role of both consumers and service providers in mediating perceptions of authenticity. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature by articulating four dimensions of authenticity.Practical implicationsPractically, this study assists marketers with insights into the balance of authenticity and the commoditization of culture.Originality/valueAs globalization weakens cultural boundaries and jeopardizes regional identities, there is a need for reassuring cultural continuity that upholds ethnic legacy for local consumers. Thus, this study provides theoretical and practical insights for both researchers and practitioners concerned about maintaining authenticity in a global marketplace.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
TENNA JENSEN ◽  
LIV GRØNNOW ◽  
ASTRID PERNILLE JESPERSEN

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the strategies that frail, home-dwelling older people who receive food from public institutions develop and use during eating situations, to gain an insight into how older people mobilise resources in relation to eating. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews and participant observation sessions with 25 home-dwelling frail older men and women, aged 72–101, who live in Copenhagen and receive food from the municipality. Like healthier older people, frail older Danes develop and use strategies to create acceptable eating situations. The strategies are linked to the arrangement of the eating situation, their former lives and experience with food and eating, and their perception of their own body. The focus on strategies enables insights into how frail older people manage to mobilise resources to create meaningful eating situations. However, even though they mobilise resources to create and maintain eating strategies, these are not all equally appropriate with regards to supporting a healthy nutritional status. The eating strategies used by frail older people and the resources they entail are key to their experience with eating. Focusing on these strategies is useful when developing public care initiatives as this will precipitate an awareness of the resources of this group and how these are activated and contribute to or detract from a healthy nutritional status and a high quality of life.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 30-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Win Tadd ◽  
Alex Hillman ◽  
Michael Calnan ◽  
Sian Calnan ◽  
Simon Read ◽  
...  

Objectives To examine: older people's and their relatives' views of dignified care; health care practitioners' behaviours and practices in relation to dignified care; the occupational, organizational and cultural factors that impact on care; and develop evidence-based recommendations for dignified care. Methods An ethnography of four acute trusts in England and Wales involving semi-structured interviews with recently discharged older people (n = 40), their relatives (n = 25), frontline staff (n = 79) and Trust managers (n = 32), complemented by 617 hours of non-participant observation in 16 wards in NHS trusts. Results ‘Right Place - Wrong Person’ refers to the staffs' belief that acute wards are not the ‘right place’ for older people. Wards were poorly-designed, confusing and inaccessible for older people; older people were bored through lack of communal spaces and activities and they expressed concern about the close proximity of patients of the opposite sex; staff were demoralised and ill-equipped with skills and knowledge to care for older people, and organizational priorities caused patients to be frequently moved within the system. In none of the wards studied was care either totally dignified or totally undignified. Variations occurred from ward to ward, in the same ward when different staff were on-duty and at different times of the day. Conclusions The failure to provide dignified care is often a result of systemic and organizational factors rather than a failure of individual staff and it is these that must be addressed if dignified care is to be ensured.


Author(s):  
Graciela Morales Trujillo ◽  
Guillermina Natera Rey

Este artículo analiza el porqué de la migración de campesinos e indígenas convertidos en jornaleros agrícolas en México, un tema de suma importancia, ya que, de acuerdo con autores como Barrón y Hernández (2016), para muchas comunidades y familias rurales e indígenas, la migración interna representa la única estrategia de supervivencia en el país. Para abordar el tema, se da cuenta de la realización de un estudio cualitativo con enfoque etnográfico y técnicas de recolección de datos como la observación participante y entrevistas semiestructuradas, cuyos resultados se sometieron a un análisis temático. De acuerdo con este estudio, los jornaleros agrícolas del Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo, migran por tres razones principales: pobreza, tradición migratoria y violencia, con la característica de que se desplazan en unidades familiares, en una migración circular permanente.  Palabras clave: Migración Interna, Jornaleros Agrícolas, Pobreza, Violencia Why migrate? The reality of a community of migrant farm laborers in MexicoSummaryThis article analyzes the reasons for the migration of peasants and indigenous people who have become agricultural laborers in Mexico, an issue of utmost importance, since, according to authors such as Barrón and Hernández (2016), for many rural and indigenous communities and families, the internal migration represents the only survival strategy in the country. To address the issue, a qualitative study with an ethnographic approach and data collection techniques such as participant observation and semi-structured interviews was carried out, whose results were subjected to a thematic analysis. According to this study, agricultural laborers from Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo, migrate for three main reasons: poverty, migratory tradition and violence, with the characteristic that they move in family units, in a permanent circular migration.Keywords: Internal migration, Agricultural laborers, Poverty, Violence Pourquoi migrer? La réalité d’une communauté de journaliers agricoles migrants au MexiqueRésuméCet article analyse la raison de la migration de paysans et indigènes devenus journaliers agricoles au Mexique, un thème de grande importance car selon quelques auteurs comme Barrón et Hernández (2016), pour beaucoup de communautés et familles rurales et indigènes, la migration interne représente la seule stratégie de survivance dans le pays. Pour aborder le thème, on rend compte de la réalisation d’une étude qualitative avec une approche ethnographique et des techniques de recollection de données comme l’observation participative et des interviews semi structurées dont les résultats ont été analysés thématiquement. Selon cette étude, les journaliers agricoles de Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo, migrent à cause de trois raisons principales : pauvreté, tradition migratoire et violence, avec la caractéristique qu’ils se déplacent en unité circulaire permanente.Mots clés : Migration Interne, Journaliers Agricoles, Pauvreté, Violence


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Lipman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore current provision of targeted social care services for the growing populations of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) older people in England and Wales. Design/methodology/approach – This was a mixed study. Following a review of the policy and research literature, 12 semi-structured interviews were undertaken in 2013/2014. Most participants were recruited from BAME policy and service provider organisations and organisations focusing on older people. Findings – There is some evidence that BAME voluntary organisations are experiencing disproportionately greater funding cuts than mainstream voluntary service providers: moreover some mainstream providers reported reducing services targeted at BAME older people, while others expressed the view that choices for BAME older people are likely to become more limited following recent health and equalities policy changes. Practical implications – Practitioners should contribute to data collection about protected characteristics, such as race/ethnicity to establish if BAME older people’s needs are being assessed equitably, whether access to care and support is easy; and how market-shaping at local levels can ensure a range of providers. Originality/value – This study provides an overview of voluntary sector provision for the growing numbers of BAME older people in need of care and support that should be useful to practitioners and service commissioners.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Jesús Gómez Camuñas ◽  
Purificación González Villanueva

<div><br></div><div> <p><i>Qualitative design</i> with an <b>ethnographic approach</b>, to achieve the objective of the study.</p> <p><i>Data collection</i></p> <p>The data has been collected through these information collection techniques:</p> <p><b>Participant observation</b> consisting of analysis of documents, interviews with subjects and informants, participation in the field, direct observation and introspection <sup>13</sup>; registering systematically in a journal, together with the field notes.</p> <p><b>In-depth interviews</b> are carried out, through two techniques:</p> <p>Unstructured interviews with open questions.</p> <p>Semi-structured interviews through a Guide of questions, extracted from previous observation sessions or interviews.</p> <p>These interviews are, in turn, <u>formal</u> and <u>informal</u>, conducted individually or in groups <sup>13</sup>:</p> <p>In the formal ones, the participants are asked to sign the informed consent in order to be recorded and their consent after the transcription of the same.</p> <p>Informal interviews are carried out during the entire period of stay in the unit or center, to any participant who voluntarily chooses to talk with the researcher, having prior knowledge of the realization of the same and study information.</p> </div>


2021 ◽  
pp. 095624782110088
Author(s):  
Julia Wesely

The city of Manizales in Colombia has been widely recognized as a good practice case in disaster risk management (DRM). Previous research has sought to amplify learning from Manizales through examining the characteristics of its innovative practices. These are championed by an inter-institutional alliance that includes academia, the local government, the regional environmental authority and service providers. This paper argues that this learning needs to be accompanied by a nuanced understanding of the historical trajectories that have allowed Manizales to create and consolidate its current enabling environment for DRM. The argument derives from an analysis of fieldwork data, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation and secondary data, through a critical juncture approach. Focusing on the critical juncture of seasonal heavy rains in 2003, the paper illustrates how institutional changes configured cultural–cognitive, regulatory and normative conditions for the emergence of one of Manizales’ most recognized good practices, the Guardians of the Slope programme.


Author(s):  
Suzanne Huot ◽  
Jaqueline Brower ◽  
Alex Tham ◽  
Atieh Razavi Yekta

Abstract Introduction Immigrants may experience many barriers to social participation within host societies. Immigrants’ integration into Canadian society is supported through government-funded services. Objective In the present study, we explored the perspectives of service providers working in community organizations regarding their role in enabling immigrants’ social participation through occupations in British Columbia, Canada. Method Representatives from twenty different organizations providing services to the community participated in a constructivist qualitative study aiming to uncover aspects shaping opportunities for occupational participation provided for immigrants. Results Drawing on semi-structured interviews and using thematic analysis, we identified three main themes relating to cultivating social occupations, spaces, and networks. Findings illustrate that service providers’ cultivation of these opportunities can support immigrants’ desired social roles and social identities, further enabling their participation in receiving societies. Conclusion Emphasis upon supporting socio-economic integration into society appears to limit a client-centred approach to developing opportunities for social participation through occupation. Implications for occupational therapists and scientists are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1526-1554 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUE WANG ◽  
MIKE NOLAN

ABSTRACTDecision-making among older patients with stroke, their families and professionals has been extensively studied in a Western context, but there has been little prior work in China. The study reported here explored how decision-making took place between older people with stroke, their family carers and professionals in an acute care context in mainland China using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. Constant comparative analysis of the data was carried out. This paper focuses on the key social process of ‘hiding’ and its dynamic relationship with the core category ‘keeping the peace’. In order to meet the traditional Chinese cultural value of ‘maintaining harmony’, both family carers and professionals hid essential information from older stroke survivors who, as a consequence, were effectively precluded from playing an active role in major decisions. In understanding ‘hiding’, the paper draws upon both Chinese cultural values and ‘awareness context theory’ and in so doing questions the relevance to the Chinese context of key Western notions such as involvement in health-care decision-making. A better understanding of the experiences of decision-making processes between older people with stroke, their family carers and professionals in China will help professionals to provide the best possible support and care whilst promoting informed decision-making amongst all concerned.


2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1001-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Matumoto ◽  
Silvana Martins Mishima ◽  
Cinira Magali Fortuna ◽  
Maria José Bistafa Pereira ◽  
Maria Cecília Puntel de Almeida

This study aimed to identify and analyze aspects regarding the preparation for the worker-user relationship in a primary health care unit in a city in the state of São Paulo-Brazil, from the perspective of welcoming. The health work process is the theoretical basis of the study; participant observation and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection techniques, and thematic analysis in the analysis stage. For the welcoming to be processed, there is a "moment" of preparation for the worker, the physical environment and the relationships present at work so that users are welcomed, in which the users' needs are sometimes disregarded. Despite the difficulties in terms of resource availability, especially in the public sector, when preparing the service/user and worker/user relationships, one should consider the aspects associated to a more human, welcoming relationship, since it is during live work, in this intersection, that care quality is established.


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