scholarly journals ADDRESSING OLDER ADULT SOCIAL ISOLATION AND ABUSE THROUGH RURAL OUTREACH AND INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL COLLABORATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S59-S59
Author(s):  
Naomi R Meinertz ◽  
Megan Gilligan ◽  
Jeongeun Lee ◽  
Louise Peitz
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Elder Abuse ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Organizational Collaboration

Abstract Elder abuse is commonly linked with social isolation and in a rural state, such as Iowa, older adults may be at increased risk of social isolation and elder abuse. A community-based needs assessment aimed to record the first-hand perspectives of service providers regarding the needs of older adults in rural areas across the state of Iowa, covering 54 of the 99 counties. Through a survey (N=202) and focus groups (N=24), service providers, including direct care, Area Agencies on Aging, law enforcement, and attorneys, offered ways in which to address the gaps in service provision and prevention of elder abuse. Based on survey and focus groups, suggestions included ways to decrease social isolation among older adults by improving service outreach, provider training, and inter-organization communication. Discussion will outline gaps in service outreach and address future inter-organizational collaboration and strategies to prevent social isolation and elder abuse in rural communities.

scholarly journals COVID-19-Related Changes in Potential Risk Factors for Elder Mistreatment Reported by Caregivers of Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 940-940
Author(s):  
Lena Makaroun ◽  
Scott Beach ◽  
Tony Rosen ◽  
Ann-Marie Rosland
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Elder Mistreatment ◽  
Care Recipients ◽  
Increased Risk

Abstract In previous studies, caregiver (CG) stress, substance use, poor physical health, poor mental health, financial problems, and social isolation have been associated with increased risk of elder mistreatment (EM) for older care recipients (CR). This study aimed to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted these CG-related risk factors for EM in a community sample of CGs. A non-probability sample of 433 CGs caring for adult CRs age ≥60 years with physical (76%), cognitive (34%) and mental health (14%) conditions completed a survey on COVID-19 impacts in April-May 2020. CGs had mean age 61 (range 21 – 91), were 75% female and 92% non-Hispanic White. Over 40% of CGs reported doing worse financially since COVID-19. Compared to before COVID-19, 15% reported drinking more alcohol and 64% reported somewhat or greatly increased feelings of social isolation and loneliness. CGs reported that COVID-19 had made caregiving more physically (18.7%), emotionally (48.5%) and financially (14.5%) difficult, interfered with their own healthcare (19%), and led to family conflict over caring for CR (13.2%). Younger CGs (age <65) and those with annual income <$50,000 were more likely to report negative COVID-19 impacts. This study suggests CGs of older adults may be experiencing increased stress, alcohol use, social isolation and negative impacts on their own health and financial situation. Healthcare and social service providers should assess for these EM risk-factors in caregivers and connect them and their care recipients with resources and services to address these stressors to reduce risk of EM during the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Motivating rural older residents to prepare for disasters: moving beyond personal benefits

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 2117-2140 ◽  
Author(s):  
SATO ASHIDA ◽  
ERIN L. ROBINSON ◽  
JANE GAY ◽  
MARIZEN RAMIREZ
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Medical Needs ◽  
Increased Risk

ABSTRACTIn the United States of America (USA), older adults in rural areas are at increased risk for adverse outcomes of disasters, partly due to medical needs, limited or long geographic distances from community resources, and less knowledge and motivation about preparedness steps. Older residents and ageing service providers in a rural community in the USA were interviewed regarding their perceptions about disasters and preparedness, and their reactions to the preparedness training programme using the concepts of the Extended Parallel Process Model. Participants generally indicated low motivation to engage in preparedness behaviours despite perceptions of personal risk and beliefs that preparedness behaviours were easy and could improve disaster outcomes. A theme of social relationships emerged from the data, with participants identifying social relationships as resources, barriers and motivators. People surrounding older adults can support or deter their preparedness behaviours, and sometimes elicit a desire to protect the wellbeing of others. Findings suggest two potential strategies to facilitate preparedness behaviours by moving beyond personal benefits: highlighting older adults' increased ability to protect the wellbeing of younger generations and their community by being prepared themselves, and engaging family, friends and neighbours in preparedness programmes to enhance the resilience of their social groups. Older adults in many cultures have a desire to contribute to their society. Novel and effective approaches to increase preparedness could target their social groups.

scholarly journals Understanding Social Network and Support for Older Immigrants in Ontario, Canada: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Study (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepali Guruge ◽  
Souraya Sidani ◽  
Lu Wang ◽  
Bharati Sethi ◽  
Denise Spitzer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Older Men ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Older Immigrants ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Social

BACKGROUND Older adults are the fastest growing age group worldwide and in Canada. Immigrants represent a significant proportion of older Canadians. Social isolation is common among older adults and has many negative consequences, including limited community and civic participation, increased income insecurity, and increased risk of elder abuse. Additional factors such as the social, cultural, and economic changes that accompany migration, language differences, racism, and ageism heighten older immigrants’ vulnerability to social isolation. OBJECTIVE This mixed-methods sequential (qualitative-quantitative) study seeks to clarify older immigrants’ social needs, networks, and support and how these shape their capacity, resilience, and independence in aging well in Ontario. METHODS Theoretically, our research is informed by an intersectionality perspective and an ecological model, allowing us to critically examine the complexity surrounding multiple dimensions of social identity (eg, gender and immigration) and how these interrelate at the micro (individual and family), meso (community), and macro (societal) levels in diverse geographical settings. Methodologically, the project is guided by a collaborative, community-based, mixed-methods approach to engaging a range of stakeholders in Toronto, Ottawa, Waterloo, and London in generating knowledge. The 4 settings were strategically chosen for their diversity in the level of urbanization, size of community, and the number of immigrants and immigrant-serving organizations. Interviews will be conducted in Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish with older women, older men, family members, community leaders, and service providers. The study protocol has received ethics approval from the 4 participating universities. RESULTS Quantitative and qualitative data collection is ongoing. The project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada. CONCLUSIONS Comparative analyses of qualitative and quantitative data within and across sites will provide insights about common and unique factors that contribute to the well-being of older immigrants in different regions of Ontario. Given the comprehensive approach to incorporating local knowledge and expert contributions from multilevel stakeholders, the empirical and theoretical findings will be highly relevant to our community partners, help facilitate practice change, and improve the well-being of older men and women in immigrant communities. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPOR DERR1-10.2196/12616

Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Rural Areas: An Ecological Systems Approach

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory F. Sanders ◽  
Margaret A. Fitzgerald ◽  
Marlys Bratteli
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Focus Group Study

Groups of North Dakota professionals from health and aging services participated in a focus group study of mental health needs and barriers to service among older adults. Data were collected from 13 focus groups that included human service providers, public health nurses, out-reach workers, and advisory groups who discuss mental health and aging issues in a number of ecological systems contexts. Lack of knowledgeable care providers, funding cutbacks, accessibility of services, and ageism were frequently cited barriers to mental health services for older adults in rural areas. Focus groups also discussed the needs of older adults including information on services, how to access services, the need for service providers in rural areas, and routine assessments by physicians. Participants suggested that the main needs of providers were education, more services, and changes or flexibility in the types of services.

scholarly journals Changes in Health Behaviors, Mental and Physical Health among Older Adults under Severe Lockdown Restrictions during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 7067
Author(s):  
Esther García-Esquinas ◽  
Rosario Ortolá ◽  
Iago Gine-Vázquez ◽  
José A. Carnicero ◽  
Asier Mañas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Lifestyle Risk Factors ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Lifestyle Risk

We used data from 3041 participants in four cohorts of community-dwelling individuals aged ≥65 years in Spain collected through a pre-pandemic face-to-face interview and a telephone interview conducted between weeks 7 to 15 after the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. On average, the confinement was not associated with a deterioration in lifestyle risk factors (smoking, alcohol intake, diet, or weight), except for a decreased physical activity and increased sedentary time, which reversed with the end of confinement. However, chronic pain worsened, and moderate declines in mental health, that did not seem to reverse after restrictions were lifted, were observed. Males, older adults with greater social isolation or greater feelings of loneliness, those with poorer housing conditions, as well as those with a higher prevalence of chronic morbidities were at increased risk of developing unhealthier lifestyles or mental health declines with confinement. On the other hand, previously having a greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet and doing more physical activity protected older adults from developing unhealthier lifestyles with confinement. If another lockdown were imposed during this or future pandemics, public health programs should specially address the needs of older individuals with male sex, greater social isolation, sub-optimal housing conditions, and chronic morbidities because of their greater vulnerability to the enacted movement restrictions.

Rural midwifery practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Strengths, vulnerabilities, opportunities and challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
Rea Daellenbach ◽  
Lorna Davies ◽  
Mary Kensington ◽  
Susan Crowther ◽  
Andrea Gilkison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Rural Practice ◽  
Midwifery Practice ◽  
Adverse Weather

Background: The sustainability of rural maternity services is threatened by underfunding, insufficient resourcing and challenges with recruitment and retention of midwives. Aims: The broader aim of this study was to gain knowledge to inform the optimisation of equitable and sustainable maternity care for rural communities within New Zealand and Scotland, through eliciting the views of rural midwives about their working conditions and practice. This article focuses on the New Zealand midwives’ responses. Method: Invitations to participate in an online questionnaire were sent out to midwives working in rural areas. Subsequently, themes from the survey results were followed up for more in-depth discussion in confidential, online group forums. 145 New Zealand midwives responded to the survey and 12 took part in the forums. Findings: The New Zealand rural midwives who participated in this study outlined that they are attracted to, and sustained in, rural practice by their sense of connectedness to the countryside and rural communities, and that they need to be uniquely skilled for rural practice. Rural midwives, and the women they provide care to, frequently experience long travel times and distances which are economically costly. Adverse weather conditions, occasional lack of cell phone coverage and variable access to emergency transport are other factors that need to be taken into account in rural midwifery practice. Additionally, many participants noted challenges at the rural/urban interface in relation to referral or transfer of care of a woman and/or a baby. Strategies identified that support rural midwives in New Zealand include: locum and mentoring services, networking with other health professionals, support from social services and community service providers, developing supportive relationships with other rural midwives and providing rural placements for student midwives. Conclusion: Midwives face economic, topographic, meteorological and workforce challenges in providing a service for rural women. However, midwives draw strength through their respect of the women, and the support of their midwifery colleagues and other health professionals in their community.

The Interplay of Agents in Improvising Telecommunication Infrastructures' Services to Rural Community of South Africa

2015 ◽  
pp. 208-225
Author(s):  
Sharol Mkhomazi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
South African ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Telecommunication Network ◽  
Structuration Theory ◽  
Telecommunication Service ◽  
Network Service Provider

The deployment of telecommunication infrastructures is a challenge in many parts of South Africa particularly in the rural areas. The challenge has impact of communities' members as they do not have network coverage for Internet in some areas. The challenge gets worse with individual telecommunication service provider. Hence there is technological proposal for sharing of infrastructure by the service providers. However, the sharing of infrastructure is not as easy as notion by many individuals and groups institutions included. The article presents findings from a study on how a South African telecommunication network service provider could deploy shared infrastructures in the country's rural communities. The sharing of infrastructure is described by the structure and actions of agents within the infrastructure sharing process. Structuration theory was employed as a lens in the data analysis. The key findings include insufficient distribution of infrastructure, ownership responsibility, competitiveness, infrastructure deployment cost, and signification of regulation.

scholarly journals BARRIERS AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE AGE-RELATED SERVICE ACCESS IN UTAH: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S884-S885
Author(s):  
Alex T Schiwal ◽  
Elizabeth B Fauth
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Access ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Time Model ◽  
Related Services ◽  
Research Orientation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Related Service

Abstract Utah is projected to be in the top 10 states for growth in the aging population, but it is among the most rural. Local and regional contexts guide policy and practice, and these perspectives will inform solutions as more older adults require services in rural and other under-served areas in the coming decades. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time model, this study used a qualitative participatory research orientation involving stakeholders in Utah’s aging service system in order to identify local barriers and solutions to accessing rural aging services. The stakeholders included service providers, caregivers, older adults, state-administrators, and other community members. There were 3 male and 7 female participants ranging in age from 40 to 80. Thematic analysis revealed that communities faced barriers common to rural areas (local service insufficiencies, distance and time concerns, systemic issues such as healthcare and ageism, finances - both personal and programmatic were deemed a recurrent barrier, in addition to transportation issues. However, participants reported assets in rural areas, such as a strong sense of belonging in the community and creative problem solving. Solutions for improving access to age-related services included strategies for making information more available, publicized, and centralized and increasing access to telehealth or internet-delivered services and health information. These barriers and solutions were nested across the levels of context in Bronfenbrenner’s model, with both person, time, and in interactions (processes) having influence, but localized analysis of the barriers is necessary to ensure that the solutions are appropriate in a specific context.

scholarly journals Exploring Daily Activity Patterns on the Typical Day of Older Adults for Supporting Aging-in-Place in China’s Rural Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (22) ◽  
pp. 8416
Author(s):  
Ziqi Zhang ◽  
Zhi Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Definition Of

Severe aging in rural China is prompting communities to promote support for older people to age in place. The study of the daily life of older adults in rural areas is conducive to understanding their real life and demands, as well as the way they interact with their environment, to develop feasible strategies. In this study, 171 older adults over 60 years old in two different types of villages in Northern Zhejiang Province were investigated and analyzed in terms of the temporal and spatial features of daily activities, as well as their relationship with population attributes, personal competence, and subjective demands. The results show that: (1) significant association can be seen between working hours and the demand for health services, housework hours and gender and age, as well as leisure hours and ADL and the demand for recreational services. (2) The older adults appear to have inter-group homogeneity in some aspects: basic living activities, leisure hours, the gender difference in housework hours, and recreational preference, while they have higher average paid work hours and fewer leisure alternatives than their urban counterparts. Their definitions of paid work, housework, and leisure activities are vague. (3) The definition of home by the older adults in rural places sometimes seems to go beyond the scope of their own house, and the extensive definition of home may change their recognitions of some activities. They also inclined to assign meaning to a place through frequent use rather than through external definitions. (4) The weak consciousness on buying services and deteriorated financial situation hinders the older adults in rural communities from expressing their real demands. Unspoken demands include economic security, recreational choices, and assistance in housework. The results will help to provide references for the improvement of eldercare services and the community environment.

Among neighbors: An ethnographic account of responsibilities in rural palliative care

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Pesut ◽  
Carole A. Robinson ◽  
Joan L. Bottorff
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
High Quality

AbstractObjective:Building high quality palliative care in rural areas must take into account the cultural dimensions of the rural context. The purpose of this qualitative study was to conduct an exploration of rural palliative care, with a particular focus on the responsibilities that support good palliative care from rural participants’ perspectives.Method:This ethnographic study was conducted in four rural communities in Western Canada between June 2009 and September 2010. Data included 51 days of field work, 95 semistructured interviews, and 74 hours of direct participant observation. Thematic analysis was used to provide a descriptive account of rural palliative care responsibilities.Results:Findings focus on the complex web of responsibilities involving family, healthcare professionals, and administrators. Family practices of responsibility included provision of direct care, managing and coordinating care, and advocacy. Healthcare professional practices of responsibility consisted of interpreting their own competency in relation to palliative care, negotiating their role in relation to that interpretation, and individualizing care through a bureaucratic system. Administrators had three primary responsibilities in relation to palliative care delivery in their community: navigating the politics of palliative care, understanding the culture of the community, and communicating with the community.Significance of results:Findings provide important insights into the complex ways rurality influences understandings of responsibility in palliative care. Families, healthcare providers, and administrators work together in fluid ways to support high quality palliative care in their communities. However, the very fluidity of these responsibilities can also work against high quality care, and are easily disrupted by healthcare changes. Proposed healthcare policy and practice changes, particularly those that originate from outside of the community, should undergo a careful analysis of their potential impact on the longstanding negotiated responsibilities.

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