Enabling older people with mental health needs to engage with community social care: A scoping review to inform a theory of change

Background: The aim of this survey is to investigate professional attitudes to the presence and value of spiritual care from Old Age Psychiatrists.Method: All registered members of the Faculty of the Psychiatry of Old Age in the United Kingdom were asked to complete a 21-question semi-structured questionnaire. The first mail shot took place in 2002 and the second mail shot to non-respondents in 2003. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the answers received.Results: The response rate was 46%. The majority of respondents (92%) recognize the importance of spiritual dimensions of care for older people with mental health needs and about a quarter of respondents appear to consider referring patients to the chaplaincy service. In contrast, integration of spiritual advisors within the assessment and management of individual cases is rare.Conclusions: Opinions vary as to whether provision of spiritual care should become widely available to older people with mental health needs who are admitted to hospital. Old age psychiatrists recognize that awareness of spiritual dimensions may be important for their patients. They seem less clear about the role of spiritual advisors and how NHS multidisciplinary clinical teams and spiritual and pastoral care services can be best integrated. Much work needs to be done on developing effective training and operational policies in this area.

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Everybody's business

A Life in the Day ◽

10.1108/13666282200700008 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 26-27

Author(s):

Jane Gilliard

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Older People ◽

Health Needs ◽

Policy Framework ◽

Mental Health Needs

Older people with mental health needs are everybody's business, says Jane Gilliard in this article outlining the Department of Health's policy framework for delivering better services to this long‐neglected group.

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The mental health needs of older people with learning disability

Reviews in Clinical Gerontology ◽

10.1017/s0959259806001936 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 15 (3-4) ◽

pp. 245-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Patrick SG Chance

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Learning Disabilities ◽

Older People ◽

Learning Disability ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

Health Needs ◽

Differential Mortality ◽

Functional Impairments ◽

Mental Health Needs ◽

Care Needs

The term ‘older people with learning disability’ refers to a highly heterogeneous group of people. By definition, they all have delayed or abnormal early development, together with significant intellectual and functional impairments, but they differ considerably in terms of cause, developmental profile, nature and degree of impairments and their social and personal backgrounds. Overall, people with learning disabilities make up only a small minority of the population, however it is well recognized that they have increased overall health care needs, including mental health needs. It has been estimated there are 210 000 people living in England and Wales who have a severe or profound learning disability: only 25 000 (12%) of these are older people aged over 60 years. Of the 1.2 million people with mild or moderate learning disability, 265 000 (21%) of these are older people over the age of 60. Life expectancy seems to be influenced by severity of learning disability, the age profile of the mild to moderate learning-disabled population being much more closely matched to that of the general population. As a result of this differential mortality, across the spectrum of disability there is a reduced level of learning disability with advancing age, and older people with learning disabilities, when considered as a group, have higher levels of functional ability (and reduced levels of challenging behaviour) than the younger group.

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