The Relationship Between Homebound Older People and Their Home Care Workers, or "The Pas de Deux" of Home Care

ABSTRACTOlder persons with alcohol problems have today become an all too common part of everyday elder care, but research in this area is still scarce. This article has a Swedish context with the aim of describing and analysing home care workers’ narratives about older people who can be characterised as heavy drinkers, i.e. people with severe alcohol problems who need considerable care for extended periods. Limited knowledge is available concerning this age group. This article therefore fills a knowledge gap about home care workers’ perspective about body work and the abject, and breaches the myth that older individuals should be able to drink as they prefer and/or notions of drinking alcohol as a last enjoyment in life. The care workers talked about how they got drawn into the daily lives of the care recipients and how they ended up in situations where they, on the one hand, removed the consequences of drinking, and on the other, felt that they sustained the drinking by cleaning out dirt and washing the care recipients’ bodies.

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Food provision for older people receiving home care from the perspectives of home-care workers

Health & Social Care in the Community ◽

10.1111/hsc.12117 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 22 (5) ◽

pp. 553-560 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Anna Watkinson-Powell ◽

Sarah Barnes ◽

Melanie Lovatt ◽

Anna Wasielewska ◽

Barbara Drummond

Keyword(s):

Home Care ◽

Older People ◽

Care Workers ◽

Food Provision ◽

Home Care Workers

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Recognition of elder abuse by home care workers and older people in Romania

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s104161020999161x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 403-408 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Ioana Caciula ◽

Gill Livingston ◽

Rodica Caciula ◽

Claudia Cooper

Keyword(s):

Home Care ◽

Older People ◽

Eastern Europe ◽

Elder Abuse ◽

Care Service ◽

Home Care Service ◽

Care Organization ◽

Older Person ◽

Care Workers ◽

Home Care Workers

ABSTRACTBackground: No previous studies have considered elder abuse in Eastern Europe. We aimed to determine the proportion of home care workers and older people receiving care in a Romanian home care service who correctly identified elder abuse in a vignette, and who had detected elder abuse at work.Methods: In 2009, care workers and clients of a non-government home care organization serving four areas in Romania completed the Caregiver Scenario Questionnaire to measure ability to identify abuse. We asked the professionals whether they had detected a case of abuse.Results: 35 (100%) professionals and 79 (65.8%) older people took part. Four (11.4%) professionals had encountered a case of elder abuse, two (5.7%) in the last year. No staff and only one older person correctly identified all four abusive strategies in a vignette. Staff with more professional caregiving experience recognized fewer abusive strategies (r = −0.46, p = 0.007).Conclusion: Rates of identification were worryingly low among all professionals, and this was more marked if they had worked longer, suggesting their experiences may have reduced their ability to detect it. Mandatory abuse training for care professionals, and strategies to support reporters of suspected abuse, could help improve the management of elder abuse in all countries.

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171 Older people, alcohol and safety issues at home – the perspective of home care workers

Injury Prevention ◽

10.1136/injuryprev-2016-042156.171 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 22 (Suppl 2) ◽

pp. A63.1-A63

Author(s):

Riitta Koivula ◽

Anni Vilkko ◽

Christoffer Tigerstedt ◽

Kristiina Kuussaari ◽

Satu Pajala

Keyword(s):

Home Care ◽

Older People ◽

Safety Issues ◽

Care Workers ◽

Home Care Workers ◽

At Home

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An exploratory qualitative study on relationships between older people and home care workers in South Korea: the view from family carers and service providers

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x13000950 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 629-652 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

YONGHO CHON

Keyword(s):

Home Care ◽

Older People ◽

Long Term Care ◽

Service Providers ◽

East Asian ◽

Family Carers ◽

Term Care ◽

Care Workers ◽

Home Care Workers

ABSTRACTAlthough the proportion of older people using home care services has significantly increased in East Asian countries, the issue of the relationships between older people and home care workers in the East Asian context has received scant attention from scholars. This exploratory qualitative study aims to explore these relationships under the new Korean long-term care insurance system. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 family carers and private-sector home care service providers (home care workers and provider managers). The findings show that while the majority of family carers interviewed reported that their relationships were good, the majority of service providers' responses were more negative. Service providers stated that they experienced a number of difficulties that affected their relationships with older clients, including excessive demands or sexual harassment by the older people in their care, exposure to unsafe working environments, and poor treatment in terms of pay and conditions. The findings suggest that stable and good relationships between home care workers and their clients have not been secured in Korea's long-term care system.

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