scholarly journals Key Elements for a New Spanish Legal and Architectural Design of Adequate Housing for Seniors in a Pandemic Time

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7838
Author(s):  
María Luisa Gómez-Jiménez ◽  
Vargas-Yáñez Antonio

The provision of housing for the elderly in Spain has been approached from a public policy perspective to understand social housing and the allocation of specialized social services. The lockdowns in cities and the need to remain at home with social isolation and social distance has especially affected the most vulnerable groups, creating situations that widen the gap in the provision of adequate housing. Research is being carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Málaga, funded by European FEDER funds awarded by the Andalusian Regional Government (VIDA project), to analyze the main characteristics connected with “ideal” adequate housing for a vulnerable senior person living alone or in social isolation due to the quarantine period. In this study, we draw a line between the need for adequate housing, the chance to remodel, and the opportunity to propose new Spanish legal approaches from an architectural perspective within the scope of alternative typologies of housing. This article deals with the preliminary findings of the research connected to the architectural review, exploring key elements for senior housing design, and highlighting the need to approach the issue by proposing a new regulation.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0258780
Author(s):  
Lidia Redondo-Bravo ◽  
Beatriz Fernandez-Martinez ◽  
Diana Gómez-Barroso ◽  
Alin Gherasim ◽  
Montserrat García-Gómez ◽  
...  

Introduction Scabies is a neglected disease stablished worldwide with a fairy well determined incidence. In high-income countries, it often causes outbreaks affecting the residents and staff of institutions and long-term facilities, usually hard to detect and control due to the difficult diagnosis and notification delay. This study aim at characterizing the affected population, geographical distribution, and evolution of scabies in Spain from 1997–2019 as well as to describe the main environments of transmission using different data sources. Methods We carried out a nationwide retrospective study using four databases, which record data from different perspectives: hospital admissions, patients attended at primary healthcare services, outbreaks, and occupational diseases. We described the main characteristics from each database and calculated annual incidences in order to evaluate temporal and geographical patterns. We also analyzed outbreaks and occupational settings to characterize the main transmission foci and applied Joinpoint regression models to detect trend changes. Results The elderly was the most frequent collective among the hospital admitted patients and notified cases in outbreaks, while children and young adults were the most affected according to primary care databases. The majority of the outbreaks occurred in homes and nursing homes; however, the facilities with more cases per outbreak were military barracks, healthcare settings and nursing homes. Most occupational cases occurred also in healthcare and social services settings, being healthcare workers the most common affected professional group. We detected a decreasing trend in scabies admissions from 1997 to 2014 (annual percentage change -APC- = -11.2%) and an increasing trend from 2014 to 2017 (APC = 23.6%). Wide geographical differences were observed depending on the database explored. Discussion An increasing trend in scabies admissions was observed in Spain since 2014, probably due to cutbacks in social services and healthcare in addition to worsen of living conditions as a result of the 2008 economic crisis, among other reasons. The main transmission foci were healthcare and social settings. Measures including enhancing epidemic studies and national registries, reinforcing clinical diagnosis and early detection of cases, hygiene improvements and training of the staff and wide implementation of scabies treatment (considering mass drug administration in institutions outbreaks) should be considered to reduce the impact of scabies among most vulnerable groups in Spain.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
María Dolores Ruiz-Fernández ◽  
Rocío Ortiz-Amo ◽  
Elena Andina-Díaz ◽  
Isabel María Fernández-Medina ◽  
José Manuel Hernández-Padilla ◽  
...  

Social workers in the community setting are in constant contact with the suffering experienced by the most vulnerable individual. Social interventions are complex and affect social workers’ emotional well-being. The aim of this study was to identify the emotions, feelings, and experiences social workers have while attending to individuals in situations of vulnerability and hardship. A qualitative methodology based on hermeneutic phenomenology was used. Six interviews and two focus group sessions were conducted with social workers from the community social services and health services of the Andalusian Public Health System in the province of Almería (Spain). Atlas.ti 8.0 software was used for discourse analysis. The professionals highlighted the vulnerability of certain groups, such as the elderly and minors, people with serious mental problems, and people with scarce or no economic resources. Daily contact with situations of suffering generates a variety of feelings and emotions (anger, sadness, fear, concern). Therefore, more attention should be paid to working with the emotions of social workers who are exposed to tense and threatening situations. Peer support, talking, and discussions of experiences are pointed out as relevant by all social workers. Receiving training and support (in formal settings) in order to learn how to deal with vulnerable groups could be positive for their work and their professional and personal quality of life.


The article presents the study of communication as a way of interpersonal and intergroup interaction, as a source of human activity, which is manifested in the search for information, communication of their thoughts, experiences and ways to communicate for help. The role of social communication in modern society is studied. The article emphasizes the growing role of social work in crisis situations in society as a resource that contains timely, professional, reliable information. The article presents information how the communicative process has changed within social work in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic: the transition to remote communication, the emergence of new «pandemic» functions in the activities of specialists, the emergence of new and exacerbation of old social problems. Statistics are provided on social workers who work in an enhanced mode during the quarantine period for the provision of social services (material, psychological, legal aid) to clients. These are especially client groups such as the elderly, war and labor veterans, people with special needs, children and other vulnerable groups. The authors draw attention to the fact that under conditions of quarantine restrictions, some traditional sources of communication have lost their effectiveness and relevance, however, the need for information has increased significantly. There are several areas of communicative interaction, which are becoming increasingly relevant in social work: the creation of online communities, on-line paperwork, on-line consultations, training, supervision and others.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. a1en
Author(s):  
Neila Barbosa Osório ◽  
Deuzivania Carlos de Oliveira ◽  
Leda Santana de Noleto ◽  
Luiz Sinésio da Silva Neto

This article aims to relate students belonging to the University of Maturity in times of social isolation due to a pandemic of COVID-19, as well as actions carried out by the students of the UMAnizando project, guiding them with quality information, such as activities carried out are being important in the sense of filtering information that is really useful, for the purpose of appropriate prevention at the moment, the project made it possible to guide with safety and protection, so that afflictions can be minimized in a coherent way thinking about the emotional and physical well-being of the elderly, in which he used a descriptive methodology of experience reports.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetyana Semigina ◽  
Andrii Karkach

Ukraine belongs to ‘greying’ nations and has one of the worst health profiles in the European region, characterized by high mortality, morbidity, and disability rates. In early 1990s, the country had in-herited the Soviet paternalistic model of social welfare with no professional social workers. Since that time the new services for elderly people have been gradually introduced. Looking through lenses of a number of theoretical concepts (the institutional framework, concept of dependency and geragogy theory) the chapter reviews the key features of the Ukrainian model of elderly care built up in 1990-2020 and the peculiarities of modern social work with elderly people. It reflects the country’s controversial experience of balancing the indigenous social patterns of paternalism, famial-istic informal care, marketization of social services, and professionalization of social work. The case of the municipal social service for elderly persons operating in Poltava region is presented. The spe-cial focus is made on specific interventions implemented in order to encourage older people to use computer and information technology in their daily lives, and to overcome digital inequalities in today's information and network society. The educational activities for elderly people undertaken in this centre within the University of Third Age were evaluated.


Author(s):  
Andrii Karkach

The relevance of the study is stipulated by the fact that modern digital technologies are radically changing the economy and lifestyle in general. The information society determines the transformation of social structure, revision of patterns of social activities and stereotypes of behaviour, strategies and tactics of adaptation. Today's information technology and software encourages our society to accelerate in order to learn more and keep up with the scientific and technological progress. Under such conditions, the people of the "third" age appear to be the most vulnerable ones. Without social services and educational services, they are not able to independently master the array of innovative knowledge, including e-technology. Nowadays, a good command of the basics of the personal computer, E-technologies is becoming a necessary condition for orientation in the information flow and successful resocialisation and adaptation of the elderly people in the modern society, for overcoming digital inequality, immersion into the global information flows. The purpose of the study is to determine the features of the mechanisms enabling digital resocialisation of the elderly people within the educational environment of the University of the Third Age. The method of questionnaire survey was used to collect data, as this form of survey has an advantage – it allows respondents to carefully consider their answers without limiting their time. The article characterises and identifies the features of the impact of digital resocialisation mechanisms on the elderly within the educational environment of the University of the Third Age functioning on the platform of the territorial centre of social services (the one which provides social services). Different approaches to the mechanisms of digitalisation are presented, the importance of the University of the Third Age as an institution of digital resocialisation of elderly students is substantiated. The adaptability of the educational environment of the University of the Third Age as a resocialisation space, motivational components of the elderly have been determined, which allows the latter to realise the essential properties of the human personality at a respectable age. A social role of the digital resocialisation is transmitted through its contribution to the improvement of the quality of human life. The use of e-technologies can be considered one of the topical problems of social work with the elderly. There is still no consensus on the extent or impact of digital stratification on the process of resocialisation at an old age, which may be considered the prospect of our further research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87
Author(s):  
MARIANUS MANTOVANNY TAPUNG ◽  
MAX REGUS ◽  
MARSEL R. PAYONG ◽  
MARIANUS S. JELAHUT

Abstract. The elderly, people with disabilities, people with HIV/AIDS, and people with mental disorders in vulnerable groups during the Covid-19 pandemic. This group must be given special attention because they are susceptible to Corona virus. The church as a social humanitarian institution is very concerned to pay attention to this group by doing charitable social services. This charitable social service aims to restore the physical and psychological state of this vulnerable group from the bad situation caused by the emergence of this Corona outbreak. These charitable social service activities are carried out using a combination of social work and social analysis methods. The impact of this activity is the recovery of physiological and psychological conditions of vulnerable groups. They were finally allowed to undergo this pandemic and new normal without any worries. Charitable social services have helped to make this group aware of their hygiene awareness in maintaining the condition of their bodies during this pandemic and in the future. The presence of the OiC Command Post in charitable social service activities in the form of providing social assistance in the form of food, vitamins and masks is enough to help vulnerable groups in meeting their nutritional needs during this pandemic. Adequate nutritional intake will greatly help maintain immunity and physical stamina, sustain economic needs, and maintain a healthy body. This charitable social service activity also had an impact on recognizing the existence of the Catholic Church as a religious social institution that not only offered heavenly (eschatological) salvation, but was also able to proclaim the real worldly salvation, now and here. Abstrak. Kaum lanjut usia/jompo, difabel, penderita HIV/AIDS, dan kaum yang mengalami gangguan mental termasuk kelompok rentan pada masa pandemi Covid-19. Kelompok ini mesti diperhatikan secara khusus karena rentan terpapar virus Corona. Gereja sebagai lembaga sosial kemanusiaan sangat berkepentingan untuk memperhatikan kelompok ini dengan melakukan pelayanan sosial karitatif. Pelayanan sosial karitatif ini bertujuan untuk memulihkan keadaan fisik dan psikis kelompok rentan ini dari situasi buruk akibat munculnya wabah Corona ini. Kegiatan pelayanan sosial karitatif ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan metode gabungan antara pekerjaan sosial dan analisis sosial. Dampak dari kegiatan ini adalah pulihnya keadaan fisiologis dan dan psikologis kelompok rentan. Mereka akhirnya boleh menjalani masa pandemi dan new normal ini tanpa rasa khawatir dan cemas. Pelayanan sosial karitatif telah turut menyadarkan kelompok ini agar tetap memiliki kesadaran higienik dalam memelihara dan menjaga kondisi tubuhnya selama masa pandemi ini dan masa-masa yang akan datang. Kehadiran tim posko OiC dalam kegiatan pelayanan sosial karitatif dalam bentuk pemberian bantuan sosial berupa sembako, vitamin dan masker cukup membantu kelompok rentan dalam memenuhi kebutuhan asupan gizi selama masa pandemi ini. Asupan gizi yang cukup akan sangat membantu mempertahankan imunitas dan stamina fisik, kelangsungan kebutuhan ekonomi, serta menjaga kesehatan tubuh. Kegiatan pelayanan sosial karitatif ini juga berdampak pada pengakuan terhadap eksistensi Gereja Katolik sebagai lembaga sosial religius yang tidak saja menawarkan keselamatan surgawi (eskatologis), tetapi juga mampu mewartakan secara nyata keselamatan duniawi, sekarang dan di sini.


Author(s):  
Lyudmila Kaspruk

When analyzing the historical and medical aspects of the organization of medical and social services for the elderly and senile people in Russia in the late XX — early XXI centuries not only obvious achievements in this sphere, but also a number of problems requiring solution were identified. The primary role in the delivery of medical care to geriatric patients is assigned to the primary health care sector. However the work of the geriatric service in the format of a single system for the provision of long-term medical and social care based on the continuity of patient management between differ- ent levels of the health care system and between the health and social protection services is not well organized. There is no clear coordination and interaction between health care and social protection institutions, functions of which include providing care to older citizens, and it significantly reduces the effectiveness of the provision of both medical and social services.


2018 ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
يعقوب الكندري ◽  
مها مشاري السجاري
Keyword(s):  

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