scholarly journals Using Participatory Observation to Understand Older People’s Experiences: Lessons from the Field

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephine Tetley
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Community Dwelling Older People ◽  
Participatory Observation

This article describes how participant observation and a reflective diary were used in a study that aimed to explore how three different groups of community dwelling older people experienced and made choices about using, or refusing, a range of health and social care services. The roles of these qualitative methods are highlighted to demonstrate how they enhanced the insights gained during the course of a research study.

scholarly journals Optimizing healthy ageing in disadvantaged communities: insights into older people’s use of health and social care services

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Josephine Tetley
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Support Service ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Healthy Ageing ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Care Systems

The European Year of Healthy Ageing recognizes that health care systems need to be improved and reorganized if services are to optimize the opportunities for people to stay healthy and well in their own homes for as long as possible. However, current services tend to be fragmented and insensitive to the needs of older people and their carers resulting in services being underused or refused leading to increased admissions into acute hospital care that could have been prevented. The main aim of the study reported in this paper was to identify the factors that affected older peoples’ decision and choice-making processes, when using or contemplating the use of care services. Using a constructivist methodology, this study used participant observation and 23 interviews in three study settings: an African Caribbean support service, day centers for people with memory and cognition problems and luncheon clubs for older people. An inductive analysis of the data revealed that when older community dwelling people found themselves struggling with certain aspects of their daily care needs; they used adapting, coping and seeking as strategies to manage. Additional issues of how well services were able to meet individual’s aspirations for care and support were identified through themes of match-mismatch, fair-unfair, independence-dependence. The findings reported in this study provide important insights as to how people’s needs are complex yet are negatively affected by rigid state controlled services that ultimately affect individual decisions to use or refuse services.

Challenging times: building a health, housing and social care local workforce strategy

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 108-122
Author(s):  
Patricia Dearnaley ◽  
Joanne E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Older People ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Workforce Planning ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Fiscal Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health And Social Care

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to stimulate a wider debate around the coordination of workforce planning in non-statutory services (in this case, specialist housing for older people or those with long-term health and social care needs, such as learning disabilities). The authors argue that current NHS reforms do not go far enough in that they fail to include specialist housing and its workforce in integration, and by doing so, will be unable to optimise the potential efficiencies and streamlining of service delivery to this group. Design/methodology/approach The paper used exploratory study using existing research and data, enhanced by documentary analysis from industry bodies, regulators and policy think tanks. Findings That to achieve the greatest operational and fiscal impact upon the health care services, priority must be given to improving the efficiency and coordination of services to older people and those requiring nursing homes or registered care across the public and third sectors through the integration of service delivery and workforce planning. Research limitations/implications Whilst generalisable and achievable, the model proposed within the paper cannot be fully tested theoretically and requires further testing the in real health and social care market to evidence its practicality, improved quality of care and financial benefits. Originality/value The paper highlights some potential limitations to the current NHS reforms: by integrating non-statutory services, planned efficiency savings may be optimised and service delivery improved.

Psychiatric assessment of older people

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Cognitive Assessment ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Psychiatric History ◽  
Neurological Signs ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Holistic Assessment ◽  
State Examination

The venue for assessment varies but given the choice there are substantial advantages in the first assessment being conducted at home. The aims of the assessment are to do more than achieve a diagnosis, though this is crucial; the aim should also be to produce a holistic assessment of all needs leading to the involvement a range of appropriate professionals in health and social care services to address these needs and carry out their own specialist assessments. Information from informants will supplement that of the patient and enable completion of all the important domains in the psychiatric history. The mental state examination will include a special emphasis on cognitive assessment and a brief physical looking for neurological signs is important.

scholarly journals Unmet care needs are common among community-dwelling older people with memory problems in Finland

2019 ◽  
pp. 140349481989080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari S. Aaltonen ◽  
Lina H. Van Aerschot
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Older People ◽  
Home Care Services ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Memory Problems ◽  
More Care ◽  
Community Dwelling Older People ◽  
With Memory

Aims: Ageing in place has become a policy priority. Consequently, residential care has been reduced, and more older people with multiple care needs reside at home with the help of informal care and home care services. An increasing share of these people has memory disorders. We examined the extent to which memory problems, in addition to other individual characteristics, are associated with unmet care needs among community-dwelling older people. Methods: The study employed cross-sectional survey data from community-dwelling people aged 75+ collected in 2010 and 2015, analysed using binary logistic regression analysis. The study population consisted of people who had long-term illnesses or disabilities that limited their everyday activities ( N = 1928). Nine per cent reported substantial memory problems. Of these, 35.7% had a proxy respondent. Results: People with memory problems have more care needs than those with other types of disability or illness. They receive more care but still have more unmet needs than others. About a quarter of people with memory problems reported that they did not receive enough help. This result did not change significantly when the proxy responses were excluded. Even a combination of informal and formal home care was insufficient to meet their needs. Conclusions: Insufficient care for people with memory problems implies a serious demand for further development of home care services. The care needs of this population are often complex. Unmet needs represent a serious risk to the well-being of people with memory disorders, and may also create an extensive burden on their informal caregivers.

scholarly journals Modernising social care services for older people: scoping the United Kingdom evidence base

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
SALLY JACOBS ◽  
CHENGQIU XIE ◽  
SIOBHAN REILLY ◽  
JANE HUGHES ◽  
DAVID CHALLIS
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Older People ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Care For Older People

ABSTRACTIn common with other developed countries at the end of the 20th century, modernising public services was a priority of the United Kingdom (UK) Labour administration after its election in 1997. The modernisation reforms in health and social care exemplified their approach to public policy. The authors were commissioned to examine the evidence base for the modernisation of social care services for older people, and for this purpose conducted a systematic review of the relevant peer-reviewed UK research literature published from 1990 to 2001. Publications that reported descriptive, analytical, evaluative, quantitative and qualitative studies were identified and critically appraised under six key themes of modernisation: integration, independence, consistency, support for carers, meeting individuals' needs, and the workforce. This paper lists the principal features of each study, provides an overview of the literature, and presents substantive findings relating to three of the modernisation themes (integration, independence and individuals' needs). The account provides a systematic portrayal both of the state of social care for older people prior to the modernisation process and of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the evidence base. It suggests that, for evidence-based practice and policy to become a reality in social care for older people, there is a general need for higher quality studies in this area.

scholarly journals COVID-19: Opportunities for interdisciplinary research to improve care for older people in Sweden

2020 ◽  
pp. 140349482096954
Author(s):  
Rebecca Baxter ◽  
Wossenseged Birhane Jemberie ◽  
Xia Li ◽  
Mahwish Naseer ◽  
Mascha Pauelsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Older People ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Organisation Of Care ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Evaluative Research ◽  
Effective Public Health

The emergence of COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it, arguably none more so than for older people. In Sweden, the majority of COVID-19-related fatalities have been among people aged ⩾70 years, many of whom were receiving health and social care services. The pandemic has illuminated aspects within the care continuum requiring evaluative research, such as decision-making processes, the structure and organisation of care, and interventions within the complex public-health system. This short communication highlights several key areas for future interdisciplinary and multi-sectorial collaboration to improve health and social care services in Sweden. It also underlines that a valid, reliable and experiential evidence base is the sine qua non for evaluative research and effective public-health systems.

Culturally sensitive approaches to health and social care

2009 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 773-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruby C.M. Chau ◽  
Sam W.K. Yu
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Ethnic Minority Groups ◽  
Services De Santé ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Chinese Older People ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Los Grupos

English With the focus on how Chinese older people in the UK use health and social care services, this article demonstrates how these services’ sensitivity is undermined by mistaken assumptions about whether ethnic-minority groups organize health and care according to their cultural principles, and the unity of these principles. French Centré sur la façon dont les Chinois âgés utilisent les services de santé et d’accompagnement social en Grande Bretagne, cet article démontre comment la perception de ces services est biaisée par des représentations erronées selon lesquelles les groupes des minorités ethniques organisent la santé et l’accompagnement social selon leurs principes culturels et en vertu de l’unité de ces principes. Spanish Este artículo se centra en cómo las personas chinas de tercera edad usan los servicios sociales y de salud en Gran Bretaña. Hay suposiciones erróneas acerca de la unidad de principios culturales, y acerca de cómo los grupos étnicos organ izan el cuidado social y el cuidado de la salud. Estas suposiciones debilitan la sensibilidad cultural hacia estos grupos.

Mental Health and Social Care Providers Facing Requests of Assisted suicide from Elderly in Nursing Homes in Switzerland

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S11-S12
Author(s):  
D.A. Castelli Dransart ◽  
S. Voélin ◽  
S. Elena
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Older People ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Home Care Services ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionIn some Swiss states, right-to-die associations are allowed to assist older people in nursing homes provided that certain requirements are fulfilled.ObjectivesTo investigate how health and social care providers and their institutions reacted to and dealt with requests of assisted suicide.MethodAn exploratory qualitative study was carried out in the States of Fribourg and Vaud among 40 professionals working in nursing homes, home care services or social welfare agencies.ResultsThe requests of assisted suicide questioned the professional mission, the quality of accompaniment provided to the older people and both professional and personal values. Health and social care providers were required to ponder over ethical dilemmas or decisions. Several challenges were reported, such as: taking into account and articulating personal freedom or needs with collective functioning or organizational constraints before, during and after the assisted suicide; reconciliating self-determination with protection towards vulnerable people (beneficere, non maleficere).ConclusionsAssisted suicide challenges and changes professional end-of-life practices. Education and support should be provided to health and social care providers faced with it.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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