Using reflective writing to gain insight into practice with older people

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 18-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Webster
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Reflective Writing ◽  
Insight Into

Caring relationships and efficient social care provision

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Hollinrake ◽  
Will Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Provision ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
Caring Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Support Mechanism ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature of support that helps older people continue living in their own homes for as long as they wish to. Design/methodology/approach – The research made use of a participatory approach in which service users, service providers and commissioners were involved in the design of the approach in addition to contributing to the research as participants in their own right. Findings – This paper presents analysis from the research which focuses on the importance of caring relationships for providing a support mechanism. The authors question whether budget cuts and efficiency drives within statutory care providers preclude the notion of caring relationships. Practical implications – The authors suggest, in the light of the evidence presented, that statutory service providers should acknowledge the role that caring relationships play in providing support for older people. Whilst budget cuts make providing support for caring relationships more challenging, the authors suggest that there is scope for delivering services and support in ways which promote the types of interactions which better support older people living independently. Originality/value – The analysis presented here provides a distinctive, timely and thoughtful insight into support for older people at a time when public sector budgets are under increasing pressure.

Eating strategies – a qualitative study of how frail, home-dwelling older people in Denmark develop strategies to form meaningful eating situations

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
TENNA JENSEN ◽  
LIV GRØNNOW ◽  
ASTRID PERNILLE JESPERSEN
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Older People ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Frail Older People ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Public Care ◽  
Older Men And Women ◽  
Insight Into

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the strategies that frail, home-dwelling older people who receive food from public institutions develop and use during eating situations, to gain an insight into how older people mobilise resources in relation to eating. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews and participant observation sessions with 25 home-dwelling frail older men and women, aged 72–101, who live in Copenhagen and receive food from the municipality. Like healthier older people, frail older Danes develop and use strategies to create acceptable eating situations. The strategies are linked to the arrangement of the eating situation, their former lives and experience with food and eating, and their perception of their own body. The focus on strategies enables insights into how frail older people manage to mobilise resources to create meaningful eating situations. However, even though they mobilise resources to create and maintain eating strategies, these are not all equally appropriate with regards to supporting a healthy nutritional status. The eating strategies used by frail older people and the resources they entail are key to their experience with eating. Focusing on these strategies is useful when developing public care initiatives as this will precipitate an awareness of the resources of this group and how these are activated and contribute to or detract from a healthy nutritional status and a high quality of life.

Experiences and Motivations Underlying Wishes to Die in Older People Who Are Tired of Living: A Research Area in its Infancy

2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Els van Wijngaarden ◽  
Carlo Leget ◽  
Anne Goossensen
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Severe Depression ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Wish To Die ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Insight Into

The wish to die in older people who are tired of living and the possibilities to organize death are currently being discussed within the debate on self-determination and physician-assisted suicide. Until now insight into the experiences and thoughts of people who are tired of life but not suffering from a severe depression or a life-threatening disease is lacking. Studies focussing specifically on this topic are rare. This review provides an overview of this research area in its infancy. The existential impact of age-related loss experiences play an important role in developing a wish to die. Other influencing factors are: personal characteristics, biographical factors, social context, perceptions and values. Further research to experiences and motivations underlying these specific age-related wishes to die and the existential impact of the loss-experiences seems necessary to deepen the understanding of this group of older people and for the development of policy and good care.

Shining a light on care homes during the COVID 19 pandemic in the UK 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-228
Author(s):  
Annie Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Older People ◽  
Age Discrimination ◽  
Care Homes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between age discrimination and the injustices that have taken place in our care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic in this country. It seeks to show how destructive age discrimination is to those who live in our care homes and attempts to shake up our attitudes to older people, as the pandemic continues. It is hoped that shifts in attitude would lead to a societal revolution in care and support for older people as the pandemic shows us how the current system is breaking down. Design/methodology/approach This is a personal insight into the plight of the care home sector during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. The writer has worked in the field of social care and older people’s services for many years and felt compelled to share her learning and observations. This led to venturing more deeply into understanding why those who live, work and visit care homes have been so neglected and “cast into the shadows” in the face of such desperate danger. Whilst tracking the media narrative during the first wave, she attempts to apply her knowledge, in particular gained from working for Help the Aged (now Age UK) as a policy manager for Quality Care, but also draws on experiences as a social worker, commissioner and care provider from the 1980’s to the present. By “shining a light” on care homes, revealing that the darker practices that have taken place contravene the Human Rights Act 1998, it is hoped that the recognition of age discrimination will happen at every level and become better known in its application. The paper observes how deeply rooted it is in us all. Findings Having highlighted some shocking examples of bad practice from the authorities relating to care homes, the article concludes that Government policy on care homes from March to July 2020 was discriminatory and questions how far lessons have been learned. The legislation is in place in the form of the Human Rights Act 1998 to protect older people in care homes but is not being widely implemented at regional policy level. Government rhetoric remains far from reality Instead of redressing the gap and admitting mistakes, there is evidence at a high level of continued denial and the projection of blame on to the care homes themselves. Originality/value The author’s professional background includes meeting the founder of the Gray Panthers, Maggie Kuhn, in the United States in the 1988. This was a defining moment that gave her an original insight into age discrimination and influenced her entire career. It eventually led to her working in national policy for one of the most influential charities for older people at the turn of the millennium, Help the Aged. Here, she co-founded the My Home Life Programme (promoting quality of life in care homes). The paper offers a unique insight into why it is so challenging to achieve quality of life for older people needing care and should be of interest to policymakers, clinical commissioning groups, local authorities, older people’s care providers and carer and user organisations.

scholarly journals Older people, information, and social networks in rural Cumbria: doctoral research in progress.

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (94) ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
Linda Banwell ◽  
Susan Elizabeth Capel
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Population Group ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Social Network Theory ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

Despite there being larger numbers of older people in rural populations in the UK, there has been very little research undertaken with this group. The research uses a social ethnographic approach grounded in information and social network theory. The paper describes the progress so far, places the research within a theoretical context, describes the way stage one fieldwork was undertaken and identifies the themes that emerged to inform stage two design. The second stage fieldwork is described using some of the initial findings from the observation, interview and participant diary data collected. The paper concludes that the research will provide a unique insight into the social networking of information amongst active older people in a very rural community in the rural North Pennines and inform the planning of service provider information provision for this population group.

Can Creativity Be Taught?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nellie Hermann
Keyword(s):  
Creative Writing ◽  
Reflective Writing ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Medical School Faculty ◽  
Writing Practices ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Creative Insight ◽  
Discovery Potential ◽  
School Faculty ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter is a practical manual for teaching writing in unusual places. Reflective and creative writing have become widespread in healthcare settings, yet little is known about how to effectively structure writing experiences, how to respond to creative writing, and how to assess the dividends of writing practices. Written by a novelist on a medical school faculty, the chapter shows how to encourage writing in healthcare and how readers can guide writers toward the discovery potential of writing. “A Reader’s Guide for Reflective Writing” is provided to give guidance to those new to the task of reading and commenting on students’ creative writing. The chapter also provides guidelines for structuring writing seminars, choosing texts to study, and crafting the writing prompts that invite participants to write. Through extensive quotation and close reading of students’ writing, the chapter leads readers toward creative insight into the creativity of others.

Digital Divide of Shattered “Iron Rice Bowl”: Economic Insecurity and Digital Divide in China (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuo Li ◽  
Haijie Yin ◽  
Teng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Health Related ◽  
History Survey ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

BACKGROUND Although economic factors account for the digital divide, the effect of economic insecurity on digital access has not been determined. The market-oriented reform of the Chinese State-Owned Enterprises in the 1990s resulted in massive layoffs, encouraging us to investigate the relationship between economic insecurity and the digital divide. OBJECTIVE First, the study investigates the relationship between economic insecurity and the digital divide. Second, the study provides insight into m-health for policymakers in the context of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS We draw on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS 2011) and CHARLS Life History Survey (2014). To handle endogenous problems related to economic insecurity, we introduced instrumental variables to our models. We also divided digital access into personal and infrastructure information communication technology (ICT). RESULTS We found a negative relationship between economic insecurity and the digital divide only in infrastructure ICT. Additionally, we found that only chronic disease contributes to the digital divide among older people. CONCLUSIONS Older people are confronted with a dual digital divide: health-related and economic insecurity-related.This study provides insight into mobile health policy involving underprivileged people under the context of economic insecurity triggered by COVID-19.

Le dinamiche del reddito nella terza etŕ

2009 ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
katherine Hill
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Older People ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
Financial Situation ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Insight Into

- Later life can be seen as period of income stability compared to other stages of the life course, and a key issue for older people in low income households is that they have limited means of pro-actively improving their financial situation. This article draws on a qualitative longitudinal study which explored how older people experienced changes in their financial circumstances across a two year period. The findings demonstrate that even where people did not feel that their financial circumstances had changed overall, this did not necessarily indicate a steady state. The study explored the interrelationship between changes in income and outgoings, as well as changing needs, and this article provides an insight into how social and personal resources are drawn on to help manage financial change and maintain stability. In doing so, it illustrates the extent of work that can be involved in maintaining a steady state in constrained circumstances.

scholarly journals Fatigue Alters the Pattern of Physical Activity Behavior in Older Adults: Observational Analysis of Data from the Generation 100 Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorlene Egerton ◽  
Jorunn L. Helbostad ◽  
Dorthe Stensvold ◽  
Sebastien F.M. Chastin
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Older People ◽  
Daily Activity ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Physical Activity Behavior ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Activity Behavior ◽  
Insight Into

Fatigue has been associated with reductions in daily activity of older people. Summary measures of daily physical activity provide limited understanding of how fatigue affects physical activity behavior. This study examined the hour-by-hour energy expenditure estimated from accelerometry data to provide insight into physical activity behaviors of older people experiencing fatigue. Fatigued participants were matched to ‘not fatigued’ participants by age, sex, and BMI. Each group consisted of 86 people with a mean age 73.8 years (SD 2.0), BMI 26.5 kg⋅m–2 (SD 3.9) and 61% female. The phase-space plot, constructed to express rate of change of average vertical axis counts per hour as a time series, showed fatigued participants deviated from the not fatigued participants during the morning period, when hour-by-hour activity was increasing. Older people who feel fatigued have a different morning activity pattern, which appears to lead to the lower overall levels of physical activity.

The Oral Health Needs of Older People in General Medical Practice: An Overview

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 614-619
Author(s):  
Arijit Ray-Chaudhuri ◽  
Ryan C. Olley ◽  
Rupert S. Austin ◽  
Jennifer E. Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Oral Health ◽  
Older People ◽  
Dental Care ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Oral Disease ◽  
Natural Teeth ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

As the UK population ages and older people retain their natural teeth for longer, the complexity of the oral health needs in older people is becoming more challenging. Older patients are often registered with a GP and will increasingly be likely to require dental care. Older people in particular may benefit from dental care but may not have a dentist or perceive any risk of oral disease. This article therefore provides practical insight into the oral health management of older people to assist in addressing their oral health needs.

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