Exploring reach and experiences of participation in health-promoting senior meetings in a municipality context

Aim To explore reach and experiences of participants during implementation of health-promoting meetings of seniors in a Swedish municipality context. Subjects and methods A mixed-methods approach was used, including older people who were recruited consecutively and invited to participate as they applied for health care and/or home help services in the municipality. Inclusion criterion was allocation of “early” home-care services, e.g., meals on wheels, safety alarms. Health-care services were limited to persons applying for an outside walker. The intervention was multi-professional, e.g., occupational therapy and physiotherapy. Each session included a mix of short lectures and group discussions about, for example, the importance of engagement in meaningful activity, social contacts, and physical activity. Recruitment procedures were modified during the trial in order to enhance reach. The data collection included information on the flow of participants during recruitment and participation in the intervention, field notes covering the experience of implementing the intervention, a survey covering adherence to recruitment procedures, and qualitative interviews exploring the experience of participants. Results Senior meetings were experienced as positive and strengthened the participants in dealing with health-related concerns. The identification of potential participants and recruitment were challenging, but as recruitment procedures were modified, a higher proportion of potential participants were reached. In all, there were 29 participants over the study period. Conclusion For health-promoting meetings to enable community-dwelling older people to fulfill their potential by positively affecting health outcomes, recruitment procedures for optimizing reach is a critical feature.

Changes in commitment to change among leaders in home help services

Purpose – The purpose of the this study was to explore the development of commitment to change among leaders in the home help services during organizational change and to study this development in relation to workload and stress. During organizational change initiatives, commitment to change among leaders is important to ensure the implementation of the change. However, little is known of development of commitment of change over time. Design/methodology/approach – The study used a qualitative design with semi-structured interviews with ten leaders by the time an organizational change initiative was launched and follow-up one year later. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the interviews. Findings – Commitment to change is not static, but seems to develop over time and during organizational change. At the first interview, leaders had a varied pattern reflecting different dimensions of commitment to change. One year later, the differences between leaders’ commitment to change was less obvious. Differences in commitment to change had no apparent relationship with workload or stress. Research limitations/implications – The data were collected from one organization, and the number of participants were small which could affect the results on workload and stress in relation to commitment to change. Practical implications – It is important to support leaders during organizational change initiatives to maintain their commitment. One way to accomplish this is to use management team meetings to monitor how leaders perceive their situation. Originality/value – Qualitative, longitudinal and leader studies on commitment to change are all unusual, and taken together, this study shows new aspects of commitment.