Exploring shared care plans for older people regarding fulfillment of policy requirements and shared decision making - A qualitative study

The aim was to explore the documentation in shared care plans regarding the fulfilment of policy requirements and shared decision-making. The sample consists of 15 shared care plans established for older people in Sweden. The analysis was performed using directed content analysis. The requirements in the Swedish law and the 15 indicators of shared decision making (SDM) in the Multifocal Approach to the Sharing in SDM inventory was used to define the main categories. The policy requirements were fulfilled to a varied extent. All the care plans were established in collaboration between the municipality and the county council, but social services were not represented in six of them. The older person and next of kin were present at 14 of the care planning meetings. The individual’s agreement to the establishment was documented in ten of the plans but how and what the person had agreed to was not specified further. The headings focused at the policy requirements and did not support a care planning process, or a documentation based on SDM. Six out of 15 indicators of SDM were reflected. The decision-making process needs to be acknowledged more in the process of establishing shared care plans for older people.

Silent Scream of Malaysian Elderly: A Case Study in Noble Care Ageing Centres

Ageing is a normal biotic process, which ultimately reaches to every human being. The transitioning of young adult to older people may result as reduction of social, physiological and psychological capacities that bring social and health threats for the older population. The rich tradition of dignified ageing is exceedingly wearied away in developing countries, including Malaysia. The primary purpose of this research is to provide a snapshot of what it means to be living with chronic disease in Malaysia. This study was conducted in Klang Valley, Malaysia, due to the paucity of research in this area. The present study demonstrates the true stories of elderly associated with their physical, psychological and social experiences regarding immediate surroundings, friends, family and the society residing in Noble Care Malaysia, which is an established welfare and human services organisation, helping the deserving members of society. The qualitative research methodology is adopted, and an in-depth life history technique has been used for a deeper picture of the elderly’s memories and experience. The data is collected through five in-depth life history’s narrative of the elderly with chronic diseases. The study explains the true stories of the elderly in connection to familial neglection and abandonment for social awareness about ageing and older citizen feelings. Thus, it is imperative to keep the senior citizen self-esteem positive, along with the mental and physical activity. However, most importantly, the respect and mutual understanding between older citizen and the younger generation are getting worsen which need to be sustained harmoniously. This paper proposes some necessary measures to be addressed for graceful, proactive and gracious ageing.

Depressive symptoms in elderly people participating in University of the Third Age and residents of Nursing Homes: the role of optimism and acceptance of passing

The elderly age group needs particular support in preventing development of depressive symptoms, among others, due to the prospect of passing. This group is heterogenous in terms of characteristics of ways of spending leisure time, which, as an important aspect of everyday life affecting the quality of interpersonal relationships and well-being, might be related to the level of their depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to find out whether participation in University of Third Age (UTA; leisure time spending directed at personal development) activities versus being a Nursing Home resident (NH; leisure time spending, directed at compensation of difficulties associated to the aging process) may differentiate elderly people in terms of the level of depression taking into account their optimism and acceptance of passing. The study was paper-pencil questionnaire-based, conducted on a sample of people above the age of 59: participants of UTA (N=48) and NH (N=54). In the UTA group, consistently for all levels of acceptance of passing, the higher the level of optimism, the lower the depressive symptoms. However, for the NH group, the higher the acceptance of passing, the lower the role of optimism in predicting depressive symptoms.

“This Brings you to Life” The Impact of Friendship on Health and Well-being in Old Age: the Case of La Verneda Learning Community

Friendship has been studied along centuries, since ancient times to present-day, as the basis of the social cornerstone, present at all stages of the lifespan and belonging to the world of truthful sentiments. Benefits of friendship on health have been demonstrated. Less is known about the role of friendship on seniors. The aim of this case study has been to show how the end friendship developed in an adults’ school operating for more than 40 years in Barcelona is having a positive impact on the well-being and health of their participants. Through the communicative discussion group, we have deepened in the trajectories of some of the school participants. The results show how participation in the school and the dialogic gatherings have contributed to the emergence of a non-instrumental friendship feeling and to consider an impact on the perceived general wellness and health and an improvement of their life quality. It is discussed how this research provides more elements to the existing literature. More research on how other communitarian environments have similar effects on this population, or on the impact of these dialogical spaces in the development of end friendships in other stages of the life cycle would be of interest.

A Perceptual Approach to Aging: Latent Aging

This study is a review article. Gerontology literature was reviewed and issues of latent aging were systematically formed. According to the results of the study, latent aging consists of perceptual diagnosis, research, adoption, and reactive actions.Reactive actions include the social, psychological and physical effects of latent aging. The social effects of latent aging are the decline of social relations and social isolation. Depression, stress, anxiety, traumas and cognitive decline are among the psychological effects. Chronic musculoskeletal pain, sleep disorders, premature mortality, and suicidal ideation were determined as physical effects. The detection of latent aging is important in the prevention of chronic diseases.It was revealed that latent aging has the following four main processes: perceptual diagnosis and coding, research and comparison, adoption and reactive actions. Furthermore, this aging approach has three significant effects: social, psychological and physical.

COVID-19 and care homes and nursing homes crisis in Spain: ageism and scarcity of resources

The European Welfare State crisis since 2008 has shown the weakness of these European welfare systems to cope with a health crisis such as COVID-19, which in turn has not guaranteed the rights and wellbeing of older people. This article aims at shading light on the scarcity of resources in Spanish care homes and nursing homes system, while analyzing its integrated care failure and the urgent legislative measures implemented to overcome COVID-19 health crisis. At the same time, this paper advocates for a reflexion on ageist practices, so as to foster a debate on the ‘desisntitucionalization’ process of older adults in Spain. In this COVID-19 context, it has become utmost in implementing an older adults’ policy to guarantee older adults rights as vulnerable population; likewise, which has already been done in respect to laws protecting children rights.