Ethics and Social Welfare, 16(1), 2022, pp.90-105.
Publisher:
Taylor and Francis
Place of publication:
Abingdon
... to new understandings that can mitigate the effects of an increasingly ageing and infirm population, by developing the amount and quality of peer caregiving. Data were collected using mixed qualitative methods, namely, participant observation and interview. Prisoner peer caregiving is identified as a relatively new discourse and practice that is in tension with better established discourses
(Edited publisher abstract)
Over the past two decades, the proportion of older prisoners has increased dramatically from 7 to 17 per cent of the total prison population in England and Wales. This is problematic as their needs are holistically different to their younger counterparts and prisons are not designed for issues associated with older adulthood. Increases in human frailty, disability and dependency raise numerous financial and managerial issues for prison administrators. These issues are set against a backdrop of reduced funding, overcrowding, increasing violence, increasing self-harm and suicide. The study investigates existing low-level, preventative peer caregiving practices, examining the factors that constrain or promote care giver/receiver relations in a prison setting. The aim of the study is to contribute to new understandings that can mitigate the effects of an increasingly ageing and infirm population, by developing the amount and quality of peer caregiving. Data were collected using mixed qualitative methods, namely, participant observation and interview. Prisoner peer caregiving is identified as a relatively new discourse and practice that is in tension with better established discourses and practices of security, control, and managerialism. Developing models of horizontal care, supported by social forms of learning are recommended as contributing to improving peer care practice in prisons.
(Edited publisher abstract)
What happens when similar measures are being introduced in different national contexts? This article studies the ways in which patient choice has been articulated in public and official reports on health care in the two contexts of Sweden and the UK, whose welfare systems are typically comprehended as different. Specific interest is directed towards the construction of patient positions, and policy documents are analyzed using discourse theory. The results show many similarities between the national contexts; choice is primarily articulated with individuality, autonomy, consumption, and responsibility, as well as with support from state agencies, and patient choice is relentlessly normalized as the way forward. But there are also important differences that reveal that the presuppositions differ, for example, when pinpointing the stakeholders of patient choice reforms and how the different policies work to take the well-known edges off of patient choice ideology.
(Edited publisher abstract)
What happens when similar measures are being introduced in different national contexts? This article studies the ways in which patient choice has been articulated in public and official reports on health care in the two contexts of Sweden and the UK, whose welfare systems are typically comprehended as different. Specific interest is directed towards the construction of patient positions, and policy documents are analyzed using discourse theory. The results show many similarities between the national contexts; choice is primarily articulated with individuality, autonomy, consumption, and responsibility, as well as with support from state agencies, and patient choice is relentlessly normalized as the way forward. But there are also important differences that reveal that the presuppositions differ, for example, when pinpointing the stakeholders of patient choice reforms and how the different policies work to take the well-known edges off of patient choice ideology.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Extra-care housing (ECH) has been hailed as a potential solution to some of the problems associated with traditional forms of social care, since it allows older people to live independently, while also having access to care and support if required. However, little longitudinal research has focused on the experiences of residents living in ECH, particularly in recent years. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of four ECH schemes in the United Kingdom. Older residents living in ECH were interviewed four times over a two-year period to examine how changes in their care needs were encountered and negotiated by care workers, managers and residents themselves. This paper focuses on how residents managed their own changing care needs within the context of ECH. Drawing upon theories of the third and fourth age, the paper makes two arguments. First, that transitions across the boundary between the third and fourth age are not always straightforward or irreversible and, moreover, can sometimes be resisted, planned-for and managed by older people. Second, that operational practices within ECH schemes can function to facilitate or impede residents’ attempts to manage this boundary.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Extra-care housing (ECH) has been hailed as a potential solution to some of the problems associated with traditional forms of social care, since it allows older people to live independently, while also having access to care and support if required. However, little longitudinal research has focused on the experiences of residents living in ECH, particularly in recent years. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of four ECH schemes in the United Kingdom. Older residents living in ECH were interviewed four times over a two-year period to examine how changes in their care needs were encountered and negotiated by care workers, managers and residents themselves. This paper focuses on how residents managed their own changing care needs within the context of ECH. Drawing upon theories of the third and fourth age, the paper makes two arguments. First, that transitions across the boundary between the third and fourth age are not always straightforward or irreversible and, moreover, can sometimes be resisted, planned-for and managed by older people. Second, that operational practices within ECH schemes can function to facilitate or impede residents’ attempts to manage this boundary.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
extra care housing, ageing, older people, adult social care;
Social Policy and Society, 19(4), 2020, pp.553-572.
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
New demographic and epidemiological trends mean people are dying at older ages and over long periods of time, from multiple, chronic illnesses. There is a perception that these growing and changing needs will require novel community responses. One starting point is having ‘conversations’ about dying and death, and in this the phenomenon of ‘Death Cafe’ merits attention. In the first study of its kind, this paper reports on interviews with forty-nine Death Café organisers in thirty-four countries, exploring how this ‘cultural intervention’, first developed in the UK, has transferred elsewhere. Thematic analysis identified competing tensions between: local translation of Death Cafe and a desire for international alignment alongside instrumental use of the Death Cafe form and its incidental effects. The passion and commitment of Death Cafe organisers is compelling but may not lead to the behavioural change required to support a new public face of dying.
(Edited publisher abstract)
New demographic and epidemiological trends mean people are dying at older ages and over long periods of time, from multiple, chronic illnesses. There is a perception that these growing and changing needs will require novel community responses. One starting point is having ‘conversations’ about dying and death, and in this the phenomenon of ‘Death Cafe’ merits attention. In the first study of its kind, this paper reports on interviews with forty-nine Death Café organisers in thirty-four countries, exploring how this ‘cultural intervention’, first developed in the UK, has transferred elsewhere. Thematic analysis identified competing tensions between: local translation of Death Cafe and a desire for international alignment alongside instrumental use of the Death Cafe form and its incidental effects. The passion and commitment of Death Cafe organisers is compelling but may not lead to the behavioural change required to support a new public face of dying.
(Edited publisher abstract)
This report looks at the prevalence of caring the UK and people's likelihood of becoming a carer in the future. It draws new analysis of longitudinal data in the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, carried out by the Universities of Sheffield and Birmingham as part of the ‘Sustainable Care: connecting people and systems programme’. The analysis shows that the average person has a 50:50 chance of caring by the time they are 50, yet most people do not have plans in place. The analysis also shows that women on average take on caring responsibilities over a decade earlier than men, they are also more likely to be caring for more hours than men. With most carers in the middle age, the report also highlights importance of providing support to help carers to remain in the workplace. Based on the analysis, the report proposes policy recommendations to raise awareness of caring, maintain carers health and wellbeing, and enable carers to remain in the workplace.
(Edited publisher abstract)
This report looks at the prevalence of caring the UK and people's likelihood of becoming a carer in the future. It draws new analysis of longitudinal data in the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, carried out by the Universities of Sheffield and Birmingham as part of the ‘Sustainable Care: connecting people and systems programme’. The analysis shows that the average person has a 50:50 chance of caring by the time they are 50, yet most people do not have plans in place. The analysis also shows that women on average take on caring responsibilities over a decade earlier than men, they are also more likely to be caring for more hours than men. With most carers in the middle age, the report also highlights importance of providing support to help carers to remain in the workplace. Based on the analysis, the report proposes policy recommendations to raise awareness of caring, maintain carers health and wellbeing, and enable carers to remain in the workplace.
(Edited publisher abstract)
This proposed framework, developed by the Centre for Ageing Better, aims to support the government's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s £98 million Health Ageing Challenge Fund. The Fund is designed to enable businesses to develop large-scale markets for products and services which maintain people’s independence as they age. This framework proposes that the Healthy Ageing Challenge Fund should focus on seven themes which offer the greatest opportunities to tackle market failures and stimulate innovation. These are: Sustaining physical activity; Maintaining health at work; Designing for age-friendly homes; Managing common complaints of ageing; Living well with cognitive impairment; Supporting social connections; and Creating healthy and active places. The document aims to stimulate ideas
(Edited publisher abstract)
This proposed framework, developed by the Centre for Ageing Better, aims to support the government's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s £98 million Health Ageing Challenge Fund. The Fund is designed to enable businesses to develop large-scale markets for products and services which maintain people’s independence as they age. This framework proposes that the Healthy Ageing Challenge Fund should focus on seven themes which offer the greatest opportunities to tackle market failures and stimulate innovation. These are: Sustaining physical activity; Maintaining health at work; Designing for age-friendly homes; Managing common complaints of ageing; Living well with cognitive impairment; Supporting social connections; and Creating healthy and active places. The document aims to stimulate ideas and discussion.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
ageing, innovation, independence, quality of life;
Journal of Social Policy, 47(2), 2018, pp.253-273.
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Place of publication:
Cambridge
This article makes the case for a radical new strategy on ageing which focuses on the whole life course with the intention of preventing many of the chronic conditions associated with old age. The case is built on recent research evidence and the life-course concept of ‘active ageing’ is used to encapsulate the practical measures required. Combining biological and social science insights it is argued that, while ageing is inevitable, it is also plastic. This means that it not only manifests itself in different ways but also that it can be modified by mitigating the various risk factors that drive it. Such action would have considerable potential to reduce the personal costs of chronic conditions such as strokes and those falling on family carers but, also, to cut the associated health and social care expenditures. The question of why such apparently beneficial policy action is not being taken is discussed and a range of barriers are identified. One of these appears to be the UK's extreme brand of neo-liberalism, which militates against the collective approach necessary to implement a social policy for active ageing. Although the case is made with primary reference to UK policy
(Publisher abstract)
This article makes the case for a radical new strategy on ageing which focuses on the whole life course with the intention of preventing many of the chronic conditions associated with old age. The case is built on recent research evidence and the life-course concept of ‘active ageing’ is used to encapsulate the practical measures required. Combining biological and social science insights it is argued that, while ageing is inevitable, it is also plastic. This means that it not only manifests itself in different ways but also that it can be modified by mitigating the various risk factors that drive it. Such action would have considerable potential to reduce the personal costs of chronic conditions such as strokes and those falling on family carers but, also, to cut the associated health and social care expenditures. The question of why such apparently beneficial policy action is not being taken is discussed and a range of barriers are identified. One of these appears to be the UK's extreme brand of neo-liberalism, which militates against the collective approach necessary to implement a social policy for active ageing. Although the case is made with primary reference to UK policy and practice, the call for action to prevent chronic conditions has global relevance.
(Publisher abstract)
Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons Library
Publication year:
2015
Pagination:
228
Place of publication:
London
A topical guide to the issues of interest to the new Parliament, compiled by the House of Commons Library research service and comprising briefings on topical issues and in-depth analysis of a range of subjects. Topics covered include: politics and Parliament; decentralisation; social change, focusing on mental health stigma, the ageing population and the right to die; social protection;
(Edited publisher abstract)
A topical guide to the issues of interest to the new Parliament, compiled by the House of Commons Library research service and comprising briefings on topical issues and in-depth analysis of a range of subjects. Topics covered include: politics and Parliament; decentralisation; social change, focusing on mental health stigma, the ageing population and the right to die; social protection; education; health and integrated care; justice; defence and security; foreign affairs; economy and public finances; industry and infrastructure; work; consumers and personal finances; energy and climate change; media; and technology.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 12(1), March 2011, pp.26-32.
Publisher:
Emerald
... individuals. Biogerontology is the study of the biology of ageing, a normal process but one that has the potential to contribute to age-related disease. Its goal is to extend the proportion of a life that is healthy, an outcome that is desirable both at an individual and a societal level. One of the great insights from the last decade or more of biogerontology is the realisation that the ageing process is not a fixed, unchangeable process. Rather, it is controlled by genes and is open to experimental interventions that extend healthy lifespan, in species from microbes to mice. These findings have produced a sea change in the way the biogerontological community views ageing: not as a fixed, ‘inevitable’ process, but one where rates of ageing vary enormously according to genotype, and can be readily changed by interventions. This makes the biological process of ageing an attractive target both to understand, and target, age-related conditions.
Increased longevity is the success story of 20th-century biomedicine, together with improvements in general living conditions, but it brings great challenges. Although many individuals do undergo ‘successful ageing’, this is not a universal experience, for with older age comes a range of age-related diseases and degenerations that can diminish, if not destroy, quality of life for some older individuals. Biogerontology is the study of the biology of ageing, a normal process but one that has the potential to contribute to age-related disease. Its goal is to extend the proportion of a life that is healthy, an outcome that is desirable both at an individual and a societal level. One of the great insights from the last decade or more of biogerontology is the realisation that the ageing process is not a fixed, unchangeable process. Rather, it is controlled by genes and is open to experimental interventions that extend healthy lifespan, in species from microbes to mice. These findings have produced a sea change in the way the biogerontological community views ageing: not as a fixed, ‘inevitable’ process, but one where rates of ageing vary enormously according to genotype, and can be readily changed by interventions. This makes the biological process of ageing an attractive target both to understand, and target, age-related conditions.
Subject terms:
medical treatment, quality of life, ageing, health;
This journal looks at promoting quality of life in later years. It considers the implications of policy and research in managing and commissioning services and offers guidance on appropriate service provision. Articles consider the role of older people within their wider communities with the overall goals of promoting the potential for independence, control and enhanced well-being. Coverage includes: the implications of research and policy for managers, policy-makers, and practitioners; and disseminating and reflection upon recent research and policy and what this actually means (or could mean) for practice. All articles peer-reviewed.
This journal looks at promoting quality of life in later years. It considers the implications of policy and research in managing and commissioning services and offers guidance on appropriate service provision. Articles consider the role of older people within their wider communities with the overall goals of promoting the potential for independence, control and enhanced well-being. Coverage includes: the implications of research and policy for managers, policy-makers, and practitioners; and disseminating and reflection upon recent research and policy and what this actually means (or could mean) for practice. All articles peer-reviewed.