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Rethinking needs assessment in planning services for older adults
- Authors:
- CHERNESKY Roslyn H., GUTHEIL Irene A.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 51(1/2), 2008, pp.109-125.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
A comprehensive needs assessment of older adults carried out in 2004 in Bermuda is described. Informal discussions and a preliminary synthesis of existing data were designed to scope the issue and gauge support for the needs assessment before the exercise was designed. This encompassed home-based interviews with 304 randomly selected adults aged 65 to 97; six focus groups conducted with a total of 53 family carers; and a questionnaire survey of all identifiable service providers. The findings are reported, together with the questions they raised, and it is argued that even when needs assessment is carefully planned, it cannot always provide the desired information. A revision of some key assumptions about what needs assessment can do is offered. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Graduate social work students' interest in working with older adults
- Authors:
- GUTHEIL Irene A., HEYMAN Janna C., CHERNESKY Roslyn H.
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Education (The International Journal), 28(1), February 2009, pp.54-64.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This US study examined 304 Master's in Social Work students' interest in working with older adults following the use of case studies to infuse aging content into the foundation social work curriculum. Faculty members were provided with extensive materials to support their use of the cases with aging content in class. Compared to an earlier study, students were significantly more interested in working with older adults after they were exposed to the cases. Factors that predicted students' interest include age and attitude towards aging, specifically seeing older adults as having vitality. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Assessing the service needs of seniors: Bermuda's service providers
- Authors:
- CHERNESKY Roslyn H., GUTHEIL Irene A.
- Journal article citation:
- International Social Work, 50(4), July 2007, pp.539-547.
- Publisher:
- Sage
With its rapidly growing older population, Bermuda faces a demographic challenge. Bermuda also faces declining fertility rates and full employment, with 80 percent of women in the labour force, which will significantly reduce the number, availability and capacity of family caregivers. This article looks at one component of a needs assessment which was a first step to guide future planning and resource allocation for an improved service system for the aging population of Bermuda.
Older Latinos' attitudes toward and comfort with end-of-life planning
- Authors:
- HEYMAN Janna C., GUTHEIL Irene A.
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Work, 35(1), February 2010, pp.17-26.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This research aimed to determine which of two educational interventions delivered in Spanish would most influence Latino elders' attitudes toward, and comfort with, end-of-life planning in comparison to a control group receiving only information routinely provided. One hundred and nine elders receiving home care services who agreed to participate were randomly assigned to one of three groups: group ‘A’; group ‘B’, with culturally relevant material added; and a control group. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to determine the effect on the two variables: attitudes toward end-of-life planning and comfort with end-of-life planning. Significant differences were found among the three groups on both outcome measures, where attitudes toward advance planning scores were significantly higher for both intervention groups compared with the control group. Both intervention groups had higher comfort scores than the control group, but only the group ‘A’ score was significantly different from that of the control group. The indications of this study are that it may be possible to positively influence both attitudes toward and comfort with end-of-life planning among older Latinos receiving home care through the use of a one-to-one protocol that is delivered in Spanish.
“They touch our hearts”: the experiences of shared site intergenerational program participants
- Authors:
- HEYMAN Janna C., GUTHEIL Irene A.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 6(4), 2008, pp.397-412.
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia
In recent years, intergenerational programmes have gained more recognition as research from these programmes is made available. The basic idea behind these programmes is the pairing of younger and older people in order to promote positive benefits through interactions that increase cooperation or exchange. This study investigates the experiences of participants in a shared site intergenerational programme. Four focus groups were held, one with each participant group, which consisted of: 6 older people; 10 children; 10 carers or parents; and 10 staff. Many of the older people (75%) had mild to moderate cognitive impairment. Findings resulted in five major themes emerging from the groups: emotions; engagement challenges; family environment; relationships; and respect or admiration. Each theme is discussed and exemplified with quotes from the various groups. In conclusion, the authors suggest that these programmes help create a family environment. The benefits to children are particularly important for those that do not have grandparents. The benefits to older people through regular contact with children include happiness which lasts long after the contact ends.
Social work involvement in end of life planning
- Authors:
- HEYMAN Janna C., GUTHEIL Irene A.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 47(3/4), 2006, pp.47-61.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This cross sectional study examined the factors associated with social workers' involvement in end-of-life (EOL) planning using a random sample of NASW members in health and aging in the United States. Of the 390 social workers who worked in EOL planning, the majority were involved in health care proxy discussions and counselling with patients. Respondents tended to see barriers to proxy completion as client-related. However, some system barriers were correlated with overall involvement. Factors that predicted social workers' involvement with the health care proxy included age, attitudes, perceptions of barriers, and perceived physician support. Social workers need to attend to the systems in which they operate as well as to client concerns. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Communication between older people and their health care agents: Results of an intervention
- Authors:
- GUTHEIL Irene A., HEYMAN Janna C.
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Work, 30(2), May 2005, pp.107-116.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This study examined an intervention to help high-functioning community-dwelling older people communicate their wishes for care at the end of life with someone they would trust to make health care decisions for them if necessary. Groups consisted of dyads of older people and their potential or designated health care agents randomly assigned to the intervention (STEP program) or control group. STEP participants received three group sessions with educational and support components. For individual participants, there was a statistically significant difference between groups on knowledge of the health care proxy form and the roles and responsibilities of the agent. For the dyads of older people and their agents, there was a significantly higher mean communication score for the STEP participants than for the control group. The findings demonstrate that it is possible to affect advance communication about wishes at the end of life through a group intervention.