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Time for caring? Elderly care employees' occupational activities in the cross draft between their work priorities, 'must-do's' and meaningfulness
- Authors:
- NILSSON Emma, NILSSON Kerstin
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Care Coordination, 20(1-2), 2017, pp.8-16.
- Publisher:
- Sage
An increasing number of older people in the population will bring new challenges for the society and care coordination. One of the most important questions in care coordination is the employees’ work performance. The overall aim of this study was to examine care employees’ experience of factors that rule how they allocate their time and tasks in the care work. The study was qualitative and consists of focus group interviews with 36 employees in elderly care in five Swedish municipalities. Much of the work that care employees perform is controlled by others in the municipality organised health care. The employees had a limited possibility to decide what should be given priority in their work. However, the employees who participated in the focus group interviews did not want to prioritise tasks and duties they felt were faulty or in direct conflict with their own convictions. When employees experienced that the assistance assessments were correct and helpful to the individual elderly patient this contributed to the employees’ priority and performance of the task. The formal and informal control systems caused the employees’ priority to be mainly quantitative and visible work tasks, rather than more qualitative tasks and care giving to the elderly. In the intention to organise good care coordination that fit each elderly patients’ need it is important that those who work closest to the patient to a greater extent are given the opportunity to make their voice heard in decisions of care planning and assistance assessments. (Publisher abstract)
Income mobility among the elderly in Sweden during the 1990s
- Authors:
- ZAIDI Asghar, GUSTAFSSON Björn
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Social Welfare, 16(2), January 2007, pp.84-93.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Using a large panel dataset, this article investigates the degree of, and explanatory factors for, income mobility amongst the elderly in Sweden during the 1990s. It contributes to literature on welfare indicators for the older population as it supplements the welfare picture of the income adequacy with insights into income certainty during old age. The study uses the administrative register data for Sweden, which provides a reliable record of incomes for a large sample of the elderly. Results for Sweden-born and foreign-born elderly persons are analysed separately and compared with corresponding groups of people of working age. The majority of the results indicate that the income of the older population is more stable than that of the working age population, and upward income mobility is not as usual among the elderly as among other groups. The multivariate regression analyses identify several explanatory factors affecting those elderly who experienced income mobility. Most importantly, the death of a spouse increases the probability of downward income mobility, particularly amongst women. These and other findings of this research point to triggers of income poverty in old age that should be taken into account in policies concerned with the level and indexation of retirement income of future pensioners.
Consuming care and social services: comparisons between Swedish-born older people and older people born outside Sweden
- Authors:
- ALBERTSSON Marie, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Practice: Social Work in Action, 16(2), June 2004, pp.99-110.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Compared consumption of public care and social service in Vaxjo municipality among people aged 55 and over born outside Sweden and a corresponding group of Swedish-born older people. Results showed significant differences: less use of mobility allowances, meals-on-wheels and safety alarms among people born outside Sweden, and a higher number of sole relatives as caregivers. Those born outside Sweden who did receive domestic assistance and personal care services also received more extensive help (more that 14 hours a week). The majority (57.6%) were aged 65-79; only 32.3% were 80 plus. Further study is needed to find explanations for these differences at the level of structure, organisation and actors.
Formal support, mental disorders and personal characteristics: a 25-year follow-up study of a total cohort of older people
- Authors:
- SAMUELSSON G., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 11(2), March 2003, pp.95-102.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study was designed to describe the pattern of long-term formal support received by people with mental disorders and to investigate the relationship between the medical, psychological and social characteristics of the participants and types of formal support, based on a cohort of 192 people born in 1902 and 1903 in a community in Southern Sweden. They were assessed using interviews, psychological tests and medical examinations. Information was collected about the use of primary healthcare and social services. The first assessment took place when the cohort was aged 67 and on 8 further occasions until they were 92. Participation ranged from 72% to 100%. During the observation period of 25 years, 53% of people with dementia eventually received both home help and institutional care compared to 34% with other psychiatric diagnoses and 12% with good mental health. The last group all had physical health problems and/or problems with activities of daily living. However, 35% of the dementia group, 46% with other psychiatric diagnoses and 52% with good mental health received no formal support. Males and self-employed people were significantly less likely to use formal support. The institutionalised group reported loneliness significantly more often than the other 2. In a logistic regression analysis, loneliness, low social class, high blood pressure and low problem-solving ability were predictors of formal support use. People with mental disorder, including dementia, were significantly more likely to use formal support compared with people with good mental health. Social factors were the main factors predicting formal support.
Older people's strategies for meaningful social interactions in the context of eldercare services
- Authors:
- SODERBERG Maria, EMILSSON Ulla Melin
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 36(1), 2022, pp.73-85.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Considering that 'social work with older people' refers to something that is carried out with older people, it is of crucial importance to reveal the meaning of 'the social' from the perspective of the elderly. The aim of this article is to reveal how older people go about achieving meaningful social interactions in everyday life in the context of eldercare services and the role of social work practice within this area. Twenty-six older people have been included in 24 open semi-structured interviews. Prominent features in the findings are that care recipients in eldercare services develop strategies to create a sense of meaningfulness. This is a new dimension of 'self-created' person-centred care. The conclusions drawn are that while social work for older people involves someone in charge of something for somebody else, social work with older people indicates an unconditioned practice beyond the performance of services. (Edited publisher abstract)
The meal as a performance: food and meal practices beyond health and nutrition
- Authors:
- NYBERG Maria, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 38(1), 2018, pp.83-107.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
The proportion of elderly people in the population is increasing, presenting a number of new challenges in society. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how elderly persons with motoric eating difficulties perceive and perform their food and meal practices in everyday life. By using Goffman's concept of performance as a theoretical framework together with Bourdieu's thinking on habitus, a deeper understanding of food and meal practices is obtained. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 elderly people (aged between 67 and 87 years) and meal observations were carried out with 11 of these people. Participants were found to manage food and meal practices by continuously adjusting and adapting to the new conditions arising as a result of eating difficulties. This was displayed by conscious planning of what to eat and when, avoiding certain foods and beverages, using simple eating aids, but also withdrawing socially during the meals. All these adjustments were important in order to be able to demonstrate proper food and meal behaviour, to maintain the façade and to act according to the perceived norms. As well as being a pleasurable event, food and meals were also perceived in terms of being important for maintaining health and as ‘fuel’ where the main purpose is to sustain life. This was strongly connected to the social context and the ability to enjoy food and meals with family members and friends, which appeared to be particularly crucial due to the impending risk of failing the meal performance. (Publisher abstract)
Is the association between social capital and health robust across Nordic regions? Evidence from a cross-sectional study of older adults
- Authors:
- NYQVIST Fredrica, NYGARD Mikael
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Social Welfare, 22(2), 2013, pp.119-129.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The study examined the association between structural and cognitive social capital and self-rated health among 65- and 75-year-olds in Vsterbotten in Sweden and Österbotten and Pohjanmaa in Finland. Data were retrieved from a cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey conducted in 2005 and was answered by 3,370 persons, yielding a total response rate of 69 per cent. The association between self-rated health and interpersonal trust and membership in organisations was tested by logistic regression analysis. The results showed that older adults in Vsterbotten in Sweden experienced better self-rated health than in Finland. Furthermore, interpersonal trust and active membership in organisations were associated with self-rated health among 65- and 75-year olds even after having controlled for the influence of region. We therefore conclude that the association between social capital and self-rated health tends to be robust across contextually similar regions, but that further analyses are warranted in order to clarify the nature of this relationship. (Publisher abstract)
The marketisation of care: rationales and consequences in Nordic and liberal care regimes
- Authors:
- BRENNAN Deborah, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of European Social Policy, 22(4), 2012, pp.377-391.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The use of markets and market mechanisms to deliver care is one of the most significant and contentious ways in which welfare states have been transformed. This article examines debates and policies concerning the marketisation of eldercare and childcare in Sweden, England and Australia. It shows how market discourses and practices intersect with, reinforce or challenge traditions and existing policies and examines whether care markets deliver user empowerment and greater efficiency. Markets for eldercare and childcare have developed in uneven and context specific ways with varying consequences. Both politics and policy history help to shape market outcomes.
Helpful citizens and caring families: patterns of informal help and caregiving in Sweden in a 17-year perspective
- Authors:
- JEGERMALM Magnus, GRASSMAN Eva Jeppsson
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Social Welfare, 21(4), October 2012, pp.422-432.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This article reports on an analysis of informal help and caregiving in Sweden with a focus on patterns of change over 17 years. In particular, it examines whether there has been a change in the extent of caregiving, the type of caregivers, and the relationship between the caregivers and the recipients of help. The discussion is based on results from a national survey repeated 4 times between 1992 and 2009. The survey asked whether the respondent regularly helped someone with whom they did not live (relatives, neighbours, co-workers or friends) with activities such as housework, transport, or gardening. In order to discuss how the trends can be understood in the Swedish context, the findings are analysed using 2 interpretative perspectives: the welfare state and impact of recent changes; and civil society and its possible and changing role. The findings indicate that in the 1990s the figures were stable, but from the late 1990s to 2009, there was a dramatic increase in the extent of informal help giving. Concerning types of helpers, the patterns implied involvement not only from family members, but also from other types of helpers.
To feel safe in everyday life at home: a study of older adults after home modifications
- Authors:
- PETERSSON Ingela, LILJA Margareta, BORELL Lena
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 32(5), July 2012, pp.791-811.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This qualitative study investigated contributory factors of safety in everyday life for eight older adults who received modification services. Three main categories emerged from interviews: prerequisites that enable a feeling of safety; strategies that enable safety in everyday life; and use of and reliance on technology impacts on safety. The results suggested that to feel safe in everyday life was based on three prerequisites: feeling healthy; having someone to rely on; and feeling at home. These prerequisites further impacted on the participants' strategies for handling problems in everyday life but also on the ability to use and benefit from technology such as home modifications. Interventions increase safety for older adults should primarily be focused on the presence and fulfilment of prerequisites and later on other interventions such as technology. Technology such as home modifications and assistive devices was not found in this study to facilitate the feeling of safety unless supported by the fulfilled prerequisites.