Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
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Who benefits from volunteering? Variations in perceived benefits
- Authors:
- MORROW-HOWELL Nancy, HONG Song-Lee, TANG Fengyan
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 49(1), February 2009, pp.91-102.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The purpose of this study was to document the benefits of volunteering perceived by older adults and to explain variation in these self-perceived benefits. This is a quantitative study of 13 volunteer programs in the US and 401 older adults serving in those programs. Program directors completed telephone interviews, and older volunteers completed mailed surveys. Volunteer-level and program-level data were merged. Older volunteers reported a wide variety of benefits to the people they served, themselves, their families, and communities. More than 30% reported that they were "a great deal better off" because of volunteering, and almost 60% identified a benefit to their families. When considering only individual characteristics, lower-income and lower-educated volunteers reported more benefit. Yet, aspects of the volunteer experience, like amount of involvement, adequacy of training and ongoing support, and stipends, were more important in understanding who benefits from volunteering. These findings suggest that characteristics of volunteer programs can be strengthened to maximize the benefits of volunteering to older adults. These characteristics are more mutable by public policies and organizational procedures than individual characteristics. Focusing on the recruitment of lower socioeconomic status older adults may result in an increase in benefits from the growth of volunteering.
Mistreatment of older people in the United Kingdom: findings from the first National Prevalence Study
- Authors:
- BIGGS Simon, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, 20(1), January 2009, pp.1-14.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The National Prevalence Study of Elder Mistreatment took place in 2006 and included 2,111 respondents aged 66 and over from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who answered a face-to-face questionnaire. Mistreatment by family members, close friends or care workers was reported by 2.6%, with the most common form being neglect (1.1%) followed by financial abuse (0.6%), psychological abuse (0.4%), physical abuse (0.4%) and sexual abuse (0.2%). Women were significantly more likely to have experienced mistreatment than men but there were gender differences according to type of abuse and perpetrator, and divergent patterns for neglect, financial and interpersonal abuse. Further analysis of the data also indicated that the likelihood of mistreatment varied according to socioeconomic position and health status.
Nutritional care and older people
- Author:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 14.5.09, 2009, pp.32-33.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Highlights research findings around the nutritional care of older people.
Considerably better than the alternative: positive aspects of getting older
- Author:
- GARNER Jane
- Journal article citation:
- Quality in Ageing, 10(1), March 2009, pp.5-8.
- Publisher:
- Pier Professional
- Place of publication:
- Brighton
Older people tend to be viewed negatively as being needy, dependent and frail. These assumptions may be reinforced by policies that focus on the consequences of physical and mental decline. This paper argues for a more balanced and positive view. The wisdom and experience of older people is a vital resource for UK society.
The effects of integrative reminiscence on depressive symptomatology and mastery of older adults
- Authors:
- BOHLMEIJER Ernst, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 45(6), December 2009, pp.476-484.
- Publisher:
- Springer
A quasi-experimental study was conducted to study the effects of a new intervention 'The story of your life' that combines integrative reminiscence with narrative therapy. The program consists of seven sessions of two hours and one follow-up session after eight weeks. It is directed at community-dwelling people of 55 years and older with mild to moderate depressive symptoms. After the intervention the participants showed significantly less depressive symptoms and higher mastery, also in comparison with a waiting-list control group. Demographic factors and initial levels of depressive symptomatology and mastery were not found to moderate the effects. The effects were maintained at three months after completion of the intervention. Although the new program was positively evaluated by the majority of the participants there is room for improvement. Adaptations should be made, and evaluated in a randomised controlled trial.
Voices of the elders: on creating aging-friendly communities from a member of the 'target population'
- Author:
- LEITCH Anne
- Journal article citation:
- Generations, 33(2), Summer 2009, pp.66-67. Published online.
- Publisher:
- American Society on Aging
The article is a reproduction of a post to the 'CollaborationCafé', an online forum for participants in Creating Aging-Friendly Communities, a free Web-based international conference produced by the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for the Advanced Study of Aging Services in collaboration with Community Strengths. The writer laments her experience in a gated senior community when she instead wants to be engaged with the more world. She urges 'the experts' to design communities that can meet a person's needs while maximizing the individual's ability to contribute to the collective continuity of a community.
Moving beyond place: aging in community
- Authors:
- THOMAS William H., BLANCHARD Janice M.
- Journal article citation:
- Generations, 33(2), Summer 2009, pp.12-17. Published online.
- Publisher:
- American Society on Aging
The current practice of institutionalising older people in need of care is undesirable because it consumes large quantities of financial capital while it also destroys reservoirs of social capital. Aging in place, with its dwelling-centric approach, relies heavily on dollar-denominated professional and paraprofessional services while offering older people little or no opportunity to create or deploy reserves of social capital. Aging in community presents a viable and appealing alternative to both approaches. Different types of communities are discussed.
Social efficacy in the reintegration of the self: a groupwork model in schizophrenia care with older adults
- Author:
- CABNESS Jessica
- Journal article citation:
- Groupwork, 19(2), 2009, pp.63-78.
- Publisher:
- Whiting and Birch
Social workers dealing with schizophrenic adults in long-term care homes are often guided by the practitioner’s intuition of what is the right approach to alleviate resident related problems. This approach is guided by Freud, who discounted that people living with schizophrenia could benefit from psychoanalysis because they were incapable of attaining insight. However, departing from classical Freudian psychodynamic theory, Heinz Kohut formulated a theory of self-psychology to give a prominent place to the development of the self in an interactional field. Using the interactional field, Harry Stack Sullivan applied relational theory in his work with schizophrenics. This article, drawing on Kohut's theory and Sullivan's pioneering work, retrospectively analyses the interactional fields and processes observed in the author’s groupwork with older adults with schizophrenia residing in long-term care. Seven case studies are briefly presented. The author notes that data on psychosocial interventions for older adults with schizophrenia are severely lacking, and this article highlights the need for bridging this gap in the research.
Caregiving in the Pacific Rim: a comparison of Asian and non-Asian caregiving experiences
- Authors:
- ARNBERGER Pam, CHANG Nathan, MENSENDIER Martha
- Journal article citation:
- Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 19(2), December 2009, pp.38-51.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Surveys of informal carers in California and Hawaii in 2002 and 2007 respectively were combined and analysed to see if there is a uniquely Asian model of caregiving. Differences between Asian and non-Asian carers exist; there were more Asian male carers, Asian carers had significantly higher socio-economic status measured by education and income, fewer of the Asian carers were born in the United States and were more likely to be caring for parents and in-laws than carers from other ethnicities who were more likely to be spouses or friends. With over half of carers unemployed, Asian carers had more likely given up work, rather than be retired or alter their work status. Asian carers provided care for longer periods, were more likely to have help, less likely to admit caregiving was affecting family life and emotional stress. Asian carers, while respecting their caregiving traditions, experience difficulties in adapting them into their lives. Asians are less likely to feel they are setting an example to family and experience fewer rewards. A unique style of Asian caregiving is identified, but to assume that all Asian carers are managing and the best cost effectiveness is achieved by making dramatic sacrifices such as giving up skilled work is incorrect. Research to determine areas of needed assistance and to develop culturally sensitive policies to encourage Asian carers to utilise available support is suggested.
Utilization of the seniors falls investigation methodology to identify system-wide causes of falls in community-dwelling seniors
- Authors:
- ZECEVIC Aleksandra A., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 49(5), October 2009, pp.685-696.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The aim of this study was to look at safety deficiencies found during fifteen investigations of falls among older people living in a naturally occurring retirement community in Ontario. Rather than viewing each case study from the more traditional person-centred perspective, a six step systems approach, the Senior Falls Investigation Methodology (SFIM), adapted from a technique commonly used for industrial or transportation accidents, was developed by the authors to identify common patterns of safety deficiencies and causes. The falls were found to be the result of latently unsafe conditions, decisions and actions over a diverse set off circumstances, which if not identified and removed could cause falls for other older people in the future. Compelling evidence was generated that causes of falling are systemic and develop over time and are best assessed by a systems approach such as SFIM which will expand the focus away from the individual faller and towards the multi-layered and supervisory causes. This will lead to improved prevention and management programs. While this study concentrated on older people living at home, the SFIM technique shows potential for use in hospitals and residential homes also.