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Participation and citizenship of elderly persons: user experiences from Finland
- Author:
- VALOKIVI Heli
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Health Care, 39(1/2), 2004, pp.181-207.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
In the article the participation of the aged users and their relatives in a local health care and social service system will be discussed. How is their citizenship defined at the grass roots level? The research data were gathered during a case management project of the action research type in a Finnish rural municipality. The data of this study consist of 13 theme interviews: five elderly persons as care receivers and eight caregivers. The research approach is a dialogue between data based analysis and conceptual reasoning. Citizenship rights and obligations and participation should be defined flexibly and individually in the context of the local health care and social services. In the research data the elderly persons and their caregivers described participation in multiple ways. The modes of participation vary from passive and active disengagement from the process to contacting, negotiating, cooperating, and demanding. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580)
Family commitments under negotiation: dual carers in Finland and Italy
- Author:
- ZECHNER Minna
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 38(6), December 2004, pp.640-653.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper makes a comparison between Finnish and Italian working dual carers. Dual carers have responsibilities simultaneously at two different fronts. The selected Finnish and Italian samples of carers are doing similar care work in different settings. They negotiate care with a variety of actors and under differing circumstances. A care life story has been constructed for each participant. Then these care life stories have been compared with each other, especially at points where the need for negotiation has been evident, at life's various turning points. There are many individual similarities in negotiations performed in Finland and in Italy. However, their divergent contexts create considerable variation.
Minority elderly health and social care in Europe: summary findings of the minority elderly care (MEC) project
- Editors:
- PATEL Naina, (ed.)
- Publisher:
- Policy Research Institute on Ageing and Ethnicity
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 13p.
- Place of publication:
- Bolton
This report, using data from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Switzerland, is designed to inform and help plan the nature and direction of provision of health and social care services in the years to come. The project has the explicit intention of seeking to draw attention to the needs of minority ethnic (ME) elders and thereby improve the provision of services for them throughout Europe. Key findings showed that family was very important to ME elders in all countries and not surprisingly, most elders preferred to be looked after by their family in their own home. It is apparent that in every country there were significant proportions of ME elders on low incomes which were substantially less than the average incomes for elderly in the country concerned. In all countries there were quite significant proportions who described their general health as poor or very poor and these elders needed more medical treatment. The use of different health and social care services is not uniform across the different ethnic groups and countries. While each country has its own systems and procedures it is apparent that in all countries there are some elders who are failing to gain access to services. There are several things an organisation can do to help ME elders to overcome barriers and gain access to services. For example, information can be provided in appropriate languages, staff can be given training in culture-specific care, or new services may be designed specifically to meet the needs of different ME groups. The report makes several recommendations including the provision of clear information about the rights of the individual in accessing and using health and social care services and in different formats and languages. Adopt a person centred approach to patients and service users. Recognise that certain ethnic groups face particularly strong access barriers. Each of the issues is described in detail for each country included in the report.
Elderly suicide attempters with depression are often diagnosed only after the attempt
- Authors:
- SUOMINEN Kirsi, ISOMETSA Erkki, LONNQVIST Jouko
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19(1), January 2004, pp.35-40.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
No previous study has comprehensively investigated the pattern of health care contacts among elderly subjects attempting suicide. The present study compared elderly suicide attempters with younger attempters, before and after attempted suicide, in terms of health care contacts, clinical diagnoses of mental disorders, and characteristics predicting lack of treatment contact after the index attempt. All consecutive 1198 suicide attempters treated in hospital emergency rooms in Helsinki, Finland, from 15.1.1997 to 14.1.1998 were identified and divided into two age groups: (1) elderly suicide attempters aged 60 years or more (n = 81) and (2) suicide attempters aged under 60 years (n = 1117). During the final 12 months before the attempt, the majority of elderly suicide attempters had a contact with primary health care, but their mood disorders were likely to have remained undiagnosed before the index attempt. In primary health care, only 4% had been diagnosed with a mood disorder before the attempt, but 57% after (p < 0.001). After the suicide attempt, most elderly suicide attempters were referred for aftercare, two thirds having contact with psychiatric care. For purposes of preventing suicidal behaviour, screening for depression, plus further education on recognition, diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders among the elderly in primary health care setting are needed.