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The two facets of electronic care surveillance: an exploration of the views of older people who live with monitoring devices
- Author:
- ESSEN Anna
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 67(1), July 2008, pp.128-136.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Scholars are increasingly questioning the notion that electronic surveillance merely constrains individuals' liberty and privacy. However, illustrations of alternative perspectives are few and there is a need for empirical research exploring the actual experience of surveilled subjects. This study, carried out in Sweden, seeks to offer a nuanced account of how senior citizens experience electronic care surveillance in relation to their privacy. It is based on in-depth interviews with 17 seniors who have participated in a telemonitoring project and who have experience of being continuously activity monitored in their own homes. The findings suggest that senior citizens can perceive electronic care surveillance as freeing and as protecting their privacy, as it enables them to continue living in their own home rather than moving to a nursing home. One individual, however, experienced a privacy violation and the surveillance service was interrupted at her request. This illustrates the importance of built-in possibilities for subjects to exit such services. In general, the study highlights that e-surveillance can be not only constraining but also enabling. Hence, it supports the view of the dual nature of surveillance. The study also illustrates the agency of the surveilled subject, extending the argument that various agents actually participate in the construction of surveillance practices. It analyses the indirect role and responsibility of the surveilled subject, and thereby questions the traditional roles ascribed to the agents and targets of surveillance.
Movement in mind: the relationship of exercise with cognitive status for older adults in the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC)
- Authors:
- LINDWALL Magnus, RENNEMARK Mikael, BERGGREN Tomas
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 12(2), March 2008, pp.212-220.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of light and strenuous exercise, and self-reported change in exercise status, with different components of cognitive function, and gender differences in this relation, in a large, representative sample included in the Swedish National study on Aging and Care (SNAC). Eight-hundred-and-thirteen participants in age-cohorts from 60-96 years completed a wide range of cognitive function tests, the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and survey questions concerning exercise behaviour and exercise change with light or strenuous intensity. ANCOVA, controlling for age, education, depression, functional status and co-morbidity, demonstrated a main effect for light exercise, but not for strenuous exercise, on five of the six cognitive tests and the MMSE, for men but nor for women. A negative change in exercise status was associated with lower MMSE scores for men but not for women. Individuals exercising with light intensity several times a week had the highest cognitive test and MMSE scores and the inactive group had the lowest scores. The results of the study may contribute to increased knowledge in the exercise-mental health relationship for elderly and spawn new research specifically on gender differences in this relation.
The specialisation of needs-assessment in Swedish municipal care for older people: the diffusion of a new organisational model
- Author:
- BLOMBERG Staffan
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 11(4), 2008, pp.415-429.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The 1990s were characterised by strong pressure for organisational reform at the municipality level in the Swedish welfare provision. In social care services for older people, care management reform was one of the many proposals circulating. Within a short time span, a large number of municipalities had implemented this new model and this paper reports and analyses the process of change. A key finding was that the success of the new organisational model was ascribed to new problem-solving functions and a lack of internal (professional) resistance.
The generational contract in Sweden: age-specific attitudes to age-related policies
- Author:
- SVALLFORS Stefan
- Journal article citation:
- Policy and Politics, 36(3), July 2008, pp.381-396.
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
This article analyses age differences in attitudes towards public policies to support older people and to support families with children in Sweden. It is shown that support for older people becomes increasingly popular over time, so that it is more popular in all age groups than support for families with children, and that age and class differences in attitudes tend to rise and recede in tandem regarding support for older people, while class differences supplant age differences in the case of support for families with children.
Safety vs. privacy: elderly persons' experiences of a mobile safety alarm
- Authors:
- MELANDER-WIKMAN Anita, FALTHOLM Ylva, GARD Gunvor
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 16(4), July 2008, pp.337-346.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The demographic development indicates an increased elderly population in Sweden in the future. One of the greatest challenges for a society with an ageing population is to provide high-quality health and social care. New information and communication technology and services can be used to further improve health care. To enable elderly persons to stay at home as long as possible, various kinds of technology, such as safety alarms, are used at home. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of elderly persons through testing a mobile safety alarm and their reasoning about safety, privacy and mobility. The mobile safety alarm tested was a prototype in development. Five elderly persons with functional limitations and four healthy elderly persons from a pensioners' organisation tested the alarm. The mobile alarm with a drop sensor and a positioning device was tested for six weeks. This intervention was evaluated with qualitative interviews, and analysed with latent content analysis. The result showed four main categories: feeling safe, being positioned and supervised, being mobile, and reflecting on new technology. From these categories, the overarching category "Safety and mobility are more important than privacy" emerged. The mobile safety alarm was perceived to offer an increased opportunity for mobility in terms of being more active and as an aid for self-determination. The fact that the informants were located by means of the positioning device was not experienced as violating privacy as long as they could decide how to use the alarm. It was concluded that this mobile safety alarm was experienced as a tool to be active and mobile. As a way to keep self-determination and empowerment, the individual has to make a "cost–benefit" analysis where privacy is sacrificed to the benefit of mobility and safety. The participants were actively contributing to the development process.
Swedish techno
- Author:
- WILLIAMS Corin
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 17.04.08, 2008, pp.30-31.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Sweden is currently leading the way in assistive technology. Two Isabel Schwarz Award winners from Lambeth Council, one social worker and one occupational therapist, travelled to Sweden to see developments for themselves.
Care-related quality of life in old age: concepts, models and empirical findings
- Editors:
- VAARAMA Marja, PIEPER Richard, SIXSMITH Andrew, (eds.)
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 96p.
- Place of publication:
- Heidelberg
While best-practice data exist for long-term care, quality of life as a concept, measure and standard for care outcomes remains elusive. This book, which includes new instruments for evaluating care, brings together the findings of a European research initiative, the Care Keys Project. This addressed quality of life issues among frail, care-dependent older people, taking their social as well as health needs into account. It covered Finland, Estonia, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The writers explain the theory behind Care Keys, its methodology, empirical findings, and practical considerations in promoting effective, efficient elder care aimed at social and emotional well-being and including disabled and cognitively impaired patients. The book brings together gerontological knowledge from medical, psychology, nursing, sociology, economics, and health care systems perspectives. It introduces an integrated theory of care-related quality of life that emphasises social, emotional and mental aspects as well as physical longevity. The editors present a practice oriented framework for quality management of long-term care toward improving elders’ quality of life. They examine quality of life in home and long-term care settings across the five European member countries of Care Keys and describe the Care Keys Toolkit, featuring innovative measures for monitoring and evaluating care and troubleshooting for problem areas.
Family carers' experiences using support services in Europe: empirical evidence from the EUROFAMCARE study
- Authors:
- LAMURA Giovanni, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 48(6), December 2008, pp.752-771.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This article explores the experiences of family carers of older people in using support services in six European countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and the UK. Following a common protocol, data were collected from national samples of approximately 1,000 family carers per country and clustered into comparable subgroups to facilitate cross-national analysis. Carers' use of available support services is limited across Europe but is considerably higher in Germany, Sweden, and the UK than in Poland, Greece, and Italy. Service use is more prevalent among wives and carers with stronger support networks and less frequent among working daughters with high levels of burden, suggesting the need for a reconsideration of eligibility criteria and better targeting of service responses. Access to and use of services is characterized by a divide between carers in northwestern Europe, who experience few difficulties other than the older person's refusal to accept the support offered, and carers in southeastern Europe, where service affordability and poor transportation present remarkable barriers. Concerns regarding the timeliness and quality of support are common to all countries. European Union-wide efforts to improve carer support need to focus on improving the care system's ability to provide timely, high-quality care delivered by staff who treat the older person with dignity and respect, and to enhance cooperation between health professionals (in all countries), informal networks (especially in southeastern Europe), social services (particularly in Sweden and the UK), and voluntary organizations (in Germany and the UK).
Central versus local service regulation: accounting for diverging old-age care developments in Sweden and Denmark, 1980–2000
- Author:
- RAUCH Dietmar
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 42(3), June 2008, pp.267-287.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
In Sweden and Denmark, the development of old-age care has followed markedly divergent paths over the past 20 years. In both countries, the level of old-age care universalism was exceptionally high in the early 1980s. Since then it has dropped sharply in Sweden, while remaining constantly high in Denmark. These divergent trends are clearly irreconcilable with the common image of a coherent Scandinavian welfare state model, and they seem hard to explain with reference to traditional approaches of comparative social policy. This article attempts to account for the divergent developments by focusing on the balance of old-age care regulation between central and local government. The main finding is that only in Sweden has the central regulation of old-age care been weak and unspecific. As a consequence, Swedish municipalities have enjoyed sufficient autonomous, regulatory competence to exercise certain local retrenchment measures in times of austerity, thereby eventually causing a nationwide weakening of old-age care universalism. By contrast, municipalities in Denmark have been much more tightly bound by central state regulations which have prevented them from imposing similar retrenchment measures in the old-age care sector; consequently, Denmark's level of old-age care universalism has remained comparatively high.
Policy and practices relating to the active engagement of older people in the community: a comparison of Sweden and Australia
- Authors:
- LEONARD Rosemary, JOHANSSON Stina
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Social Welfare, 17(1), January 2008, pp.37-45.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This article compares policy and practices for engaging older people in community life in Sweden and Australia. Barriers and support for active engagement through paid work, social activism, volunteering and aged services are compared. Both countries face issues of ageing populations, services for rural areas and people with small needs. Issues for Sweden were the absence of age discrimination legislation, availability of funds and lack of recognition of the growing levels of volunteering. Issues for Australia concerned the new managerialist approach to services, with associated complexities of access and limited social activism.