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What do we know about older former carers? Key issues and themes
- Authors:
- LARKIN Mary, MILNE Alisoun
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 25(4), 2017, p.1396–1403.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Despite a significant growth in the number older former family carers, they remain largely invisible in carer-related research and literature. To begin to address this deficit, a four-stage literature review was conducted to identify existing knowledge about older former carers. Narrative synthesis of the findings yielded five themes – the concept of ‘older former carer’, the legacies of caring, influences on the legacies of caring, conceptualising post-caring and support services for older former carers. Critical analysis of these findings suggests that existing evidence has a number of strengths. It highlights the terminological and conceptual confusion in the field, identifies the profound financial and health-related legacies older former carers’ experience, the factors which shape these legacies and some of the complexities of bereavement older former carers face. The support needs of older former carers are also illuminated. However, the field is characterised by key weaknesses. The evidence base is fragmented and uneven. In part this reflects lack of definitional consensus and in part the fact that there is much more evidence about some sub-groups, such as carers of relatives admitted to a care home, than others. Methodology-related weaknesses include small sample sizes and a focus on a single, often condition-specific, group of older former carers. An overarching criticism relates to the narrow conceptual/theoretical purview. As post-caring tends to be viewed as one of the final temporal ‘stages’ of the carer's ‘care-giving career’, a bifurcatory model of carer/former carer is created, i.e. that a carer actively provides care and a former carer is no longer caring. This constructs being a former carer – namely formerality – as a single fixed state failing to capture its dynamic and shifting nature and constrains the potential of research to generate new knowledge and extend understanding. (Publisher abstract)
Health and quality of life among older people in rural England: exploring the impact and efficacy of policy
- Authors:
- MILNE Alisoun, HATZIDIMITRIADOU Eleni, WISEMAN Janet
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Policy, 36(3), July 2007, pp.477-495.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
There is increasing evidence that characteristics of place influence health and that the dimensions of rurality interlock with the process of ageing to produce a number of distinctive patterns. For the rising number of older people living in rural England, it is clear that, overall, the countryside promotes the health and wellbeing of the newly retired, fitter cohort who have access to financial and community resources. However, it carries a number of risks for elders who are frail, deprived or isolated; inequalities combine to undermine health and deepen exclusion. The efficacy of policy in taking account of the needs of rural elders is uneven. Analysis of the three most pivotal policy arenas – rurality, ageing and health, and community development – suggests that while some initiatives do promote quality of life, significant limitations remain. Further, the overarching policy response is incoherent and fragmented. Key deficits relate to resource allocation, limited recognition of rural disadvantage, and minimal incorporation of the perspectives of rural elders. That the majority of policy is rurally blind is a fundamental challenge; for rural elders to benefit from policy investment, a systemic shift is required in the mechanisms that steer its development, funding and implementation.
An introduction to the mental health of older people: risks and protective factors: older people’s mental health
- Authors:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE, MILNE Alisoun, GEARING Brian, WARNER Joanne
- Publisher:
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Place of publication:
- London
This learning object explores mental health in later life. It reviews the meaning of mental health, why it is an important part of overall well being and how it relates to successful ageing. It also offers an overview of the different aspects of an older person's life and situation that impact on their mental health and the role that an individual and their family, the community they live in and wider society can play in promoting, or undermining, mental health.
Social work with older people: a vision for the future
- Author:
- MILNE Alisoun
- Publisher:
- The College of Social Work
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 84
- Place of publication:
- London
The report was produced by a special interest group of eight social work academics engaged in research and teaching in gerontology and gerontological social work (the G8) and The College of Social Work (TCSW) . The report offers a ‘vision’ of what the G8 sees as the role, aims, and distinctive nature of social work with older people, in what contexts it can be effectively deployed, what evidence there is, both in the UK and internationally, of its effectiveness and what social work with older people’s contribution is, and can be, to health, wellbeing and the achievement of social policy goals. It outlines the role and positive impact that specialist social work can have in a wide range of settings, including managing personal budgets, supporting independent living, re-ablement, preventing hospital re-admissions, support for ageing carers, prevention of elder abuse and end of life care. The report also argues that investing in specialist social work with older people delivers good value for money, by reducing the use of expensive acute health and care services. It is one of a series of documents published the The College of Social Work which outlines the moral and financial case for investing in adult social work (Edited publisher abstract)
An introduction to the mental health of older people: ageism, age discrimination and social exclusion
- Authors:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE, MILNE Alisoun, GEARING Brian, WARNER Joanne
- Publisher:
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Place of publication:
- London
**This learning resource was removed in March 2023.** In this learning object you are asked to consider issues which are central to understanding the experience of ageing and older age in contemporary society. Ageism, age discrimination and social exclusion diminish the quality of life which older people may enjoy. They also threaten their mental health. In spite of their negative effect on the daily lives of older people, however, ageism and age discrimination are often unrecognised, ignored, or even compounded in health and social care settings. And social exclusion has only recently been officially acknowledged as affecting older people as well as children and families.
An introduction to the mental health of older people: common mental health problems amongst older people
- Authors:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE, MILNE Alisoun, GEARING Brian, WARNER Joanne
- Publisher:
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Place of publication:
- London
**This learning resource was removed in March 2023.** This learning object introduces you to some of the key facts and statistics about depression, dementia and long standing mental ill health. It explains who might be at risk of developing a mental illness as they grow older and why. It also includes information about people who have experienced serious mental illness such as schizophrenia throughout their lives and the main issues facing them as they age.