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'Getting on with life': the experiences of older people using complementary health care
- Author:
- CARTWRIGHT Tina
- Journal article citation:
- Social Science and Medicine, 64(8), April 2007, pp.1692-1703.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
The aim of the current qualitative study is to explore the experiences of older people using subsidised complementary health care. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 regular attendees of a single centre offering low cost complementary health care to the over-60's in London, UK. The sample was randomly drawn from the patient register and included patients from mixed social and ethnic backgrounds. Transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The core theme underlying participants’ accounts related to the desire to ‘get on with life’ and maintain physical and social functioning within the constraints imposed by chronic conditions. Consequently, the physiological effects of treatment were highly valued, particularly reductions in pain and improved mobility. Psychological effects operated at a more subtle level, influencing perceptions of health and well-being. The empowering nature of treatment enabled participants to regain a sense of control over their health, which reduced anxiety and facilitated ‘normal’ functioning. The whole package care was perceived as an important source of support and reassurance in contrast to the impersonal experiences of orthodox medicine. Complementary health care was therefore perceived as an important adjunct to orthodox medicine, particularly in terms of its impact on everyday functioning and well-being. Implications for the quality of life of older people with complex health needs and limited access to private complementary health care are discussed.
Commissioner for Older People in Wales draft regulations
- Author:
- WALES. Welsh Assembly Government
- Publisher:
- Wales. Welsh Assembly Government
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 2p.
- Place of publication:
- Cardiff
Following its successful passage through Parliament the Commissioner for Older People (Wales) Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 25th July. The Act empowers the Assembly to establish an independent Commissioner with a wide range of powers to help ensure that the interests of older people in Wales, who are aged 60 or over, are safeguarded and promoted and that services are improved to meet their needs. The Commissioner will be able to act as a source of information, advocacy and support for older people, to encourage best practice in their treatment and to examine individual cases (where wider issues of principle are involved.) He or she will also be able to review the effect on older people in Wales of the discharge of, proposed discharge, or failure to discharge, functions by certain public bodies. These bodies will include the Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities, fire and rescue authorities, Local Health Boards, NHS Trusts, and further and higher education corporations. The overall aim is to ensure that the work of public bodies has a positive impact on, and takes account of, the needs of older people.
Age of no concern
- Author:
- GREENGROSS Sally
- Journal article citation:
- Nursing Times, 19.2.97, 1997, p.22.
- Publisher:
- Nursing Times
Despite government assurances that it does not sanction age discrimination, the author believes that older people are still not receiving NHS treatment because of their age and discusses the reasons why.
Dementia care costs and outcomes: literature review
- Authors:
- KNAPP Martin, ROMEO Renee, LEMMI Valentina
- Publisher:
- Alzheimer's Society
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Pagination:
- 31p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This study reviewed evidence on the cost-effectiveness of prevention, care and treatment strategies in relation to dementia. A systematic review was performed on available literature on economic evaluations of dementia care, searching key databases and websites in medicine, social care and economics. Literature reviews were privileged, and other study designs were included only to fill gaps in the evidence base. Fifty six literature reviews and 29 single studies offering economic evidence on dementia care were identified. There was more cost-effectiveness evidence on pharmacological therapies than other interventions. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for mild-to-moderate disease and memantine for moderate-to-severe disease were found to be cost-effective. Regarding non-pharmacological treatments, cognitive stimulation therapy, tailored activity programme and occupational therapy were found to be more cost-effective than usual care. There was some evidence to suggest that respite care in day settings and psychosocial interventions for carers could be cost-effective. Coordinated care management and personal budgets held by carers have also demonstrated cost-effectiveness in some studies.
Health, risk and vulnerability
- Editors:
- PETERSEN Alan, WILKINSON Iain, (eds.)
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 165p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The concept of risk is one of the most suggestive terms for evoking the cultural character of our times and for defining the purpose of social research. Risk attitudes and behaviours are understood to comprise the dominant experience of culture, politics and society in our times. Health, Risk and Vulnerability investigates the personal and political dimensions of health risk that structure everyday thought and action. In this innovative book, international contributors reflect upon the meaning and significance of risk across a broad range of social and institutional contexts, exploring current issues such as: the ‘escalation of the medicalization of life’, involving the pathologization of normality and blurring of the divide between clinical and preventive medicine; the tendency for mental health service users to be regarded as representing a risk to others rather than being ‘at risk’ and vulnerable themselves; the development of health care systems to identify risk and prevent harm; women’s reactions to ‘high risk’ screening results during pregnancy and how they communicate with other women about risk; men and the use the internet to reconstruct their social and sexual identities.
The effects of memory, attention, and executive dysfunction on outcomes of depression in a primary care intervention trial: the PROSPECT study
- Authors:
- BOGNER Hillary R., et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22(9), September 2007, pp.922-927.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The aim was to describe the influence of domains of cognition on remission and response of depression in an intervention trial among older primary care patients. Twenty primary care practices were randomly assigned to Usual Care or to an Intervention consisting of a depression care manager offering algorithm-based care for depression. In all, 599 adults 60 years and older with a depression diagnosis were included in these analyses. Depression severity and remission of depression were assessed by the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was our global measure of cognitive function. Verbal memory was assessed with the memory subscale of the Dementia Rating Scale. Attention was measured with the digit span from the Weschler Adult Intelligence Test. Response inhibition, one of the executive functions, was assessed with the Stroop Color-Word test. The intervention was associated with improved remission and response rates regardless of cognitive impairment. Response inhibition as measured by the Stroop Color-Word test appeared to significantly modify the intervention versus usual care difference in remission and response at 4 months. Patients in the poorest performance quartile at baseline on the Stroop Color-Word test in the Intervention Condition were more likely to achieve remission of depression at 4 months than comparable patients in Usual Care [odds ratio (OR) = 17.76, 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 3.06, 103.1]. Depressed older adults in primary care with executive dysfunction have low remission and response rates when receiving usual care but benefit from depression care management.
The past in the present: using reminiscence in health and social care
- Author:
- GIBSON Faith
- Publisher:
- Health Professions Press
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 336p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Baltimore, MD
This book elucidates how reminiscence can be used as a dynamic tool for staff development, improving the delivery of care by and skills of direct care staff. The author combines theory and practical approaches to help clients ensure life satisfaction and successful aging whether working with them individually, as a couple, or in a small group. The text shows how people with dementia can benefit from using reminiscence.
Complementary therapies in the care of older people
- Author:
- BRETT Helen
- Publisher:
- Whurr Publishers
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 277p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
This book gives nurses an insight into using complementary therapies safely for older people. Contents: considerations for safe practice; an overview of the therapies; applications to practice.
The impact of mental health problems on leg ulcer treatment
- Authors:
- KILROY-FINDLEY Anita, WHEATLEY Carolyn
- Journal article citation:
- Nursing Times, 21.2.02, 2002, pp.51-52.
- Publisher:
- Nursing Times
Reports on a case study which follows the progress of a patient with chronic bilateral leg ulcers and mental health problems. Discuss how her mental health problems affected her physical health and the treatment she received and the collaboration required from staff in five settings to ensure she received continuity of care.
Hospitalisation patterns and palliation in the last year of life among residents in long-term care
- Authors:
- TRAVIS Shirley S., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 41(2), April 2001, pp.153-160.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This article compares patterns of care, including hospitalisation, during the last year of life for a group of residents in institutional long-term care in the US. These subjects were either implicitly or explicitly in palliative care modes versus those who remained in active treatment or blended care. Found that most residents die in palliative care modes, but their movement into palliation with comfort care and symptom management is often slowed by indecision or in action on the part of key decision makers, interrupted by aggressive acute care, or delayed until the last few days of life. Suggests that transitions from active curative care to palliative care are important for residents in permanent long-term care placements. Improved end-of-life care requires more attention to these transitions and to the decisions that residents, their families, and care teams are called upon to make.