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Professional social workers' views on self-neglect: an exploratory study
- Authors:
- DAY Mary Rose, MACCARTHY Geraldine, LEAHY-WARREN Patricia
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 42(4), 2012, pp.725-743.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Self-neglect is characterised by an inability to meet one's own basic needs. It can include poor self-care, poor nutrition, non-compliance with prescribed medication, dilapidated environments, and hoarding of rubbish. Ageing populations, chronic illness, disability and poverty place individuals at risk for self-neglect. The aim of this study was to explore the views and experiences of Senior Case Workers (SCWs) in Ireland on self-neglect. The participants were a purposeful sample of 7 SCWs working in Elder Abuse Services who had clients with self-neglect on their caseload. Data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews which were tape recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Four major themes emerged from the findings: self-neglect as an entity; assessment; interventions; and ethical challenges. SCWs are challenged and frustrated by this complex multidimensional phenomenon. Furthermore, poor operational definitions of ‘exceptional circumstances’ and ‘self-neglect’ can lead to diversity in choosing and responding to self-neglect. Suggestions are made about ways in which practice, policy and research can be developed.
“Time is more important than anything else”: tensions of time in the home care of older adults in Ireland
- Authors:
- MCDONALD Anne, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Care and Caring, 3(4), 2019, pp.501-515.
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
This article explores perceptions of time reported by service users, family carers, care workers, nurses, social workers and agency managers across home support services for older adults in Ireland. The findings are organised around: time spent waiting for care; time spent ‘processing’ care across primary and secondary care boundaries; time and person-centred care; and time, technology and communication. Time emerges as a problematic aspect of all processes and structures around formal home care, suggesting that addressing issues around time is central to resolving systemic challenges. Greater flexibility in time allocation and effective communication among stakeholders could improve experiences of care. (Publisher abstract)
"The poor carer": ambivalent social construction of the home care worker in elder care services
- Authors:
- TIMONEN Virpi, LOLICH Luciana
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 62(7), 2019, pp.728-748.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This article examines the social construction of the home care worker from the perspective of various professionals in the elder care sector in Ireland. The research, using the Grounded Theory method, involved focus groups with 31 participants comprising health and social work professionals as well as care agency managers and policy planners. The social construction of the elder care worker is characterised by ambivalence. The authors connect the concept of ambivalence at the micro level of human relationships to structural factors that are driving the ambivalence. Ambivalence towards home care workers is shaped by structural factors including the precariousness of care work, the commodification of time, and the stipulated personalisation of services. The irreconcilable contrasts between portrayals of care workers as both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are indicative of deep contradictions in the expectations that contemporary care systems direct at paid caregivers. Ambivalence arises from the commodified and dispensable status of care workers, and fundamental transformations in their training, working conditions and pay are required to move away from this ambivalence and towards care workers’ equal status with professionals in the care sector. (Edited publisher abstract)
The development in Ireland of social work in Psychiatry of Old Age
- Author:
- NOLAN Damien
- Journal article citation:
- Irish Social Worker, 22(1), Autumn 2004, pp.19-22.
- Publisher:
- Irish Association of Social Workers
Provides an account of the key elements of the social work role in Psychiatry of Old Age, a specialist psychiatric service for older people concerned with mental disorders arising in people over the age of 65.
The case management approach to protecting older people from abuse and mistreatment: lessons from the Irish experience
- Authors:
- O'DONNELL Deirdre, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 45(5), 2015, pp.1451-1468.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The aim of this paper is to inform the development of social work practice and policy by applying a practice-based evidence perspective to the experiential knowledge of social workers responsible for managing cases of elder abuse in Ireland. The study adopted a qualitative descriptive research design. Semi-structured interview data were collected from a purposive sample of eighteen senior case workers and inductive thematic analysis was undertaken. The findings are presented according to three themes: elder abuse case management, practice strategies for overcoming challenges and augmenting protective practice. By examining practice in the context of wider socio-political and legislative contexts, the paper provides learning in key areas for the protection of older people. The challenges to case management practice and the strategies employed to respond to these challenges are discussed in terms of adult protective service policy development and its relationship to practice. While recognising the imperative to respect a client's right to self-determination, increased statutory authority for the duty of the state to protect older people from abuse as well as the role of the case worker to act on behalf of the state to implement protective interventions is important for the future development of the service. (Publisher abstract)
Social policy review 9
- Editors:
- MAY Margaret, BRUNSDON Edward, CRAIG Gary
- Publisher:
- Social Policy Association
- Publication year:
- 1997
- Pagination:
- 380p.,bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- London
Post general election edition including many of the concerns raised in the 1997 election campaign. Section 1 looks at current welfare policy and provision in Britain and section 2 examines international developments. Includes papers on: social policy under the Major governments; welfare to work; towards a learning society or towards 'learningfare'; the Family Law Act 1996; charging for community care; funding long-term care; issues facing the social services workforce; the experience of black workers in the social care workforce; the new boundaries of health and welfare in collaborative care; quality services in quasi markets; the relationship between social policy, its producers and consumers; the future of the welfare state; comparing welfare states; family-state boundaries in Europe; familism and selectivism in community care for the elderly - a comparison of the Republic of Ireland and the UK; social policy in Portugal; the welfare state and the Spanish socialists; and East Asian social policy.