Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
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Alcohol use in later life - older people's perspectives
- Authors:
- WARD Lizzie, BARNES Marian, GAHAGAN Beatrice
- Journal article citation:
- Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 12(4), 2011, pp.239-247.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This paper reports on qualitative research aiming to generate a wider evidence-based by exploring the circumstances in which older people drink, and the meaning that drinking alcohol has for them and its impact. The study developed a participatory methodology in which older people were actively involved in designing and carrying out the research. 21 older people were recruited for interviews, which were carried out by older co-researchers. The article describes the study and its findings. Thematic analysis identified drinking styles (social - regular; social - occasional; heavy lone drinking; and heavy drinking in a drinking network) and themes illustrating what affects drinking styles (social relationships; loss, change and adaptation; cost and availability; health, well-being and growing older; and responsibility, control and independence). The article discusses aspects of older people's drinking habits, including seeking help. It notes that this is a sensitive topic, discusses implications for practice and policy development, and suggests that more research is needed to understand the social, cultural and economic contexts of older people's drinking behaviour.
Well-being in old age: findings from participatory research
- Authors:
- WARD Lizzie, BARNES Marian, GAHAGAN Beatrice
- Publisher:
- University of Brighton; Age Concern Brighton, Hove and Portslade
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 88p.
- Place of publication:
- Brighton
This project was designed to develop understanding of what well-being means to older people, and of how it is produced. A major aim of the project was to make a contribution to thinking about policy and practice and how this might enhance or detract from the way people experience well-being in old age. Eleven co-researchers, aged between 60 and 87, were recruited between 2008 and 2011. The co-researchers carried out one to one interviews with 30 older people and seven focus groups in which another 59 older people took part. Findings revealed that relationships were significant. Families could be a source of support and security, but for some can also involve difficult and painful relationships, distance and estrangement. Good relationships with adult children can contribute to well-being and maintaining satisfactory relationships was recognised as important. Health also featured as an important factor in well-being; chronic ill health had not only physical effects, but also emotional and psychological impacts. However, Being able to draw on experiences gained over a lifetime, learning from past mistakes, or reflecting on the benefit of hindsight, informed present attitudes and was a personal resource for some.
‘Paying our own way’: application of the capability approach to explore older people’s experiences of self-funding social care
- Authors:
- TANNER Denise, WARD Lizzie, RAY Mo
- Journal article citation:
- Critical Social Policy, 38(2), 2018, pp.262-282.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Adult social care policy in England is premised on the concept of personalisation that purports to place individuals in control of the services they receive through market-based mechanisms of support, such as direct payments and personal budgets. However, the demographic context of an ageing population and the economic and political context of austerity have endorsed further rationing of resources. Increasing numbers of people now pay for their own social care because either they do not meet tight eligibility criteria for access to services and/or their financial means place them above the threshold for local authority-funded care. The majority of self-funders are older people. Older people with complex and changing needs are particularly likely to experience difficulties in fulfilling the role of informed, proactive and skilled navigators of the care market. Based on individual interviews with older people funding their own care, this article uses a relational-political interpretation (Deneulin, 2011) of the capability approach (CA) to analyse shortfalls between the policy rhetoric of choice and control and the lived experience of self-funding. Whilst CA, like personalisation, is seen as reflecting neo-liberal values, we argue that, in its relational-political form, it has the potential to expose the fallacious assumptions on which self-funding policies are founded and to offer a more nuanced understanding of older people’s experiences. (Edited publisher abstract)
Older people’s experiences of sight loss in care homes
- Authors:
- WARD Lizzie, BANKS Laura
- Publisher:
- University of Brighton
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 61
- Place of publication:
- Brighton
Reports on a research study, commissioned by Thomas Pocklington Trust, to examine the experiences of older people with sight loss living within a care home. The study focuses on how residents with sight loss experience support, how daily routines and the physical environment of the setting contribute to well-being, aspects of practices that are valued and considered helpful, and how relationships can support living well with sight loss within residential care. The research was carried out in seven care homes. 40 participants took part in interviews, including 21 residents, 10 members of staff and 9 family relatives. Interviews explored residents’ personal backgrounds, experiences of moving into a care home, support available from care home staff, support from outside the care home, and the use of aids and assistive technologies. The report also includes the stories of four residents who participated in the project. Drawing in the findings, the report makes recommendations to improve standards of care and practice for older people with sight loss living in care homes. These include more staff training on visual impairment; increased understanding about the impact of sight loss on social interactions and relationship; more understanding about what meaningful activities mean for people with sight loss, a better understanding of available aids and assistive technology that could help residents; and the importance of befriending and support. (Edited publisher abstract)