Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 9 of 9
Kvinder i klemme (Women in a cleft stick)
- Author:
- THESBJERG Grete
- Journal article citation:
- Nordisk Sosialt Arbeid, 4,, 1995, pp.243-257.
- Publisher:
- Universitetsforlaget AS
There are special expectations of women, especially of wives, to take on caring and nursing tasks when their husbands are suffering from senile dementia. Only a few receive proper diagnosis. The women slip unnoticed into the care task as the illness develops. The women's identity and role as housewife is threatened. They work on the basis of a mother/child model and are oppressed by a sense of powerlessness, insufficiency, and guilty conscience when the care does not have any results. The women are isolated. They give greater priority to the care task than to their own interests, and if the rest of the family and friends do not understand the situation, they stand alone with the task. The assistance offered by the public system is often quite insufficient. The result is two patients instead of one.
Ageing and intellectual disabilities: improving longevity and promoting healthy ageing: summative report
- Author:
- WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
- Publisher:
- World Health Organization
- Publication year:
- 2000
- Pagination:
- 21p.
- Place of publication:
- Geneva
Increased longevity has led to an increase in the population of persons with intellectual disabilities in the developed nations. However, national health provision schemes are often inadequate and do not recognise the special needs of adults with intellectual disabilities and, as they age, their health needs are not attended to in a manner equivalent to that of the general population. This report examines the general health status of adults with intellectual disabilities, identifies the conditions that support their longevity and promote healthy ageing, and proposes health and social inclusion promotion activities that would universally foster sound health and improve quality of life. It provides a summary of the main issues put forth in 4 reports prepared for the World Health Organization on healthy ageing in adults with intellectual disabilities which look at the specific areas of physical health, women’s health, biobehavioural, and social policy. Included in this summary are the main recommendations from the 4 reports for improving health and longevity among persons with intellectual disabilities.
A pilot study on perceived stress and PTSD symptomatology in relation to four dimensions of older women's physical health
- Authors:
- LAGANA Luciana;, REGER Stacy L.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 14(4), May 2010, pp.396-404.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and stress of a nontraumatic nature from a variety of sources can have an adverse impact on physical wellbeing. This study used selected demographics and self-reported stress reactions as potential predictors of older women’s distinct physical health dimensions. It hypothesised that, together with more advanced age and lower income, higher PTSD symptomatology and perceived stress (of a nontraumatic nature and beyond health status) would predict lower scores of physical health. The participants, 53 cognitively high-functioning and ethnically diverse women age 65-105 years, were assessed using 5 instruments measuring various predictors encompassing PTSD symptomatology, perceived stress, age and income, in relation to 4 dimensions of physical health: general health; physical functioning; physical role limitations; and bodily pain. The results showed that perceived stress was a significant predictor of lower levels of general health, but not of physical role limitations or physical functioning. Conversely, PTSD symptomatology predicted more limitations in role fulfilment (and, to a lesser extent, impaired physical function), but not lower levels of general health. As expected, age and income were predictive of some physical health dimensions. The hypothesised predictors failed to account for a significant portion of variance in pain scores. The article concludes that PTSD symptomatology and perceived stress might influence older women's physical health dimensions differentially.
Dealing with life changes: humour in painful self-disclosures by elderly Japanese women
- Author:
- MATSUMOTO Yoshiko
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 29(6), August 2009, pp.929-952.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This paper examines the ways in which older people depict verbally the life changes that accompany old age. It reports a study of Japanese elderly women's casual conversations with their friends, during which they talked about their husbands' deaths and illnesses. A frequently observed discourse practice among old people is ‘painful self-disclosure’ (PSD), in which unhappy personal information on one's ill health, immobility or bereavement is revealed and speakers describe themselves using negative stereotypes of old age. During the observed conversations, however, the PSD accounts were frequently accompanied by humour and laughter. This paper examines the complex structure of the PSDs. To exemplify, a simple statement of death and illness given early in a conversation is later elaborated with descriptions of unremarkable domestic events, e.g. complaints about the husband's behaviour. Through shifting the frame of the narrative to quotidian normality, the elderly speakers convert painful life events to everyday matters that they can laugh about. Furthermore, it was found that the humour is sustained through interactions during which the hearers often laughed with the speaker. The study suggests that the disclosure of age-related negative experiences is not necessarily uniformly gloomy, but rather is combined with expressions of personal and social identities and nuanced and modulated through a complex resolution of the speaker's intentions and social expectations.
"The wisdom of age": perspectives on aging and growth among lesbian older adults
- Authors:
- PUTNEY Jennifer M., LEAFMEEKER Rebecca R., HERBERT Nicholas
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 59(3), 2016, pp.234-251.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Older lesbian-identified women are a health disparate yet resilient population about whom knowledge is limited and emerging. Among the areas in need of research are older lesbians’ experiences of later life and stress-related growth. This article presents the findings from a qualitative study that investigated older lesbians’ experiences of adversity and adaptation as they age. In-depth, exploratory interviews were conducted with 12 lesbian-identified women who were between the ages of 65-80. This study applied grounded theory methodology to identify respondents sources of stress and fear, their strengths and coping strategies and how those relate to each other and to their growth in later life. The authors advance a model of adaptive change that shows how spirituality, social support, and resistance to cultural norms help older lesbian adults cope with loss, illness, and discrimination and develop wisdom in later life. Knowledgeable practitioners can help older lesbian women identify and maintain sources of social support, explore spirituality, and facilitate continuous growth through the end of life. Social workers can advocate for services that are welcoming and affirmative so as to reduce fears of isolation and dependence associated with health decline. (Edited publisher abstract)
People and places: a 2001 census atlas of the UK
- Authors:
- DORLING Daniel, THOMAS Bethan
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 199p.
- Place of publication:
- Bristol
Includes maps showing statistics of: housing; changes in housing ownership; households with central heating and cars; household composition; long term illness; pensioner households; employment; minority ethnic groups; and material and social deprivation.
A sociology of mental health and illness
- Authors:
- PILGRIM David, ROGERS Anne
- Publisher:
- Open University Press
- Publication year:
- 1999
- Pagination:
- 254p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Buckingham
Provides an overview of the major aspects of the sociology of mental health and illness. Draws on a range of social theories and methods to illustrate points, provides information organised along class, gender, race and age boundaries, and critically analyses the mental health professions. Looks critically at debates around mental health legislation, and examines organisational aspects of psychiatry. Includes a chapter on community mental health work. Concludes with a discussion of the various ways in which psychiatric patients and their relatives can be understood in their social context.
People and places: a 1991 census atlas of England
- Authors:
- FORREST Ray, GORDON Dave
- Publisher:
- University of Bristol. School for Advanced Urban Studies
- Publication year:
- 1993
- Pagination:
- 108p.,tables.
- Place of publication:
- Bristol
Includes maps showing statistics of: housing; changes in housing ownership; households with central heating and cars; household composition; long term illness; pensioner households; employment; minority ethnic groups; and material and social deprivation.
Health, welfare and practice: reflecting on roles and relationships
- Editors:
- WALMSLEY Jan, et al
- Publisher:
- Sage/Open University
- Publication year:
- 1993
- Pagination:
- 214p.,bibliogs.
- Place of publication:
- London
Broad ranging text exploring key issues in the provision and use of caring services. Focuses on the roles and relationships between health and social welfare services. Includes chapters on: caring roles and caring relationships; the health service/social work divide; midwives and doctors on the labour ward; pregnancy and childbirth - a historical perspective; how the poor die (by George Orwell); feminist theory and strategy in social work; anti-racist curriculums in social work training; women clients and women social workers; violence against black women; men - the forgotten carers; older women; acquired hearing loss; new disability services; empowerment and oppression; an account of living on a children's ward; personal and medical memories from Hillsborough; group care; and establishing a feminist model of groupwork in the probation service.