Learning Experiences of Older Volunteers in a Community-based Social Program for People with Dementia

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore older adults’ perspectives on volunteering in an activity-based social program for community-dwelling people with dementia called Stepping Stones. Semi-structured interviews were individually conducted with eight older adults who had volunteered in Stepping Stones. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze interview data. Four themes related to learning experiences of older volunteers in Stepping Stones emerged. These themes include (a) self-growth and confidence in working with people with dementia; (b) understanding dementia, people with dementia, and needed support for people with dementia and their families; (c) desire not to develop dementia, while recognizing that anything can happen in old age; and (d) exercising person-centered approaches and taking on advocacy roles. Findings suggest that older volunteers gain feelings of personal growth and confidence in working with people with dementia, better understanding, and enhanced attitudes toward people with dementia through volunteering in an activity-based social program for people with dementia. Older adults will be able to fill the needs of community programs for people with dementia, while experiencing benefits from volunteering and learning in later life. Further research is needed to examine to what extent having previous dementia experiences make their experiences and learning different.     

Evaluating the Senior Companion Program: a mixed-method approach

This article reports on a mixed-method assessment of the Senior Companion Program (SCP), a federal program which provides volunteer opportunities with small stipends to low-income older adults, 60 years of age and older, who provide companionship and offer assistance to frail community elders. Through four standardized scales and open-ended questions regarding the impact of the SCP in their lives, 34 Senior Companion volunteers and 32 of their clients were interviewed. Informants reported relatively large social networks and low levels of depression and loneliness. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed the benefits of the program for both volunteers and their clients. Themes emerging from the rich narratives included: companionship, independence, reduced anxiety, giving, and rewards. The article concludes with a suggested brief evaluation instrument that directors of SCP programs, and other similar programs, can use to collect data on the impact of their program--something that is required, but often difficult to do.     

Bringing the community in: partnerships for aging enrichment

Aging enrichment of undergraduate social work curricula ensures that program graduates will be prepared to practice with older adults. This article reports the results of focus group research that was designed to engage social workers from community agencies serving older adults in preparing students to become "aging-savvy" social workers. The workers highlighted the importance of wide-ranging exposure to older adults, the changing needs of older adults, and the importance of increasing students' comfort with self-determination. These findings informed the program's ongoing curricular transformation process through the incorporation of new assignments that enabled increased contact with older adults in a variety of settings.     

Bringing the Community In

Summary

Aging enrichment of undergraduate social work curricula ensures that program graduates will be prepared to practice with older adults. This article reports the results of focus group research that was designed to engage social workers from community agencies serving older adults in preparing students to become ‘aging-savvy’ social workers. The workers highlighted the importance of wide-ranging exposure to older adults, the changing needs of older adults, and the importance of increasing students' comfort with self-determination. These findings informed the program's ongoing curricular transformation process through the incorporation of new assignments that enabled increased contact with older adults in a variety of settings.     

Transitions in Caregiving: Evaluating a Person-Centered Approach to Supporting Family Caregivers in the Community

Caregivers of older adults provide a wide range of informal supports and services that enable older adults to continue living in the community. This study describes the use of a multicomponent intervention combined with a person-centered approach to assist caregivers of older adults in the community. Four hundred and eighteen caregiver and care recipient dyads participated in this study and their outcomes related to burden, depression, well-being, and care recipient functional status were evaluated. The findings suggest that adult child and spousal caregivers experience burden differently. Programs designed to support caregivers must tailor services to the unique needs of adult child and spousal caregivers.     

How Effective are Helpers to Older Adults’ Life Satisfaction?

The effectiveness of help received from home care workers and volunteers to the life satisfaction of community-dwelling older adults is vital but uncharted. To address the effectiveness, this study aims to optimize the use of social resources for the older adults’ life quality. The study thus surveyed 398 community-dwelling older adults in a city of China about the help and life satisfaction. Results showed a significant positive effect of help from home care workers, but not that from volunteers, on the older adult’s life satisfaction. Moreover, the effect of help from volunteers was significantly greater when the older adult had higher education or lower family income. These effects are explicable with resource theory and need fulfillment theory. They imply the worth of promoting help from home care workers generally and volunteers conditionally to champion older adults’ life satisfaction.     

Getting Started: An Empirically Derived Logic Model for Age-Friendly Community Initiatives in the Early Planning Phase

Age-friendly community initiatives (AFCIs) foster efforts across stakeholders to make localities more supportive and inclusive of older adults, and potentially better for residents of all ages. This study drew on in-depth interviews with leaders of nine newly forming AFCIs in northern New Jersey to develop an empirically based logic model for the initiatives in the early planning phase. The results obtained from a conventional content analysis indicated three main activities in the early planning phase: assessing the community; meeting; and communicating with stakeholders; and facilitating communitywide communications. These activities worked toward two outputs: increased understanding of aging in the community and more engaged stakeholders in aging. Participants described leveraging the contributions of lead staff, consultants, elected officials, organizational partners, volunteers, interns, funders, and other AFCIs to engage in their focal activities. Based on these findings, a logic model for AFCIs in the early planning phase is presented. AFCI leaders can draw on this model to evaluate AFCI processes and outcomes in their formative stages, as well as to strategically plan for the start of an AFCI within a given locality. Findings also suggest important directions for future research on the development of AFCIs and the community changes that they seek to influence.     

"Just like I'm saving money in the bank": client perspectives on care coordination services

Older adults face many challenges to community living. The literature has not sufficiently explored the roles of care coordination in the maintenance of housing and access to health care among older adults, particularly from their own perspectives. This qualitative study analyzes the findings from 25 interviews and 6 focus group discussions (48 participants) with a multiethnic sample of older adults in the New York City area. Care coordination services appear to assist older adults access health care, and to a lesser extent, maintain affordable housing. Disparities in access to care coordination appear to remain for immigrant, minority and suburban populations.     

Disaster Preparedness among Older Adults: Social Support,Community Participation,and Demographic Characteristics

This study examined factors associated with disaster preparedness among older adults, with special attention paid to demographic characteristics, social support, and community participation. From a larger study about disaster preparedness of persons with disabilities, a total of 719 adults aged 55 years and older were used for this study. The results of the logistic regressions indicate that individuals who have higher levels of social support and more connections to community organizations are more likely to be prepared for disaster-related emergency situations. In another model, using resource preparedness as the dependent variable, an interaction effect between social support and income was found. Overall, higher income and higher informal support are related to a higher level of resources for disaster preparedness. However, the relationship between income and disaster preparedness is much stronger for those sub-groups receiving more informal support. The findings of this study expand knowledge regarding issues of disaster preparedness among older adults and demonstrates the importance of social resources and networks. This study suggests an intervention model for decision-makers and community leaders in terms of providing information and advice to members of their communities about how to adequately prepare for natural disasters.     

Individually-Tailored Support for Ethnically-Diverse Caregivers: Enhancing Our Understanding of What Is Needed and What Works

Family caregivers play a crucial role in maintaining older adults in the community, often at great cost to themselves. We discuss a program serving ethnically-diverse caregivers in New York, offering, on average, 11 case-management hr per client. Participants reported statistically significantly reduced stress and burden. Respite was the most requested service, belying an assumption underlying policies and services that families, particularly among minority populations, can and will care for their older members. Thus, services must be carefully tailored to meet actual caregiver needs, including provision of alternatives that reduce caregiver involvement. We discuss practice and policy implications.     

Older LGBT Adult Training Panels: An Opportunity to Educate About Issues Faced by the Older LGBT Community

Older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults face unique issues that can impede their well-being. Although many advances have helped address these issues, there is a need for education efforts that raise awareness of service providers about these issues. This study explores evaluation data of training panels provided by older LGBT adults and the views of training participants on issues faced by the older LGBT community after attending the panels. Participants were 605 students and professionals from over 34 education and communication settings. Implications for trainings on participants and older LGBT trainers are discussed.     

“Just Like I'm Saving Money in the Bank”: Client Perspectives on Care Coordination Services

Older adults face many challenges to community living. The literature has not sufficiently explored the roles of care coordination in the maintenance of housing and access to health care among older adults, particularly from their own perspectives. This qualitative study analyzes the findings from 25 interviews and 6 focus group discussions (48 participants) with a multiethnic sample of older adults in the New York City area. Care coordination services appear to assist older adults access health care, and to a lesser extent, maintain affordable housing. Disparities in access to care coordination appear to remain for immigrant, minority and suburban populations.     

Creating elder-friendly communities: preparations for an aging society

Because many communities where older people live were not designed for their needs, older residents may require support to remain in the least restrictive environment. "Age-prepared communities" utilize community planning and advocacy to foster aging in place. "Elder-friendly communities" are places that actively involve, value, and support older adults, both active and frail, with infrastructure and services that effectively accommodate their changing needs. This paper presents an analysis of the literature and results of a Delphi study identifying the most important characteristics of an elder-friendly community: accessible and affordable transportation, housing, health care, safety, and community involvement opportunities. We also highlight innovative programs and identify how social workers can be instrumental in developing elder-friendly communities.     

社区特征与中国农村老人的抑郁症状

农村老年人的抑郁水平显著高于城市老人,在极端情况下,甚至表现为自杀行为.通过中国健康与养老追踪调查 (CHARLS) 2011年基线数据,运用分层线性模型 (HLM) 分析村级社区水平的经济、人口、管理、设施、生态环境五个维度的特征对农村老人抑郁症状的影响,发现中国农村老人的抑郁水平具有显著的村间差异.加入村级水平的解释变量后发现,村子的平均收入水平高,村里具有高中学历的人口比例高,村主任的任职年限长以及村里的基础设施水平高,村里老人抑郁水平显著更低;而在工业污染排放中度和严重的村子里,老人抑郁显著更高.进一步的跨水平交互作用分析则探索了村级变量对具有不同个体特征的老人群体的作用差异.研究结果对于农村社区建设的政策发展以及农村老人的抑郁干预提供了实证依据.     

Factors Protecting against Suicidal Ideation in South Korean Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Literature Review

This systematic literature review investigates protective factors against suicidal ideation among community-dwelling older adults in South Korea. Existing research focuses on risk factors for suicidal thoughts among older adults living in the community, but research on protective factors for this population is rare. Furthermore, studies have been more likely to examine individual and social factors rather than macro factors, yet suicidal thoughts among older adults may come from various long-term challenges. This study applied Bronfenbrenner’s ecological frame to synthesize 60 studies. The results reveal that protective factors against suicidal thoughts among community-dwelling older adults in South Korea are found at four levels: individual, family, community, and macro-level factors.     

Increasing aging content in social work curriculum: perceptions of key constituents

This mixed methodology study examines the perceptions of key constituents regarding methods for effectively integrating aging content into the foundation curriculum of the BSW and MSW program at the University of Georgia School of Social Work. Students were asked to complete a survey to determine their perception of geriatric content that existed within the foundation coursework. Following an analysis of the survey results, eight semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted with a purposeful sample of students, faculty, field instructors, social work alumni, older adults from the community, and representatives from aging agencies. The intention of these focus groups was to find out what aging content should be infused within the curriculum. The focus group meetings were held in various locations throughout Northeast Georgia and in one remote location in South Georgia. Participants were interviewed about the necessary skills and knowledge for social workers practicing with an aging population in the areas of: essential intervention skills, program policies and regulations, critical information needed to develop client service plans, strategies for addressing service delivery fragmentation, and community collaboration to support intergenerational family needs. The results of this study will be discussed to provide suggestions on how existing foundation courses can integrate aging content.     

An Evidence Base for Group Work with Older Adults Living in the Community

There is a small but illuminating body of research related to group work with older adults living in the community. A broad range of interventions with diverse elderly participants have been studied internationally using qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Although scanty, the published literature informs group work practitioners on the strengths and limitations of different interventions. This article presents a critical review of 13 studies published between 1990 and 2007 to guide group work practitioners in organizing and facilitating groups for older adults in the community. Each review notes the characteristics of the participants, type of group intervention, methodology, and findings of the study. It examines the rigor, impact, and applicability of the findings to practice with this population. Much needs to be done to develop an evidence base for group work with older adults living in the community. Recommendations for practice and future research are offered.     

Psychological Distress and Help-Seeking by Residents of a Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NNORC)

This article presents findings from an annual program survey of residents of a horizontal neighborhood naturally occurring retirement community (NNORC). The study explored the relationship between several factors (age, co-residents, number of chronic illnesses, self-reported health, loneliness, sense of mastery, locus of control, pain, and psychological distress) and their ability to predict general health, level of psychological distress, and the quantity and type of help-seeking behaviors. Although residents generally reported moderate to high levels of chronic disease, pain, loneliness, and concerns about life issues, 25% of them sought no help from any of the listed resources, and 65% sought help from only one of seven resources. The most common source of help for most (70%) was a primary care physician (PCP), and comparatively few respondents sought help from other sources. Older adults, especially those with chronic illness, generally consider their PCP to be the first, and perhaps only, source to consult. However, research indicates that the most effective health promotional programs for older adults are social and educational group activities, rather than individual health-focused interventions. Possible means of redirecting residents toward NNORC services include more vigorous outreach and creating collaborative partnerships between local PCPs serving older populations and the NNORC.     

Religion and coping in older adults: a social work perspective

Religion is an important coping resource for many older adults. This paper briefly describes social work's religious roots, makes a distinction between religion and spirituality for older adults, and presents empirical data showing how older adults employ religious strategies to cope with life challenge. The study reports on religious coping in an available sample of 79 European American and African American older adults residing in urban community dwellings. Implications suggest how social workers and others may support religious coping.     

Community Reentry and Older Adult Offenders: Redefining Social Work Roles

The number of older adults in US prisons continues to rise. In 2002, adults ages 50 and older made up 8% of the US prison population, up from 4% a decade prior. Many older offenders are released to communities that are poorly equipped to meet their special needs. and largely unprepared for the social and fiscal costs of their reentry. The focus of gerontological social work education on the returning older adult offender has been limited. This article examines social work roles in the community reentry/reintegration of older adult offenders. Best practices from the gerontological social work literature are presented and implications for social work practice are discussed.