Chapter 3. Housing Older Canadians

ABSTRACT

Reflecting a world-wide trend toward avoidance of institutionahzation and the fostering of aging in place in the community, a range of housing alternatives has been developed for older persons in Canada. This paper examines: (1) current patterns of housing and living arrangements of older Canadians; (2) philosophies that have dominated policy and production of housing for seniors for the last 30 years; and (3) seniors' preferences and utilization rates of various options. Data sources include the 1991 census and two cross-Canada studies, one urban and one rural, in which seniors were asked about their housing and related support service needs, usage patterns and preferences. The paper concludes with a discussion of emerging trends blending shelter and services and of policy gaps that need to be addressed in meeting the future housing needs of older Canadians.     

Crafting Communities: Promoting Inclusion,Empowerment, and Learning between Older Women

Abstract

While social policy and planning documents are replete with ominous warnings about the cost of an ageing population, this article tells a different story about the productive and self-sustaining networks that exist among older women in the community who do craftwork. From our research conducted in Victoria, Australia during 2007–2008 we discovered a resilient and committed group of older women quietly and steadily contributing to community fundraising, building social networks, and providing learning opportunities to each other in diverse ways. Through our conversations with nine craftswomen we have been able to articulate clear links between the theory and models commonly espoused in the community development literature and the life-enriching practices used in organising informal community craft group activities. From our interviews with the older women we provide evidence of sustained participation, the generation of social capital, and the fostering of life-long learning. While none of the women we spoke to were trained in community development and did not use language commonly associated with feminist ideology, the relationship between the informal group work with principles of empowerment and self-efficacy were unmistakeable. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for critical social work practice.     

Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) Residents Have a False Sense of Security That Could Jeopardize Their Safety in a Disaster

High-rise apartments bring unique challenges in emergency situations. To better understand the needs of apartment-dwelling seniors in emergency situations and potential sources of support available, a novel collaborative community development approach was used with seniors living in a naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) in London, Ontario, Canada (N = 2500; mean ± SD age = 79 ± 9.53 years). A surprising finding was a false sense of security, with seniors expecting that management would take care of all needs. This finding reinforces the critical need for better public messaging for seniors, as well as targeted emergency management plans for frailer older individuals living in the community.     

The Wisdom of Non-Heterosexually Based Senior Housing and Related Services

Abstract

Understanding the housing needs of non-heterosexual seniors will improve the delivery of social services to more than 3 million gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors in the United States and aid in the development of new service-enriched housing models for the benefit of all service dependent populations. The feasibility and demand for non-heterosexually based senior housing and related services, however, has received negligible attention. This study is a first step and San Francisco is an ideal place to begin because of the community of non-heterosexual seniors, the City's housing market, the social service resources available to seniors, in general, and the social service delivery technology evolving in response to the AIDS crisis.     

Exploring the Potential of Social Network Analysis in Asset-based Community Development Practice and Research

Abstract

Strengths-based practice appears to be a popular approach to social work practice. Increasingly, it has become the approach of choice in community work, with the “asset-based community development” model being utilised both in Australia and internationally. However, asset-based community development has been criticised for its lack of an evidence base, lack of theoretical depth, and its lack of consideration of the macro level causes of disempowerment. While concepts of networks are central to asset-based community development, social network theory and analysis have rarely been utilised in a comprehensive manner in asset-based community development practice or research. This article contends that asset-based community development practice can benefit from the integration of key concepts from social network theory. Similarly, it is proposed that social network analysis holds promise as an appropriate methodology in terms of understanding the efficacy of asset-based community development projects.     

Political Participation and Late-Life Learning: A Cross-Cultural Study of Older People’s Participation in Seniors’ Interest Organisations in Australia and Spain

Understanding what older people learn from their civic participation is of critical importance both for individuals and organisations. This link has been neglected in prior research, and the evidence across diverse cultural contexts is particularly limited. However, the political context of older people’s life experiences and participation is important in their participation. The intent of the present study is to explore the learnings experienced by older people through participation in seniors’ interest organisations, across Australia and Spain. Participants included 52 active members of political organisations focused on issues for older people. A questionnaire was used for data collection; participants’ responses to an open-ended question regarding what they have learnt from their participation in seniors’ interest organisations are analysed here. Participants’ answers were subjected to a multi-stage thematic analysis. Findings show three key themes relating to learnings about themselves, such as self-improvement or skills or knowledge; learnings about others, such as cooperation with others and understand that people have different views; and learning about society, such as inequality and the need to fight for injustice. The findings suggest some interesting similarities and differences across contexts, which appears to reflect the different political contexts of the two countries.     

Strengthening Senior Tax Credit Programs in Massachusetts

Summary

In the last decade, property taxes have increased, creating a financial burden on senior homeowners. In Massachusetts, senior property tax credit programs have arisen to address this problem, as well as to provide cost-effective volunteer assistance for municipal departments, offer seniors meaningful work that otherwise would not have been attempted, and foster involvement in municipal government among seniors. The success of the programs in retaining senior homeowners in the community remains to be evaluated. Program specifics are detailed, policy options are considered, and recommendations are made to strengthen existing programs and assist replication.     

Coordinating Health,Extended Care,and Community Support Services

Abstract

Under pressure to maximize the cost-effectiveness of programs, efforts to improve coordination have become increasingly central to the development of the broader health and welfare service delivery system in Australia in the past few years. This article reviews recent experience in two related fields: (1) the coordination of different community care services for older people and people with disabilities, funded by the Home and Community Care program; and (2) the attempt to enhance links between community and residential care services, hospitals, and other health care providers. Why coordination has emerged as such an important issue in the field of community care and, increasingly, across the entire system of what the Australian government now terms health and family services is discussed. A number of measures that have been introduced or are proposed to improve a coordination of services are briefly reviewed. These range from individualistic approaches based on information and referral, through schemes involving gatekeeping, case management and brokerage of services, to models involving the reconfiguration of organizational structures, linkages, and finances. These measures are not mutually exclusive and are increasingly likely to be applied in more complex mixed models of service coordination. It is argued that coordination at the level of direct-service provision is difficult if government policies that direct services lack coordination.     

Changing Contexts of Practice: Challenges for Social Work and Community Development

ABSTRACT

In a rapidly changing global environment, there have been renewed calls to position community development more centrally in social work, particularly in the face of contemporary practice challenges. This paper analyses the broad policy contexts of neoliberalism, globalisation, and governance change and discusses how these forces interact with social work and community development, drawing on examples from Australia and Ireland. The paper argues that sociopolitical forces both restrict and present opportunities for social work and community development practice and we seek to reactivate debate about the position of community development within changing and challenging contexts.

IMPLICATIONS

• Contextualises community development practice, policy, and research within contemporary environments of neoliberalism, globalisation, and governance change.

• Critically evaluates implications and new opportunities for social work and community development, drawing on examples from Australia and Ireland.

• Reactivates debate and analysis on the position of community development in contemporary social work as we move forward into the new decade, and the next global agenda for social work and social development.

     

Family Support Center Village: A Unique Approach for Low-Income Single Women with Children

ABSTRACT

The Family Support Center, recognizing the need for single women with children to maintain stability, has developed a program referred to as the Family Support Center Village, which incorporates a service enriched co-housing model. The “Village” will be the catalyst for these mothers' self-sufficiency and will provide opportunities to develop tools for success and independence.     

Intergenerational Community Action and Youth Empowerment

Abstract

Empowerment theory can provide a useful framework for the design and evaluation of intergenerational community-building programs. Using an intervention research approach that draws heavily on empowerment theory, the author designed, facilitated, and evaluated an innovative model for intergenerational community engagement involving undergraduate students and older adult residents of an assisted living facility. This “Intergenerational Community Action Group” met at the assisted living facility throughout a school year to engage in group-building activities, to discuss and choose an issue of concern to them in the community, and to plan and implement an action project to address the issue. This article discusses the use of empowerment theory in intergenerational community action and similar programs, and reviews the empowerment outcomes for youth participants in the Intergenerational Community Action Group.     

Health and Well-Being for Late Middle-Aged and Old Lesbians in a Rural Area

Abstract

Previous research on lesbian health care has drawn primarily from samples of young lesbians living in metropolitan areas. Through face-to-face interviews with twenty-one lesbians aged 54 or older and living in rural communities, this exploratory, naturalistic inquiry begins to fill a gap in the literature by examining the health care experiences of older, rural lesbians. Five themes emerged from the narrative data: issues of access; good health/good care; open to her own diversity; family and community; and visions-ideals and fears. We present these themes through informant quotes and discuss implications for policy and practice.     

Teaching Note—Keeping It Real: Program Evaluation Projects for an Undergraduate Research Class

ABSTRACT

This article describes a teaching innovation that focused on the redesign of an undergraduate social work research class. Students enrolled in the redesigned class had an opportunity to conduct program evaluation projects in community agencies. The projects included (a) pretest and posttest evaluation of reminiscence approach in improving the well-being of older adults in a long-term care facility, (b) evaluation of family support services at a Head Start center, and (c) pretest and posttest evaluation of an awareness program to promote community inclusion of individuals with an intellectual disability. Steps in course development, implementation, and evaluation as well as the positive student learning outcomes are discussed. The article concludes with limitations and potential areas for further improvement.     

Gay men's digital cultures beyond Gaydar and Grindr: LINE use in the gay Chinese diaspora of Australia

ABSTRACT

Recent research on gay men's digital cultures has focused predominantly on Western, English-language-based sites and populations. In the case of Australia, a country with an official multiculturalism framework in place and against a backdrop of significant levels of Asian immigration over the past several decades, a more pluralistic approach is needed to critically interrogate the dialectic between platforms, users and wider sociocultural complexities. To this end, the current paper presents research in progress on the social chat application LINE and its use amongst the Chinese diaspora of gay men in Australia. Drawing on data from participant observation carried out over several months during late 2015 and early 2016 in an Australian-based LINE group for local Chinese gay men, we highlight here how LINE functions as an important intermediary for many Chinese men engaging with gay men's digital cultures in this context. In particular, we show how LINE plays a crucial role in Chinese gay men's engagements with gay men's digital culture in Australia by (1) mediating this group's navigations of new social and cultural environments and (2) remediating their experiences within other platforms central to the broader GLBT community.     

Theory-Based Community Practice for HIV Prevention in Midlife and Older Women

ABSTRACT

In the last decade there has been a significant increase in HIV transmission among midlife and older women, particularly those from racial/ethnic minority communities. Although the number of women aged 50 and older diagnosed with HIV infection in the United States is increasing, they are rarely included in community HIV prevention strategies. This article presents integrating social capital with social justice themes into a socioecological framework for community practice that can significantly impact the efficacy of HIV prevention programs for midlife and older women. It also reviews the research and program implications for including midlife and older women in community interventions to halt the spread of HIV infection in this at-risk group. Suggestions for HIV prevention community practice with this underserved population are presented.     

Mind the Gap: Built Infrastructures,Sustainable Caring Relations,and Resilient Communities in Extreme Weather Events

Abstract

Climate change debates seldom link the insights derived from the physical sciences to the concerns of social scientists. Understanding how failures in built infrastructures increase the caring burden on women is one of these instances. This article draws on a pilot study on climate change and older people to demonstrate that women who provide informal care services are called upon to fill the gap between declining levels of formal care provisions and care needs when the infrastructures serving a community fail. This research challenges policymakers, emergency planners, and practitioners to think about the increased care burdens that women are expected to undertake during disasters involving extreme weather events like heat waves, cold snaps, and flooding, and reconsider policies that pass this responsibility down to the level of community without the necessary support services and built infrastructures being in place. This issue acquires additional urgency in the context of declining levels of care being publicly funded through the age of austerity as public expenditure cuts begin to bite.     

Intergenerational Interaction Between Institutionalised Older Persons and Biologically Unrelated University Students

ABSTRACT

Most studies on older persons focus mainly on what the aged can no longer do and on the impact that this has on the community and specifically on their carers. In contrast to this, this research focused on the value of friendship between older persons living in a retirement home and students whom they did not know prior to their interaction in the project. Friendship, in this instance, is viewed as a multidimensional facet of social support. Participatory action research was used to describe the relationship between the students and the older persons, and the illustrative method, as a qualitative research method, was used to analyse the data, obtained from students' reports, observations and interviews. The results are used to propose guidelines for the transfer to other contexts of the intergenerational involvement of biologically unrelated students     

“If You Don't Like Gay Marriage,Don't Get One!”: A Qualitative Analysis of Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage in South Australia

ABSTRACT

Prejudice against sexual-minority groups has continuously declined in Australia over the past several decades, yet inequality in marriage policy that denies legal recognition of same-sex relationships remains. Social role theory suggests this may be due in part to traditional beliefs about gender roles that fuel concerns regarding the ability of same-sex couples to raise children because they violate these social norms and roles. The current study identified reasons behind support of, or opposition to, same-sex marriage. Data were collected from a community sample (n = 536) in South Australia through an open-ended question included on a larger survey. Content analysis suggested that gender role norms do play a part in negative attitudes toward same-sex marriage as well as perceptions of same-sex couples' ability to raise children. Our findings also revealed heteronormativity embedded in the responses of participants both for and against marriage equality. Implications for advocacy efforts focused on marriage equality, parenting by same-sex couples, and the focus for future research endeavours in this substantive domain are discussed.     

Health Education as a Component of Campus Bulimia Treatment Programs

Abstract

College students experience stressful life events and little research exists on the role the Internet may play in students’ coping. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine associations among perceived stress, time spent on the Internet, underlying motives for utilizing the Internet, problematic Internet use, and traditional approaches to coping. Participants: Data were collected from 267 college seniors during March of 2011. Methods: Participants completed an online survey containing measures of coping, motives for utilizing the Internet, problematic online behavior, perceived stress, and background information. Results: Being female, avoidant-emotional coping, and online motive to cope were positively associated with perceived stress and months since most stressful life event and online motive to enhance were negatively associated with stress. Conclusions: Professionals working with college students will benefit from using a nuanced approach to assessing students’ online behavior, including an assessment of underlying motives for use.     

“A Message on Life to the Young”—Perceiving a Senior Volunteer Activity in Japan from an Intergenerational Perspective

Abstract

Intergenerational programming has gained more recognition in Japan in the last decade or so, as research and reports on the status and case studies of intergenerational programs become available since mid-1990s. This paper examines the case study of a volunteer narrative group called G-117 formed primarily by seniors who are survivors of the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake as an example of an emerging intergenerational program. The research was carried out mainly during fieldwork among senior volunteer groups in Kobe from late 2001 to early 2002, primarily through qualitative approaches of interviews and participant observation. I propose that besides observational research, a more in-depth engagement through ethnographic case study, although much less common in intergenerational program research, is also important in providing rich, contextualized understanding of the development of an intergenerational program, particularly in a cross-cultural setting.