Good personal finances or a strong social capital—on different life conditions of importance for an active life when becoming alone in old age

Becoming alone in old age can be a decisive life event that brings major changes depending on various causes as health status, financial resources, family situation, and available welfare services. This article discusses the situation of older people in Sweden who have transitioned from a two-person to single-person household in recent years and what impact this might have on their everyday lives. Through in-depth interviews with 18 older people, age 67–90, their experiences about life conditions and opportunities were examined. Findings showed large differences between the men and women. They all tried to live as they always had done and they used the same personal life strategies that they always had. But the men could live as before on their own financial merits, while the women needed assistance from children, grandchildren and the welfare system. Transportation options were central and clearly related to both private economy and social services available. Shortcomings in the welfare state's way of caring for the elderly were clearly uncovered. The gap between social policy promises of opportunities for autonomy and independence to live an active life in old age and the everyday reality for older people still seems to be wide.     

Stratified structural and epistemic aspects of the care manager's discretion—a theoretical approach to social work related to older people's potential relocation to a residential home

By applying a theoretical point of departure, the overarching aim of this article is to describe, analyze, and try to understand why care managers in their everyday occupational practice normalize the restrictive approach when older people consider relocation to a residential home. While earlier research to a large extent has drawn attention to how the care managers carry out the restrictive approach, this article pays attention to the circumstances paving its way. The focus is on influences from different sociological levels, thereby ‘stratified’, and from two aspects of discretion, where ‘structural aspects’ refer to choices between permitted alternatives and ‘epistemic aspects’ to practical reasoning under conditions of indeterminacy. With this combination, a multitude of circumstances contributing to the restrictive approach is revealed. Thus, the theoretical model includes levels as well as discretionary powers where formulas constitute the foundation at each level, subsequently related to multidisciplinary references in order to get the practice into perspective. The findings show that the priority given to home-based care in contrast to residential care is repeated and confirmed at each level and besides in an interchange between structural and epistemic aspects.     

Supervision as pedagogy and support in the Swedish eldercare - a developmental project

The number of elderly people is gradually increasing, and with it the number of persons receiving some kind of care in their everyday lives. However, researchers and the mass media recurrently report great difficulties for many caregivers in their work situations. This article considers process-oriented supervision as a pedagogic method for training and support of nurse aids and managers in Swedish eldercare. With reference to a developmental project, the author discusses the clash between the supervisor's process-oriented manner and the staffs' problem-oriented attitudes. This shows that supervision in this form may not necessarily be an effective way of reforming care. Instead the caregivers point out organisational changes and better leadership as more adequate methods.     

Recognizing But Not Acknowledging: On Using Research Information in Social Work with Elderly People Suffering from Dementia

The gap between theory and practice in social work continuesto be great, and research results seem to live a life of theirown, far from the field they were intended to improve. Thisarticle considers research information as a useful contributionto the practice of social work with elderly demented peopleand to qualitative methods used in the area of social scientificresearch. Arising out of a project aimed at studying the usefulnessof research information through an interactive exercise withinfocus groups, the author discusses how the results of researchcan be used to improve practice. When the researchers’theoretical- oriented perspectives meet with the practitioners’action-oriented perspectives, two different models enrich eachother in the process of developing integrated knowledge.     

Health care,social care or both? A qualitative explorative study of different focuses in long-term care of older people in France,Portugal and Sweden

Challenges with an ageing population are increasingly becoming a reality in the Western world. Since cognitive impairment increases with age, we can expect an increasing number of older people in need of care. The aim of this article is to describe, analyse and compare different focuses on care of older people with dementia, using examples from France, Portugal and Sweden. The questions are principally focused on the participants’ view about their tasks, the organisation of work, the professional role and cooperation with other professions. Everyday care was studied through observations and participant observations and the staff's opinion was explored by means of interviews. Twenty-two care settings for older people were included. The findings showed that France provided mainly ‘health care’, Sweden ‘social care’ and Portugal an integrated ‘health care and social care’. In a comparative perspective the Portuguese general care of older people, which focuses on integration of health care, social care and social work, also seems to provide care for older people suffering from dementia which best corresponds to the previously developed group living model.