Social Workers' Responses to Incontinence,Confusion and Mobility Impairments in Frail Elderly Clients

Social workers in home health care agencies are frequently involved in decisions concerning the independent living of their frail elderly clients. This study analyzes social workers' responses to elderly clients with three health problems that are relatively common among the elderly: urinary incontinence, confusion, and mobility impairments. Responses to clients with incontinence differ from responses to confused or mobility-impaired clients primarily in the specificity of attributions of cause of the problem and in evaluative responses toward the client. The findings are discussed in terms of the potential role of social work as an agent for change in both popular understandings of incontinence in later life and in the delivery of health care to the incontinent elderly.