235 research outputs found
The long-term care revolution: a study of innovatory models to support older people with disabilities in the Netherlands
No full textDeveloping a novel peer support intervention to promote resilience after stroke
Full text linkStroke can lead to physical, mental and social long-term consequences, with the incidence of stroke increasing with age. However, there is a lack of evidence of how to improve long-term outcomes for people with stroke. Resilience, the ability to ‘bounce back’, flourish or thrive in the face of adversity improves mental health and quality of life in older adults. However, the role of resilience in adjustment after stroke has been little investigated. The purpose of this study is to report on the development and preliminary evaluation of a novel intervention to promote resilience after stroke. We applied the first two phases of the revised UK Medical Research Council (UKMRC) framework for the development and evaluation of complex interventions: intervention development (phase 1) and feasibility testing (phase 2). Methods involved reviewing existing evidence and theory, interviews with 22 older stroke survivors and 5 carers, and focus groups and interviews with 38 professionals to investigate their understandings of resilience and its role in adjustment after stroke. We used stakeholder consultation to co-design the intervention and returned to the literature to develop its theoretical foundations. We developed a 6-week group-based peer support intervention to promote resilience after stroke. Theoretical mechanisms of peer support targeted were social learning, meaning-making, helping others and social comparison. Preliminary evaluation with 11 older stroke survivors in a local community setting found that it was feasible to deliver the intervention, and acceptable to stroke survivors, peer facilitators, and professionals in stroke care and research. This study demonstrates the application of the revised UKMRC framework to systematically develop an empirically and theoretically robust intervention to promote resilience after stroke. A future randomised feasibility study is needed to determine whether a full trial is feasible with a larger sample and wider age range of people with stroke
Older people as partners in assistive technology research: the use of focus groups in the design process
No full textThere is an increasing recognition that older people are capable of being critical and active consumers of assistive technologies. This has led to the proposition that older people should be involved in their design and evaluation. In this paper we will describe a focus group methodology used to help older people identify and describe the nature of the mobility-related problems that they encounter, and then put forward ideas for their resolution, which might usefully be addressed by innovative assistive technology research. This methodology was used with four groups of older people and the results revealed that the problems that were most frequently identified as difficult were bending and reaching, climbing stairs, and finding information. While focus group participants were able to suggest both existing and new solutions to these identified problems the researchers consider that further exploration of the methodology used in this study is needed in order to validate the choice of tools, the composition of the focus groups and the process by which researchers decide which of the potential solutions should be developed further.<br/
A systematic review of qualitative studies on adjusting after stroke: lessons for the study of resilience
Full text linkPurpose: To synthesize qualitative studies on adjusting after stroke, from stroke survivors’ and carers’ perspectives, and to outline their potential contribution to an understanding of resilience. Methods: A systematic review of qualitative studies in peer reviewed journals from 1990 to 2011 was undertaken. Findings from selected studies were summarized and synthesized and then considered alongside studies of resilience. Results: Forty studies were identified as suitable. These suggested that the impact of stroke was felt on many dimensions of experience, and that the boundaries between these were permeable. Nor was stroke as an adverse “event” temporally bounded. Adjustment was often marked by setbacks and new challenges over time. Participants identified personal characteristics as key, but also employed practical and mental strategies in their efforts to adjust. Relationships and structural factors also influenced adjustment after stroke. Conclusions: The impacts of stroke and the processes of adjusting to it unfold over time. This presents a new challenge for resilience research. Processes of adjustment, like resilience, draw on personal, inter-personal and structural resources. But the reviewed studies point to the importance of an emic perspective on adversity, social support, and what constitutes a “good” outcome when researching resilience, and to a greater focus on embodiment
What Drives National Differences in Intensive Grandparental Childcare in Europe?
Full text linkObjectives. Grandparents play an important role in looking after grandchildren, although intensive grandparental childcare varies considerably across Europe. Few studies have explicitly investigated the extent to which such cross-national variations are associated with national level differences in individual demographic and socio-economic distributions along with contextual-structural and cultural factors (e.g., variations in female labor force participation, childcare provision, and cultural attitudes).Methods. We used multilevel models to examine associations between intensive grandparental childcare and contextual-structural and cultural factors, after controlling for grandparent, parent, and child characteristics using nationally representative data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.Results. Even controlling for cross-national differences in demographic and socio-economic distributions, contextual-structural factors play an important role in explaining grandparental childcare variations in Europe. In particular, higher levels of intensive grandparental childcare are found in countries with low labor force participation among younger and older women, and low formal childcare provision, where mothers in paid work largely rely on grandparental support on an almost daily basis.Discussion. Encouraging older women to remain in paid work is likely to have an impact on grandchild care which in turn may affect mothers’ employment, particularly in Southern European countries where there is little formal childcare
Involving Older Users in Engineering Research: Report of a Project Relating to Mobility in the Home.
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Dale Dannefer and Chris Phillipson (eds), The Sage Handbook of Social Gerontology, Sage Publications, London, 2010, 712 pp., hbk £90, ISBN 13: 978 1 4129 3464 0.
No full textJulia Johnson, Sheena Rolph and Randall Smith (2010), Residential Care Transformed: Revisiting ‘The Last Refuge’. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan. £55, pp. 285, hbk.
No full textAge-friendly cities: Lessons from London (keynote)
No full textBackground: Since the World Health Organisation’s report on Age Friendly Cities in 2007 interest has grown in initiatives across the worldResearch objectives of the London study: To update the research undertaken for the WHO by Simon Biggs and Anthea Tinker on how Age Friendly London was in 2005 and to consider other initiatives to enable the Greater London Authority to improve policies. This presentation considers what lessons there are from this evaluation. Methods: Published material was used, including reports from many sources, data from London surveys and a snowballing technique to sample older people’s views on what could be done betterMain results: The findings about London found that although good progress has been made in some areas there remains a good deal to do to meet the overall objectives set by the WHO. The original policy areas of housing, the outdoor built environment, transport, opportunities for social participation and active contributions to society, employment and incomes, health and community services and provisions for communication and information and infrastructure were revisited.From the original 47 countries in the 2007 initiative few have kept in touch with the WHO. While some new countries and cities that have joined a WHO Global Network and promising initiatives have been identified hardly any have been evaluatedConclusions: The concept of Age Friendly cities is expanding to embrace the concept of communities. At the same time the emphasis is more on the participation of older people rather than on services and infrastructure<br/
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