Struggles In Elderly Care

This book provides a critical engagement with the intensified struggles to be found within elderly care provision. Various social and political processes, including the forces of globalisation and the de-gendering of care, have changed how we might understand this national and global political concern. Emerging discourses such as neoliberalism have also reframed elderly care to increase existing tensions at the individual, national, and transnational level. Dahl argues that in order to grasp these new realities of care we need a new analytical framework that redirects us to new sites of contestation. Dahl approaches these issues from a post-structuralist and radical feminist position, while drawing from feminist sociology, feminist political science, nursing philosophy and feminist history. In particular, Struggles In (Elderly) Care highlights how the predominantly feminist theorization of care has been dominated by a sociological bias that could be improved using insights from political science concerning concepts of power and struggle, and the importance of the state and governance. This book will be of interest to researchers in sociology, gerontology, nursing, and feminist studies.

Family caregiving affects millions of Americans every day, in all walks of life. At least 17.7 million individuals in the United States are caregivers of an older adult with a health or functional limitation. The nation's family caregivers provide the lion's share of long-term care for our older adult population. They are also central to older adults' access to and receipt of health care and community-based social services. Yet the need to recognize and support caregivers is among the least appreciated challenges facing the aging U.S. population. Families Caring for an Aging America examines the prevalence and nature of family caregiving of older adults and the available evidence on the effectiveness of programs, supports, and other interventions designed to support family caregivers. This report also assesses and recommends policies to address the needs of family caregivers and to minimize the barriers that they encounter in trying to meet the needs of older adults.

This report presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive cross-country assessment of long-term care (LTC) workers, the tasks they perform and the policies to address shortages in OECD countries. It highlights the importance of improving working conditions in the sector and making care work more attractive and shows that there is space to increase productivity by enhancing the use of technology, providing a better use of skills and investing in prevention.

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE BALSILLIE PRIZE FOR PUBLIC POLICY It took the coronavirus pandemic to open our eyes to the deplorable state of so many of the nation's long-term care homes: the inhumane conditions, overworked and underpaid staff, and lack of oversight. In this timely new book, esteemed health reporter André Picard reveals the full extent of the crisis in eldercare, and offers an urgently needed prescription to fix a broken system. When COVID-19 spread through seniors' residences across Canada, the impact was horrific. Along with widespread illness and a devastating death toll, the situation exposed a decades-old crisis: the shocking systemic neglect towards our elders. Called in to provide emergency care in some of the hardest-hit facilities in Ontario and Quebec, the military issued damning reports of what they encountered. And yet, the failings that were exposed--unappetizing meals, infrequent baths, overmedication, physical abuse and inadequate personal care--have persisted for years in these institutions. In Neglected No More, André Picard takes a hard look at how we came to embrace mass institutionalization, and lays out what can and must be done to improve the state of care for our elders, a highly vulnerable population with complex needs and little ability to advocate for themselves. Picard shows that the entire eldercare system--fragmented, underfunded and unsupported--is long overdue for a fundamental rethink. We need to find ways to ensure seniors can age gracefully in the community for longer, with supportive home care and respite for family caregivers, and ensure that long-term care homes are not warehouses of isolation and neglect. Our elders deserve nothing less.

As the first of the nation's 78 million baby boomers begin reaching age 65 in 2011, they will face a health care workforce that is too small and woefully unprepared to meet their specific health needs. Retooling for an Aging America calls for bold initiatives starting immediately to train all health care providers in the basics of geriatric care and to prepare family members and other informal caregivers, who currently receive little or no training in how to tend to their aging loved ones. The book also recommends that Medicare, Medicaid, and other health plans pay higher rates to boost recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists and care aides. Educators and health professional groups can use Retooling for an Aging America to institute or increase formal education and training in geriatrics. Consumer groups can use the book to advocate for improving the care for older adults. Health care professional and occupational groups can use it to improve the quality of health care jobs.

Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.

"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/

This unique book studies America's frail older population relative to the elderly in ten other nations. It contains a cross-national assessment of approaches to long-term care for the elderly and explains the nature and extent of current and future problems related to caring for the functionally impaired elderly. By studying and analyzing the ongoing struggles of other nations in their attempts to cope with growing populations of frail elderly, readers in the U.S. can expand the parameters of their own national debate on the subject. The Graying of the World shows the political, economic, and social context in which decisions on elder-care are based and evaluates how successful various countries'programs have been. Chapters outline alternative approaches taken by disparate types of national systems, highlighting unique and creative solutions to provide useful information on new and alternative ways to respond to personal and public issues related to elder-care. The elderly and their care in Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, People's Republic of China, Sweden, and Yugoslavia are discussed, as are the elderly in Canada and the United States. Chapters cover the following topics for each country: the increasing number of frail elderly and their costly health needs the current and future role of the state in elder-care the current and future role of the family in elder-care types of support services offered for the elderly, including in-home care, community-based care, and institutional care the relationship of a nation's political economy to its attitude and policy on long-term care innovative approaches to elder-care Practitioners, decision makers, and the concerned general public will all find The Graying of the World an interesting and informative book that expands the discussion of health care options available for the elderly. As such, the book is also a helpful text for undergraduate and beginning graduate students of gerontology, public policy, and comparative politics, as well as for social service practitioners. It provokes much-needed conversation on developing a healthcare plan for the future that meets the needs of a large elderly population.