(Press-News.org) Older people feel that their health problems pose a challenge to their sense of independence, dignity and identity and sometimes the health care they are given makes things worse.
According to research funded by UK Research Councils' New Dynamics of Ageing programme (NDA), healthcare providers must avoid taking a 'blanket view' of how to help older people cope with the ageing process.
The study carried out by Dr Liz Lloyd and her colleagues found that people were often surprised by the impact that illness and growing old had on their lives. Their sense of 'self' was affected by the limitations imposed by their age and illnesses. "Growing old and coming to terms with illnesses is complex and demanding at times - physically, mentally and emotionally," Dr Lloyd said. "When health goes, it can come as quite a shock."
The research shows that older people work hard at maintaining their health and independence, while coming to terms with becoming dependent on others. The participants' views show how, with the struggle to maintain day-to-day activities, their dignity can quickly and easily be lost. One participant, Mary, told researchers: "Inside I feel as though I ought to be able to do things. But I'm not and it's hard to accept."
While some were positive about making changes, others found it harder to adjust their day-to-day routines. All participants made great efforts to find new activities or adapt old ones. For example several learnt to use computers and others took art classes at day centres. All tried to maintain their health in a variety of ways.
Dr Lloyd believes the research shows there are significant differences in the way that people define dignity and independence, and that these are influenced by their relationships, abilities and life experiences. She states, "You can't impose a blanket view of what dignified care is. Of course, there are certain standards that should apply in all circumstances but enhancing dignity needs a lot more than guaranteeing minimum standards."
"In old age when your health fails, it affects your sense of self. Understanding that from an older person's perspective is crucially important. Care and support can enhance dignity or it can worsen the loss of it if not given in the right way. Good support is essential in terms of how people make the adjustments they need to make."
Dr Lloyd highlights that the relationship between dignity, identity and independence is complex. "Loss of independence involves a change in your identity and is a challenge to your dignity," she states. "It is through the support of others that individuals are able to rebuild their sense of identity in their changed circumstances."
Support and care need to be responsive to what people are going through and to see things from the perspective of the person on the receiving end of care. "Older people are going through enormous changes and the people who are helping them need to be aware of these."
###
For further information contact:
Dr Liz Lloyd
Email: liz.lloyd@bristol.ac.uk
Telephone 0117-954-6705
ESRC Press Office:
Danielle Moore
Email: danielle.moore@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793-413122
Jeanine Woolley
Email: jeanine.woolley@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793-413119
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1.This release is based on the findings from Maintaining Dignity in Later life: a longitudinal qualitative study of older people's experiences of support and care. The study was conducted by Dr Liz Lloyd of the University of Bristol and colleagues from the Universities of Kent, Bristol and Nottingham.
2.Researchers used a longitudinal qualitative study to identify the factors that impact on peoples' dignity. They interviewed the participants in depth about the changes to their lives, their experiences of care and support and how affected their dignity. The study followed 34 people between 70 and 90 who lived at home and had a range of heath problems that required support and care.
3.This project is part of the New Dynamics of Ageing Programme seven-year multidisciplinary research initiative with the ultimate aim of improving quality of life of older people. The programme is a collaboration between five UK Research Councils, led by the ESRC, and includes EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC and AHRC.
4.Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the strategic partnership of the UK's seven Research Councils. We invest annually around £3 billion in research. Our focus is on excellence with impact. We nurture the highest quality research, as judged by international peer review, providing the UK with a competitive advantage. Global research requires that we sustain a diversity of funding approaches, fostering international collaborations, and providing access to the best facilities and infrastructure, and locating skilled researchers in stimulating environments. Our research achieves impact – the demonstrable contribution to society and the economy made by knowledge and skilled people. To deliver impact, researchers and businesses need to engage and collaborate with the public, business, government and charitable organisations. http://www.rcuk.ac.uk
Sunshine may help to prevent allergies and eczema
Increased exposure to sunlight may reduce the risk of both food allergies and eczema in children, according to a new scientific study published this week.
Researchers from the European Centre for Environment & Human Health, along with several Australian institutions, have found that children living in areas with lower levels of sunlight are at greater risk of developing food allergies and the skin condition eczema, compared to those in areas with higher UV.
The research team used data from a study of Australian children ...
A preference for fatty foods has a genetic basis, according to researchers, who discovered that people with certain forms of the CD36 gene may like high-fat foods more than those who have other forms of this gene.
The results help explain why some people struggle when placed on a low-fat diet and may one day assist people in selecting diets that are easier for them to follow. The results also may help food developers create new low-fat foods that taste better.
"Fat is universally palatable to humans," said Kathleen Keller, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, ...
The U.S. may have its first black president and the Fortune 500 its first black female chief executive, but African American CEOs account for a mere one percent of the chiefs of those 500 largest companies.
Andrew Carton, assistant professor of management and organization at Penn State Smeal College of Business, and Ashleigh Shelby Rosette of Duke University, suggest in the current issue of the Academy of Management Journal that what steers people's perceptions of African Americans are stereotypes about blacks' leadership failings, biases that may not even be conscious.
The ...
Biologists who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas have uncovered a seldom-observed interaction between evolutionary processes.
Jason Kolbe, a biologist at the University of Rhode Island (URI)--along with colleagues at Duke University, Harvard University and the University of California, Davis--found that the lizards' genetic and morphological (form and structural) traits were determined by both natural selection and a phenomenon called the founder effect.
Their research results are published online today in the journal Science.
The founder ...
An experimental blood clot-removing device outperformed the FDA-approved MERCI; retriever device, according to late-breaking science presented at the American Stroke Association's 2012 International Stroke Conference.
The SOLITAIRE; Flow Restoration Device is a self-expanding stent-based design that mechanically removes blood clots from blocked vessels after a stroke. After insertion into the clot using a thin tube, or catheter, the device traps the clot then both device and clot are removed, restoring blood flow. The MERCI retriever uses a tiny corkscrew, guided by a ...
The anti-blood clot regimen that adds the drug clopidogrel (Plavix) to aspirin treatment is unlikely to prevent recurrent strokes and may increase the risk of bleeding and death in patients with subcortical stroke according to late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012.
Because of these preliminary results, researchers ended the anti-clotting part of the Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes Trial (SPS3) in August 2011. The part of the study that examines the effect of high blood pressure treatments ...
A new drug that showed promise in animal studies and an early clinical trial didn't improve disability among stroke patients, according to late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012.
After a stroke and other types of brain damage, the brain naturally produces more granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). The protein can prevent further cell injury by protecting nerve cells and boosting blood vessel growth.
The new drug, AX200, is a manufactured form of G-CSF.
Ninety days after treatment, patients ...
The great majority of geriatric patients in a German rehabilitation hospital were found to have vitamin D deficiency. Stefan Schilling presents his study results in this week's issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109[3]: 33-8).
In order to establish the vitamin D status in geriatric patients in Germany, the researchers measured 25-OH vitamin D in 1578 patients in the geriatric rehabilitation hospital in Trier after they had been examined on admission.
Insufficiently high concentrations were found in 89% of patients, and 67% had severe ...
An innovative approach to genome screening has provided clues about rare mutations that may make people susceptible to brain aneurysms, predisposing them to brain bleeds, according to preliminary late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012.
For the first time, scientists applied a process called whole exome sequencing to seek gene mutations in families in which multiple relatives have intracranial aneurysms, a condition in which weakened, ballooned-out areas in arteries of the brain can rupture and cause a ...
In the largest and longest head-to-head comparison of two anti-clotting medications, warfarin and aspirin were similar in preventing deaths and strokes in heart failure patients with normal heart rhythm, according to late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012.
"Although there was a warfarin benefit for patients treated for four or more years, overall, warfarin and aspirin were similar," said Shunichi Homma, M.D., lead author of the study and the Margaret Milliken Hatch Professor of Medicine at Columbia University ...