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Editorial

Editorial Ron Iphofen In the first paper in this issue Helen Chapman and Helen Edwards make some interesting points about the complexities of expectations involved in the role relationships of caring. We are liable to forget that good role relationships need to be generated and sustained in an active manner. Problems arise when incongruence arises out of complacency or a failure to be open about our expectations. Not all expectations can be fulfilled or are realistic and this can be particularly exacerbated in a relationship of dependency. But as we all know there are mutual dependencies in care relationships and costs, as well as benefits, can accrue to both parties. Chapman and Edwards examine how such processes are managed via communicative strategies and show how problems about the autonomy of those in receipt of care can emerge. Role expectations and communicative strategies are particularly institutionalised within the dynamics of family life and health care providers need to take account of processes of this nature to gain full insight into the care-giver and receiver relationship. Part II of this discussion will appear in the next issue of Quality in Ageing. The policy changes leading to the loss of long-stay NHS beds has had consequences for the care of older patients with cognitive impairment. The implications of these changes have led Sue Ball and colleagues in North Dorset NHS Primary Care Trust to examine the effects of these changes on duration of stay and discharge destination. Their work confirms the expectation that those patients with a spouse at home who is able to care for them are likely to be discharged sooner than those without a spouse or those in social services care. The measured degree of cognitive impairment also significantly determines whether patients are discharged to a nursing home or residential care. They discuss the role that acute psychogeriatric care can play in assisting rehabilitation into the community. Necessarily they address the implied confirmation of a ‘two-tier system’ of health and social care but they recognise the difficulties posed by factors linked to the administration of care services. Quality in Ageing readers will know that we have given good coverage to the ESRC ‘Growing Older’ programme and we have in this issue a contribution provoked by Chih Hoong Sin’s work within the programme. He explores the potential prejudice in interviewing minority ethnic older people for ‘exoticising’ the respondents or unwittingly pathologising their situation. The project he was involved in examined social networks and support for older people from different ethnic groups in Britain, and the relationship between these and their quality of life. He advocates a reflexive methodology which, in addition to rigour in research design, requires a focus on the interactional nature of the interview process. Instead of standardised assumptions about choice of language, using interpreters, ethnic matching of interviewers and interviewees, and so on, issues like these have to be examined in context and in terms of the particular needs and expectations of the respondents. We close this issue with a commentary piece from Donald Hirsch about the ‘transitions after 50’ research he was involved in conducting for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He first discusses some of the underlying themes and implications of the work, and then describes each of the main research projects’ findings systematically. This is a convenient way for the research-based reader both to get an integrated view of where this work is leading overall and to see specifically what the most important findings were of particular pieces of research. Quality in Ageing – Policy, practice and research Volume 5 Issue 2 October 2004 © Pavilion Publishing 2004 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Quality in Ageing and Older Adults Pier Professional

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Publisher
Pier Professional
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by Pier Professional Limited
ISSN
1471-7794
eISSN
2042-8766
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Ron Iphofen In the first paper in this issue Helen Chapman and Helen Edwards make some interesting points about the complexities of expectations involved in the role relationships of caring. We are liable to forget that good role relationships need to be generated and sustained in an active manner. Problems arise when incongruence arises out of complacency or a failure to be open about our expectations. Not all expectations can be fulfilled or are realistic and this can be particularly exacerbated in a relationship of dependency. But as we all know there are mutual dependencies in care relationships and costs, as well as benefits, can accrue to both parties. Chapman and Edwards examine how such processes are managed via communicative strategies and show how problems about the autonomy of those in receipt of care can emerge. Role expectations and communicative strategies are particularly institutionalised within the dynamics of family life and health care providers need to take account of processes of this nature to gain full insight into the care-giver and receiver relationship. Part II of this discussion will appear in the next issue of Quality in Ageing. The policy changes leading to the loss of long-stay NHS beds has had consequences for the care of older patients with cognitive impairment. The implications of these changes have led Sue Ball and colleagues in North Dorset NHS Primary Care Trust to examine the effects of these changes on duration of stay and discharge destination. Their work confirms the expectation that those patients with a spouse at home who is able to care for them are likely to be discharged sooner than those without a spouse or those in social services care. The measured degree of cognitive impairment also significantly determines whether patients are discharged to a nursing home or residential care. They discuss the role that acute psychogeriatric care can play in assisting rehabilitation into the community. Necessarily they address the implied confirmation of a ‘two-tier system’ of health and social care but they recognise the difficulties posed by factors linked to the administration of care services. Quality in Ageing readers will know that we have given good coverage to the ESRC ‘Growing Older’ programme and we have in this issue a contribution provoked by Chih Hoong Sin’s work within the programme. He explores the potential prejudice in interviewing minority ethnic older people for ‘exoticising’ the respondents or unwittingly pathologising their situation. The project he was involved in examined social networks and support for older people from different ethnic groups in Britain, and the relationship between these and their quality of life. He advocates a reflexive methodology which, in addition to rigour in research design, requires a focus on the interactional nature of the interview process. Instead of standardised assumptions about choice of language, using interpreters, ethnic matching of interviewers and interviewees, and so on, issues like these have to be examined in context and in terms of the particular needs and expectations of the respondents. We close this issue with a commentary piece from Donald Hirsch about the ‘transitions after 50’ research he was involved in conducting for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He first discusses some of the underlying themes and implications of the work, and then describes each of the main research projects’ findings systematically. This is a convenient way for the research-based reader both to get an integrated view of where this work is leading overall and to see specifically what the most important findings were of particular pieces of research. Quality in Ageing – Policy, practice and research Volume 5 Issue 2 October 2004 © Pavilion Publishing 2004

Journal

Quality in Ageing and Older AdultsPier Professional

Published: Oct 1, 2004

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