Understanding younger older consumers' needs in a changing healthcare market—supporting and developing the consumer market for electronic assisted living technologies

The ageing population is presenting an economic challenge in the United Kingdom (UK). Electronic Assisted Living Technology (eALT) is purported to be one potential solution to this problem, as it offers an opportunity to help people remain independent and age in place. The provision of eALT within the UK has traditionally been dominated by statutory provision, leading to a lack of choice of commercial products and services for those whom it might benefit. With increased need for support for the ageing population, and rationalisation of statutory service provision, older people will increasingly be looking toward privately purchased eALT to support their health and independence. However, previous work has identified that there are numerous barriers to the development of a consumer eALT market. This paper describes a series of cocreation workshops which were held to explore solutions to these barriers with younger older people, aged 50–70 years old, which sought to explore the development of a consumer eALT market. A number of solutions were found for all stages of the eALT consumer journey, including how to help people recognise they have a need, how to find eALT information, how to help consumers make the decision to purchase, where to place eALT for consumer access and purchase, and how to encourage continued use of the product or service and repeat sales. The results of this study will be of interest to the UK, European and worldwide consumer eALT markets, to encourage older consumers to maintain their independence and lifestyle and offers insights for the eALT industry in how to reach these consumers.Publisher statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Holliday, N. (2015) Understanding younger older consumers' needs in a changing healthcare market—supporting and developing the consumer market for electronic assisted living technologies. International Journal of Consumer Studies, volume 39 (4): 305–315, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12192. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html#terms). This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Holliday, N, Ward, G & Fielden, S 2015, 'Understanding younger older consumers' needs in a changing healthcare market—supporting and developing the consumer market for electronic assisted living technologies' International Journal of Consumer Studies, vol 39, no. 4, pp. 305–315., which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12192. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving

Good practice in social care: the views of people with severe and complex needs and those who support them

This paper reports findings drawn from a study of good practice in English social care for adults with disability and older people with severe and complex needs. People with severe and complex needs are a relatively small proportion of adult social care service users, but they are growing in numbers and have resource-intensive needs. The study involved qualitative research with adults with disability and older people with severe and complex needs, family carers and members of specialist organisations (n = 67), focusing on the features of social care services they considered to be good practice. Data were collected between August 2010 and June 2011. The approach to data collection was flexible, to accommodate participants' communication needs and preferences, including face-to-face and telephone interviews, Talking Mats(c) sessions and a focus group. Data were managed using Framework and analysed thematically. Features of good practice were considered at three levels: (i) everyday support, (ii) service organisation, and (iii) commissioning. Findings relating to the first two of these are presented here. Participants emphasised the importance of person-centred ways of working at all levels. Personalisation, as currently implemented in English social care, aims to shift power from professionals to service users through the allocation of personal budgets. This approach focuses very much on the role of the individual in directing his/her own support arrangements. However, participants in this study also stressed the importance of ongoing professional support, for example, from a specialist key worker or case manager to co-ordinate diverse services and ensure good practice at an organisational level. The paper argues that, despite the recent move to shift power from professionals to service users, people with the most complex needs still value support from professionals and appropriate organisational support. Without these, they risk being excluded from the benefits that personalisation, properly supported, could yield. Keywords : continuity of care; dementia; people with disability; qualitative research; service delivery and organisation

The impact of personalisation on people from Chinese backgrounds: accounts of social care experience

The limited research that considers people from black and minority ethnic communities experiences of personalisation tends to focus on personal budgets rather than personalisation per se. This article provides an opportunity to hear the voices of people from Chinese backgrounds and their experiences of personalisation. The study used individual semi-structured interviews and focus groups to collect data from people from Chinese backgrounds who lived in England, were aged between 18 and 70 and received social care for a physical disability. Data were analysed using an iterative and thematic approach, with early analysis informing the subsequent analytical rounds. The findings reveal that personalisation has the potential to transform the lives of people from Chinese backgrounds, especially when tailored support is available for people to understand and access personal budgets and put them to creative use. However, the impact of personalisation is barely evident because few eligible individuals access personal budgets or participate in co-production. This is related to a lack of encouragement for service users to become genuine partners in understanding, designing, commissioning and accessing a diverse range of social care services to meet their cultural and social care needs

Older Workers and Care-Giving in England: the Policy Context for Older Workers’ Employment Patterns

This article considers recent changes in the incidence of caring among people aged 50-64 in England and the policy context in which these have occurred. After introducing the topic, research questions addressed and methods used, it outlines findings from other research on how older workers experience and manage caring roles. It then sets out relevant public policy developments since carers were first accorded rights to recognition and services in 1995, focusing on workplace support, local services and financial help for people who reduce or quit their paid work to care. The article presents new analyses of the population censuses conducted in England in 2001 and 2011, focusing on people aged 50-64 and especially on those aged 60-64, the group in which the largest changes were seen. Theses show growth in caring at higher levels of intensity for older workers, and increases in the incidence of caring alongside paid work. To deepen understanding of these changes, the analysis also draws on data from a government survey of carers conducted in 2009-10. The concluding discussion argues that although the modest policy changes implemented since 1995 have provided some support to older workers managing work and care, more policy attention needs to be given following the sharp increase in the incidence of caring seen among people aged 50-64 in England between 2001 and 2011

Paying your own way: application of the capability approach to explore older people's experiences of self-funding social care

Adult social care policy in England is premised on the concept of person- alisation that purports to place individuals in control of the services they receive through market-based mechanisms of support, such as direct payments and personal budgets. However, the demographic context of an ageing population and the economic and political context of austerity have endorsed further rationing of resources. Increasing numbers of people now pay for their own social care because either they do not meet tight eligibility criteria for access to services and/or their financial means place them above the threshold for local authority-funded care. The majority of self-funders are older people. Older people with complex and changing needs are particularly likely to experience dif- ficulties in fulfilling the role of informed, proactive and skilled navi- gators of the care market. Based on individual interviews with older people funding their own care, this article uses a relational-political interpretation (Deneulin, 2011) of the capability approach (CA) to ana- lyse shortfalls between the policy rhetoric of choice and control and the lived experience of self-funding. Whilst CA, like personalisation, is seen as reflecting neo-liberal values, we argue that, in its relational- political form, it has the potential to expose the fallacious assumptions on which self-funding policies are founded and to offer a more nuanced understanding of older people’s experiences

Staff understandings of abuse and poor practice in residential settings for adults with intellectual disabilities

BackgroundA common factor in the abuse of people with intellectual disabilities in residential settings has been the failure of care staff and frontline managers to recognise poor practice at an early stage and prevent its development into a culture of abuse. In this context, staff understandings of abuse and poor practice in residential services for people with intellectual disabilities were explored.MethodSemi‐structured interviews (n = 56) were undertaken with care staff and frontline managers working across England. Interviews included the use of vignettes, based on real‐life experiences of people with intellectual disabilities, to prompt discussion.ResultsStaff struggled to define either “abuse” or “poor practice”, focussing more on individual acts or omissions than on institutional practices. When faced with vignettes, staff demonstrated a lack of agreement regarding what constitutes either abuse or poor practice.ConclusionsThe implications for practice in residential care settings and for safeguarding training are discussed

Unpaid Caring Within and Outside the Carer's Home in England and Wales

Unpaid caring is defined as any help or support provided to family members, friends, neighbours, or others because of their long-term physical or mental health or disability, or problems related to old age. It is estimated that there are over 5.2 million unpaid carers in England and Wales (2001 Census). Using the Small Area Microdata from the 2001 Census Samples of Anonymised Records, we examine geographic and socio-demographic variations in unpaid caring across England and Wales at local authority level with a particular focus on carers aged 40years and older, comparing those who provide unpaid care within their own household and outside their household. The distinction between care within and outside the household is based on whether or not the carer lived with a co-resident reporting a limiting long-term illness. We find a strong geographical relationship between levels of illness and of unpaid care. However, when this is disaggregated by whether the care is provided within or outside the household, we find that care away from the home is likely to be outside the geographical area in which the carer lives. Our individual level analyses suggest associations between rates of unpaid caring and a person's age, gender, ethnicity, social class, and the carer's own health status. Moreover, these relationships are different for people who provide care within or outside their own household. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of the dynamics of caring and for service providers at a national and local level and also for government focus on independent living for people with social care needs and those in later old age. Unpaid carers who do not live with people they care for are likely to face different demands. Support is needed both for themselves and for the people whom they care