Social Work with the Elderly: Residential Care as an Example

The literature on social work practice with elderly people gives recognition to the social processes which constrain older people, but there is little attempt to identify the connections among socio-economic and political organisation, power relationships and disadvantage in old age. This paper asserts that social work with older people must begin with an analysis that focuses on the impact of class, gender and power relationships in structuring inequality in old age. Such an analysis promotes the development of intervention strategies, skills and activities to bring about both personal and structural change. This paper presents a practice framework developed out of the experience of a social work student unit in a home for aged people. The principles of the framework can be applied to work with older people in any setting

Capturing the complexity of women's experiences: A mixed-method approach to studying incontinence in older women

Capturing the voices of women when the issue is of a sensitive nature has been a major concern of feminist researchers. It has often been argued that interpretive methods are the most appropriate way to collect such information, but there are other appropriate ways to approach the design of research. This article explores the use of a mixed-method approach to collect data on incontinence in older women and argues for the use of a variety of creative approaches to collect and analyze data

Older people’s assets: a contested site

The management of the financial assets of older people is increasingly important in the current policy context. Competing interests from the state, the market and the family regarding the appropriate use of these assets suggest that non-professional managers are assisting older people in a complex environment. This paper, based on a national prevalence study and an in-depth study, explores the nature and extent of asset management on behalf of older people. It examines the role of legal provision for substitute decision-making in these processes and concludes that the current provision is insufficient to protect older people from financial abuse and support carers to manage assets well. This paper proposes that more broadly based interventions are required in a complex environment of competing interests. Such interventions include attitudinal change, improved financial literacy, information and support for older people and informal asset managers and improved monitoring and support for substitute decision makers

Managing the Financial Assets of Older People: Balancing Independence and Protection

Family involvement in managing the financial assets of older people is an area of policy and practice importance. This importance relates to the complexity of older people’s assets, systems of paying for care and concerns around substitute decision-making and financial abuse. Although a common task of informal care, little is known about older people’s experiences and wishes in relation to asset management. This paper reports on a qualitative study of the experiences and perspectives of thirty-four older people receiving such assistance. It identifies three scenarios that promote or inhibit independence in this context and draws out the challenges for this emerging area of practice with older adults and their families

The Outcomes Research Project: An Exploration of Customary Practice in Australian Health Settings

In response to the new ‘outcomes movement’ in health care settings internationally, social workers are increasingly expected to communicate their practice using the language of outcomes. Yet, little research has focused on the language that social workers use to describe their practice and how they identify appropriate interventions and link them to clearly defined evaluative outcomes. This paper is part of a large programme of research exploring and identifying issues associated with social work practice in the Australian health context. Specifically, the paper draws on qualitative data from the first stage of the project that explores issues associated with customary social work practice. Findings from the paper suggest clear evidence of tensions and difficulties experienced by social workers in attempting to communicate the critical expertise behind their practice and that practitioners have only rudimentary understanding of the concepts of outcomes and evaluation. A key challenge for social work research concerns how to encourage the profession actively to engage with the outcomes movement whilst maintaining the core principles and values of social work

Understanding Financial Elder Abuse in Families: Exploring the potential of Routine Activities Theory

The aim of this paper is to stimulate theoretical thought about financial elder abuse within families, by exploring the potential of ‘routine activities theory’ for raising our understanding of, and response to, its occurrences. Research into financial elder abuse, defined as the illegal or improper use of a person's finances or property by another person, has tended to emphasise the abusive event and the associated risk factors. ‘Routine activities theory’, in contrast, directs attention more to developing prevention strategies that focus on everyday activities and hence seek to reduce the opportunities for illegal activity. The authors' research programme on the broad topic of money management and older people in Australia has conceptualised financial elder abuse as one possible outcome of the family management of older people's assets. This paper reports an application of routine activities theory to in-depth data of the asset-management practices and experiences of 81 family members who were assisting 86 older people. The paper concludes that the theory contributes to our understanding of how and why financial abuse occurs in families. It makes clear the distorting influence of a sense of entitlement and the preventive importance of both capable guardians, to oversee family-asset management and be alert to mismanagement, and the need for improved financial awareness, skills and probity in the community in connection with this common task of assisting older people to manage their financial assets