Informal care and health care use of older adults

Informal care by adult children is a common form of long-term care for older adults and can reduce medical expenditures if it substitutes for formal care. We address how informal care by all children affects formal care, which is critically important given demographic trends and the many policies proposed to promote informal care. We examine the 1998 Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) and 1995 Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest-Old Panel Survey (AHEAD) using two-part utilization models. Instrumental variables (IV) estimation controls for the simultaneity of informal and formal care. Informal care reduces home health care use and delays nursing home entry.     

互补还是替代：家庭照料与社区居家养老服务

文章使用国家卫生健康委2014年开展的中国计划生育家庭发展追踪调查数据,采用Probit模型和工具变量方法,实证检验家庭老年照料与社区上门生活护理服务和社区上门医疗服务之间的关系。研究发现：（1）家庭照料会显著减少老年人使用社区上门生活护理服务的概率,二者呈替代关系,但是在高龄和中、重度失能老人中,两者呈互补关系;（2）对于上门医疗服务则存在互补关系,家庭照料会显著增加老年人使用社区上门医疗服务的概率,但是在低收入老年人中,二者存在替代关系。文章建议社区居家养老服务体系建设要注重与家庭照料之间的协调发展,特别要关注高龄、中、重度失能和低收入老年人群体的照料需求,实现家庭照料与社区居家养老服务的优势互补。     

Patient-reported care coordination: associations with primary care continuity and specialty care use

PURPOSE Care coordination is increasingly recognized as a necessary element of high-quality, patient-centered care. This study investigated (1) the association between care coordination and continuity of primary care, and (2) differences in this association by level of specialty care use.METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of Medicare enrollees with select chronic conditions in an integrated health care delivery system in Washington State. We collected survey information on patient experiences and automated health care utilization data for 1 year preceding survey completion. Coordination was defined by the coordination measure from the short form of the Ambulatory Care Experiences Survey (ACES). Continuity was measured by primary care visit concentration. Patients who had 10 or more specialty care visits were classified as high users. Linear regression was used to estimate the association between coordination and continuity, controlling for potential confounders and clustering within clinicians. We used a continuity-by-specialty interaction term to determine whether the continuity-coordination association was modified by high specialty care use.RESULTS Among low specialty care users, an increase of 1 standard deviation (SD) in continuity was associated with an increase of 2.71 in the ACES coordination scale (P <.001). In high specialty care users, we observed no association between continuity and reported coordination (P= .77).CONCLUSIONS High use of specialty care may strain the ability of primary care clinicians to coordinate care effectively. Future studies should investigate care coordination interventions that allow for appropriate specialty care referrals without diminishing the ability of primary care physicians to manage overall patient care.     

英国整合型保健发展经验及启示

通过现场观察与深度访谈的定性研究方法,总结了英格兰NHS整合型保健的做法和经验,并针对我国卫生服务体系存在的碎片化问题,提出了相关的政策建议:大力发展初级卫生保健和社区卫生服务,加强以全科医生为核心的多学科服务团队建设,建立全科医生"守门人"制度,建立相关政府部门间的沟通协作机制,在社区层面横向整合多方社会服务资源等。     

Patient‐centred care training needs of health care assistants who provide care for people with dementia

It is well documented that Health care assistants (HCAs) provide the most hands‐on care to residents in aged care facilities, and play a critical role in the provision of care to dementia residents. Over the last 25 years, a philosophy of person‐centred care has become the preferred approach to care and this has meant that HCAs are encouraged to get to know the resident very well. This paper reports the experiences of HCAs in caring for people at end‐of‐life, identifies the skills required for their work and examines the education provided against these skills. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in 49 facilities (n = 34) across New Zealand and data analysed thematically, with the aim of critically examining the adequacy of education for health care assistants which meets their needs within a person‐centred environment. The results confirm that the skills include traditional tasks of care (showering, feeding, toileting, and dressing) but the increasingly important communication and de‐escalation skills, both verbal and non‐verbal, have become central to their care skills. Education provided has not sufficiently shifted focus to include these more complex skills. Provision of educations that acknowledges the increased complexities of their role needs to be provided. As well, facilities need to be challenged to reconsider the HCA's position in the facility care tem.     

心理护理在助产护理中的应用效果

目的评价在分娩助产护理过程中,心理护理是否具有良好的应用效果。方法选取我院2012年4月—2014年4月收治的156例产妇作为研究对象,将其随机分为A、B两组,A组为观察组,B组为对照组,A组在进行常规的助产护理的基础上同时应用心理护理,B组仅进行基本的助产护理。在治疗期间详细地记录两组产妇的剖宫产率、产后大出血比例以及产后抑郁的概率,并用统计学方法将两组数据进行对比分析。结果 A组患者的剖宫产率为12.8%,发生产后大出血的比例为6.4%,产后抑郁的概率为5.1%,B组患者的剖宫产率为30.8%,发生产后大出血的比例为23.1%,产后抑郁的概率为16.7%,A组的三种情况均低于B组患者,其差别具有统计学意义（P〈0.05）。结论心理护理在分娩助产护理中有良好的应用效果,可有效地降低患者产后大出血、产后抑郁的概率,同时降低剖宫产的比率,具有较高的临床价值,是分娩质量提高的重要前提。     

The costs of care: An ethnography of care work in residential homes for older people

The cost of social care, the work conditions experienced by care workers and the quality of care provided by residential homes for older people are all linked, yet we know very little about how this relationship works in practice. Drawing upon an ethnography of two differently priced residential care homes for older people in Southern England, I examine the implications of different financial regimes for care-giving practices. I show how the scheduling and allocation of resources—conveyed, for example, in formal routines and staffing levels—structure the care workers’ time, tasks and activities in each setting. This acts to symbolically demarcate what, or who, is valued. I argue that the availability of resources facilitates and impedes the symbolic culture of care work, shapes care workers’ ability to afford dignity to the individuals in their care and affects how care workers experience, and relate to, their labour. I conclude by discussing how current practices of funding and pricing social care have effects seeping beyond the practical and measurable, and into the realm of the symbolic.     

Unmet health care and health care utilization

The objective of this study is to examine the causal effect of health care utilization on unmet health care needs. An IV approach deals with the endogeneity between the use of health care services and unmet health care, using the presence of drug insurance and the number of physicians by health region as instruments. We employ three cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey confidential master files (2003, 2005, and 2014). We find a robustly negative relationship between health care use and unmet health care needs. One more visit to a medical doctor on average decreases the probability of reporting unmet health care needs by 0.014 points. The effect is negative for the women‐only group whereas it is statistically insignificant for men; similarly, the effect is negative for urban dwellers but insignificant for rural ones. Health care use reduces the likelihood of reporting unmet health care. Policies that encourage the use of health care services, like increasing the coverage of public drug insurance and increasing after hours accessibility of physicians, can help reduce the likelihood of unmet health care.     

Foster family care in Korea

The main thrust of this article is to present a strategy for foster family care operation in Korea. The article is organized with five themes: a brief history of Korean foster care operation, the present condition and problems of foster family care, an operational plan, recommendations, and an overview of the American experience with foster family care to explore its implications for Korea. The authors make these recommendations in order to bring the true nature of foster care operation to Korea: strengthen financial aid and arrange special benefits for foster care families, provide intervention of professionals in foster care agencies, and increase community awareness and citizen participation.     

Preconception care: practice and beliefs of primary care workers

BACKGROUND: A number of lifestyle modifications and medical interventions can be of benefit to maternal and neonatal health, when applied prior to conception. These include smoking cessation, supplementation with folic acid, cessation or moderation of alcohol intake and improvement of diabetic control. However, preconception care (PCC) is not widely practised in the UK, despite being apparently acceptable to health professionals and to women of childbearing age. OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to describe the current practice of PCC in Barnsley and to assess the beliefs and attitudes of primary health care practitioners. This information would help direct appropriate educational and clinical governance intervention to this service in the locality in the light of other evidence about the effectiveness of PCC. METHODS: A questionnaire was devised to explore the beliefs about, and practice in providing, PCC in primary care in the Barnsley Health Authority area and sent to all known GPs, practice nurses (PNs), health visitors (HVs) and midwives (MWs) in practices in the area in July 2000. A total of 163 completed questionnaires were received (one reminder, response rate 60.1%). RESULTS: Few practices had a written policy on PCC. Most respondents were providing it mainly on an opportunistic basis and had done so less than five times in the previous 3 months; GPs and PNs were most commonly involved. They agreed that advice about smoking, drug use, folic acid, genetic counselling, chronic disease, alcohol, and maternity care and screening for rubella, genital infections, hepatitis, human immunodeficiency virus and cervical cytology were important. They felt that advice about diet, exercise, supplements, food safety, occupational hazards and State benefits, and screening for nutritional status were less important. Although respondents felt that PCC was effective, and important to women of childbearing age, it was not a high priority in their workload. They indicated that this care was best provided in general practice and that they had the appropriate skills. Barriers to providing PCC included lack of resources and lack of contact with women planning to conceive. Few had received any training on PCC since qualifying in their discipline. CONCLUSIONS: The practitioners who responded to this survey agreed to a large extent about the importance of the subject, and about the content and effectiveness of PCC. Factors hindering the delivery of this service include resource constraints, lack of training and practice policies and procedures, and difficulty in targeting couples planning conception. Further research is needed into ways to increase the provision and uptake of PCC.     

Transitional care: A new model of care from young age to adulthood

IntroductionTransition of care represents the transfer from child to adult care. An effective transition maintains continuity of care and presents better clinical outcomes. This process has assumed growing relevance, thanks to improved survivorship of chronic paediatric patients. Actually, there is no a one-size model fitting for all transitions, but each Service organizes its own clinical pathway.AimThe study proposes an organizational model for transition, differentiated according to patient complexity.MethodsThe working group discussed, through regular meetings, the appropriate transitional model for our Hospital. The working group defined a common scheme of transition and elaborated a synthetic document for patients. Then, the common model is adapted, through clinicians’ contribution, for different diseases. The complexity assessment includes clinical data, nursing and social information.ResultsThe working group defined a common model identifying the main information to be included and detailed in each transition report. The team defined two pathways based on patient’s complexity. In case of good compensation and autonomous management, the adolescent is addressed towards standard transition process, a smoother transition from paediatric to adult care with direct connection among healthcare professionals. In case of complex clinical and/or social conditions, an Interdisciplinary Transition Group (ITG) is activated. The group preventively evaluates each patient in periodic meetings and provides a personalized planning of care. In order to define the complexity of a patient, clinical and social determinants are considered. Some diseases are considered complex by default, while others require ITG involvement in case of multiple comorbidities, severe clinical situation, concomitant social criticality and/or cognitive impairment.DiscussionTransition of care represents an important phase in chronic diseases management. The proposed model assures a multidisciplinary approach, involving all specialists of both paediatric and adult teams. A key determinant of transition is information transmission. Then, the model proposes a common transition report format. Finally, a further perspective study is already in program, in order to assess clinical effectiveness.     

Comprehensive care: building community alliances for care of people with HIV/AIDS

In this article we suggest that optimal care for people livingwith HIV/AIDS calls for a multidisciplinary and multisectoralapproach, which can be achieved with cooperation between thestatutory and non-statutory service systems. AIDS has both directlyand indirectly focused attention on the limitations of the servicesavailable in our communities, including those provided by theprimary and secondary health sector. However, non-statutorycommunity-based organizations have been providing vital servicesof information, counselling and care, relying on a steady streamof unpaid labour. Community control over its health care systemand environment should be encouraged and local authorities shouldacknowledge the resources provided by non-statutory bodies,supporting such groups both morally and financially. Using theHealthy Cities project network as a framework, we recommendestablishing working relationships to enhance service integration.The creation of service alliances is intended to facilitatecontinuity of care by establishing links within local governmentagencies, and the priority of the alliance should be to developa realistic, comprehensive service plan involving all interestedparties.     

关于完善老年服务和长期护理制度的思考与建议

我国以家庭为基础,社区为依托、机构为补充、医养结合的多元福利体系已经建成。本文认为与医疗有关的长期护理应纳入基本医疗保险,与生活有关的长期照料属私人事务,当私人在经济上和服务上不能提供有效供给时,政府需要"兜底线",瞄准对象,建立长期照护津贴制度,为弱势家庭提供长期生活照料的帮助;财政支出政策应由"补供方"为主转向"补需方"为主。文章认为现阶段社会长期护理保险不适合中国国情,建议完善健康养老、积极养老政策降低失能概率;构建"支持和维护家庭"的养老和长期照护政策体系。     

Informal care: the views of people receiving care

Informal care is perceived to be the best option for people who require assistance to look after themselves. National and international studies of informal care have focused on the carer, not on the care provided, or the needs and experiences of the care recipients. In the present study, 55 people receiving informal care (21 males and 24 females, mean age = 67.6) were surveyed to determine the type of assistance that they receive, perceptions of the quality of their care, feelings about being looked after by a carer and their perceptions of the services which would be useful. A random sample of 531 households were selected as part of a larger study into informal care in the west of Ireland. A total of 98 carers were identified and 55 of the people they looked after were well enough to participate in the study. Over two-thirds of carers assisted with household chores (e.g. cleaning, preparing meals and shopping). Other activities which carers assisted with included keeping the person safe from household accidents (62%), personal care (42%), and dressing and undressing (31%). Whilst most were very satisfied with the quality of care, a minority reported dissatisfaction, and stated that their carer showed signs of anger and frustration. Common concerns related to the health of the carer, their safety when the carer is not available and the cost of being cared for. Financial support for the person receiving care and the carer were the main priorities for these individuals. The present study points to a need for greater involvement of care recipients in planning services relating to informal care, and support and access to health professionals for people receiving care. People receiving care are also concerned about the level of financial support for themselves and their carers.     

The business of care: the moral labour of care workers

Drawing on a case study conducted in a private residential care home, this article examines the emotional labour of care workers in relation to the moral construction of care and the practical experiences of work. An examination of the company's discursive attempts to construct, manage and demarcate its employees’ emotional labour was carried out alongside an exploration of the carers’ own interpretations of, and enrolment in, the care‐giving role. The potential economic and emotional consequences of these occurrences were a key focus of the inquiry. The study found that carers, encouraged by the company, naturalised their emotional labour, and that this had contradictory consequences. On the one hand it justified the economic devaluation of the carer's work and left her vulnerable to emotional over‐involvement and client aggression. On the other, it allowed the worker to defend the moral interests of those within her care and to see when those interests were in conflict with the economic motivations of her employer.     

Quantifying posthospital care transitions in older patients

BACKGROUND: Older patients frequently receive care in multiple settings. However, there has been a paucity of studies that quantify the number of care transitions or that attempt to explain utilization patterns over a given time period. Furthermore, no studies have examined transitions based on method of payment. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the number of different posthospital interinstitutional transfers (including hospital, inpatient rehabilitation facilities [IRF], and skilled nursing facilities [SNF]) by method of payment (managed Care [MC] or fee-for-service [FFS]). DESIGN: Prospective cohort followed for 12 months. Method: A total of 1055 older patients were identified on transfer from an acute hospital to either an SNF or IRF. Utilization and mortality was tracked over 12 months through analysis of administrative data, chart review, nursing assessments, and patient interviews. RESULTS: After 3 months, 65.3% of MC patients and 75.6% of FFS patients experienced between two and three transfers and an additional 13.8% of MC patients and 14.6% of FFS patients experienced between four and six transfers. Over the next 9 months, the frequency of patient transfers uniformly declined in both payment groups. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that interinstitutional transfers are common in older patients. The majority of these transfers occurred within the first 3 months after hospital discharge for both payment groups. Understanding the frequency and patterns of posthospital care transitions is an important step toward designing innovative approaches to improve the quality of care transitions and ensuring patient safety across settings.     

Difficulties experienced by care managers who are care workers managing elder abuse cases in the Japanese long-term care insurance system

The purpose of the present study is to describe the difficulties perceived by care managers in Japan when managing care in cases of abuse of elderly people in the home. Participants (n = 21) were female care managers who had handled an abuse case while working for an in-home care management service provider. Participants had a mean of 4.3 +/- 0.7 years of experience as a care manager. Interview data were collected from 2004 to 2005 and analysed according to the grounded theory approach. Seven categories and one core category of difficulties were extracted from the data. The core category was 'tacit control of care management by the abusive caregiver'. The other categories were as follows: the terrible situation of the people abused cannot be ignored; the long-term care insurance service is the only support for abused people; the abusive caregiver has the authority to cancel the contract; concerns that intervention might increase abuse; prioritising how to deal with the abuser rather than the abused is unavoidable; the abusive caregiver deciding the needs of the individual requiring care; and creating a care plan that is acceptable to the caregiver. Therefore, the present results suggest the necessity of not only treating the role of care managers as an important position within the care system that deals with elder abuse, but also highlight the need to establish a system that supports care managers in order to promote appropriate care management.     

An Australian study on the benefits of pastoral care to aged care residents in Christian affiliated homes

This study aimed to understand the experience of pastoral care (PC), that is, the provision of support, comfort and spiritual counselling, from the perspective of Australian aged care residents. A survey research design captured feedback on participants’ PC experience. Outcomes were reported by 575 residents (aged 53–102) across 41 sites. The majority perceived that they received a high quality of care (92%) and benefited from their meeting with the pastoral practitioner (80%), ‘often’ or ‘all of the time’. A few significant differences were found based on participants’ gender, spirituality (i.e. connection and meaning), religiosity (i.e. faith beliefs and religious practices) and well‐being. Females and participants who identified as both religious and spiritual were more likely to feel that their faiths/beliefs were valued. Those with greater psychological well‐being, as defined by the World Health Organisation (1998), were more likely to report receiving a high quality of care and greater benefits from receiving PC than those with poorer well‐being. Three overarching themes and eight subthemes were identified from the open‐ended responses: 1) personal qualities of the pastoral practitioner; caring, supportive, understanding and empathetic; 2) pastoral practitioner met specific needs; spiritual and religious, friendship and company and assistance, advice and help; and 3) positive impact on the participant; feeling listened to, peaceful and valued, accepted and respected. The qualitative findings resonate with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, to feel safe, belong and have self‐esteem. There was a synergy between what participants desire in the care they receive, as expressed in the open‐ended questions, and what the pastoral practitioners provide, as indicated in the quantitative findings. A study strength was its mixed‐method, multi‐site and cross‐organisational context, enabling PC to be explored across a diverse sample. Future research should consider a pre‐ and post‐test survey to more comprehensively capture the impact and benefits of PC.     

Changing discourses and changing institutional child substitute care: new terms and processes toward family-like and family-based care

This article is an attempt to analyse and describe the process of change in child substitute care that has taken place since the re-independence of Estonia in 1991. These changes started with adopting new terms and ideas. However, while international terminology and concepts have been accepted, local conditions affect this acceptance of concepts as well as their practical development. In the present article, the aim is to look at the process of changing discourse in Estonian institutional substitute care. Overall, it was found that, in the reform of substitute care, the way in which and the extent to which new concepts have been applied through current activities are not enough to achieve internal changes in the development of the substitute care itself. Although family-like care and family-based care have been promoted and applied, the nature of these terms and their place in child substitute care remain dormant. It seems that, contrary to the desired goal of decreasing the burden of institutional substitute care, this burden has in fact increased. In addition, an issue of concern needing attention is a remarkable tension between paid professional and relationship-based care.