Quality of life among older people in Sweden receiving help from informal and/or formal helpers at home or in special accommodation
TL;DR: A need for greater help with ADLs, and a higher number of self-reported diseases and complaints determined low quality of life, whilst a social network (contact with more than three people) and a greater age determined high QoL.
Abstract: The present study describes and compares quality of life (QoL) and factors which predict QoL among people aged 75 years and over who receive help with activities of daily living (ADLs) from formal and/or informal helpers. The subjects were living at home or in special accommodation in Sweden. A postal questionnaire was sent to a randomly selected and age-stratified sample of 8500 people. The response rate was 52.8% (n = 4337), and 1247 people [mean age (+/- SD) = 86.4 +/- 5.9 years] received help and indicated who helped them with ADLs. The findings suggest that a greater age, being a woman, being a widow/widower, a higher number of health-related complaints, needing more help with ADLs and a lower QoL were found among those receiving help in special accommodation in comparison with those receiving help at home. The extent of help was highest among those receiving help in special accommodation. Having help with ADLs every day at home indicated having help from both informal and formal helpers, while respondents receiving help from only informal or only formal helpers received the smallest amount of help with ADLs. A need for greater help with ADLs, and a higher number of self-reported diseases and complaints determined low QoL, whilst a social network (contact with more than three people) and a greater age determined high QoL. However, who the helpers were did not have a significant influence on QoL; it was the extent of help with ADLs that influenced QoL negatively and the density of the social network that influenced QoL positively.
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The overall aim was to describe and compare functional ability and health complaints of older people receiving municipal care in relation to housing and informal care, and factors associated with medical health care, municipal care and informal Care.
Abstract: The overall aim was to describe and compare functional ability and health complaints of older people receiving municipal care in relation to housing and informal care, and factors associated with medical health care, municipal care and informal care. Further, the aim was to investigate agreement in needs assessments between personnel and older people and to investigate care satisfaction and health-related quality of life among older people receiving municipal care and services. Study I and II included 1958 persons aged 65 years and above, who were assessed for functional ability, health complaints, and level of informal and municipal care and service. Study II in addition included data from a register including medical health care. In study III (n=152), standardised needs assessments were performed by the staff. Later, the older person’s view was collected in a personal interview concerning functional ability, health complaints, public and informal care. In addition (Study IV, n=166), SF-12 was used for measuring health-related quality of life and for measuring care satisfaction. Cohabitation was a predictor of a combination of municipal and informal care at home (OR: 5.935), while assistance with Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) provided by municipal home care and services predicted municipal care only (OR: 0.344). Care in special accommodation was predicted by advanced age (OR: 1.051), dependency in IADL (OR: 19.883), Personal Activities of Daily Living (PADL) (OR: 02.695), and impaired cognitive ability (OR: 3.849) with receiving municipal care only as a reference. Living alone (OR: 0.106), dependency in IADL (OR: 11.348) and PADL (OR: 2.506), impaired cognitive ability (OR: 3.448), impaired vision or blindness (OR: 1.812) and the absence of slowly healing wounds (OR: 0.407) were predictors of special accommodation with a combination of informal and municipal care at home as a reference. 35% of those with public care at home were admitted to hospital and 76% had contact with outpatient care by physician compared to 26% and 87% respectively of those in special accommodation. Living in special accommodation was associated with more contacts with primary health care (B=0.643) and fewer contacts with specialist care (B=-0.722). Informal care was associated with more contacts with primary health care (B=0.413), specialist care (B=0.787), admissions to (B=0.265) and days in hospital (B=1.573). Agreement for dependency in IADL and PADL varied between good (κ=0.78) and moderate (κ=0.43). Poor agreement was found for dizziness (κw=0.17) and fair agreement for impaired hearing, urinary incontinence, pain, anxiety and depressed mood (κw between 0.21 and 0.37). Older persons reported more health complaints than were found in the personnel’s assessments, although significantly lower estimation was found only for incontinence and vision. Agreement for provided public care at home was poor, while for informal care it varied between very good and moderate. Low care satisfaction was associated with dependency in IADL (B=-1.338 and B=-1.630), impaired mobility (B=-12.579), blindness (B=-26.143), faeces incontinence (B=-11.898 and B=-17.529) and anxiety (B=-6.105 and B=-27.197), while high care satisfaction was associated with dependency in PADL (B=2.109) and receiving informal care with IADL from spouse (B=8.738). In special accommodation, low care satisfaction had to do with continuity, timing, the staff’s personal characteristics and with their ability to give service. At home, the older people were the least satisfied with the staff’s ability to do housework and to give medical care, with the staff’s amount of time and with their own influence over their care. (Less)
8 citations
Cites background or methods or result from "Quality of life among older people ..."
...Those receiving care and service have been found to have lower Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) compared to those who do not (Hellström et al., 2004a)....
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...No differences in quality of life (QoL) were found between older people living at home or in special accommodation when controlling for functional ability (Hellström et al., 2004a)....
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...Those living in special accommodation (nursing home) have been found to be older, more functionally dependent and to have a higher number of health complaints than those living at home (Hellström et al., 2004b)....
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...Previous studies have showed that older people dependent in ADL and in need of help from others have reduced QoL (Hellström et al., 2004a; Hellström et al. 2004b)....
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...Previous studies have found lower levels of QoL among older people receiving care and service, compared to older populations of the same age from the general population (Jakobsson, 2007; Hellström et al., 2004a)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the factors of health-related quality of life in older adults according to the type of residency and found that the institutionalized older adults had more health problems and experienced lower quality-of-life compared to community dwelling older adults.
Abstract: Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the factors of health-related quality of life in older adults according to the type of residency. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted. The subjects were 114 institutionalized older adults and 99 community dwelling older adults. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews by nurses using structured questionnaires composed of SF-36 (ver.2) and CGA-SF. Results: The institutionalized older adults had more health problems and experienced lower quality of life compared to community dwelling older adults. Factors influencing health-related quality of life for institutionalized older adults were social support, educational level, and ADL, which explained about 25.7% of the total variance, while thoseof community dwelling older adults were IADL, experiencing fall, and weight loss, which had explanatory power of 31.8%. Conclusion: These results indicate that differentiated nursing strategies according to the type of residency are required to promote health-related quality of life for older adults.
7 citations
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of literature consolidates the state of academic research on social sustainability housing in Sweden, based on literature published over the past 20 years, the review integrates a diver...
Abstract: This review of literature consolidates the state of academic research on social sustainability housing in Sweden. Based on literature published over the past 20 years, the review integrates a diver ...
7 citations
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: The overall quality of life was perceived to be high even though one-third of the persons with dementia had daily pain and had had a weight loss of ≥4% during the preceding year, and pain significantly lowered quality oflife in the dimensions behavioural competence and psychological wellbeing, compared with absence of pain.
Abstract: The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate formal care and services at home, regarding structure, process, and outcomes, for persons with dementia (aged 65+ years) at risk of nursing home admission. Availability and utilization of formal care and services at home for persons with dementia, from diagnosis to end-of-life stage, in eight European countries was described in study I. A mapping form was used to collect data. The results revealed that availability was reported to be higher than utilization, and indicated more similarities than differences among the countries involved. Dementia-specific care and services were sparsely available and even more sparsely utilized. Study II investigated formal care providers’ views on conditions for best practice in terms of collaboration and improvement needs in the chain of care from early to end-of-life stage for persons with dementia in Sweden. Three focus group interviews were conducted to collect data. Data were analysed using content analysis. The results indicated that best practice in terms of collaboration was achieved to a higher degree during the early stage compared with the moderate and end-of-life stages of the disease. Lack of best practice strategies during these stages made it difficult to meet the needs of persons with dementia and reduce burden on informal caregivers. A cross-sectional study design was used in studies III and IV. Questionnaire-based interviews were conducted with 177 persons with dementia and their informal caregivers. Data were analysed using descriptive and comparative statistics. Study III compared persons with dementia with different levels of cognitive impairment, regarding utilization of formal and informal care and services at home. The results showed that needs relating to ADLs and supervision appear to be met first and foremost by the informal caregivers, since the utilization of formal care and services was lower than utilization of informal care. Study IV described self-reported quality of life, different aspects of quality of care and the significance of quality of care for quality of life . The results revealed that pain significantly lowered quality of life in the dimensions behavioural competence and psychological wellbeing, compared with absence of pain. Satisfaction with received care seemed to have a positive effect on quality of life . The overall quality of life was perceived to be high even though one-third of the persons with dementia had daily pain and had had a weight loss of ≥4% during the preceding year. Altogether 23% of the persons with dementia had fallen during the last month and 40% of them had sustained an injury when falling. The thesis is inspired by Lawton's press-competence model, which provided a deeper understanding of the results and the context of the research. (Less)
7 citations
TL;DR: Higher level of depression symptoms and higher level of dependency in activities of daily living (ADL) were significantly associated with lower level of perceived and observed quality of care, and the level of residents' cognitive functioning was not significant associated with any quality dimensions.
Abstract: Background
Measuring quality in long-term residential care involves challenges concerning both the measurement method and the impaired functional ability of many older people. Ensuring quality in care is even more important for people with functional impairments, as this is a vulnerable group who may be unable to report poor quality of care for themselves.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this study was to analyse how perceived and observed assessments of the quality of care varied according to the residents’ functional ability.
Design
The data (n = 278) used in the analyses included residents’, family members’ and staff assessments of perceived and observed quality of care combined with the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) scales measuring the same residents’ functional abilities (physical, psychological, cognitive and social). Observations were included in the data if all four assessment types (by residents, family members, staff and the RAI) were available. The dimensions of quality of care emerging from the factor analysis were used.
Methods
Linear regression was used to explore the association between resident's functional abilities and assessed quality of care.
Results
Higher level of depression symptoms and higher level of dependency in activities of daily living (ADL) were significantly associated with lower level of perceived and observed quality of care. By contrast, the level of residents’ cognitive functioning was not significantly associated with any quality dimensions. The social aspect was the only dimension of functional ability on which better functional ability indicated better quality of care, although differences between respondent groups were also observed.
Conclusions
These analyses emphasize the importance of taking residents’ functional ability into account when collecting information on and interpreting the results of perceived and observed quality of care reported separately by residents, family members and staff.
Implications for practice
The information obtained can inform care professionals of how dimensions of residents' functional impairments are associated with perceived and observed quality of care and the quality of older people's care can thereby be improved.
7 citations
References
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TL;DR: A 36-item short-form survey designed for use in clinical practice and research, health policy evaluations, and general population surveys to survey health status in the Medical Outcomes Study is constructed.
Abstract: A 36-item short-form (SF-36) was constructed to survey health status in the Medical Outcomes Study. The SF-36 was designed for use in clinical practice and research, health policy evaluations, and general population surveys. The SF-36 includes one multi-item scale that assesses eight health concepts: 1) limitations in physical activities because of health problems; 2) limitations in social activities because of physical or emotional problems; 3) limitations in usual role activities because of physical health problems; 4) bodily pain; 5) general mental health (psychological distress and well-being); 6) limitations in usual role activities because of emotional problems; 7) vitality (energy and fatigue); and 8) general health perceptions. The survey was constructed for self-administration by persons 14 years of age and older, and for administration by a trained interviewer in person or by telephone. The history of the development of the SF-36, the origin of specific items, and the logic underlying their selection are summarized. The content and features of the SF-36 are compared with the 20-item Medical Outcomes Study short-form.
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TL;DR: Twenty cross-sectional and longitudinal tests of empirical validity previously published for the 36-item short-form scales and summary measures were replicated for the 12-item Physical Component Summary and the12-item Mental Component Summary, including comparisons between patient groups known to differ or to change in terms of the presence and seriousness of physical and mental conditions.
Abstract: Regression methods were used to select and score 12 items from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) to reproduce the Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary scales in the general US population (n=2,333). The resulting 12-item short-form (SF-12) achieved multiple R squares of 0.911 and 0.918 in predictions of the SF-36 Physical Component Summary and SF-36 Mental Component Summary scores, respectively. Scoring algorithms from the general population used to score 12-item versions of the two components (Physical Components Summary and Mental Component Summary) achieved R squares of 0.905 with the SF-36 Physical Component Summary and 0.938 with SF-36 Mental Component Summary when cross-validated in the Medical Outcomes Study. Test-retest (2-week)correlations of 0.89 and 0.76 were observed for the 12-item Physical Component Summary and the 12-item Mental Component Summary, respectively, in the general US population (n=232). Twenty cross-sectional and longitudinal tests of empirical validity previously published for the 36-item short-form scales and summary measures were replicated for the 12-item Physical Component Summary and the 12-item Mental Component Summary, including comparisons between patient groups known to differ or to change in terms of the presence and seriousness of physical and mental conditions, acute symptoms, age and aging, self-reported 1-year changes in health, and recovery for depression. In 14 validity tests involving physical criteria, relative validity estimates for the 12-item Physical Component Summary ranged from 0.43 to 0.93 (median=0.67) in comparison with the best 36-item short-form scale. Relative validity estimates for the 12-item Mental Component Summary in 6 tests involving mental criteria ranged from 0.60 to 107 (median=0.97) in relation to the best 36-item short-form scale. Average scores for the 2 summary measures, and those for most scales in the 8-scale profile based on the 12-item short-form, closely mirrored those for the 36-item short-form, although standard errors were nearly always larger for the 12-item short-form.
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TL;DR: The 22-item Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale was subjected to a series of principal component analyses utilizing different item pools and rotating differing numbers of factors, suggesting three consistently reproduced factors.
Abstract: The 22-item Philadelphia Geriatric Center (PGC) Morale Scale was subjected to a series of principal component analyses utilizing different item pools and rotating differing numbers of factors. Subjects were 1086 tenants of federally-assisted housing for the elderly and older people living in the community. Results were compared with analyses of the PGC Scale done by Morris and Sherwood. Consideration of factors defined by the analyses suggested three consistently reproduced factors: Agitation, Attitude Toward Own Aging, and Lonely Dissatisfaction, utilizing 17 of the original items. These results were compared with other multi-dimensional measures of morale: the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale, and morale scales reported by Pierce and Clark, and Schooler. In addition to the dimensions derived from the current study related domains of self-rated health, social accessibility, generalized attitude toward aging, and positive affect were suggested as worthy of further exploration as dimensions of morale.
1,374 citations
TL;DR: Empirical evidence is yielded supporting the feasibility of a non-English language reproduction of the SF-36 Health Survey in Sweden and tests of scaling assumptions including hypothesized item groupings were consistently favorable across subgroups, although lower rates were noted in the oldest age group.
1,344 citations