Quality of life among older people in Sweden receiving help from informal and/or formal helpers at home or in special accommodation
TLDR
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.read more
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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Health and functioning among elderly recipients of home help in Norway
Anette Hylen Ranhoff,Knut Laake +1 more
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that the home help clients represent a particularly frail group of elderly people, and that home help tends to be provided as a supplement to formal care, i.e. home nursing, as well as to informal support from relatives, neighbours and friends.
Journal ArticleDOI
Proficiency assessment: a tool for developing geriatric education programs and for predicting program participation
TL;DR: Implementation of a proficiency‐assessment tool at the Ohio Valley Appalachia Regional Geriatric Education Center successfully identified 10 out of 27 items that predicted attendance at a selected geriatrics program.