Harrefors Christina, Sävenstedt Stefan, Axelsson Karin
Department of Health Science, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden.
Scand J Caring Sci. 2009 Jun;23(2):353-60. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2008.00629.x.
Many countries encounter a demographic change where the number of elderly people will increase. As a result, the number of very old people needing care, services and medical assistance will increase. Care in the private home is often described as providing the best alternative for many elderly people. The aim of this study was to describe elderly people's perceptions of how they wanted to be cared for, from a perspective of becoming in need of assistance with personal care, in the future. Twelve couples of healthy elderly people living in a couple hood participated in an interview study. They were all 70 years and older and received no kind of professional care or social support. Open individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with the support of written vignettes. The vignettes were formed as scenarios that described three levels of caring needs where the elderly people would become ill. A qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. The findings were interpreted in one main theme: maintaining the self and being cared for with dignity to the end. The theme was built from three categories: at home as long as possible, professional care at nursing home when advanced care is needed and fear of being abandoned. The categories reflect the perception that when minimum help was needed, care and support by the partner and nursing staff were preferred. As the scenarios changed to being totally dependent on care, they preferred care in a nursing home. There was a pervading concern of the risk of not being seen as an individual person and becoming a nobody with no meaningful relations. Thus, there must be a singular goal to support old people, in all stages of their lives, through the recognition and affirmation of self, and providing care with dignity to the end.
许多国家都面临着人口结构变化，老年人数量将会增加。因此，需要护理、服务和医疗援助的高龄老人数量也会增加。居家护理通常被认为是为许多老年人提供的最佳选择。本研究的目的是从未来需要个人护理帮助的角度，描述老年人对希望得到何种护理的看法。十二对处于夫妻关系的健康老年人参与了一项访谈研究。他们均年满70岁，且未接受任何专业护理或社会支持。在书面短文的辅助下进行了开放式的个人半结构化访谈。短文以描述老年人患病时三种护理需求水平的情景形式呈现。采用定性内容分析法对访谈进行分析。研究结果归纳为一个主要主题：保持自我并体面地接受护理直至生命终结。该主题由三个类别构成：尽可能长时间居家、在需要高级护理时在养老院接受专业护理以及害怕被遗弃。这些类别反映出一种观念，即当需要最低限度帮助时，他们更倾向于由伴侣和护理人员提供护理和支持。随着情景变为完全依赖护理，他们更倾向于在养老院接受护理。人们普遍担心自己不被视为个体，变成一个没有有意义人际关系的无名小卒。因此，必须有一个单一目标，即在老年人生命的各个阶段，通过认可和肯定自我，并体面地提供护理直至生命终结，来支持他们。
