Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Health Soc Care Community. 2013 Mar;21(2):150-8. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12006. Epub 2012 Oct 24.
Public policy increasingly emphasises the importance of informal support networks to meet the needs of the ageing population. Evidence for the types of support neighbours provide to older people and how neighbours collaborate with formal support-givers is currently insufficient. Our study therefore explored (i) types of informal neighbour support and (ii) experiences of neighbours, volunteers and professionals providing support. Interviews with nine Dutch neighbour support-givers, five volunteers and 12 professionals were conducted and subjected to latent content analysis. Findings indicate that commitment occurred naturally among neighbours; along with providing instrumental and emotional support, neighbour support seems to be a matter of carefully 'watching over each other'. Neighbour support-givers, however, are often frail themselves and become overburdened; they furthermore lack support from professionals. Neighbour, volunteer and professional support-givers seem to operate in distinct, non-collaborative spheres. Findings suggest that policy-makers should consider the opportunities and limitations of neighbour and volunteer support. Professionals have an indispensable role in providing back-up and accountable, specialised support. They may be trained to adopt a visible and proactive attitude in neighbourhoods to facilitate, cooperate with and mediate between neighbour and volunteer support-givers.
公共政策越来越强调非正式支持网络的重要性，以满足老龄化人口的需求。目前，关于邻居为老年人提供的支持类型以及邻居如何与正式的支持者合作的证据还不够充分。因此，我们的研究探讨了（i）非正式邻居支持的类型，以及（ii）邻居、志愿者和专业人员提供支持的经验。对 9 名荷兰邻居支持提供者、5 名志愿者和 12 名专业人员进行了访谈，并进行了潜在内容分析。研究结果表明，邻居之间的承诺是自然而然产生的；除了提供工具性和情感支持外，邻居支持似乎是一种“相互关照”的问题。然而，邻居支持提供者自己往往也很脆弱，负担过重；他们还缺乏专业人员的支持。邻居、志愿者和专业支持提供者似乎在不同的、非合作的领域运作。研究结果表明，政策制定者应该考虑邻居和志愿者支持的机会和局限性。专业人员在提供后备和负责任的专业支持方面发挥着不可或缺的作用。他们可以接受培训，在社区中采取明显和积极主动的态度，以促进、合作和调解邻居和志愿者支持提供者之间的关系。
