Doron Israel, Band-Winterstein Tova, Naim Sigal
Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Israel.
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2013;77(1):17-36. doi: 10.2190/AG.77.1.b.
To explore the unique aspects of the elder self-neglect phenomenon and to achieve phenomenological understanding of self-neglect through the eyes of professional social workers.
A qualitative study based on a sample of 14 certified social workers. Data collection was performed through in-depth semi-structured interviews, followed by content analysis.
Three major themes emerged from the participants: (1) "How can you live like that?" self-neglect as an unsolved riddle; (2) "It's very difficult for me, I go outside and immediately start thinking about myself": the personal burden; and (3) "I keep trying": seeking intervention strategies following the refusal to accept assistance. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS: Social workers' direct involvement with the self-neglecting elders poses a very significant ethical, personal, and professional challenge. In this context, there is a need to impart tools for "solving the riddle" to social workers through self-reflection, improvement of knowledge, theory, and empirical findings regarding the conceptualization and understanding of the self-neglect phenomenon. Moreover, it may be that adopting a clearer ethical "ideology," which is rooted in a discourse of human rights, could assist social workers to reconcile their tensions and difficulties in providing assistance to older, self-neglected persons.
探讨老年人自我忽视现象的独特方面，并通过专业社会工作者的视角对自我忽视现象进行现象学理解。
基于14名持证社会工作者样本的定性研究。通过深入的半结构化访谈收集数据，随后进行内容分析。
参与者提出了三个主要主题：（1）“你怎么能那样生活？”自我忽视是一个未解之谜；（2）“这对我来说非常困难，我出门就立刻开始思考自己”：个人负担；（3）“我一直在努力”：在拒绝接受帮助后寻求干预策略。讨论与结论：社会工作者直接接触自我忽视的老年人带来了非常重大的伦理、个人和专业挑战。在这种情况下，需要通过自我反思、改进关于自我忽视现象概念化和理解的知识、理论及实证研究结果，向社会工作者传授“解开谜团”的工具。此外，采用更清晰的、植根于人权话语的伦理“意识形态”，可能有助于社会工作者调和在为自我忽视的老年人提供帮助时所面临的紧张关系和困难。
