Institute of Health and Care Sciences, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Department of Sociology and Work Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Health Soc Care Community. 2020 Mar;28(2):633-641. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12897. Epub 2019 Dec 3.
This study explores care practices of older people outside formal care and without appealing to predefined relationships. We conducted interviews with 30 independent-living men and women aged 67-93 in three municipalities in Sweden. The interviews explored how they cared for themselves and other older people who were not family. Interviews were conducted between December 2017 and May 2018 and later transcribed and analysed using grounded theory. Our paper presents one of the first studies on informal care practices among older people that looks beyond the definition of formal care to understand how such care complements formal care services. The findings show that older people participate in several care arrangements to care for themselves as well as for others. The arrangements feature different types of mutuality and include distant relations to other older people and larger more or less formalised groups. The findings highlight the importance of looking beyond conceptualisations of care based on understandings of formal care and specific relationships as a frame for understanding informal care. To promote older people's health by cultivating and supporting older people's care for themselves and others, research and healthcare practitioners need to explore and acknowledge the significance and complexity of older people's everyday care practices.
本研究探讨了老年人在没有诉诸预先定义的关系的情况下在非正式护理之外的护理实践。我们对瑞典三个城市的 30 名 67-93 岁的独立生活的男性和女性进行了访谈。访谈探讨了他们如何照顾自己和其他非家庭成员的老年人。访谈于 2017 年 12 月至 2018 年 5 月进行，并随后使用扎根理论进行转录和分析。本文介绍了最早研究老年人非正式护理实践的研究之一，该研究超越了正式护理的定义，以了解这种护理如何补充正式护理服务。研究结果表明，老年人参与了几种照顾自己和他人的照顾安排。这些安排具有不同类型的互惠性，包括与其他老年人的远距离关系以及更大、或多或少正式的群体。研究结果强调了超越基于对正式护理和特定关系的理解的护理概念化的重要性，将其作为理解非正式护理的框架。为了通过培养和支持老年人照顾自己和他人来促进老年人的健康，研究人员和医疗保健从业者需要探索和承认老年人日常护理实践的重要性和复杂性。
