Community Connections
Elderly Health Care at Community Level in Thailand : Participation and Partnership
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Paiboon Pongsaengpan, Anchana Sopon
This participatory action research was designed to explore the process of an elderly health care program development at the community level. The researcher acted as a facilitator of the elderly health care in the community. The qualitative data were collected through participation observation and in-depth interview. The participants included health workers, health volunteers, and elders who were selected from twelve elderly health care units in Thailand. Topics included enhancing workforce preparedness through cultural and social responsibility, providing more services of health care to older adults in the communities, such as specific support groups, and increasing inclusive in diversifying methods and participants to improve outcomes for health care quality, partnerships, and communities affected by participatory action research focus on elderly health care perspective at community level.The process of developing and learning in all twelve areas focused on responsible for elderly care in the community. We concluded that there have been stronger collaboration between the elderly care networks in every community, and significant of understanding and awareness of the responsibility for elderly care in the community. We found that each area has a process to develop and drive the system continuously for elderly health care.
Female Excluded More Than Male: Do Community Characteristics Matter?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ni Wayan Suriastini, Bondan Sikoki, Riska Dwi Astuti
Despite the numerous studies of social exclusion acknowledged gender disparity in this issue, little is focused to widen the analysis into community-level factors. Considering elderly as the most vulnerable age group, this study aims to investigate the role of community characteristics in explaining gender disparity in social exclusion among the elderly in Indonesia. Cross-sectional data in 2007 and 2014 from Indonesian Family Life Survey are analyzed using ordered logistic regression with the dependent variable categorized in the three stages; socially included, moderately excluded and severely excluded. Female elderly who had enrolled in high education are less likely to be excluded while it does not show significant effect for the males. Furthermore, the percentage of working member in household also enhance the female probability to be socially included. The distance from living location to the central district positively affects female exclusion whereas in 2014 it turns into a negative sign for the males. The characteristics of the official village leader also must be taken into consideration. Statistically, excluded female elderly tend to live in community where the leader is chosen without election and is aged under 50. Furthermore, the more educated leader induces more inclusion for male elderly only. These findings suggest that policy maker especially young and educated community leader should encourage pay more attention to female elderly particularly in hinterland society in order to fight social exclusion equally.
The 10k Project: A Community-centred Approach to Ageing Well
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alison A Rahn
A whole population approach to ageing and dying well requires a re-imagination of aged services and communities. For service providers, the challenge is to work with people in respectful, empowering partnerships that promote wellness. For the community, it means stepping up to the responsibility of caring for each other throughout the life course. What happens when a community development perspective is applied to residential aged care to bring the community in? While the individual and collective benefits of social networks are well recognised, little is being done to move towards network-centred care for our expanding ageing populations. The goal of the 10K Project, a collaboration between The Groundswell Project, Southern Cross Care, and Western Sydney University, was to develop an effective replicable community development model for the aged care sector. It aims to create connections with the surrounding community, identify and overcome possible barriers to implementing community development, and discover examples of best practice. Methods adopted involved social network mapping, interviews, and focus groups with residents, families, staff, and the community before, during, and after placement of a community development worker embedded in an aged care facility. Pre-intervention, residents reported feeling lonely and socially isolated. With the introduction of the community development worker, the tension between the needs of the organisation and the needs of the community became evident. The question then became how to resolve these tensions. This study reports on preliminary findings, identifying barriers and opportunities associated with a community development model in residential aged care.
