Journal of gerontological social work
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J Gerontol Soc Work · May 2020
Geriatric Care during Public Health Emergencies: Lessons Learned from Novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic.
Geriatric care in public health emergencies is a serious concern, while, high case-fatalities among older adults across the globe in COVID-19 pandemic implies lack of preparedness. Most of the countries irrespective of developing and developed one enormously struggling because of an inchoate response system ignorant of geriatric health needs. Therefore, a robust approach is highly essential that requires an integrated emergency preparedness by addressing geriatric care.
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J Gerontol Soc Work · May 2020
Drawing on Kinship Care Support for Older People during a Pandemic (COVID-19): Practice Considerations for Social Workers in Ghana.
Undoubtedly, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought both systemic, practice changes and limitations to social workers' commitment to the welfare of vulnerable populations such as older people. A golden preventive rule of the COVID-19 pandemic; maintaining physical and social distancing, has limited social workers' direct practice support for older people who are considered as an at-risk population. Within jurisdictions such as Ghana where kinship care practices are culturally engrained, social workers should promote kinship care support as substitute mechanisms and pathways to safeguard or meet the welfare needs of older people.
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J Gerontol Soc Work · Feb 2018
"It has changed my whole life": The systemic implications of chronic low back pain among older adults.
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the most common pain complaint among older adults. Despite its prevalence, very little research has qualitatively examined the diverse consequences of living with CLBP in later life. As part of a larger study aiming to understand the experience of CLBP among older adults, the objective of this manuscript is to understand how older adults experience CLBP and its impacts on the functioning of older adults. ⋯ Through an iterative process assisted by NVivo 11 software, researchers used line-by-line thematic coding to identify main impacts of CLBP. Under the main theme "It has changed my whole life," results are reflected in six subthemes: (a) Pain damages sense of self; (b) trapped in a body that doesn't work anymore; (c) me, my partner, and my pain; (d) pain complicates family relationships; (e) painfully employed; and (f) feeling socially and recreationally repressed. This study improves our understanding of older pain clinic patients' experience of living with debilitating CLBP and offers direction for social work intervention in the context of multidisciplinary pain management.
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This article describes an interdisciplinary pilot study exploring the impact of LGBTQ senior centers on the lives of center members. Many LGBTQ adults face the future having experienced stigma and bias, restricted rights, and rejection from family of origin, and are now growing older without the support of a partner and adult children. As a result, older LGBTQ adults experience higher rates of depression, loneliness and isolation, and shortened life expectancy as compared to non-LGBTQ peers. ⋯ Moreover, findings suggest the need for re-thinking hetero-normative definitions of "community" in the context of LGBTQ aging. Beyond sharing findings from the study, suggesting a conceptual framework for deepening understanding about LGBTQ aging, and identifying lines of future inquiry, the article articulates implications for social work research, practice and education. Ultimately, the article argues that social work is well positioned to improve quality of life for this under-served population when it adopts a cultural humility stance in research, practice and education.