Health & social care in the community
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Health Soc Care Community · Mar 2010
It's not just about heart failure--voices of older people in transition to dependence and death.
This paper explores the experiences of older people living with heart failure and their transitions from independence to dependence and for some death. New Zealand's ageing population is predicted to increase from 12% in 2001 to 25% by the year 2051, similar to the worldwide trend of ageing. A high proportion of these people will have one or more chronic illnesses. ⋯ The older people in this study illustrated the importance of trust in health professionals and believed they would receive good care. Their fears revealed concerns about being a burden as they deteriorate and becoming more dependent. Understanding the complex issues related to transition to dependence can provide health professionals with a framework for assessment and approaches to providing the support required.
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Health Soc Care Community · Mar 2010
What do women gain from volunteering? The experience of lay Arab and Jewish women volunteers in the Women for Women's Health programme in Israel.
Ambiguous feelings regarding women engaging in formal volunteering and concerns about their exploitation might explain the dearth of studies regarding the volunteering benefits specifically experienced by low socioeconomic status women. The current study examined benefits of volunteering among women participating in Women for Women's Health (WWH), a lay health volunteers (LHV) programme implemented in Jewish and Arab communities in Israel, and aiming at empowering such women to become active volunteers and promote health activities in their communities. Two years after the introduction of WWH in each community, all 45 Jewish and 25 Arab volunteers were contacted by phone and invited to participate in the focus group discussions. ⋯ We conclude that volunteering in community-based health promotion programmes can be an empowering experience for lay women without being exploitative. Positive volunteering benefits will be even more discernable among underprivileged women who enjoy fewer opportunities in the personal and public domains. More studies need to explore volunteering benefits as reported by LHVs, making these benefits more visible and desirable.
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Health Soc Care Community · Mar 2010
'My biggest fear was that people would reject me once they knew my status...': stigma as experienced by patients in an HIV/AIDS clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Stigma is not a new concept; however, it remains highly significant in the context of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. There is wide consensus that HIV/AIDS-related stigma compromises the well-being of people living with the disease. This paper is part of a larger study that seeks to understand the social and cultural complexity related to the provision and outcomes of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in South Africa. ⋯ This study suggests that three decades into the epidemic, stigmatisation remains a core feature of the patient experience of HIV/AIDS. In the clinic in which this research was conducted, HIV/AIDS was regarded as a chronic condition increasingly manageable by ongoing access to ART. However, this approach was not shared by many family members, neighbours and employers who held highly stigmatised views.