Anhörigas upplevelser i samband med vård av en äldre person i hemmet : En litteraturöversikt

SAMMANFATTNINGSyftet: Syftet med denna systematiska litteraturstudie var att studera hur anhöriga till äldre personer upplevde sin situation i i samband med att de vårdade sina äldre hemma, hur de hanterade sin situation, samt vilka strategier de använde sig av för att hantera sin roll som anhörigvårdare. Metod: Databaserna Cinahl och Medline användes i sökningarna efter relevanta artiklar. Sökord som användes var relative and older people and home care, home health care and family caregiver elderly people, family caregivers and care givers of aging people, elderly people and family care givers of aging people, family care givers of older people, family caregivers and frail elderly, family caregiver and older people and home care, home care older people and family caregivers older people, family caregivers older people. Efter genomläsning bedömdes 16 artiklar vara användbara i resultatet. Dessa kom från vetenskapliga tidskrifter och artiklarna innehöll både kvalitativa studier som kvantitativa studier. Resultat: De flesta anhörigvårdare var kvinnor, de kunde uppleva en högre belastning än män. De anhöriga påverkades både mentalt, fysiskt och emotionellt. De kände sig bundna men kunde även känna ett välbefinnande i vården av den äldre personen. Anhöriga upplevde sin roll som anhörigvårdare till äldre personer i hemmen som att de var delaktiga i omsorgen genom praktiskt som känslomässigt stöd. Deras situation hade även inverkan på deras upplevelse av stress och hur de hanterade situationen. En del äldre anhörigvårdare var själva äldre och i behov av hjälp. Konsekvenserna av deras reaktioner/upplevelser beskrevs som både subjektiv och objektiv belastning. Samt att de även var mindre benägna att söka stöd i form av avlastning för sina äldre personer. Slutsats: Rollen som anhörigvårdare till äldre personer som vårdas i hemmen innebar förändringar i anhörigas livssituation, de fick ta ett stort ansvar för den äldre personen. De upplevde stora påfrestningar både känslomässigt som praktiskt, många kände sig ensamma utan stöd, andra hade olika sätt att hantera sin situation. Äldre anhörigvårdare var mer utsatta för belastning av olika skäl när de vårdade äldre personer i hemmet, dels var de själva äldre samt att de själva kunde vara i behov av hjälp för sina hälsoproblem. Kvinnorna var den grupp anhörigvårdare som upplevde störst belastning i vården av äldre personer i hemmet. När det gällde att söka hjälp och stöd såg det olika ut bland anhörigvårdarna, trots att kvinnorna upplevde störst belastning var de minst benägna att söka hjälp.

The quality of the physical environment and its association with activities and well-being among older people in residential care facilities

The physical environment can influence older people’s health and well-being, and is often mentioned as being an important factor for person-centred care. Due to high levels of frail health, many older people spend a majority of their time within care facilities and depend on the physical environment for support in their daily life. However, the quality of the physical environment is rarely evaluated, and knowledge is sparse in terms of how well the environment meets the needs of older people. This is partly due to the lack of valid and reliable instruments that could provide important information on environmental quality. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to study the quality of the physical environment in Swedish care facilities for older people, and how it relates to residents’ activities and well-being. Methods: The thesis comprises four papers where both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Study I involved the translation and adaptation of the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix (SCEAM) into a Swedish version (S-SCEAM). Several methods were used including forward and backward translation, test of validity via expert consultation and reliability tests. In Study II, S-SCEAM was used to assess the quality of the environment, and descriptive data were collected from 20 purposively sampled residential care facilities (RCFs). Study III was a comparative case study conducted at two RCFs using observations, interviews and S-SCEAM to examine how the physical environment relates to older people’s activities and interactions. In study IV, multilevel modeling was used to determine the association between the quality of the physical environment and the psychological and social well-being of older people living in RCFs. The data in the thesis were analysed using qualitative content analysis, and descriptive, bivariate and multilevel statistics. Results: A specific result was the production of the Swedish version of SCEAM. The instrument contains 210 items structured into eight domains reflecting the needs of older people. When using S-SCEAM, the results showed a substantial variation in the quality of the physical environment between and within RCFs. In general, private apartments and dining areas had high quality, whereas overall building layout and outdoor areas had lower quality. Also, older people’s safety was supported in the majority of facilities, whereas cognitive support and privacy had lower quality. Further, the results showed that environmental quality in terms of cognitive support was associated with residents’ social well-being. Specific environmental features, such as building design and space size, were also noted, through observation, as influencing residents’ activities, and several barriers were found that seemed to restrict residents’ full use of the environment. Conclusions: This thesis contributes to the growing evidence-based design field. The S-SCEAM can be used in future research on the association between the environment and people’s health and well-being. The instrument could also serve as a guide in the planning and design process of new RCFs.