‘All in a day’s work’ : the lifeworld of older people in New Zealand rest homes

This doctoral thesis contributes to critical gerontology research by investigating the lived experiences of residents in the everyday world of New Zealand rest homes. There is a need to understand how frail rest home residents experience "age". This study focuses on describing and understanding residents lived experiences. As the New Zealand population is ageing, this phenomenological focus adds clarity to the poorly understood lived experiences about being aged in rest homes. Policy initiatives such as the Positive Ageing Strategy with its emphasis on keeping older people living in the community largely ignore the life practices of the increasing proportions of frail older people who require long-term residential care. My mixed-methods modified framework approach draws on the lifeworld as understood by Max van Manen (1990) and Alfred Schütz (1972). The lifeworld is made up of thematic strands of lived experience: these being lived space, lived time, lived body and lived relations with others, which are both the source and object of phenomenological research (van Manen, 1990). These strands are temporarily unravelled and considered in-depth for 27 residents who took part in audio-recorded interviews, before being interwoven through a multiple-helix model, into an integrated interpretation of the residents‟ lifeworld. Supplementing and backgrounding the interviews with these residents, are descriptive data including written interview summaries and survey findings about the relationships and pastimes of 352 residents living in 21 rest homes, which are counted and described. The residents day-to-day use of rest home space, mediated temporal order, self-managed bodies and minds, and negotiated relationships are interpreted. The mythology of the misery of rest home life is challenged, and a more constructive critical gerontology approach is offered. Findings of this research reveal how meanings around daily work practices are constructed by the residents. These elders participate in daily rest home life, from the sidelines or not at all, as they choose or are able, and this always involves work for the residents. They continue to actively manage satisfactory and fulfilling pastimes and relationships, because in their ordinary, everyday lifeworld it is “all in a day‟s work”.

Sheltered care homes /

"Nursing Homes, Sheltered Care Homes, and Homes for the Aged Act."

Section 232 mortgage insurance for residential care facilities (nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, and board and care homes.

"Replaces HUD handbook 4600.1 dated July, 1973."

Resthomes : where the ‘work’ goes on

Discusses the findings of a recent doctoral thesis looking at the life of frail elderly people in rest homes. Explains how encouraging as much self-management as possible and the continuation of many daily activities can help elderly people keep their self-esteem and dignity.

Does a functional activity programme improve function, quality of life, and falls for residents in long term care? Cluster randomised controlled trial

Objective To assess the effectiveness of an activity programme in improving function, quality of life, and falls in older people in residential care. Design Cluster randomised controlled trial with one year follow-up. Setting 41low level dependency residential carehomes in New Zealand. Participants 682 people aged 65 years or over. Interventions 330 residents were offered a goal setting and individualised activities of daily living activity programme by a gerontology nurse, reinforced by usual healthcare assistants; 352 residents received social visits. Main outcome measures Function (late life function and disability instruments, elderly mobility scale, FICSIT-4

Residential care workers and residents : the New Zealand story

Aims To describe the nature and size of long-term residential care homes in New Zealand; funding of facilities; and the ethnic and gender composition of residents and residential care workers nationwide. Methods A postal, fax, and email survey of all long-term residential care homes in New Zealand. Results Completed surveys were received from an eligible 845 facilities (response rate: 55%). The majority of these (54%) facilities housed less than 30 residents. Of the 438 (94%) facilities completing the questions about residents’ ethnicity, 432 (99%) housed residents from New Zealand European (Pakeha) descent, 156 (33%) housed at least 1 Maori resident, 71 (15%) at least 1 Pacific (Islands) resident, and 61 (13%) housed at least 1 Asian resident. Facilities employed a range of ethnically diverse staff, with 66% reporting Maori staff. Less than half of all facilities employed Pacific staff (43%) and Asian staff (33%). Registered nursing staff were mainly between 46 and 60 years (47%), and healthcare assistant staff were mostly between 25 and 45 years old (52%). Wide regional variation in the ethnic make up of staff was reported. About half of all staff were reported to have moved within the previous 2 years. Conclusions The age and turnover of the residential care workforce suggests the industry continues to be under threat from staffing shortages. While few ethnic minority residents live in long-term care facilities, staff come from diverse backgrounds, especially in certain regions.

Concepções sobre escola e gênero na perspectiva de crianças abrigadas

School and family are critical contexts to the development of concepts in childhood and few studies are conducted from the report of children when they live in rest-home. The aim of this study was to investigate concepts that children in rest-homes have about school and gender. There were 22 participants, including boys and girls, between 4 and 6 years, who were interviewed with open questions for content analysis. For these children the school was associated with an area of study opportunities, favorable to themselves, although by necessity or obligation, and possibly with the presence of conflicts. The gender was described from biological and psychosocial aspects and children attributed their gender identity at destination, learning and social advantages. Children feel they belong to a gender in a positive way, although by attributing disadvantages to the opposite gender, for example, relating male aggression to violence. Children reproduce some patterns and social characteristics of gender that probably were learned in different contexts. We conclude that studies in this area are important to identify children´s conceptions about school and sexuality, their roles and representations, especially when they live in an environment with such specific features as a rest-home.

Dispositivo para auxílio de levantamento de pessoas portadoras de restrições físicas do leito

Recently technological resources have been used to facilitate the execution of several laboral activists. In this project it will be shown a device, which will help workers in healthy area to develop their activities, decreasing the wear of themselves and making the patient transfer to bed more efficient. Furthermore, this work will show a device project to transfer patients with motor restrictions. The focus of this device is to avoid fatigue and injury of workers, which will help the patient to decrease their discomfort and the risk of injury. In addition, the device will be developed and designed to be easy to use and with reduced fabric cost to facilitate the access of institutions as rest homes and the APAE

Dispositivo para auxílio de levantamento de pessoas portadoras de restrições físicas do leito

Recently technological resources have been used to facilitate the execution of several laboral activists. In this project it will be shown a device, which will help workers in healthy area to develop their activities, decreasing the wear of themselves and making the patient transfer to bed more efficient. Furthermore, this work will show a device project to transfer patients with motor restrictions. The focus of this device is to avoid fatigue and injury of workers, which will help the patient to decrease their discomfort and the risk of injury. In addition, the device will be developed and designed to be easy to use and with reduced fabric cost to facilitate the access of institutions as rest homes and the APAE

New horizons, new homes

Working with 12 journalism students plus a research assistant, producer/director Romano conducted five community focus groups and discussions with 80 people on the street. These provided the themes and concepts and the creative approaches for each program. Each was structured around one of the emergent themes; all programs offered different voices rather than coming to a single conclusion. New Horizons, New Homes aired over three weeks n Radio 4EB and was entered into the 2005 UN Media Peace Award where it won the Best Radio Category ahead of ABC and SBS. The UN commended the way in which the programs brought together a wide base of research to create a better understanding in the community on this issue. This project did not just improve the accuracy and social inclusiveness of reporting. It applied principles of deliberative democracy in the creation of journalism that enhances citizens’ deliberative potential on complex social issues

Householder experiences with resource monitoring technology in sustainable homes

The use of feedback technologies, in the form of products such as Smart Meters, is increasingly seen as the means by which 'consumers' can be made aware of their patterns of resource consumption, and to then use this enhanced awareness to change their behaviour to reduce the environmental impacts of their consumption. These technologies tend to be single-resource focused (e.g. on electricity consumption only) and their functionality defined by persons other than end-users (e.g. electricity utilities). This paper presents initial findings of end-users' experiences with a multi-resource feedback technology, within the context of sustainable housing. It proposes that an understanding of user context, supply chain management and market diffusion issues are important design considerations that contribute to technology 'success'.