I tidigare empatiforskning har könsskillnader studerats betydligt mer änåldersskillnader. Syftet med den aktuella undersökningen var att studera hurförmågan till empati skiljer sig mellan tonåringar, medelålders och äldre. Iundersökningen deltog 68 personer varav hälften kvinnor. Empatin varhögst i den äldsta gruppen och lägst i den yngsta för både kvinnor och män.Däremot kände tonåringarna mer för vissa känslor som mättes utanförempatiskalan. Kvinnorna i alla tre åldersgrupperna har högre empati änmännen. Att empati ökar med åldern säger samtidigt att yngre hade mindreempati. Resultaten kan tyda på att samhället blivit kallare. Avslutningsvisdiskuteras betydelsen av generationsskillnader i empati, en eventuellutveckling mot ett mindre empatiskt samhälle, samt om ungas empati kanstärkas i framtiden.

Bakgrund: Äldre på boende idag kan känna att de saknar sociala interaktioner med vårdpersonal, familj eller vänner. För att uppleva god livskvalitet krävs bland annat trygghet, sociala interaktioner och aktiviteter. Djur kan användas som behandlingsmetod i vården i form av Animal-Assisted Activity (AAA) och Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT). Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att belysa sällskapsdjurs betydelse för äldres livskvalitet på äldreboende. Metod: Studien har genomförts som en allmän litteraturstudie. Datainsamlingen har gjorts i databaser och med manuella sökningar. Resultat: I samband med djurinterventionen aktiverade vårdtagarna sina kroppar och blev mer rörliga. Positiva förändringar av sömnrutiner och aptit observerades också. Djurens närvaro påverkade vårdtagarnas känslor men även deras kognition, vilket gjorde att gamla minnen om egna djur återkom. De äldre samtalade mer med varandra och uppvisade ett förbättrat socialt beteende. Diskussion: Tre fynd diskuteras: vårdtagarnas fysiska aktivering, känslor och sociala interaktioner samt varför de boende påverkas av djurinterventioner. Slutsats: Djurinterventioner visade sig ge en positiv påverkan på livskvaliteten hos en del äldre på äldreboende och är något som skulle kunna användas mer i vården. / Introduction: Elderly residents today may feel that they lack social interactions with health professionals, family or friends. To experience good quality of life requires for example security, social interactions and activities. Animals can be used as treatment in health care in the form of Animal-Assisted Activity (AAA) and Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT). Aim: The aim of this literature review was to elucidate pets’ importance for older people’s quality of life in nursing homes. Method: The study was conducted as a general literature review. Data collection has been made in databases and with manual searches. Results: When using animal interventions the residents activated their body and became more mobile. Positive changes in sleep routines and appetite were also observed. The animals’ presence affected residents’ feelings but also their cognition, which made old memories of their own animals return. The elderly talked more to each other and showed improved social behaviour. Discussion: Three findings are discussed: residents’ physical activation, emotions and social interactions, and why residents are affected by animal interventions. Conclusion: Animal interventions were found to have a positive impact on quality of life for some elderly in nursing homes and are something that could be used more in healthcare.

Bakgrund: Studier har visat att äldre kan uppleva känslor av tristess och ensamhet på grund av minskat kontaktnät, vilket kan påverka deras välbefinnande och leda till ett ökat behov av naturligt vårdande. Sällskapsdjur har sedan hundratals år använts i syfte att ge en terapeutisk effekt hos människor och har visat sig medföra positiva förändringar fysiologiskt, men sällskapsdjur inom vård och äldreomsorg är omdiskuterat på grund av de hinder som kan finnas. Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva hur kontakten med sällskapsdjur kan påverka äldres välbefinnande. Metod: En litteraturstudie (Evans, 2002) med kvalitativ ansats har använts som analysmetod på tolv vetenskapliga artiklar, där teman och subteman identifierats och tolkats utifrån Erikssons vårdvetenskapliga teori om välbefinnande och naturligt vårdande. Resultat: Fem teman och nio subteman som beskriver hur äldres välbefinnande kunde påverkas av kontakten med ett sällskapsdjur identifierades. Sällskapsdjur kunde exempelvis bidra till en positiv förändring i vardagen, ge en känsla av gemenskap människor emellan samt få äldre att återskapa gamla minnen. Slutsatser: Kontakten med ett sällskapsdjur kan få äldre att uppleva välbefinnande och bidra till naturligt vårdande. De hinder som finns till att införa sällskapsdjur inom vård och omsorg bör ses i relation till den positiva effekt sällskapsdjur kan ha på individens välbefinnande. / Background: Research has shown that elderly might experience feelings of boredom and loneliness as a result of their decreasing social network, which might affect their well being and lead to an increasing need of natural caring. Pets have been used for hundreds of years in order to have a therapeutic effect on human beings and have been proven to lead to positive changes physiologically; however the use of pets within health care settings has been debated because of the different obstacles that exist. Aim: Our purpose is to describe how the contact with pets may affect elderly’s well being. Method: A systematic review (Evans, 2002) with a qualitative method was used on twelve scientific articles, where themes and subthemes were identified and interpreted using the nursing theorist Eriksson’s theory about well being and natural caring. Result: Five themes and nine subthemes which described how elderly’s well being might be affected by the contact with a pet were identified. Pets could for example give elderly a positive change in their daily life, a feeling of belongingness between people and make them recollect memories from the past. Conclusion: Contact with a pet may help elderly to experience well being and contribute to natural caring. The obstacles that exist against using pets within health care settings should be seen in relation to the positive effects pets may have on individual people’s well being.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur fallfrekvensen var fördelad mellan män och kvinnor, hur antalet fall var fördelade i åldersgrupperna över respektive under 80 år, när de flesta fallolyckor i det egna hemmet inträffade och om fallen medförde några konsekvenser.Studien var en retrospektiv registerstudie och inkluderade fall hos personer i eget boende med trygghetslarm och/eller hjälp av nattpatrull. Fallolyckorna registrerades på ett instrument som var speciellt utvecklat för projektet. Data från en sex månaders studie med totalt 510 fall av 213 individer analyserades. Resultatet visade att det var främst äldre personer över 80 år som föll och som hamnade på sjukhus. Fallen inträffade oftast förmiddagar och eftermiddagar. Få fall inträffade mellan klockan 00-09. Kvinnorna föll framförallt under december månad. Antal fall som ledde till sjukhusvård var 4.5 % och av dessa var nästan alla individer över 80 år och flertalet var kvinnor. Av de fall som ledde till sjukhusvård inträffade 39 % vid första och enda fallet. Då många vårdtagare föll ett flertal gånger och antalet fall kunde vara mycket högt bör de fallförebyggande åtgärderna ses över. Downton fallriskindex skulle kunna vara ett komplement till övriga fallpreventioner i hemmet. Studien ger användbar data med möjlighet att till exempel utforma hemtjänstens schema utifrån studieresultatet och på så sätt minska antalet fallolyckor i hemmen.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka kunskapsnivån gällande nutritionsarbete hos sjuksköterskor samt att undersöka vilka omvårdnadsåtgärder sjuksköterskor kan vidta som ansvariga för nutritionsarbetet. Metoden som användes var en litteraturstudie där 15 artiklar granskades. Att sjuksköterskor har bra kunskaper inom nutritionsomvårdnaden framkom i några studier. Sjuksköterskor ansåg till exempel att nutritionsplaner och dokumentationer av nutritionsomvårdnad var viktiga. De ansåg även att kosten var viktig för en god hälsa. Sjuksköterskor bedömde sig själva ha tillräckligt med kunskaper om vikten av en adekvat nutrition. Dock framkom även i många studier att nutritionsomvårdnaden brister. Trots att sjuksköterskor ansåg att kosten var en viktig del i omvårdnaden prioriterades den inte. Sjuksköterskor deltog sällan vid måltiderna och hade därför svårt att utföra ett gott nutritionsarbete. Dokumentationen visade sig i många studier vara bristfällig. Det visade sig även att sjuksköterskor inte ansåg sig själva ha tillräckligt med kunskap i nutritionsomvårdnaden. De omvårdnadsåtgärder som visat sig ge goda resultat var utbildningar till personalen angående nutritionsomvårdnad. Om sjuksköterskor är mer involverade i matserveringen får de bättre insikt i hur patienter äter och kan assistera, vilket bidrar till högre energiintag. Även patienterna kan med fördel involveras mer i sin nutrition vilket visat sig leda till ökat energiintag.

This essay is about dogs that visit is used, whitin care of elderly. The dogs found caretakers once a week and one hour at a time. The focus has been placed on the dogs that go to the municipality's special accommodation and the research was done in a medium-sized municipality in Sweden. The focus of the narrowing of the work was done to the work situation for care staff to assess the impact of the visits the dogs presence. It was distributed questionnaires answered by care staff in which it concluded their visit to the dog's presence felt and how it impacted the situation. There has been much previous research done on how dogs affect the elderly in care. This has been done to see if the care staff perceive the same thing, and in turn experience any possible help of visiting dogs. What emerged in this study is that most are in favor of visits dog and they're older. The majority of respondents agreed that their work situation has become neither better nor worse then visit the dogs started to meet caretakers. This may be due to visit the dog is not enough time on site at each visit. Even the fact that care staff are not practicing with the caretakers memory to get them to remain in the state of mind that research shows that the older gets in. These can have an impact on how care staff perceive a possible means in visits of the dog.

This thesis describes the research, design, and development of a mid-drive wheelchair for use by the elders living independently, in assisted living facilities, and in nursing homes created by a design team at Georgia Tech's Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA). This wheelchair stands to significantly improve the mobility of elders through better drive wheel placement and design features that could stand to improve their quality of life.

ABSTRACT As the population ages and family structure changes quickly, the demand for long-term care services from elderly people increased rapidly. In the aboriginal villages, due to insufficient medical sources, weak economic condition, and lack of young manpower in family, the need of aboriginal elderly people for health care is much more than urban residents. The study field located in Pingtung County is because it is the territory has the most indigenous townships in Taiwan. The study mainly adopts qualitative methodology with small amount of questionnaires to conduct quantitative analysis, it is expected to draw different dynamic result to generate useful outcome. Based on the findings and conclusion after collected and analyzed, the research could provide reference for the development of long-term care project in aboriginal area and long-term caring insurance in future. The research found that the county government and execution organization- NPO both built positive partnership, but the administration of indigenous people and local township office are not involved much. In additional, the provisions of caring health elder in community between Ministry of the interior and Council of indigenous people are duplicated. The users decreased significantly after implementation of users¡¦ pay concept for additional service hours, and it also caused aboriginal women who work as caregiver lost their jobs. In terms of service utilization, the top three services are body clean, house service and mental support, and the result of questionnaires presents great satisfaction. However, considering of weak economic condition, the elderly cannot accept self-afford service yet. Conclusion: 1. Government should adjust different users¡¦ pay level for isle and indigenous township. 2. It should integrate duplicated resources of community-base for health elderly people. 3. Home caregiver can play role of a propagator for welfare and health care policy in village. 4. To develop an integrated long-term care information system to improve the efficiency of case management and service resource.

In attempting to help the Mexican American adult and elderly population, the relationship between psychological well-being and cultural factors was investigated in this dissertation study. Primarily, the dynamics of acculturation and ethnic identity were considered as measures of cultural adjustment; while, physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions were used to measure well-being and mental health in adult and elderly cohorts. In regard to these relationships, the following research questions were addressed: 1) How does psychological well-being in older Mexican Americans relate to acculturation and ethnic identity? 2) Do these three variables interact differently among adult and elderly cohorts? 3) What is the relationship between the variables for this particular sample of Mexican Americans when considering moderating variables of spirituality and religiosity? In addressing the first two questions, multiple regression analyses were used to understand the distribution of the variance in the dependent variable, psychological wellbeing. Although both variables were contributing to the regression weight, neither of the two, acculturation or ethnic identity, were significant predictors of psychological well-being in this sample. In the last question, confirmatory and exploratory structural equation model (SEM) analyses were employed to determine how each of the variables were loading and relating to one another. Only a few of the items selected for these analyses, (i.e., none of the mediating variables, select acculturation items, and select scales on the measure for psychological well-being) were used and found to be significant in the complete model and diagram. Using newly clustered item parcels, the mediating variables of spirituality and religiosity were again analyzed in the (SEM) analysis. While the variable religiosity was dropped from the model diagram, the newly generated spirituality variable was found to be empirically and conceptually significant in the model diagram.

Abstract The study aims to understand the policy development of elderly welfare subsidy. This issue was firstly proposed at end of 1991 during the election of Parliament Representatives. After 10 years development, by conducting propaganda, publishing reports and sharing experiences with local governments, the Legislative Yuan has finally established the Temporary Provision of Elderly Welfare Subsidy in May 2002 and the act is then legalized and nationalized. The related amendment has been continuing till today. Since 1991 the researcher has started the long and coherent observation; in between the history and literature analysis were applied in order to collect relevant documents. After ascertaining its historical periods and generalization, the esearch concluded that there¡¦s significant correlation between this policy development and the democratic election. As a result, simple democratic mold is taken as the theoretic foundation and the framework is then built up. The study result shows that the election plays an important role for the formation and development of elderly welfare subsidy. The mplementation guarantees certain economic safety for the silver citizens but some ¡§free-cost¡¨ measure did cause some fair and financial burden to the authority. It also gives a cognitive bias against social welfare. Yet the increasing silver citizens may cause financial burden to the government, the distribution of social welfare should then be well considered. A complete system of national pension has to be set up soon.