Ageism theory explains how the creation of “old” as different from non-old includesexpectations from people identified as of age as having other needs and desires than non-old.Expectations from the surrounding society project the needs of “old” as being more basic,simpler, less refined and culturally demanding as those of non-old, which potentially causediscrimination towards people of age - especially if identified as the stereotypical “seniorcitizen”, which is associated with fragility, loneliness, resignation, passivity and worries.“Senior citizens” are expected to have numerous basic needs such as home service includingcooking and cleaning, personal care related to hygiene and moveability, social stimulationrelated to isolation and loneliness, and protection against loss of security. At the same time,they are not expected to have needs related to culture, lifestyle, sports, activity, addictions,learning, crime, or sexuality. This study examines if, and how, such expectations influence theguidelines for needs assessment in elderly care in Swedish municipalities. Such guidelines arelikely to exist in most municipal elderly care administrations; out of the examined 11 towns, 9had formally established such guidelines. The method used was text analysis, and results showthat needs that may be regarded as ageist expectations make up more than 93% of the contents,while less than 7% can be classified as non-ageist or neutral. The essay highlights theshortcomings of the elderly care in providing adequate interventions as possibly connected toageist prejudice in the municipal guidelines document through three individual cases.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-26751 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Möllergren, Glenn |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle (HS), Malmö universitet/Hälsa och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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