eprintid: 10038919
rev_number: 37
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/10/03/89/19
datestamp: 2017-12-01 16:34:29
lastmod: 2021-11-30 23:25:53
status_changed: 2018-05-14 13:48:40
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Canvin, K
creators_name: MacLeod, C
creators_name: Sacker, A
creators_name: Windle, G
title: Seeking assistance in later life: how do older people evaluate their need for assistance?
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B02
divisions: D12
divisions: G19
keywords: qualitative research, older people, service uptake, needs evaluation, assistance
note: Copyright © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
abstract: Background: legislation places an onus on local authorities to be aware of care needs in their locality and to prevent and reduce care and support needs. The existing literature overlooks ostensibly ‘healthy’ and/or non-users of specific services, non-health services and informal assistance and therefore inadequately explains what happens before or instead of individuals seeking services. We sought to address these gaps by exploring older adults’ accounts of seeking assistance in later life. / Methods: we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 40 adults aged 68–95. We invited participants to discuss any type of support, intervention, or service provision, whether medical, social, family-provided, paid or unpaid. / Findings: this paper reports older people’s accounts of how they evaluated their need for assistance. We found that the people in our sample engaged in a recursive process, evaluating their needs on an issue-by-issue basis. Participants’ progression through this process hinged on four factors: their acknowledgement of decline; the perceived impact of decline on their usual activities and independence; their preparedness to be a recipient of assistance; and, the opportunity to assert their need. In lieu of seeking assistance, participants engaged in self-management, but also received unsolicited or emergency assistance. / Conclusions: older people’s adaptations to change and attempts to meet their needs without assistance mean that they do not present to services, limiting the local authority’s knowledge of their needs and ability to plan appropriate services. Our findings offer four stages for policymakers, service providers and carers to target to address the uptake of assistance.
date: 2018-05
date_type: published
publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afx189
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1512892
doi: 10.1093/ageing/afx189
lyricists_name: Sacker, Amanda
lyricists_id: ASACK12
actors_name: Sacker, Amanda
actors_id: ASACK12
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Age and Ageing
volume: 47
number: 3
pagerange: 466-473
issn: 0002-0729
citation:        Canvin, K;    MacLeod, C;    Sacker, A;    Windle, G;      (2018)    Seeking assistance in later life: how do older people evaluate their need for assistance?                   Age and Ageing , 47  (3)   pp. 466-473.    10.1093/ageing/afx189 <https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing%2Fafx189>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10038919/7/Sacker_afx189.pdf