Experiences of Eldercare Staff Working With Older People With Severe Mental Illness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6426978 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cristina Joy Torgé (0000-0003-0877-4759), Monika Wilińska (0000-0002-3916-2977), Pia H Bülow (0000-0001-7341-945X), Per Bülow (0000-0002-3531-4072), Magnus Jegermalm (0000-0001-9702-2043), Marie Ernsth Bravell (0000-0003-4149-9787) |
| Editors | Mohammad Niroumand Sarvandani (0000-0001-9790-3908) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 2025 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health & Social Care in the Community (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-0410 • E-ISSN: 1365-2524 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1155/hsc/2186889 |
| OpenAlex | W4406714219 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 39 |
In Sweden, older persons living with severe mental illnesses (SMI) increasingly live independently in the community with support from informal and formal carers and welfare services. A proportion of this group is older people with SMI who, due to age or disability, receive municipal eldercare services such as home care in their ordinary housing, or in residential care. The situation and needs of this group demand that eldercare staff have an understanding for the older person’s situation and the tools to provide appropriate care. The aim of this present study is to explore the experiences of eldercare staff working with older people with SMI. Focus group interviews were conducted with staff from three residential care facilities and two home care teams in one mid‐sized Swedish municipality. To analyse the interviews, qualitative content analysis was used. The overarching theme from the analysis was “Doing the best they can,” which was unpacked in two categories: “Working with fragmentary knowledge” and “Finding the right approach.” We could also see differences between the experiences of staff in residential care and in home care. The eldercare staff in our interviews faced lack of formal training, insufficient information and skills concerning mental illness and its treatment. Nevertheless, they tried to make the situation of the older people with SMI as good as possible using experiential and tacit knowledge. Our results also point to system level barriers that hinder effective care for older people with SMI
Mental health · Mental illness · Older people · Psychiatry · Family Caregiving in Mental Illness · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Nursing · Psychology · Gerontology
Definition and prevalence of severe and persistent mental illness
Suicide prevention strategies revisited
Qualitative content analysis in nursing research
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Enabling older people with mental health needs to engage with community social care
Dimensions of job precariousness and associations with workers’ health and well-being in Swedish homecare
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Rapid decrease in length of stay in institutional care for older people in Sweden between 2006 and 2012
Home care for older people in Sweden
Care workers under pressure – A comparison of the work situation in Swedish home care 2005 and 2015
Social inclusion through ageing-in-place with care
After the Asylum? The New Institutional Landscape
Supported Housing and Supported Independent Living in the Netherlands, with a Comparison with England
Naturalistic inquiry
The focus groups in social research
Asylums
A Qualitative Framework for Collecting and Analyzing Data in Focus Group Research
The 'actualities' of knowledge work
Tacit knowledge of caring and embodied selfhood
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |