Browsing by Subject "elderly people"
Now showing items 1-2 of 2
-
Functional ability and health behaviour, trends and associations among the elderly people, 1985-2003 (2005)The main purpose of this study was to examine trends and associations of functional ability and health behaviour among a national sample of elderly people in Finland from the 1985 to 2003. Furthermore, sociodemographic variation of functional ability and health behaviour were assessed. Biennial surveys on health behaviour among 65-79-year-old Finnish population were used to study 13 232 men and women from 1985 to 2003. Response rate has surpassed 80 % on average. Self-reported activities of daily living were used to study functional ability. Indicators of health behaviour were diet, smoking, use of alcohol, physical activity and also body mass index. Furthermore chronic diseases were controlled for when examining associations between functional ability with health behaviours. Sociodemographic variation was studied through age groups, main occupation before retirement and marital status. Age adjusted trends and, logistic and ordinal regression analyses were computed to derive the results. The study revealed improving functional ability from the mid- 1980s to the shift of the millennium. Finnish elderly today eat healthier and smoke slightly less, but use more alcohol and are more often obese than their age-mates couple of decades ago. Healthy diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity were most prevalent among youngest of the respondents. Former farmers had lowest prevalence of healthy diet and highest prevalence of obesity. Former office employees used more alcohol than others. Married elderly had higher prevalence of healthy diet and lower prevalence of smoking than non-married. Smoking, higher use of alcohol, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and obesity were associated with inferior functional ability. These behaviours and chronic diseases were found to be mediating factors for sociodemographic differences in functional ability. Improving functional ability together with some improvements in health behaviour indicates healthier years for future elderly people. Despite these improvements, sub-group disparities are still evident. These disparities together with information on rising prevalence of alcohol use and obesity are challenges for public health.
-
(2004)This study aimed at researching the quality of social and health care services from minority ethnic older persons' perspective. This was done by identifying the dimensions of the services where quality was experienced as poorest as well as studying the factors that influenced the experienced quality of the services. The client based quality was analysed as the congruence between the clients' expectations and perceptions. The information gathered from elderly people belonging to ethnic minorities was compared with data from social and health care service personnel. With the help of the analyses of experienced quality, the study aimed at identifying ways to develop and organise the social and health care services so that they would provide high quality services also for the elderly clients belonging to ethnic minorities. The data of this study consisted of two samples. The service user sample included constructed interviews with 119 Russians, 50 Vietnamese and 126 Sami respondents. The service provider sample consisted of 71 respondents, from whom data were gathered by postal survey with a questionnaire. Both of the samples were analysed by using quantitative, statistical methods. The area where quality was experienced as poorest, both among the service users and service providers, was access to services. The individual aspect that was most connected to the quality experiences of the service users, was the experience of racial harassment in the services. In the service user data, differences in the experienced quality of care were strongly connected to the ethnic group. This was the case partly because the respondents in different ethnic groups had different expectations and perceptions about the services, and partly because they emphasised different aspects of the services as being important to them. The results highlight the importance of equal treatment, cultural sensitivity and the principles and praxis of non-discrimination in the health and social services, in order to guarantee high quality care for all the service users. This forms a challenge to be taken into account in basic education and in the in-service training of social and health care professionals. Also the service design and culture should be developed towards care based on the individual. In order to provide high quality services for the aged, the unique situation of the individual should always be thoroughly examined and taken into account. This includes also acknowledging the ethnic background of the client.
