Older non-Nordic immigrants living in Sweden and receiving municipal care

Abstract

Older immigrants in need of public care will increase in the future. It is therefore important to increase the knowledge of their situation in order to meet their varying care needs. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the situation of older non-Nordic immigrants, aged 65 years and older, living in Sweden and receiving municipal care with the focus on care provided, care-related needs and their experience of their life situation. The specific aims were to describe the formal care provided by the municipality and the staff’s description of care-related needs among older non-Nordic immigrants compared to older Nordic-born persons, and to describe the informal care provided (paper I). In paper II the specific aim was to illuminate the experience of the life situation in the context of receiving public care among older non-Nordic immigrants.







This thesis had a descriptive and explorative design using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In paper I, cross-sectional data concerning provision of care and service collected from a longitudinal study (Good Aging in Skåne, GAS) were used. Data were compared between 111 older non-Nordic immigrants, mainly originating from Europe, and 111 older Nordic-born people (comparison group) using chi-square test. In paper II qualitative interviews were performed with 16 older non-Nordic immigrants. The transcribed text was analysed using qualitative manifest and latent content analysis.







The findings showed that significantly more of the non-Nordic immigrants were married and lived together with their partner or children compared to the comparison group. Of the older non-Nordic immigrants, 32.4% were living in special accommodation compared to 45% in the comparison group. The non-Nordic immigrants had rehabilitation at home significantly more often and had more home nursing care during the daytime than the comparison group had. Significantly more non-Nordic immigrants had family members employed as caregivers than among the comparison group. The non-Nordic immigrants also received more informal help than the comparison group, in IADL as well as in PADL. The staff reported significantly more behaviours perceived to be difficult to handle as well as needs of special care in the non-Nordic immigrants, mainly related to anxiety, psychosocial symptoms and language problems than in the comparison group. The use of APO-dose medication (medication prepared at the pharmacy) was reported to be significantly lower among the non-Nordic immigrants, and so too was the use of visual aids, despite more severe visual impairment than the comparison group. The staff used the alternative ‘do not know’ more frequently concerning the older non-Nordic immigrants than the Nordic-born (paper I). The overall theme in the older immigrants’ narratives was ‘Owing a debt of gratitude to Swedish society’, as the older immigrants were grateful to the society that had taken care of them and provided satisfactory care and service. The prevailing impression of their stories was that they did not want to be viewed as being ungrateful. The immigrants’ experience of their life situation in the context of receiving public care and service could be understood in four categories: Having to pay with their own health, embracing the experience of having physical as well as mental complaints that affected their everyday life; Experiencing painful losses, including having to live with history, being outside the familiar context and waiting without a future; Wanting to manage by oneself, where caring was seen as a family matter and they did not want to be a charge to anyone; and Feeling exposed and deserted, meaning being limited by language barriers and experiencing that nursing staff just passed by (paper II). It is thus important to be aware of the older immigrants’ vulnerable situation, in the context of municipal care, and take into consideration the need to recognise aspects related to language, life history and the familiar context.

• author: Hovde, Boel
• supervisor: Anna-Karin Edberg
• organization: Department of Health Sciences
• publishing date: 2006
• type: Thesis
• publication status: published
• subject: Nursing
• ISBN: 91-85361-08-9
• language: English
• LU publication?: yes
• additional info: The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Caring Sciences (Closed 2012) (016514020)
• id: a6f02bca-8871-4b5a-88be-7b41e2ade967 (old id 1137274)
• date added to LUP: 2016-04-04 10:06:55
• date last changed: 2018-11-21 20:56:50