Håkan Jönson

A new age of old age? : gerotranscendence and the re-enchantment of aging

Abstract Gerotranscendence theory is reviewed regarding its content, development, diffusion, impact, empirical results, and ontology. Gerotranscendence theory describes a “natural” alteration of consciousness in old age leading to “wisdom” and a qualitative break with a mid-life rational and materialist world-view. According to the theory, gerotranscendence is obstructed by a lack of alternative values and roles in old age in Western societies. Theoretically and in clinical practice, gerotranscendence theory has been linked to psychoanalysis. It is concluded that gerotranscendence theory is empirically weak, has parallels in the New Age movement as well as in romantic Orientalism, and can be understood as an attempt to re-enchant aging.

Is it racism? Skepticism and resistance towards ethnic minority care workers among older care recipients.

Abstract The study investigates the occurrence and character of skepticism and resistance towards ethnic minority care workers among older care recipients in a municipality in Sweden. Twelve representatives of caregiver organizations were interviewed about their experience of this phenomenon. Three additional interviews were conducted with ethnic minority care workers. Representatives described the problem as rare and mostly occurring as language difficulties or as a temporary problem characterized as a fear of the unknown among some care recipients. They tended to apply a pragmatic or pathologizing approach when talking about causes of and solutions to the problem. These approaches enabled care providers to comply with “potential racism” without challenging an official ideology of anti-racism. In contrast, staff of foreign descent described the problem as more frequent and severe, particularly for short-term employees who experience many first-time encounters with care recipients.

Migrant Care Workers in Swedish Elderly and Disability Care: Are They Disadvantaged?

This study outlines characteristics among migrant workers in elderly and disability care in Sweden. The aim was to investigate whether migrant care workers perceive their situation at work to be more problematic than do their native peers. The study was based on the Nordcare dataset, an extensive mail survey aimed at investigating conditions among care workers in the Nordic countries (n=735 in the Swedish part of the dataset). Care workers born outside Sweden constituted 13 per cent (n=94) of the workforce. When taking other variables into account, the situation of migrant care workers from other Nordic countries was similar to that of Swedish-born care workers. Being born outside the Nordic countries was associated with an increased risk of having a high work load and not being appreciated by co-workers, and a decreased risk of being criticised by care users. Male care workers born outside the Nordic countries displayed aspects of precariousness that merit further investigation. Based on these findings, researchers and policy-makers are warned not to presume that all migrant care workers suffer from precarious working conditions and that such conditions reported by members of the category may be attributed to factors other than ethnic origin.

Neglect of elderly women in feminist studies of violence—a case of ageism?

ABSTRACT Using Sweden as an example, this article describes and analyzes the late and reluctant appearance of a feminist perspective on elder abuse. The lack of interest in elderly women is related both to a youth and mid-life centrist tendency of feminism and to the need for clarity within the feminist perspective. We argue that the appearance of male victims and female offenders in cases of elder abuse threatens feminist models that relate violence to a general subordination of women in society. The feminist perspective that has recently emerged may therefore not only provide new and important understanding about elder abuse. Due to possible anomalies there is a risk that a feminist perspective on elder abuse creates a theoretical blindness, where male victims and female abusers are regarded as irrelevant exceptions to the problem.

Framing scandalous nursing home care: what is the problem?

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to investigate different ways in which nursing home scandals in Sweden have been framed, to discuss the relations between these existing frameworks, and to identify ways of describing the problem that are absent in the current debates. Data for the study consisted of media articles, television documentaries and internet debates, expert reports and court hearings, and interviews with representatives of organisations dealing with the issue of mistreatment in care services for older people. An analytical tool developed within social movement research was used to identify three ‘debates’ on such mistreatment in Sweden, where competing ways of framing the problem have been used: (a) a debate where staff are cast as either perpetrators or victims, (b) a debate on privatisation and profit as the motive for neglect of care recipients, and (c) a debate on deserving and non-deserving recipients of socially provided care centred around populist claims. The analysis highlights a need to introduce an alternative frame for interpretation where mistreatment in care for older people is regarded as involving scandalous cases of ageism. This anti-ageism frame would provide older people with a lead role in the drama – not just as victims but as stakeholders in relation to the problem.

Shaping nursing home mealtimes

ABSTRACT A number of studies stress the importance of positive mealtime experiences for nursing home residents. However, the components that comprise an ideal nursing home meal remain unclear, reflecting the ambiguity of whether nursing homes should be framed as institutions, domestic settings or a type of hotel. In this study, nursing home meals were viewed as situations that the involved parties could continuously modify and ‘work on’. The aim was to analyse how the staff and residents shaped mealtimes by initiating frames and acting according to established social scripts. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with staff and residents and on ethnographic data, consisting of 100 hours of observations at two nursing home settings in Sweden. The analysis revealed how staff and residents interactively shaped meals using institutional, private or restaurant frames. There were three important findings: (a) an institutional meal frame was dominant; (b) there were substantial difficulties in introducing private frames and established private scripts for meals, since such meal versions are personal and not easy to transport into collective settings; (c) successful creation of private or home-like meal situations illustrates an often overlooked skill in care work. Making meals as ‘care-free’ as possible can be viewed as a way to operationalise the goal of providing a non-institutional environment in nursing homes.

Constructing Crime against the Elderly in Swedish Crime Prevention Campaigns

The study investigates how crime prevention activities frame the problem of crime against the elderly, regarding character, causes, effects and solutions. Data was collected through participant observations, interviews and analysis of a film produced by a local crime prevention council in Sweden. It is concluded that crime prevention for seniors produces complex and contradicting images of the problem. In situational crime prevention seniors are warned to look out for strangers stalking them or trying to access their homes. Statements that victimization is uncommon among the old are combined with warnings that invoke images of mysterious ever-present perpetrators. In social crime prevention, where causes and interventions of crime are discussed, crime prevention officers link the problem to established social problems such as drug abuse and juvenile delinquency. This way of framing the problem is typical for a Swedish Social Democratic perspective, where lack of community and integration are defined as causes of social problems. It is concluded that warnings to look out for strangers who ask for help may be at odds with this striving towards community.

Introducing an Equal Rights Framework for Older Persons in Residential Care

This article reconceptualizes residential care for older persons by introducing a framework developed from a rights-based principle of disability policies: the normalization principle. This principle is part of the social model and states that society should make available for people who have impairments living conditions that are as close as possible to those of “others.” Using the framework on the case of eldercare in Sweden shows that although disability policies have used people without impairments as a comparative (external) reference group for claiming rights, eldercare policies use internal reference groups, basing comparisons on other care users. The article highlights the need for external comparisons in eldercare and suggests that the third age, which so far has been a normative reference group for older people, could be a comparative reference group when older persons in need of care claim rights to equal conditions.

The use of ‘empowerment’ among organisations supporting victims of domestic violence in Sweden

The aim of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and character of ‘empowerment’ as an approach used by womens shelters, crime victim support groups and municipal crisis centres that provide support for battered women in Sweden. The study was based on a mail survey distributed among representatives of local crime victim support groups and womens shelters run by non-governmental organisations and the public sector (N = 207). The survey showed that empowerment was perceived as similar to the already established ‘help to self-help’ approach. Empowerment was described as a tool for individual change rather than collective action, although links to power-sensitivity and social change did appear in some answers. Contrary to expectations, the use of empowerment was not accompanied by comments on problematic power relations and difficulties in merging a non-directive approach with professional responsibilities. Using neo-institutional theory, results were interpreted in relation to established work-patterns and problems that empowerment was perceived to solve.

Ageism and the rights of older people

This chapter critically examines established attempts to counter ageism, highlighting how they have failed to include the so-called fourth age, and might instead contribute to further stigmatization of older people with impairments and care needs. Drawing upon models from disability policies, an equal rights framework will be introduced that could be used to combat discrimination and improve everyday conditions of older people in need of long-term care. In this chapter, the equal rights framework will call into question existing cases of “institutional ageism” whereby older people with impairments are excluded from government programs benefiting younger people with disabilities. Instead of acting as a normative reference group, as the standard that older persons may fail or manage to live up to, it is possible to use the third age as a comparative reference group. We argue that society should make available for older persons with impairments living conditions and lifestyles that are typical for healthy active seniors, that is, for the group of older people that are commonly referred to as constituting the third age. These conditions and activities should then not be regarded as normative, but as typical, and thus possible to refer to when defining social rights.