Norah Keating

Goals and management styles of New Zealand farmers

Abstract Many commentators on contemporary agriculture emphasize the importance of sound business decision making on the farm. We argue that while this may be appropriate, it is important not to overlook the personal goals of the farmers in any assessment of farm management. Since farmers combine both business and way of life goals in complex and personal ways, we find that the concept of management style is best suited to developing an integrated account of different approaches to farm management. Ranking of goal statements along with interview transcripts provided data that allow for a detailed account of three distinctive management styles in a non-random sample of farmers in Canterbury, New Zealand. The three management styles identified in this investigation are the dedicated producer, the flexible strategist and the environmentalist. The results show the variable response of farmers to their particular social, economic and ecological context and extend out knowledge of management style by showing how goals are integrated in subtle and complex ways.

Conceptualizing Age-Friendly Communities

Sur le front politique et des lignes de conduite, l’intérêt a augmenté pour rendre les communautés plus « amies des ainés », cette tendance est restée constante depuis que l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé a lancé son projet « Réseau mondial des Villes-amies des aînés. » Nous conceptualisons les communautés amies des aînés en nous appuyons sur le cadre de l’OMS et l’application d’un point de vue écologique. Ainsi nous visons à rendre explicite les principales hypothèses sur l’interaction entre la personne et l’environnement afin de faire progresser la recherche ou de décisions politiques dans ce domaine. Les prémisses écologiques (par exemple, il doit y avoir une adéquation entre la personne âgée et les conditions environnementales) suggèrent la nécessité d’une approche de recherche holistique et interdisciplinaire. Une telle approche est requise car les domaines amis des aînés (l’environnement physique, le logement, l’environnement social, les possibilités de participation, le soutien communautaire formel et informel et les services de santé, de transport, de communication et de l’information) ne peuvent pas être traitées independamment des facteurs personnels, tels que l’âge, le sexe, le revenu et l’état fonctionnel, ainsi que des autres niveaux d’influence, y compris l’environnement politique. On the political and policy front, interest has increased in making communities more “age-friendly”, an ongoing trend since the World Health Organization launched its global Age-Friendly Cities project. We conceptualize age-friendly communities by building on the WHO framework and applying an ecological perspective. We thereby aim to make explicit key assumptions of the interplay between the person and the environment to advance research or policy decisions in this area. Ecological premises (e.g., there must be a fit between the older adult and environmental conditions) suggest the need for a holistic and interdisciplinary research approach. Such an approach is needed because age-friendly domains (the physical environment, housing, the social environment, opportunities for participation, informal and formal community supports and health services, transportation, communication, and information) cannot be treated in isolation from intrapersonal factors, such as age, gender, income, and functional status, and other levels of influence, including the policy environment.

The Hidden Costs of Informal Elder Care

Demographic, socio-economic, and political trends throughout the developed world have contrived to make elder care an issue of utmost policy importance. They also have led to sharp reductions in health and social program expenditures. Policymakers are looking to communities to help meet growing care needs because community care is believed to be better and cheaper than institutional care. However, these beliefs become untenable when costs beyond public sector costs are considered. In fact, informal care carries a number of hidden costs that seldom are considered in health and social policy discussions. This article introduces a taxonomy of the costs of informal elder care, which can be categorized as out-of-pocket expenditures, foregone employment opportunities, unpaid labor, and emotional, physical and social well-being costs. Then, an illustration is provided regarding how the taxonomy can be applied to understanding the incidence, magnitude, and distribution of these costs among stakeholder groups. This taxonomy can help inform ongoing debate about health and social policy reform.

Understanding the caring capacity of informal networks of frail seniors: a case for care networks

Population ageing and constraints on public sector spending for older people with long-term health problems have led policy makers to turn to the social networks of older people, or the ‘informal sector’, as a source of long-term care. An important question arising from this policy shift is whether these social networks have the resources to sustain the high levels of care that can be required by older people with chronic health problems. In the face of both dire warnings about the imminent demise of the informal sector, and concurrent expectations that it will be the pillar of community long-term care, it is timely to undertake a critical analysis of the caring capacity of older peoples social networks. In this paper we argue that the best way to understand the caring capacity of informal networks of frail older people is to establish their membership and caring capacity. It is useful to make conceptual distinctions between ‘social’, ‘support’, and ‘care-giving’ networks. We argue that transitions of networks from social through support to care roles are likely to show systematic patterns, and that at each transition the networks tend to contract as the more narrowly defined functions prevail. A focus on ‘care networks’, rather than the more usual ‘care dyads’, will move forward our understanding of the caring capacity of the informal sector, and also our ability to forge sound social and health policies to support those who provide care.

Predictors of Older Adults’ Capacity for Medication Management in a Self-Medication Program A Retrospective Chart Review

Objectives: The aim of this project was to identify variables that predicted older adults’ ability to manage medications. Methods: The study used a retrospective cohort design and was set in a self-medication program within a rehabilitation hospital. A random sample of charts from 301 participants in the self-medication program was reviewed. Results: Logistic regression models accounted for 26.7% and 55.8% of the variance in the probability of making one or more self-medication errors during the initial and final weeks of the program, respectively. The importance of cognition in predicting medication management capacity was seen in bivariate and multivariate analyses and through a number of interactions with other predictors. Statistically significant predictors in one or both analyses included medication regimen complexity, Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) score, duration of institutionalization, depression, and interactions between (a) medication regimen complexity and MMSE score and (b) ability to cook and MMSE score. Discussion: The direct effects of cognition and medication regimen complexity were important predictors of medication management capacity.

Choosing the Successor in New Zealand Family Farms

Farmers in family businesses are often interested in generational succession. Yet farming parents are often unclear about the process of choosing a successor. We undertook a grounded-method study of the succession process among New Zealand farm families. The process included five stages: watching for interest, reducing the pool of eligibles, assessing commitment, compensating the others, and placing the successor. We make suggestions for future research that will test the model of succession, and for use of these findings by farm families who are contemplating family succession.

Aging in rural Canada: a retrospective and review.

La recherche sur le vieillissement en milieu rural s’est développée considérablement depuis la publication du livre, Aging in Rural Canada (Butterworths, 1991). Le but de cet article est double: de fournir une rétrospective sur les questions de viellissement en milieu rural tirée de ce livre, et une revue de la littérature canadienne sur le vieillissement en milieu rural depuis sa publication. L’examen met en évidence les nouvelles orientations dans les définitions conceptuelles du « rural », et dans les questions de l’engagement social, l’indépendance, les réseaux familiaux et sociaux et les services ruraux et la santé. Deux perspectives principales de recherche sont évidents. Le point de vue ou l’optique d’analyse de la marginalisation se concentre sur les personnes âgées en milieu rural ayant des problèmes de santé, mais n’a pas inclus celles qui sont marginalisées par la pauvrété ou le sexe. L’optique d’analyse du vieillissement sain se concentre sur les contributions et l’engagement, mais a omis la recherche sur les relations sociales et la qualité de l’interaction familiale. Le rapport comprend un appel s’interroger sur l’interaction entre les gens et leur lieu de vie et à comprendre les enjeux de la diversité en milieu rural et le processus de vieillissement en milieu rural. Research on rural aging has developed considerably since publication of the book Aging in Rural Canada (Butterworths, 1991). The purpose of this article is twofold: to provide a retrospective on issues in rural aging from this book, and to review Canadian literature on rural aging since its publication. The review highlights new directions in conceptual definitions of rural, and in issues of social engagement, independence, family and social networks, and rural services and health. Two main research lenses are evident. The marginalization lens focuses on rural seniors with health problems, but has not included those marginalized by poverty or gender. The aging-well lens focuses on contributions and engagement, but has omitted research on social relationships and quality of family interaction. The report includes a call for interrogation about interaction between people and place, and for understanding issues of rural diversity and processes of rural aging.

Age-Friendly Rural Communities: Conceptualizing 'Best-Fit'

La littérature sur les communautés amies des aînés est axé principalement sur un modèle de vieillissement en un milieu urbain, en omettant ainsi de refléter la diversité des communautés rurales. Dans cet article, nous abordons cette lacune en se concentrant sur la notion de la communauté dans un contexte rural et en demandant ce qui crée une bonne adaptation entre les personnes âgées et leur environnement. Cela se fait grace à (1) comptes autobiographiques et biographiqus de deux environnements géographiques très différents de subsistence: les communautés bucoliques et contournées, et à (b) l’analyse des besoins et des ressources différents des deux groupes de personnes: les personnes âgées marginalisées et actives qui vivent dans ces deux communautés rurales différentes. Nous affirmons que la définition originale de 2007 de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS), de “amie des aînés” doit être repensée pour tenir compte des besoins et ressources explicitement différents de la communauté, pour être plus inclusive ainsi que plus interactive et dynamique en intégrant les changements qui sont survenus au fil du temps chez les personnes et les lieux.

Self-, Informal and Formal Care: Partnerships in Community-Based and Residential Long-Term Care Settings

Increasing emphasis is being placed on the need to have older adults, their families and formal service providers work together collaboratively or “in partnerships” to provide long-term care, both in community and residential care settings. There is therefore a need to determine how such relationships are currently structured. This paper systematically reviews the results of studies published from 1985 through 1998 on relationships involving self-, informal and formal care within these settings. The findings suggest that formal services are not used to displace or substitute for informal care but rather, that formal services tend to be used to supplement and complement the care provided by the informal network. This is true both in community and residential care settings. Exactly how these partnerships are structured and the relationships between self-care and both informal and formal systems of care are less clear. The findings point to a need to refocus attention away from the creation of partnerships and protecting against unnecessary substitution, towards broader concerns with supporting the partnerships that already exist.

Bridging Policy and Research in Eldercare

A new paradigm for continuing care policy has emerged that is based on assumptions about the benefits of caring partnerships and client-centred care delivery. Such assumptions place the interface between formal and informal care squarely on the policy agenda. The authors describe how existing research can contribute to the debate stimulated by the new policy paradigm and suggest future research that is informed by the paradigm. They argue that theory is an important tool to make policy agendas more explicit and they use human ecology theory to illustrate how theory can frame the development of research to address policy. Finally, they describe barriers to be overcome in order for policy and research to inform one another. Coauthors are Janet E. Fast, Ingrid A. Connidis, Margaret Penning, and Janice Keefe.