The Social and Built Environment in an Older Society (1988) / Chapter Skim
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CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON ENVIRONMENTS
CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON ENVIRONMENTS
Pages 190-206
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From page 190... ...
The advantage of my model is that it can be used as a structure for analyses both of actual conditions and changing trends and of research and research needs. In this context, ~ see one important research task being the evaluation of social goals: checking to ensure that government policy and programs have been set up to comply with what citizens see as necessary and Sven Thiberg is with the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
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From page 191... ...
The great material and social gaps that exist in the United States among population groups would be unacceptable in Sweden. It is difficult to say exactly what sacrifices Swedish citizens make to achieve the material standard offered by our system of security based on taxes, pensions, allowances, and financing measures.
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From page 192... ...
In Sweden, the national policy is that an independent life is desirable and that it can only be attained if older people live in their own homes; in Japan, the state advocates that the elderly shall live with their relatives. Great efforts are made in Sweden to support old people living on their own; in Japan, no reason is seen to develop such support because it is considered to conflict with the desirable social pattern.
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From page 193... ...
Recent Swedish studies show the contrary: that economic independence for both parties can lead to relations on equal conditions and with mutual social exchange. THE SWEDISH EXPERIENCE In 1984 a Swedish government commission summarized the housing conditions of the nation's elderly as follows.
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From page 194... ...
of all pensioner households consist of people living on their own. It is more common to find elderly persons living in blocks of flats than in small houses.
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From page 195... ...
During the period 1983-1987 the local councils planned nearly 400 building projects with some 10,600 service flats. In the planned service blocks, about 40 flats is the most common construction goal but several of the local councils do not plan to incorporate more than 10 to 15 flats in order to avoid segregation.
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From page 196... ...
In Sweden, the old-age homes are seen as a residential form for elderly persons who cannot look after themselves because their dwellings are uninhabitable or because they have a need for social assistance, or both. Staff are available around the clock.
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From page 197... ...
The numbers of patients discharged increased with the size of their flat. Elderly persons living on their own consistently have longer stays in hospital and fewer discharges than people living together.
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From page 198... ...
Deinstitutionalization is thus a goal, and in the board's opinion, a substantial number of the persons now in psychiatric institutions could be discharged in the next few years, most to a normal dwelling with the support of the home help service and decentralized medical care. THE SWEDISH WAY OF CHANGE The official description of the progression of Swedish old-age policy development may be summed up as from the family, through the institution, to independent life.
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From page 199... ...
Various intermediate forms that offer alternatives to home care have also been developed for example, having one's own kitchen but also access to a dining room for collective meals. In conjunction with the current major reconstruction of the housing stock in Sweden-chiefly those dwellings built from the turn of the century up to the 1940s the question arises of the forms of dwellings for the elderly.
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From page 200... ...
The chief tendency now, however, is to increase nursing service in the home and thus postpone or render unnecessary the move to an institution. It is also becoming increasingly common that, after temporary care in an institution for the chronically sick, perhaps following a transitional rehabilitation period, old people return to their normal accommodations with service and nurs ing in the home.
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From page 201... ...
The aim of care services subsumes these areas: · Medical and health services, social services (home help) , and local council consumer advisory services must be directed toward the provision of support and care in the home and the residential area.
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From page 202... ...
· Staff development shall be directed to support for the changed view of care, to strengthening the capability of nursing staff, and to improving their working conditions and security of employment. Aim of Research The following research tasks should be pursued: · Increased attention shall be devoted to societal changes in the Tong and short term that have a significance for the elderly person's life and conditions.
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From page 203... ...
· The experience of those directly engaged in nursing and service delivery should be collected in categories that will make use of everyday field occurrences in the development of care methods and buildings. · Scientific methods and results should be examined as a basis for the development of research capability and for relevance of the results as a basis for decisions; comparative studies are a step in the development of methods.
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From page 204... ...
This is an area in which we offer flexible, versatile, and relatively generous individual support. In the Tong term, the individual's ability to remain in his or her former environment is facilitated by methodically constructing housing, neighborhood services, and communications to be easily accessible to all.
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From page 205... ...
Our experience tells us that relations between relatives and work colleagues of the elderly are of such importance that it is difficult to compensate for their lack at advanced ages. For the elderly, to remain where they have always lived is the only available alternative, so as to maintain neighborly contacts built up in previous years.
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From page 206... ...
There is something of a weakness in not being able to imagine the view of aging in an aging society that coming generations will hold. During the last few decades the health and economy of elderly people in Sweden have dramatically improved, but neither working life nor social and cultural patterns have adapted to these realities.
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