Naslov
Narratives of dignity in old age in the City of Zagreb
(Narratives of dignity in old age in the city of Zagreb)

Autori
Galić, Romana ; Vrban, Ines ; Vahtar, Dorijan

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
ECSWR 2019 Book of Abstracts / - , 2019, 180-180

ISBN
9789071047145

Skup
European Conference for Social Work Research 2019

Mjesto i datum
Leuven, Belgium, 10.04.2019. - 12.04.2019

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Older people ; Dignity ; Discrimination, Narratives
(older people ; dignity ; discrimination, narratives)

Sažetak
The results of the research on the rights of the elderly in the City of Zagreb, carried out by the Foundation Zajednički put in 2013, show the elderly see their rights violated mostly in the area of safety and personal dignity. In order to further clarify and contextualize these results, in 2016 the Foundation carried out the study Narratives of dignity in old age. The aim of the study was to see how older people conceptualize dignified ageing and factors which endanger it. The following research questions were asked: Do older people perceive discrimination, and if yes, in what contexts? How do older people perceive dignified ageing? Do they relate dignified ageing with active ageing? A semi-structured individual interview was used, and the participants were 32 older people (16 male and 16 female) in Zagreb, half of whom live in a retirement home, and half in their household. The interviews were recorded and later transcribed. After systematization and coding, the following results were obtained: Older people experienced discrimination within health institutions, public transport and public spaces, retirement homes and private companies. Health institutions were criticized the most ; older people experienced the following: inappropriate behavior of medical staff during care ; inappropriate communication and denial of medical help. Also, they criticized public transport and public spaces where they experienced: ignoring ; objectivization, verbal abuse, physical threat, theft. The participants in retirement homes are mostly satisfied with their existential security and available activities, however, some expressed high dissatisfaction with: quality and diversity of food ; quality of provided care ; theft of personal items, inability to participate in the decision-making processes (i.e. change of home’s GP if they are not satisfied with the service). What they criticized the least was their experience with private companies (i.e. bank or mall), but still, they were verbally abused, objectivized and cheated in those places. Older people conceptualize dignified ageing as a dimension of six mutually related categories: preserved health ; secured food and assistance of others ; material security ; family support ; socialization ; work contribution. If only one category is missing, their feeling of dignified life in old age is disrupted. Although all participants confirm that dignified ageing is necessarily related to active ageing, only one participant perceived active ageing through a social dimension – being active in the community and for the community (i.e. volunteering or activism), while the rest perceived it through a personal dimension – private activities directed at achieving personal satisfaction (i.e. foreign language learning or workout). Such results point to the need of educating the elderly about their rights and mechanisms of enjoying and protecting those rights, as well as empowering them for social actions. However, there is also the need to educate experts on specifics of working and communicating with the elderly, as well as to inform the society of specific needs and problems older people face, and of potentials with which they can contribute to the development of society.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Socijalne djelatnosti, Interdisciplinarne društvene znanosti

POVEZANOST RADA