Limitations are described in the literature in relation to the actual involvement of older people in action research activities. Empirical social research involving any form of data collection has an impact on the people and the setting studied. Researchers should strive to be morally aware of such an impact. The article describes case studies of participatory research in Sweden, Italy and Portugal. It highlights moral issues confronted by researchers. Moreover actual examples of different order of priorities among researchers and participants are provided. The study shows possible spaces for collaboration, while recognizing the difference of interests and priorities among researchers and participants

En la literatura se describen las limitaciones en relación con la participación real de las personas mayores en las actividades de investigación-acción. La investigación social empírica que involucra cualquier forma de recopilación de datos tiene un impacto en las personas y el entorno estudiado. Las personas investigadoras deben esforzarse por ser moralmente conscientes de tal impacto. El artículo describe estudios de casos de investigación participativa en Suecia, Italia y Portugal. Destaca los problemas morales que enfrentan las personas investigadoras. Además, se proporcionan ejemplos reales de diferente orden de prioridades entre personas investigadoras y participantes. El estudio muestra posibles espacios de colaboración, al tiempo que reconoce la diferencia de intereses y prioridades entre personas investigadoras y participantes.

This chapter describes Swedish entrepreneurs aged 80 plus, providing some quantitative data and reporting two case studies. Self-employment can be considered a means to overcome ageism in the labour market, and is often considered the only way to stay in the market after retirement age. Entrepreneurship research often stresses the connections between entrepreneurship, youth and masculinity. Information is given on all individuals older than 80 on the Swedish market. Two case studies of enterprises owned and managed by 80 plus entrepreneurs are presented: Lena, who developed a business based on her language competencies, and Carl with his wife Carin, who run an enterprise producing exclusive vegetables and fruit for the market. Crucial dimensions of their enterprises are time and experience. They use their competencies and expertise developed during their careers in their working lives. They are very innovative and creative in many aspects—what they produce, how they organise and where they find their market. Both the presented enterprises are producing unique services, so the owners feel they must continue as long as they can. Ageism is well-ingrained in our society, but oldest old entrepreneurs may challenge it.

Team meetings are central to social workers’ decision-making practices. These meetings often function as a forum for collegial consultations, when applications are processed and recommendations on decisions are discussed. In this paper, we present findings from a case study on team talk and decision-making practices in gerontological social work. The data come from a body of material gathered within the framework of a larger project covering the process of assessing elder care for older persons in three Swedish municipalities. The case concerns an application, due to homelessness, from a couple for an apartment in special housing. The team meeting was analysed using a data-driven perspective within a micro-analytical approach to talk, focusing in detail on how conflicting perspectives in the assessment of the couple’s needs are dealt with, and how tensions between divergent views and opinions are handled in relation to institutional and professional conversational frames. The findings show how the care managers (in Sweden the professional title for social workers working in elder care) negotiated the boundaries of responsibility and power within both the institutional and professional frames, revealing that the institutional frame dominated when it came to making decisions. The findings have implications for practice, as they give insight into the interactional dynamics involved in social workers’ assessments when navigating different conversational frames within their decision-making practices.

In Sweden, efforts to govern end-of-life care through policies have been ongoing since the 1970s. The aim of this study is to analyse how policy narratives on palliative care in Sweden have been formulated and have changed over time since the 1970s up to 2018. We have analysed 65 different policy-documents. After having analysed the empirical material, three policy episodes were identified. In Episode 1, focus was on the need for norms, standards and a psychological end-of-life care with the main goal of solving the alleged deficiencies within end-of-life care in hospital settings. Episode 2 was characterised by an emphasis on prioritising end-of-life care and dying at home, and on the fact that the hospice care philosophy should serve as inspiration. In Episode 3, the need for a palliative care philosophy that transcended all palliative care and the importance of systematic follow-ups and indicators was endorsed. Furthermore, human value and freedom of choice were emphasised. In conclusion, the increase of policy-documents produced by the welfare-state illustrate that death and dying have become matters of public concern and responsibility. Furthermore, significant shifts in policy narratives display how notions of good palliative care change, which in turn may affect both the practice and the content of care at the end of life.

Objective: To explore frail older persons’ perceptions of the future and the end of life.

Design: Qualitative content analysis of individual semi-structured interviews.

Setting: Nine primary health care centres in both small and middle-sized municipalities in Sweden that participated in the intervention project Proactive healthcare for frail elderly persons.

Subjects/Patients: The study includes 20 older persons (eight women and 12 men, aged 76–93 years).

Main outcome measures: Frail older persons’ perceptions of the future and end of life.

Results: The analysis uncovered two main categories: Dealing with the future and Approaching the end of life. Dealing with the future includes two subcategories: Plans and reflections and Distrust and delay. Approaching the end of life includes three subcategories: Practical issues, Worries and realism, and Keeping it away.

Conclusion: This study highlights the diverse ways older people perceive future and the end of life. The results make it possible to further understand the complex phenomenon of frail older persons’ perceptions on the future and the end of life.

In Sweden, palliative care has, over the past decades, been object to policies and guidelines with focus on how to achieve“good palliative care”. The aim of this study has been to analyse how experts make sense of the development and the currentstate of palliative care. Departing from this aim, focus has been on identifying how personal experiences of ‘the self’ areintertwined with culturally available meta-level concepts and how experts contribute to construct new scripts on palliativecare. Twelve qualitative interviews were conducted. Four scripts were identifed after analysing the empirical material: 1.script of paths towards working within palliative care; 2. script of desirable and deterrent reference points; 3. script of tensions between improvement and bureaucracy; and 4. script of low status and uncertain defnitions. The fndings of this studyillustrate how experts in complex ways intertwine experiences of ‘the self’ with meta-levels concepts in order to make senseof the feld of palliative care. The participants did not endorse one “right way” of “good” deaths. Instead, palliative care wasconsidered to be located in a complex state where the historical development, consisting of both desirable ideals, death denialsand lack of guidelines, and more recent developments of strives towards universal concepts, “improvement” and increasedbureaucracy altogether played a signifcant role for how palliative care has developed and is organised and conducted today.

Introduction: Despite evidence that older persons want to be involved in care, little is known about how older people with complex health problems living at home experience participation in care provided by different stakeholders. This study investigates the experiences of participation in care by older people, following their involvement in a proactive intervention based on a new health care model called Focused Primary Care. Material and methods: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 older persons in five municipalities in Sweden. All the interviewees had participated in the intervention. Results: The older persons highlighted opportunities and limitations for participation on a personal level i.e. conditions for being involved in direct care and in relation to independence. Experiences of participation on an organisational level were reported to a lesser degree. In order to keep care contacts together and improve participation, a coordinating person (called “the spider in the net”) was requested who could safeguard the staff’s relationship with the older person. Conclusions: Primary care should to a greater extent involve older persons more directly in the planning and execution of care. There is considerable potential for developing the health and primary care sector to better target the needs of older persons with complex health problems, and to enhance their participation and independence. Interventions, like the one followed in this project, can play a critical role in realising the needs of older persons, where providing participation in care is recognised as a significant goal to assist them in navigating the care system. 

I studiet indgår 77 nyhedsartikler fra danske aviser, der udkom i 2016 og 2017.Gennem en analyse af materialet, som fokuserer på mediers anvendelse af ord og begreber, er der identificeret tre temaer:Aktiviteter mod ensomhed.Hvad er ensomhed?Boliger og betydningen af det fysiske miljø for ensomhed.Artiklerne er domineret af et fokus på aktiviteter, der skal imødegå ensomhed, og en opfat-telse af ensomhed som et problem, der skal løses. I de fleste artikler findes en mere dybde-gående diskussion af, hvad ensomhed er i nutidens samfund. Selvom ensomhed beskrives som et samfundsøkonomisk problem og et problem for folkesundheden, handler mange ar-tikler om behovet for at se ensomhedens sociale sider, og at ensomhed udspringer af sam-fundets udvikling og af synet på (tabuet om) ensomhed.De fleste artikler er kendetegnet ved, at flere perspektiver på ensomhed eller aktiviteter gi-ves plads i samme artikel. Det drejer sig ofte om, at ældre mennesker, forskere, engagerede borgere, de ansvarlige for en aktivitet og de ansvarlige i en kommune eller organisation får mulighed for at udtrykke deres syn på ensomhed og specifikke aktiviteter samt initiativer rettet mod ensomhed.