- Title
- Needing, providing and supporting care: a mixed methods study of older adults' functional abilities and care needs, caregivers' lived experiences, and social workers' contributions in the lives of older adults in Ghana
- Creator
- Awuviry-Newton, Kofi
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Globally, disability and frailty are the significant determinants of functional difficulties among older adults; however, the prevalence and experiences of specific functional difficulties among older adults to understand their care needs in Ghana are unclear. Often, functional difficulties lead to an increasing need for care; however, in the Ghanaian context, little is known of the lived experiences of caregivers caring for older adults needing care. Moreover, social workers contributions to the lives of older adults and their caregivers in Ghana are not documented. This study employed a concurrent mixed-method design to examine older adults' functional abilities, care needs, and meeting these needs for Ghana's caregivers and social workers. There were five specific aims to achieve the above-mentioned overall thesis’ aim. The first aim was to examine the prevalence of functional difficulties among adults 50 years or older, with particular attention to toileting which may be more prevalent in a context where accessible toileting is less widely available, and there are therefore more environmental challenges and a poorer person-environment fit. The second aim was to examine factors contributing to caregiver availability for older adults, and the third was to explore the lived experiences of older adults regarding their functional abilities. The fourth aim was to explore the lived experiences of caregivers caring for older adults living with functional difficulties. Finally, the fifth aim was to investigate the roles and capacities of social workers in older adults and their caregivers' lives. The results revealed a high need for care among older adults depicted from the high prevalence and experience of functional difficulties among older adults, especially in older women compared to older men in Ghana. Toileting difficulty was observed to be more common than expected to other difficulties in daily living activities and was related to personal, environmental, and health-related factors. Notably, a large proportion of older adults in Ghana do not have access to a plumbed toilet, increasing the environmental challenges associated with toileting and exacerbating other disabilities. Though about 86% of older adults have caregivers available to care for them, older adults living as a widow or widower did not receive any government or non-governmental financial support and were less likely to have a caregiver available to care for them. The qualitative interviews with older adults regarding their functional abilities revealed that older adults admit having trouble in life, feel anxious at times, and sometimes do not feel human; however, many employed strategies to cope with their restrictions. Despite the functional difficulties they experienced, they desired to be healthy and productive. The qualitative interviews with caregiver participants revealed caregivers’ expressed commitment to caring for older adults, motivated primarily by reciprocity, despite internal and external stressors, and the desire to fulfil personal needs. Qualitative interviews with social workers revealed that though, they are working to assist older adults in meeting their needs, their capacities were limited by lack of resources. When all these findings are put together, they suggest that older adults' functional difficulties posed pressure on older adults themselves, their caregivers and social workers. The findings facilitate our understanding of older adults' care needs, emphasising the functional, social, and environmental factors influencing older adults' functional status and demonstrating the need for better systems to support the care needs of older adults and those who care for them.
- Subject
- functional difficulty; social work; caregivers; cared-for; lived experience; older people; ethics of Care; WHO-ICF; Ghana; thesis by publication
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1429188
- Identifier
- uon:38692
- Rights
- Copyright 2020 Kofi Awuviry-Newton
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 6 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 555 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |