Where Would You Turn for Help? Older Adults’ Awareness of Community Support Services

First published in the Canadian Journal on Aging, this study has been recently released in the SEDAP research series (McMaster Social and Economic Dimension of an Aging Population). This study examined older adults’ awareness of community support services (CSSs) using a series of vignettes to describe common situations faced by older adults for which CSSs might be appropriate. In telephone interviews, older adults were read a series of vignettes and asked if they were able to identify a community organization or agency that they may turn to in that situation. The findings show that, using a vignette methodology, awareness of CSSs is much lower than previously thought. The most important sources of information about CSSs included information and referral sources, the telephone book, doctors’ offices, and word of mouth.

http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/sedap/p/sedap272.pdf

Caring for Older Australians: Care Workers and Care Practices that Support and Enable Good Care

Launched in November, 2008 by the Social Policy Research Centre in partnership with the Benevolent Society (Australia), this paper draws on both Australian and international research to examine the working practices of paid community care workers with a focus on how care workers and managers can best support and enable good care of older people living in their own homes.

The aim of the briefing is to draw from the research evidence of promising and innovative practices that can be adapted and incorporated by care workers and managers into their daily work.

http://www.bensoc.org.au/uploads/documents/research-to-practice-briefing-1-caring-for-older-australians-nov2008.pdf