Reflections on an appreciative approach to empowering elderly people in home healthcare

• This is a reflective account of aspects of our collective concern about developing and sustaining ways that might enable elderly people to feel more empowered to exercise their right of self-determination. This work has been undertaken in the context of home healthcare in northern Sweden. In this paper we put three espoused values 'under pressure' from client, professional (homecare staff) and research perspectives. We also explore three aspects of the pictorial landscape of homecare (see Figure 1). They are the notions of client participation, empowerment and ICT. The living data for this paper is drawn from two days of workshop activities with 35 homecare staff working in the municipality of Lule, Sweden. The workshop was one outcome of the e-Home Health Care @ North Calotte (eHHC) Project of 2003-2005. We conclude with some collective reflections about: (a) the practice of participation (dialogue) and an intention of it (empowerment) in the context of clients accelerating service change; (b) how to reframe traditional views of the relationships between research and practice and, as a consequence, open up new possibilities for understanding how elderly people's lived experiences can be a positive force for service improvement; and (c) the use of storyboards as an appreciative approach to enable frontline staff to reflect on their work, share and learn together

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Systems, Social aspects (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Sjukgymnastik (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Physiotherapy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Informatik

Informatics

Sjukgymnastik

Physiotherapy

Centre - eHealth Innovation Centre (EIC)

Centrumbildning - Centrum för Innovation och eHälsa (EIC)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)