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Family Advocacy Roles and Highly Dependent Residents in Nursing Homes
Author(s) -
Tilse C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 0726-4240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1997.tb01017.x
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , nursing homes , nursing , position (finance) , qualitative research , political science , public relations , sociology , medicine , psychology , business , social science , finance , psychotherapist
A developing critique has questioned the practical utility of user rights policy initiatives for highly dependent residents of nursing homes. This paper seeks to extend this critique to the advocacy roles that families have been accorded within the policy initiatives. The discussion is based on a qualitative research study of family participation in six aged care units. The paper argues that the capacity of families to act as advocates for highly dependent nursing home residents is limited by the their weak position within the organisations and the complexity of their relations with staff. It questions both the applicability and the appropriateness of rights models which do not take sufficient account of the structure and meaning of care.