Suchergebnisse

This report is a part of a more comprehensive study about the adaption to care services among elderly ethnic minorities in Norway. This project is financed by the Royal Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion. The ambition of this part of the study called "The relationship between elderly immigrants and organisations» is to get more and better knowledge about what three different types of voluntary organisations do in relation to elderly immigrants. The organisations under examination are immigrant organisations, traditional humanitarian and interest organisations. They have been presented two questions: 1) Do elderly immigrants participate in your organisation? 2) Does your organisation arrange specific activities towards elderly immigrants? Altogether we obtained contact with twenty (20) organisations, among them four (4) local immigrant organisations, four (4) humanitarian and twelve (12) organisations from the traditional and nationwide Norwegian voluntary sector. Nine (9) representatives from seven (7) of these organisations have been interviewed. Important themes in the interviews were: Building of confidence among the elderly participants in the meeting places, learning through dialogue, separation of the participants by gender, the significance of language and cultural antagonism. Data of our investigation generally show a rather low level of activity towards elderly immigrants in the traditional humanitarian and the interest organisations. We have nevertheless registered that some of the organisations have succeeded in establishing types of meeting places where elderly immigrants can get together in a social setting and use the offered activities, especially those related to preventive health care. Offerings like Norwegian language lessons, health classes, traditional cuisine and social get-togethers have made these meeting places a valuable contribution to social relations and source of information about the society. Especially elderly women seem to benefit from the meeting places of the organisations where they have an opportunity to a social life outside family and home. But the study has shown that also men have a need for meeting places and that they experience them as important for both physical and mental health. In the voluntary immigrant organisations the meeting places show a combination of social get-togethers and activities attached to preventive health care in collaboration with experts from the professional interest organisations. Meetings like this seem to be appreciated by the participants. Work with health care activities for elderly immigrants is most explicitly developed in the interest organisations. The need for such activities seems to be larger than what is at disposal today. Work and activity in voluntary organisations have traditionally played an important role in the Norwegian society. There are reasons to believe that they can contribute to better integration of immigrants. However, in order to obtain such an aim, we need to know more about this area, above all better knowledge about the immigrants' organisations. We also need to get more knowledge about how and to which extent the immigrants own organisations, humanitarian and interest organisations have an inherent potential to represent a supplement to public health care for elderly immigrants. In this respect our results so far rest on a too limited data collection with emphasis on small and local organisations. More investigations on immigrant nationwide and local organisations are recommended. ; Rapporten inngår som en del av prosjektet «Eldre innvandrere – tilpasning av pleie- og omsorgstilbudet,» finansiert av det tidligere Arbeids- og inkluderingsdepartementet (nå Barne-, likestillings- og inkluderingsdepartementet). Delprosjektets målsetting har vært å oppnå bedre kunnskap om hva innvandrerorganisasjonene og de tradisjonelle humanitære og interessebaserte organisasjonene gjør for eldre innvandrere. Utvalget av organisasjoner har blitt forespurt om eldre innvandrere deltar i aktiviteter i organisasjonen, og om det arrangeres aktiviteter spesielt rettet mot dem. Oppmerksomheten fokuserer særlig på tiltak som utgjør en del av det forebyggende helsearbeidet. Kunnskap om hvordan organisasjonene etablerer godt fungerende møteplasser for eldre, er en viktig forutsetning for at politikere og myndigheter kan gjennomføre en politikk som gir bedre helse og trivsel for eldre innvandrere.

This report is about how three different groups of people with disabilities perceive their relationship to the Norwegian habilitation- and rehabilitation services, both at the municipal level and at the regional specialist level. Based on the experiences of 32 parents with disabled children, 6 immigrant families in the same situation, and 5 young adults with disabilities, the report highlights the habilitation- and rehabilitation services from three different perspectives. Although the three groups' experiences may be understood as interpersonal encounters, through our empirical data we render these encounters as between service-recipients and a public system. The report concerns the three groups' encounters with public bodies that are governed by a particular ideology and regulations. Our data was collected over the course of 2011. The participants' experiences are thus discussed in reference to the regulations and guidelines that were in operation until January 1 2012, when a new healthcare law came into effect. Yet, in analyzing the participants' experiences, particular aspects come to life, which ought to be addressed within the framework of the new healthcare law. The report is organized thematically. In the first chapter we present the report's focus and key issues. The following questions are important: How was contact established with the service system? What information did participants have about services prior to established contact? What are the participants' concrete experiences with coordination tools, such as responsibility groups and individual plans? In chapter two, we outline the political and ideological backdrop of the report from a historical perspective. Focus here is primarily lent to the relationship between policy developments and the practice field. Chapter three presents the three participant groups and the data collection methods. Chapter four and five are empirically oriented. In the fourth chapter, we discus aspects related to the participants' first contact with the habilitation system. In chapter five, we analyze the three groups' specific experiences with the habilitation services. Focus is on the relationship between service utilization and satisfaction. We also discuss the coordination tools, responsibility groups and individual plans. In the concluding chapter, we present our final thoughts. The cues, accessibility, visibility, and continuity can be said to sum up our findings. The accessibility dimension can be understood, not only in terms of service availability, but also in terms of how contact was established and whether information had been attainable prior to the contact. Considering that the service system is fragmented, and that local authorities can organize services in their own right, the coordination tools such as individual plans and responsibility groups appear as important. Yet, our data indicate that many of the participants were without individual plans, indicating that many municipalities have fuzzy practices when it comes to informing about and initiating plans. Many of the participants had responsibility groups, but significant shortcomings in their function were commonly reported. A problematic aspect in this regard is that the Coordinating Units, which are responsible for individual plans, can take on different forms and can be variably located within the respective municipalities. We also so found that the service apparatus is lacking in visibility. This was reflected in the fact that close to none of the study's participants reported having any knowledge about the habilitation services prior to an established contact. Our data also showed that contact with the habilitation services in many cases was established late in the children's lives. In analyzing our participants' responses about how they were absorbed by the system, we were unable to identify any systematic pattern in terms of where referrals or information about service were likely to be provided from. Nevertheless, our findings indicate that the visibility and information situation could be improved through fixed contact points. Finally, continuity appears as significant, particularly for the young adult informants. An important aspect brought to our attention in the interviews, was that the transition from the children's habilitation to the adult habilitation when reaching the age of 18 sometimes resulted in broken ties with service providers. Continuity therefore pertains to uninterrupted access to services and supplementary fulfillment of new needs arising in relation to education and work. Based on our informants' experiences, however, there seems to be a need for improved transitional arrangements that can ensure the continuation of services. For instance, arrangements are needed for direct transfers of responsibility from the child habilitation services, to corresponding arrangements for adults. In light of the informants' stories, it could be an expedient and reassuring asset to have access to fixed contact points also for the young adults. ; Rapporten omhandler de erfaringer foreldre til barn med nedsatt funksjonsevne og unge voksne med nedsatt funksjonsevne har med habiliteringstjenesten. Erfaringene som trekkes frem, skildrer både deltakernes møte med habiliteringstjenesten på kommunalt nivå og innenfor spesialisthelsetjenesten. Sentrale spørsmål som tas opp er hvordan den første kontakten med tjenesteapparatet blir opprettet, hvilken informasjon man har forut for kontakten, og hvordan man går frem for å opprette kontakt. I tillegg tematiseres hvordan ønsker om tjenestetiltak blir fulgt opp ikommunenes tjenestetilbud, og bruk av individuell plan og ansvarsgrupper. Undersøkelsens hovedfunn oppsummeres med stikkordene tilgjengelighet, synlighet og kontinuitet. På bakgrunn av deltakernes erfaringer er dette de områdene der det er et betydelig potensiale for bedring innenfor habiliteringstjenesten.