Suchergebnisse

While existing research acknowledges copious challenges faced by older adults (people aged 60 and over) in Ghana and most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, they fail to situate the lived experiences of this vulnerable group within the broader context of health geography and public health. This paper draws insights from ecological systems theory and the "geographies of older people" literature to examine the lived experiences of older people in Ghana. Data for the study were gathered using interviews (42) and sharing circles (10). Our findings reveal a complex mix of experiences consistent with the different levels of the environment. Dominant themes include access to social support, functional impairment and poor health status, social status, poor access to water and sanitation services, food insecurity, economic insecurity, and caregiving burden. These findings support the wide-held notion that the experiences of older people are complex and produced by the interplay of both individual and structural factors. Our findings demonstrate that sociocultural, economic, political, and climatic factors are important consideration in promoting elderly wellbeing and quality of life in Ghana.

Within public policy discourse on health care restructuring and voluntarism, the nonprofit sector is now expected to play an active and direct role in the provision of health care services. The viability of the nonprofit sector to take up this role, however, remains unclear. This paper explores the changing role of nonprofit organisations with respect to the provision of long-term care in Ontario, Canada, where extensive restructuring of public services occurred during the 1990s. Drawing on a critical review of legislation, government policies and documents, and stakeholder reports, the authors present a comparative study of two distinct long-term care reform models, featuring public and private provision, respectively, which were developed by ideologically opposed provincial governments. The results indicate that despite unanimous promotion of voluntarism (and the attendant ascendancy of the nonprofit sector) as a central feature of health care restructuring, the divergent reform models actually trap nonprofit organisations between direct incorporation within public provision on the one hand, and direct free-market competition on the other. The findings suggest that underscoring long-term care reform in Ontario, and elsewhere, is the co-option of the nonprofit sector, which resonates with concern for its ability to replace effectively the public provision of health care services. The results also point to the need to conceptualise the consequent actions taken by nonprofit organisations in order to inform current debates surrounding health care restructuring and voluntarism.

"The Routledge Handbook of Methodologies in Human Geography is the defining reference for academics and postgraduate students seeking an advanced understanding of the debates, methodological developments, and methods transforming research in human geography. Part I reviews how the methods of contemporary human geography are part of processes that reflect the changing intellectual history of human geography and events both within human geography and society in general. In Part II, authors critically appraise key methodological and theoretical challenges/opportunities that are shaping contemporary research in various parts of human geography. Contemporary directions within the discipline will be elaborated on by established and emerging researchers who are leading ontological debates and the adoption of innovative methods in geographic research. In Part III authors' take on debates that human geographers implicitly and explicitly engage with in their thinking around methodology and the practice of research. The chapters range across issues like the use of multiple methods versus mixed methods research or the growing application of thematic analysis in qualitative research in human geography and the methodological implications for the discipline. Contributors emphasize examples from their research and the research of others to reflect the fluid, emotional, and pragmatic realities of research. In this the handbook captures key developments and disciplinary influences emerging from the various sub-disciplines of human geography"--

The delivery of services for seniors in Canada is increasingly complex and challenging. Communities across Canada age at different rates, and the forces underlying the differences, such as "aging in place" and migration, vary from community to community. We have identified two types of aging communities: service-rich communities, in which seniors have good health status and better amenities, and service-poor communities, in which seniors have poor health status and limited amenities. We also report on results for Atlantic Canada from a national study of service provisions. Three issues stand out: (a) the impact on communities of migration and aging in place, (b) the factors that distinguish service-rich and service-poor communities and (c) the conditions necessary to create a service-rich community. All levels of government in Atlantic Canada must work together to develop policies and programs that create and sustain service-rich communities.