Outreach elderly work supplementing public sector services : a viewpoint of employees of Deaconess Foundation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the importance and challenges of outreach elderly work. Outreach elderly work has been done for a long time and it is done internationally widely. It is guided by the general principles of outreach work, which are similar to youth work, for example. In short, its purpose is to find those to whom the following applies: They need services and services do not reach them. The work methods vary much and the work is done creatively and in collaboration with wide network. The principle is to first identify the elderly, especially those most in need, and then to look at their situation holistically, keeping in mind the help network around them, and then to carry out the service need assessment, which then directs the employees to offer the exact appropriate services.

The research material consists of interviews of three employees of one outreach elderly work organization, Deaconess Foundation. The method used was theory-guided content analysis, although coding was very material-driven. A total of 94 codes were obtained. The analysis emphasized emotional expressions which was a good choice, as perspectives that were considered important included emotional repetition, for example.

As results, outreach elderly work plays an important role in networking and, via the networks, it develops and implements better elderly work with its own, proven holistic methods. The various care gaps of the public sector are complemented, especially in the service needs assessment, which, however, is not a sustainable situation. Finally, outreach work provides welfare-enhancing services not recognized by the system. The challenges are as follows: Networking is hard and the public sector often has practices that are contrary. In addition, there often is not enough resources available. In conclusion, outreach elderly work provides information to the network of elderly care, saves care resources and can even save lives. It´s challenges are scarce resources and uncooperativeness of the care network.