Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33636025›Full record

ArticleHealth & social care in the community2021

Attuning to the needs of structural socially isolated older adults with complex problems: the experiences of social workers with personal guidance trajectories for a less-researched group.

Anja Machielse, Joachim Duyndam

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Health & social care in the community, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Anja MachielseDepartment Humanism & Social Resilience, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-5665-1684
Joachim DuyndamDepartment Humanism & Social Resilience, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
University of Humanistic Studies · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many interventions to combat the social isolation of older adults are hardly effective because they ignore both the heterogeneity of the target group and the uniqueness of the individual experiences of social isolation. In order to be effective, interventions must meet the individual needs of specific clients. In this study, we aim to gain insight into the process in which professionals seek to understand how clients assess their situation, and what this means for the help they provide. We investigated how social workers in one-to-one guidance trajectories try to attune to the needs of the clients they accompany and what considerations they make in doing so. The study was conducted between 2014 and 2017 in the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Participants were 20 social workers of 8 social work agencies who provided guidance to community-dwelling older adults who have been isolated for a long time and have problems in multiple life domains. We analysed 36 research-driven logbooks, written by the social workers, which contain case study descriptions with information about specific clients who belong to the target group of this study. We also interviewed the individual social workers and organised six focus groups with 8-12 of the participating social workers. Our findings make clear how social workers try to identify the needs of their clients and provide help that is tailored to their possibilities and ambitions. By giving recognition to the emotions and situations of their clients, and by practical problem-solving, they build a relationship with the older adults in which adequate help is accepted. The professionals set modest goals; their guidance helps stabilise the existing situation and may also contribute to the self-reliance of their clients. This knowledge will be highly valuable in the developing and implementation of programmes and interventions for this less-researched group.

Indexed as

Social IsolationSocial WorkersAgedEmotionsHumansIndependent LivingSocial Workinterventionslonelinessolder peopleprofessional empathysocial isolationsocial work

Identifiers

PMID33636025
PMCPMC8248016
OpenAlexW3131751187

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.