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Age stereotypes and meta-stereotypes about older persons represent personal and socially conditioned generalised assumptions about what older persons should be like, how they should act and what will they probably experience as members of that age group, not taking into consideration individual differences among them. Current understanding points to numerous adverse effects of self-stereotyping, stereotyping and ageism on self-understanding, self-efficacy, health and welfare of older persons. Due to a lack of knowledge of the experience of the position of older persons in our society and their view on typical members of their age group, this research aimed to gain deeper insight through using qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews included 40 respondents from a younger group of older persons. Qualitative analysis of the content of statements determined the stereotypes that the respondents have about physical appearance, psycho-physical characteristics and behaviours connected to social relationships of older persons. The position of older persons in society is mostly experienced as unfavourable and socially excluded by the state and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In palliative care, caring for spouses suffering from incurable diseases can provoke a range of reactions in informal caregivers that are part of the grieving process, as well as other reactions and ways of coping with a current role, which is often challenging. Anticipatory grief occurs before death and is often present in people who face the eventual loss of a loved one or their own death. This study aimed to gain insight into the anticipatory grief of informal caregivers who are providing at-home palliative care for their ill spouse. Our research questions focus on investigating the meanings caregivers ascribe to the experience of providing palliative care and the impending loss of a spouse. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in Zagreb, Croatia, from April to June of 2021. Eight participants took part in the study. Participants in the study were informal caregivers of a spouse suffering from an incurable, terminal disease that receives at-home palliative care. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Transcripts were analyzed by interpretive phenomenological analysis. Results: The analysis provided several meanings that represent caregivers' experiences and coping strategies. The caregivers bravely face the challenges of "living with an illness" by maintaining optimism, strong cohesion with their partner and a sense of joint destiny. They tend to repress their own personal needs and feelings while carrying the burden of care. Caregivers tend to stay positive and focus on living in the present by taking an active role in providing care for the ill spouse and family. Conclusions: Anticipatory grief presents emotional, cognitive, and spiritual challenges to spouse caregivers in palliative care. The contribution of this study was to gain insight into the meaning that caregivers ascribe to the experience and challenges they face while providing everyday care for their ill spouse. Confirming prior results, the experiences are generally similar to all caregivers, pointing to the need for substantial improvement in the quality of the support and help from the healthcare workers and other experts who provide palliative care and support for the patients' family members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the research on the needs of the older people for services from the social welfare system, which was conducted at social welfare centres. 3001 people from all Croatian regions or counties participated in the research. The research was conducted with the aim of determining the needs for services from the social welfare system, in order to improve the quality of life of the older people. The paper presents the socio-demographic characteristics of the surveyed older people, their marital status, number of household members, support provided by their children, sources of income, property and health status, functional status, rights exercised from the social welfare system and the need for missing services. Respondents feel that they need home help services the most, but there is also a significant interest in institutional accommodation services. There are differences in the needs for care services, depending on how big is the respondent’s place of living. The collected data represent the empirical basis for the social welfare system on the older people, aiming to serve as help in adoption of strategic documents that need to protect this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older people represent a specific group with very different needs, depending on their physical and mental health status. The share of older people in the overall population is growing, which is called demographic ageing. That process is a result of the decline in birth rate and increase of life expectancy due to the advancement of medicine and improved quality of life in general. At the same time the number of those who need long-term care or support is also increasing, because of their inability to live independently. Informal caregivers, who in most cases are close family members, play a key role in this process. Therefore, the aim of this research was to identify sociodemographic features of the informal caregivers of older people and the features of the care they provide. The survey was carried out on a convenient sample of 342 informal caregivers from the Zagreb city area. The results showed that caregivers are most often middle-aged married and employed women. It has also been found that they generally care for their parents, who lived to a ripe old age, with the presence of multimorbidity. Even one third of caregivers have provided care for 24 hours a day, during an average period of five years or more. Activities in which they most often provide help are care for the sick and household chores. They expressed a greater need for help and care in homes, patronage services, gerontology centres and infirmaries. The results showed that family caregivers bear a heavy burden, which points to the need to consider better legal solutions related to social policy towards old people as well as their caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]