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The needs of older lesbian and gay people regarding access and use of aged‐care services remain underresearched. This paper reports the findings of 33 qualitative interviews with older lesbian women and gay men about their perceptions and experiences of residential aged‐care and home‐based aged‐care services in Australia. The focus of this paper is their preparedness for using aged‐care services. The results highlight that participants had a number of concerns related to accessing residential‐care services in particular, including perceptions of a lack of inclusivity and concerns of potential for discrimination and hostility, loss of access to community and partners, decreased autonomy and concerns relating to quality of care and the potential for elder abuse. Participants noted a number of strategies they employed in avoiding residential‐care services, including the use of home‐care services, renovating the home for increased mobility, moving to locations with greater access to outside home‐care services, a preference for lesbian/gay‐specific housing and residential‐care options if available, and the option of voluntary euthanasia to ensure dignity and autonomy. Participants, on the whole, were hopeful that they would never require the use of residential‐care services, with some believing that having current good health or the support of friends could prevent this from happening. The findings suggest that older lesbian and gay people have a variety of concerns with aged‐care and may need additional support and education to improve their perceptions and experiences of services, whether these are needed presently or in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carers of people living with a disability, mental health problems, alcohol or drug dependency, chronic condition, terminal illness or who are frail due to age may experience negative caregiving impacts. Although carers' social isolation has been reported in many qualitative studies, it has largely been neglected in quantitative studies. Using data collected in the Carers NSW 2020 National Carer Survey, this large‐scale quantitative study aimed to identify the extent of Australian carers' social connectedness and what factors may be related to their social well‐being. The validated Friendship Scale was used to measure social connectedness of 5585 carers. More than half (56.2%) of these carers were socially isolated. Analysis found that a longer duration of caring, more time spent weekly caring, living with the care recipient, caring for a greater number of people, receiving no help from others, higher reported psychological distress and reporting perceived needs were all associated with greater social isolation. Identifying as female or nonbinary/gender diverse, identifying with a culturally and linguistically diverse background, and caring as a parent, former partner or young carer were also related to poorer social connectedness. Health and social services need to consider the needs of carers, identify carers who are socially isolated and provide resources to promote social connectedness. Greater attention in practice and research to focus on carers' social connectedness to address this crucial caregiving experience is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The harms associated with risky alcohol consumption have long been researched and recognised in the health field. However, little available research has focused on older people or extended analysis of alcohol use by this segment of the population beyond a biomedical perspective. With the rapid ageing of the global population, research that investigates alcohol use among older people from a social perspective is important. This article reports on research with a group of older women and men, to identify and explain factors that influence alcohol consumption. In-depth interviews were conducted in Perth, Western Australia with 20 men and 22 women aged 65-74 years who were living in either private residences or retirement villages. The study findings indicated that alcohol use was linked with social engagement in activities across both settings, and that moderate alcohol use appeared to serve an important function as a 'social lubricant'. The major facilitating factors for alcohol use included the frequency of opportunities for social engagement and access to a readymade social group in retirement villages. The major constraining factor across both settings was driving. Interestingly, health was not viewed as a major facilitating or constraining factor for alcohol consumption. Conclusions from the research were that alcohol serves an important role in enhancing social engagement, and there appear to be important associations between residential setting and alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]