Abstract
Background: Social capital has been described as a person’s sense of belonging as a result of the number and type of relationships she/he has, in which trust and reciprocity are especially important. Aim: To illuminate older persons’ experiences of social capital and depressive ill-health after implementation of the CCM. Methods: Data were collected from nine participants resident in two districts of Norway by means of individual in-depth interviews. A qualitative hermeneutic analysis was performed. Results: Two overall themes, desire for a guardian and a wish for independence despite being dependent, and two themes emerging from the analysis. The first theme—searching for protection was based on three sub-themes overwhelmed by the emotional pain of other people, a sense of exclusion and worries about the future, while the second theme—the need for a relationship with trustworthy persons comprised two sub-themes, namely, emotional pain was not understood and powerlessness to change the situation. The result of this study highlights the need for greater understanding on the part of healthcare professionals of how older persons manage their social relationships. Healthcare professionals require more knowledge about how negative self-beliefs held by older persons suffering from emotional pain, which can lead to reduced ability to trust other people. Another consequence is that fear of being dependent on other people can result in unwillingness to admit the need for help. Conclusion: This study highlights the lack of social capital in older persons who suffer from depressive ill-health. The implementation of the CCM does not appear to improve the situation. Older persons need to be more aware of their social needs and productive interactions in order to protect themselves and obtain support from their social network.
Highlights
Over 350 million people fail to acknowledge that they suffer from depressive ill-health and do not seek treatment [1]
The researchers who conducted the present study evaluated older persons’ experiences of social capital and depressive ill health after implementation of the Chronic Care Model (CCM), which has been used in several studies as a conceptual model for quality improvement
In line with Gadamer’s [24] philosophical hermeneutics, the methodological approach is both an underlying philosophy and a specific mode of interpretative reading of narrative texts. In this evaluation study the authors explored older persons’ (60 years and more) experiences of social capital and depressive ill-health, which requires a certain pre-understanding of the topic [24]
Summary
Over 350 million people fail to acknowledge that they suffer from depressive ill-health and do not seek treatment [1]. Aim: To illuminate older persons’ experiences of social capital and depressive illhealth after implementation of the CCM. The result of this study highlights the need for greater understanding on the part of healthcare professionals of how older persons manage their social relationships. Healthcare professionals require more knowledge about how negative self-beliefs held by older persons suffering from emotional pain, which can lead to reduced ability to trust other people. Another consequence is that fear of being dependent on other people can result in unwillingness to admit the need for help. Conclusion: This study highlights the lack of social capital in older persons who suffer from depressive ill-health. Older persons need to be more aware of their social needs and productive interactions in order to protect themselves and obtain
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