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Name of study: ‘In their own words’: A pilot study to elicit perceptions of dignity and dignified care from a purposive sample of older African-Caribbean and Black Welsh people aged 50 years and  older living in Wales

Start date: September 2011
End date: July 2012
Funder: New Ideas Fund, Welsh Assembly Government

Study Aims

• To explore older Black Caribbean and Black Welsh people’s perceptions of dignity
• To capture their experiences  and expectations of social care in order to bring conceptual and practical clarity to the concept of dignity (and associated indicators)
• To test methods of accessing the views and experiences of older people from BME communities, by demonstrating the viability of a story methodology in contexts where stakeholder communications are under-developed

Summary
This study has been motivated by the need to develop an evidence base on the views and experiences of minority ethnic older people in Wales, and on how best to collect these experiences in ways that will have a lasting impact on policy and practice. Ethnicity and ageing research has highlighted that older people and carers share common expectations, regardless of their ethnic and cultural background, about the quality of services and about the importance of dignified care (Cattan & Giuntoli 2010).

However, older people also have individual expectations, aspirations and desires based on their life experiences, and cultural, religious and ethnic background (Bowes & Dar 2000). Moreover, it is axiomatic that how services are used and experienced by individuals from different ethnic groups is just as much a product of their own beliefs, needs and expectations, as it is a product of the attitudes and perceptions of service providers (Patel 1999, Koffman & Higginson 2001, Bowes & Wilkinson 2003, Moriarty & Butt 2004).

This is of importance when exploring the concept of dignity. Dignity, a multi-faceted concept, draws on an older person’s sense of identity, their sense of autonomy and their human rights (Matiti & Cotrel-Gibbons 2006).

Ou r understanding of dignity is as a fundamental right, subjectively experienced and rooted in one’s perception of being treated and regarded as important and valuable in relation to others.  As a concept that is hard to define, yet clearly evident when missing, many researchers and policy makers have sought to develop defining attributes or key indicators of dignity (Auderberg et al. 2007, Picker Institute 2008, Welsh Assembly Government 2008). Understood and experienced on a very individual level, and as such, shaped by a number of social markers such as ethnicity, gender, or class, the authors of Old People’s Wellbeing Monitor for Wales (2009) argue correctly for the need to develop sub-analyses of many of their indicators for different population groups.  This study will add to this growing evidence base.

Outputs: Final report (August 2011)

End of study event to take place later in the year