Friday 05 de April
SS - ENG 07
11:30 - 12:00
Poster Presentation
2 - Ética en el Trabajo Social y Desarrollo Social
#0476 |
Social worker intervention for urgent care hospitalization for elderly individuals living alone.– reconstruct relationship with estranged relatives become a key person. –
Taro Baba
1
;
George Tokugawa
2
;
Tomomi Suzuki
3
;
Natsuki Nishimura
3
;
Yukako Numata
3
;
Reiko Shibata
3
;
Yutaka Ozaki
3
1 - Juntendo university Nerima Hospital.
2 - Department of Neurosurgery Juntendo University Nerima Hospital.
3 - Juntendo University Nerima Hospital.
Summary
(introduction) Japan is one of the most superaging countries in the world, and the number of elderly individuals living alone (EILA) is increasing. EILA tend to have an issue regarding a guarantor (required to be appointed at the time of hospital admission) especially on urgent care admission. During in-processing for hospital admission, staff attempt to identify and contact estranged relatives, who then become key persons (KPs), to prepare for the patient’s life after discharge. We attempted to establish a significance of social worker to facilitate the participation of estranged KP in the elderly individual’s support and maintain a mutual relationship after the patient’s discharge from the hospital. (Method) We validated two cases of estranged relatives who became KPs when EILA were hospitalized for urgent care. We retrospectively analyzed consultation records of interactions between social workers (SWs) and KPs to clarify desirable supports for relatives of EILA. (Results) The following 4 points were observed in common in 2 cases; (1) the SW had to spend longer time with KP; (2) the number of hospitalization days increased significantly compared to the average length of hospital stay; (3) estranged relatives felt confusion and difficulty when they were asked to be a KP to make decisions regarding patient’s treatments or life after discharge even though they had been distant each other; (4) neighbors had noticed some abnormalities with the patients prior to hospitalization.(Conclusions) SWs intervened to enable KPs to recognize "meaning" and "value" in their support. SWs may be able to "reconstruct" the relationship between KPs and patients by adopting a narrative approach based on social constructivism with an emphasis on interviewing in-person with KPs. SWs can contribute to the well-being between society and individual life by using their expertise and knowledge in their respective countries and regions.
Keywords (separate with commas)
Social work practice,Reconstruct relationship,Social constructivism.
