Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T01:21:43.535Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Making nursing homes more community-oriented: insights from an exploratory study in Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2014

KERSTIN HÄMEL*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Germany.
*
Address for correspondence: Kerstin Hämel, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstraße 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Nursing homes have been criticised for restricting the lifestyle of older people in need of care. As concepts of elder care have changed and services in formal care have developed further, efforts towards deinstitutionalisation have led to the enhancement of community care models. This paper discusses how ideas of community care can also influence reform within institutional care. The study focuses on the challenges and obstacles of practice change arising in German nursing homes by opening up to civil society principles. Applying the model of organisational hybridisation, the concept of 12 German nursing homes regarding family and community partners' involvement were analysed through explorative qualitative interviews with nursing home directors. The nursing homes have conceived various forms of co-operation with community actors. Nevertheless, emerging tensions between state, market and civil society conceptions of the nursing homes limit practical change. The ‘organisational hybridisation’ has generated two general problems to be discussed here: first, the difficulty nursing homes have in opening their doors to new perceptions of care as well as to the interests of their community partners. Second, the fact that the nursing homes tend either to strive for an integration in community life or for the maintenance of a ‘sheltered zone’ for their residents implies that nursing homes' definition of ‘normality’ has a strong influence on their chosen concept of care.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amrhein, L. 2005. Stationäre Altenpflege im Fokus von Machtbeziehungen und sozialen Konflikten [Inpatient care for the older people in the spotlight of power relations and social conflicts]. In Schroeter, K. and Rosenthal, T. (eds), Soziologie der Pflege. Grundlagen, Wissensbestände und Perspektiven [Sociology of Care. Basic Principles, Areas of Knowledge and Perspectives]. Juventa, Weinheim, Germany, 405–26.Google Scholar
Bode, I. 2006. Eine neue ‘governance of welfare’? Transkultureller Systemwandel am Beispiel der Seniorenversorgung in Deutschland, England und Québec [A new ‘governance of welfare’? Trans-cultural system change using the example of elder care in Germany, England and Quebec]. Zeitschrift für Sozialreform [Journal of Social Policy Research], 52, 2, 181200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandsen, T. 2004. Quasi-market Governance. An Anatomy of Innovation. Lemma, Utrecht, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Brandsen, T., van de Donk, W. and Putters, K. 2005. Griffins or chameleons? Hybridity as a permanent and inevitable characteristic of the third sector. International Journal of Public Administration, 28, 9/10, 749–65.Google Scholar
Büscher, A., Wingenfeld, K. and Schaeffer, D. 2011. Determining eligibility for long-term care − lessons from Germany. International Journal of Integrated Care, 11, e019.Google Scholar
Deutscher Bundestag 1993. Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur sozialen Absicherung des Risikos der Pflegebedürftigkeit (Pflege-Versicherungsgesetz) [Draft Law on Social Protection of the Risk of Long-term Care – Social Long-Term Care Insurance Act]. BT-Drs. 12/5262, Bonn.Google Scholar
Deutscher Bundestag 2014. Entwurf eines Fünften Gesetzes zur Änderung des Elften Buches Sozialgesetzbuch – Leistungsausweitung für Pflegebedürftige, Pflegevorsorgefonds (Fünftes SGB XI-Änderungsgesetz – 5. SGB XI-ÄndG) [Draft of the Fifth Law Amending the Eleventh German Social Welfare Code – Long-term Care Further Development Act Amending the Eleventh Book of the Social Code – Performance Increase for Patients, Long-term Care Funds]. BT-Drs. 18/2379, Berlin.Google Scholar
Dörner, K. 2012. Helfensbedürftig: Heimfrei ins Dienstleistungsjahrhundert [In Need of Help: Care Outside of the Nursing Home in the Century of Services]. Paranus, Neumünster, Germany.Google Scholar
Edvardsson, D., Varrailhon, P. and Edvardsson, K. 2014. Promoting person-centeredness in long-term care. An exploratory study. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 40, 4, 4653.Google Scholar
Enjolras, B. 2010. Between market and civic governance regimes: civicness in the governance of social services in Europe. In Brandsen, T., Dekker, P. and Evers, A. (eds), Civicness in the Governance and Delivery of Social Services. Nomos, Baden-Baden, Germany, 249–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evers, A. 2005. Mixed welfare systems and hybrid organizations: changes in the governance and provision of social services. International Journal of Public Administration, 28, 9/10, 737–48.Google Scholar
Evers, A. and Olk, T. 1996. Wohlfahrtspluralismus. Analytische und normativ-politische Dimensionen eines Leitbegriffs [Welfare pluralism. Analytical and Normative-Political Dimensions of a Guiding Concept]. In: Evers, A., Olk, T. (eds.),Wohlfahrtspluralismus. Vom Wohlfahrtsstaat zur Wohlfahrtsgesellschaft [Welfare Pluralism. From Welfare State to Welfare Society], Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, 9–60.Google Scholar
Evers, A., Rauch, U. and Stitz, U. 2002. Von öffentlichen Einrichtungen zu sozialen Unternehmen: hybride Organisationsformen im Bereich sozialer Dienstleistungen [From Public Institutions to Social Enterprises: Hybrid Forms of Organisation in the Field of Social Services]. Sigma, Berlin.Google Scholar
Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development 2013. Laufende Raumbeobachtung – Raumabgrenzungen. Siedlungsstrukturelle Kreistypen [Running Spatial Monitoring – Demarcations. Structural Settlement District Types]. Available online at http://www.bbsr.bund.de/cln_032/nn_1067638/BBSR/DE/Raumbeobachtung/Raumabgrenzungen/Kreistypen4/kreistypen.html [Accessed 6 July 2013].Google Scholar
Federal Statistical Office 2011. Pflegestatistik 2009. Pflege im Rahmen der Pflegeversicherung. Deutschlandergebnisse [Care Statistics 2009: Care in the Context of Long-term Care Insurance. Findings in Germany]. Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden, Germany.Google Scholar
Federal Statistical Office 2013. Pflegestatistik 2013. Pflege im Rahmen der Pflegeversicherung. Deutschlandergebnisse [Care Statistics 2013: Care in the Context of Long-term Care Insurance. Findings in Germany]. Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden, Germany.Google Scholar
Flick, U., von Kardorff, E. and Steinke, I. (eds) 2005. Qualitative Forschung. Ein Handbuch. [Qualitative Research: A Handbook]. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, Germany.Google Scholar
Gerlinger, T. and Röber, M. 2009. Die Pflegeversicherung [Long-term care insurance]. Hans Huber, Bern.Google Scholar
Gläser, J. and Laudel, G. 2004. Experteninterviews und qualitative Inhaltsanalyse [Expert Interviews and Qualitative Content Analysis]. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, Germany.Google Scholar
Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. 1998. Grounded Theory. Strategien qualitativer Forschung [Grounded Theory. Strategies of Qualitative Research]. Hans Huber, Bern.Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1961. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Anchor Books, New York.Google Scholar
Hämel, K. 2012. Öffnung und Engagement. Altenpflegeheime zwischen staatlicher Regulierung, Wettbewerb und zivilgesellschaftlicher Einbettung [Opening Up and Dedication. Nursing Homes Between Government Regulation, Competition and Civic Integration]. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, Germany.Google Scholar
Hummel, K. and Steiner-Hummel, I. 1986. Wege aus der Zitadelle: gemeinwesenorientierte Konzepte in der Altenpflege [Ways Out of the Citadel: Community-oriented Concepts for Elder Care]. Vincentz, Hannover, Germany.Google Scholar
Kleina, T., Brause, M., Horn, A., Wingenfeld, K. and Schaeffer, D. 2012. Qualität und Gesundheit in der stationären Altenhilfe. Eine empirische Bestandsaufnahme [Quality and Health in Institutional Long-term Care. An Empirical Overview]. Veröffentlichungsreihe des Instituts für Pflegewissenschaft (IPW) an der Universität Bielefeld [Publication Series of the Institute of Nursing Science (IPW) at Bielefeld University], P12-147. IPW, Bielefeld.Google Scholar
Klie, T. and Ross, P.-S. 2005. Wieviel Bürger darf's denn sein!? Bürgerschaftliches Engagement im Wohlfahrtsmix – eine Standortbestimmung in acht Thesen [How many citizens will it be!? Civic engagement in the welfare mix – a positioning based on eight theses]. Archiv für Wissenschaft und Praxis der sozialen Arbeit [Archive for the Science and Praxis of Social Work], 36, 4, 2043.Google Scholar
Koch-Straube, U. 1997. Fremde Welt Pflegeheim. Eine ethnologische Studie [The Strange World of Nursing Homes. An Ethnological Study]. Hans Huber, Bern.Google Scholar
Luppa, M., Luck, T., Weyerer, S., König, H.-H., Brähler, E. and Riedel-Heller, S. G. 2010. Prediction of institutionalization in the elderly. A systematic review. Age and Ageing, 39, 1, 31–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nolan, M. R., Davies, S., Brown, J., Keady, J. and Nolan, J. 2004. Beyond ‘person-centred’ care: a new vision for gerontological nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 13, 3a, 4553.Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. and Schneekloth, U. 2011. Abschlussbericht zur Studie ‘Wirkungen des Pflege-Weiterentwicklungsgesetzes’ [Final Report on the Study ‘Effects of Long-term Care Further Development Act’]. BMG, Berlin.Google Scholar
Social Code Book XI: Social Long-term Care Insurance.Google Scholar
Strohbuecker, B., Eisenmann, Y., Galushko, M., Montag, T. and Voltz, R. 2011. Palliative care needs of chronically ill nursing home residents in Germany: focusing on living, not dying. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 17, 1, 2734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strünck, C. 2000. Pflegeversicherung − Barmherzigkeit mit beschränkter Haftung: institutioneller Wandel, Machtbeziehungen und organisatorische Anpassungsprozesse. [Long-term Care – Charity with Limited Liability: Institutional Change, Power Relations and Organizational Adaptation Processes]. Leske + Budrich, Opladen, Germany.Google Scholar
Wingenfeld, K. 2008. Stationäre pflegerische Versorgung alter Menschen [Inpatient nursing care for older people]. In Kuhlmey, A. and Schaeffer, D. (eds), Alter, Gesundheit und Krankheit [Age, Health and Illness]. Hans Huber, Bern, 370–81.Google Scholar