'You have got to stick to your times': Care workers and managers' experiences of working in extra care housing.

Extra care housing (ECH) has been lauded as an innovative model of housing with care for older people that promotes and supports independent living. The study used a qualitative design to explore how care is delivered in four extra care settings in England over 20 months during 2016-2017. This paper reports findings from semi-structured interviews with 20 care workers and seven managers.

Using longitudinal qualitative research to explore extra care housing.

Purpose: The process of individual ageing in the context of a care environment is marked by continuity and change. It is shaped by individual, health-related factors as well as by diverse social and environmental factors, including characteristics of the places where older people live. The aim of this paper was to explore how longitudinal qualitative research, as a research method, could be used to explore older people's changing care needs.

Feasibility Trial Evaluation of a Peer Volunteering Active Aging Intervention: ACE (Active, Connected, Engaged).

Background: ACE (Active, Connected, Engaged) is a theory-informed, pragmatic intervention using peer volunteering support to promote active ageing in socially disengaged, inactive older adults. This study aimed to establish ACE's feasibility and acceptability.

Methods: Fifty-four older adults were recruited as either peer volunteers (activators; n = 15) or participants (ACEs; n = 39).

Can extra care housing support the changing needs of older people living with dementia?

With over two-thirds of people with dementia living in the community and one-third of those living alone, it is important to consider the future housing needs of this population, particularly as symptoms of cognitive impairment increase. Policy in England has focused on enabling people living with dementia to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, often with the support of a family carer. However, many people struggle to maintain an acceptable quality of life in their own homes as their dementia advances, often due to the design limitations of mainstream housing and the challenge of finding specialist domiciliary care that is affordable and of sufficient quality.

To Dialyse or not to Dialyse - Is that the Question? A Psychosocial Perspective on Dilemmas Concerning Dialysis for People with Dementia.

There is increasing recognition that the organisation of health care into specialist areas of practice can be counterproductive for older people with multiple morbidities and that dementia can raise particular challenges in health care. In the context of treatment for chronic kidney disease, these challenges concern complex decisions about the suitability and efficacy of dialysis and other treatments. This article draws on a literature review to present a psychosocial perspective on these decisions.

Precarity in late life: rethinking dementia as a 'frailed' old age.

Approaches to ageing that are organised around productivity, success, and active late life have contributed to views of dementia as an unsuccessful, failed or 'frailed' old age. Operating through dominant frameworks, socio-cultural constructs and organisational practices, the 'frailties' of the body and mind are often used to mark the boundaries of health and illness in late life, and shape responses accordingly. Our concern is that both the taken for granted and the 'imagined' can further marginalise persons who occupy the locations of dementia and disablement.

Participant and Public Involvement in Refining a Peer-Volunteering Active Aging Intervention: Project ACE (Active, Connected, Engaged).

Background: Evidence for the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle among older adults is strong, yet only a small proportion of older people meet physical activity recommendations. A synthesis of evidence identified "best bet" approaches, and this study sought guidance from end-user representatives and stakeholders to refine one of these, a peer-volunteering active aging intervention.

Methods: Focus groups with 28 older adults and four professional volunteer managers were conducted.

Nursing home staffing standards and staffing levels in six countries.

Purpose: This study was designed to collect and compare nurse staffing standards and staffing levels in six counties: the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Norway, and Sweden.

Design: The study used descriptive information on staffing regulations and policies as well as actual staffing levels for registered nurses, licensed nurses, and nursing assistants across states, provinces, regions, and countries.

Methods: Data were collected from Internet searches of staffing regulations and policies along with statistical data on actual staffing from reports and documents.

Working across boundaries to improve health outcomes: a case study of a housing support and outreach service for homeless people living with HIV.

This paper reports the findings of an evaluation of the 'Housing Support, Outreach and Referral' service developed to support people living with HIV who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. The service was set up as part of the Supporting People Health Pilot programme established to demonstrate the policy links between housing support services and health and social care services by encouraging the development of integrated services. The paper considers the role of housing support in improving people's health, and considers the challenges of working across housing, health and social care boundaries.

The challenges of joint working: lessons from the Supporting People Health Pilot evaluation.

Purpose: This paper reports the findings of the evaluation of the Supporting People Health Pilots programme, which was established to demonstrate the policy links between housing support services and health and social care services by encouraging the development of integrated services. The paper highlights the challenges of working across housing, health and social care boundaries.

Method: THE EVALUATION OF THE SIX HEALTH PILOTS RESTED ON TWO MAIN SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION: Quarterly Project Evaluation Reports collected process data as well as reporting progress against aims and objectives.