15.06.2022
- Elder abuse remains a hidden and invisible issue for which we have little or no data to guide us as to its real magnitude.
- This resource is part of a collection of 5 care-related pathways that are developed under the Person-Centred Care approach.
Between 2019 and 2030, the number of people aged 60 and over is expected to increase by 38%, from 1 billion to 1.4 billion, outnumbering the world's youth. This is therefore a phenomenon of indisputable social and moral importance, and a key element in advancing the ageing agenda.
On the occasion of the celebration of the "World Day for Elder Abuse Awareness", an event promoted by the United Nations Assembly, Matia and ACP Gerontology wanted to contribute to this event with the publication of a new material framed in the project Routes for the Advancement of Person-Centred Care.
This document, co-financed by the Department of Equality, Justice and Social Policies of the Basque Government, is the result of a collaborative process whose main objective has been to integrate the knowledge and experience provided by the professionals of Matia, with an expert vision, such as that of Teresa Martínez, Dr. in Health Sciences, gerontological psychologist and a reference in Person-Centred Care.
It is therefore an attempt to systematise what has been learned over the years and to facilitate progress in social participation and other aspects from a people-centred care approach.
About the Routes
What are the routes and what do they aim to achieve?
The pathways are a set of considerations, actions and elements, endorsed by existing knowledge and validated by applied experience, on key contents of this approach to make it effective in centres and services.
They aim to facilitate progress itineraries in a flexible way. Their purpose is to guide the centres, services and teams on the path towards person-centred care, respecting their own strategy and supporting the various trajectories to have the necessary globality and the clear orientation that must characterise progress in this approach to care.
Why a Good Deal route?
Well-treatment is a core issue for person-centred care, something that becomes clear when it is understood that care means accompanying lives worth living, care being much more than a set of procedural tasks.
This pathway bases its recommendations on the basic considerations for Good Treatment in long-term care:
- Good treatment is based on the recognition of the dignity of every person.
- Caring is accompanying lives. Care is an opportunity to facilitate a good life, a meaningful life.
- Good treatment implies comprehensive and always personalised attention.
- Good treatment entails protecting the individual by balancing safety and well-being objectives.
- Good treatment can only be achieved by taking care of the relationships between the
- people involved in care
It is necessary to specify what Good Treatment consists of and how good treatment is developed when we care for people in day-to-day care, and, on the other hand, it is necessary to bear in mind that care is based on relational frameworks where professionals and families are the ones who generate the environments that facilitate respect for dignity and the promotion of autonomy.
"Good treatment is only possible in environments where people, all people, treat each other well".
What is new in this document?
In this good treatment route, theoretical and practical resources are offered to accompany the lives of people who need care in their day-to-day lives.
Throughout its pages, we see how various issues involved in good treatment are addressed, such as the importance of people's views and beliefs, self-determination, functional independence, among others. It also addresses key elements that must be present in professional praxis. All of this, from a person-centred care approach.
As in all the routes of this project, a wide range of resources for practice, documents and articles of interest are offered.
Watch document “Ruta Buen Trato”
About Matia
Matia is a private non-profit foundation, declared of general interest, whose purpose is "To accompany people in their ageing process in order to improve their well-being, generating knowledge and personalised services that promote their autonomy and dignity".
Through its research institute, Matia Instituto, it aims to improve the well-being and quality of life of ageing people through the generation of knowledge and its transfer on the aspects that define the itinerary of old age: from the planning of actions in the field of active ageing and the friendliness of cities and territories with the elderly, to the obtaining of evidence on different intervention programmes for people who need long-term care or are in a situation of fragility.
About ACP Gerontology
It is a space created by Teresa Martínez, where you can find information, materials and experiences of interest in applied gerontology that share a common focus: person-centred care.
An approach of interest to professionals and managers of gerontological services who are concerned with improving day-to-day interventions from the point of view of the quality of life of people and the protection of their rights.
Its promoter is the author of the ACP-GERONTOLOGY MODEL, designed to guide the implementation and enable the evaluation of person-centred care in gerontological services.