Sustainable Care in a Familialist Regime: Coping with Elderly Care in Slovenia

Case Report-Driven Medical Education in Rural Family Medicine Education: A Thematic Analysis

Case-based education (CBE) is a teaching method in which learners work on real-life cases to learn and apply concepts and skills they have been taught. Case report-driven medical education using the CBE framework can effectively facilitate student and resident learning, and entice them to become involved in actual clinical practice. Specific case report-driven medical education methods and learning outcomes are not clarified. This study aimed to clarify the specific learning processes and outcomes of case report-driven medical education in rural community-based medical education. Using a qualitative design based on a thematic analysis approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The study participants were medical students and residents in training at a rural Japanese community hospital. Fifty-one case reports were completed and published in Cureus from April 2021 to March 2023. Participants learned about various difficulties related to volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) in the medical care of various older patients, which increased their interest in family medicine. They appreciated the importance of case reports in academic careers and how their responsibilities as researchers increase with collaboration. Case report-driven medical education in community hospitals can drive medical students' and junior residents' learning regarding family medicine in the VUCA world.

Cared and uncared populations: understanding unmet care needs of older adults (65+) across different social care systems in Europe

Population care needs are dynamic. They change throughout individuals' life courses and are related to the population structure. These needs are particularly demanding during population ageing and may vary depending on how societies cope with them. In this study, we explored the unmet social care needs of individuals in twelve European countries with different social care systems. We used data from the seventh wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to conduct a cross-sectional study of individuals aged 65 and over with care needs (n = 7136). Unmet care needs were measured from an absolute approach. We fitted binomial regression models to explain the relative importance of individuals' characteristics, health status and different social care systems on unmet needs. The absolute measure shows that 53.02% of the analytical sample faced unmet care needs as they reported limitations and did not receive help. The prevalence of unmet care needs is higher for men than women and for younger than older individuals. Furthermore, we found that individuals living in Mediterranean social care systems have the highest prevalence of these unmet needs. This analysis contributes to the ongoing debate about the challenges posed by ageing populations and their relationship with care.

Present and Future Trends of Sustainable Eldercare Services in China

Ageing population is one of the most fundamental socio-economic transformations of the twenty-first century, with significant policy implications. China, the world’s most populous nation, is no exception. The necessity for cost-effective, culture-appropriate and sustainable eldercare services is one of the Government’s priorities, in both present and future. This research uses a focus-group interviews methodology to explore sustainable models of eldercare services through an in-depth comparative analysis of care demands and service provision in two Chinese cities. The study reflects a prevailing trend of the integrated-care service mix in line with the United Nations’ five most relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1, 3, 5, 10, 11) for older adults. In addition to the 7Ps of the service marketing mix, this article highlights the particular importance of ‘Partnership’ in sustainable care delivery in China. The past-present-future scenario and the thematic analysis of older adults’ pattern-matching add two unique dimensions to population ageing and eldercare studies: ‘People’ and ‘Partnership’.

Sustainable Care and Factors Associated with Quality of Life among Older Beneficiaries of Social Services

Population aging has led to an increased recognition of the problems encountered by older persons. As a consequence, the most recent years have been marked by a series of changes with regard to the organization and provision of social services for dependent older people. The aim of this article is to identify factors associated with the quality of life in old age, using a logistic regression applied to the data collected following a field survey among the beneficiaries of social services. The analysis revealed that men are more likely to appreciate that life does not make sense, compared to dependent elderly women. Age is also a significant factor that influences the quality of life: the older the people are, the more they tend to think in a positive manner about their life. Health, social participation and food are also important factors that influence the perception regarding the quality of life.