Social care and well-being. Experiences and perspectives of an old-aged group

Abstract

This paper intends to undertake an initial/preliminary exploration of the subjective well-being regarding the reception of social care and other domains of life in a group of older people. It is, therefore, a descriptive paper that raises more questions than offers answers. Data was collected in the scope of a larger qualitative research project through the conduction of a focus group with elders receiving some kind of social care. The collected data was analysed according to the basic procedures of Grounded Theory with the help of the software NVivo 9. The results reveal different sources of well-being and ill-being. The former are satisfaction with the social care services, satisfaction with the daily life, and satisfaction with living arrangements. In turn, the latter are dissatisfaction with the Day Care Centre, dissatisfaction with the daily life, dissatisfaction with living arrangements, and transition to widowhood. These results and their implications for social policy and professional practice are discussed in the context of existing literature.