3.1. Theme: The Challenging Dialogues
Important notes for health personnel throughout the dialogues were to explore resources, coping skills, and awareness towards own health. Further, the participants described the significance of the dialogues eliciting reflections on uncovering vulnerabilities in the older persons linked to sensitive topics. The analysis also showed how the intention of the health-promotion dialogue could appear unclear to those who received the offer. It may seem that the recipients’ understanding of such a health-promotion measure may be perceived as ambiguous based on unclear information of the offer.
3.1.1. Sub-Theme 1: Mobilise Coping Skills and Health Awareness
The informants described the dialogues to retrieve individual resources in the older person. The role of health personnel was to contribute to identifying the “person in the situation” by talking about sources of meaning and mastery in life. Statements such as “mobilising one’s own power” and “finding the resources, watering them and making sure they grow and become stronger” denoted their view of their own role in the dialogues related to a health-promotion view. The participants’ understanding of their own role revolved around getting to know the individual, and exploring the person’s characteristics, values, and interests, as well as wishes and needs for old age.
The intension appears to thematise safeguarding one’s health by facilitating active aging in accordance with needs. For the participants, it was important to show active presence in the dialogues and to emphasize the individual’s own wishes and needs. Seeing the person in the situation through active listening, focused attention and interest is considered the central approach for establishing a space of trust in the dialogues, as one of the informants described:
It is incredibly exciting to knock on a door, and you don’t know who is standing behind the door. When I worked with rehabilitation, (the philosopher) Kierkegaard was of help through the “art of helping”, which is about the fact that to help someone else, you need to find him where he is, and start from there. I try to keep that in mind.” (Participant 2)
Some of the participants described the health-promotion dialogues as the first meeting with the municipality’s services for many in the target group, a fact that required trust in the relationship. The participants also used a facilitated dialogue guide as a starting point for the conversation revolving around individual health situation and needs. A successful first meeting could increase the chances that those who accepted the offer would make contact again in case of future needs.
It is not important for us to get through everything we’re supposed to. Sometimes it is just about putting everything aside and talking about what they want to talk about. (Participant 6)
The dialogues served as a kind of framework around the question “what is important to you?”, a question which has been implemented in the national primary health care sector aiming for a health-promotion perspective in healthcare professionals towards all users. It appears central that the dialogues can shed light on older people’s own perspectives, plans and goals for good aging processes. In addition, they focus on maintaining and optimising well-being, coping and quality of life.
To emphasize the question “what is important to you?” together with the participants’ active presence and holistic view of health shows a clear person-oriented angle in the health-promotion dialogue, which is to explore potential needs in the person:
…for me, a health-promotion dialogue is about trying and figuring out where to start. After all, we have these topics from the dialogue guide, then it is a matter of trying and discerning within which of these topics we can have an opportunity to help shine a light on which they can work on a bit.” (Participant 2)
3.1.2. Subtheme 2: UNCOVER VULNERABILITY
Several participants emphasized that they had acquired increased expertise on topics affecting mental health in old age, which made them better equipped to recognise vulnerability factors. Identification of the person’s needs was a core topic and could lead the health dialogue towards physical and mental health, family relationships, social network, diet, sleep, fall prevention, illness, etc.
Some participants also described the significance to dare and ask the challenging questions related to sensitive topics such as transition phases, grief processes, depression challenges, sexuality, lack of relations, loneliness, and old age. The quote below highlights how one participant expressed particular attention related to recognition and disclosure of vulnerability factors as a step ahead of an assessment based on individual needs:
Therefore, I made an effort in relation to statistics with regard to thinking about who represents vulnerable groups that it is important that I was with, and with whom that I can make a difference. That’s important.” (Participant 6)
The health-promotion dialogue provided an opportunity to uncover several vulnerabilities in the residents. A term for how the dialogue could be used to explore opportunities, needs, and ambivalence associated with one’s health and lifestyle changes was the phrase “rolling with resistance”, as described by one of the participants:
For me, it means starting from what that person has inside of them both in terms of personality and hobbies, interests and finding out what that person has liked to do, likes to do now, and trying to build on that.” (Participant 7)
3.1.3. Sub-Theme 3: The Ambiguity of the Dialogue
The information leaflet designed for the dialogue became the starting point for conversations about health and life situations. One of the informants emphasized the importance of the dialogue thematising understandings of old age and opportunities to explore attitudes to one’s own aging process. Several of the participants described how the health-promotion dialogues touched upon a wide range of health-related topics, about which there had been greater awareness, such as sleep, alcohol consumption, and networks, in addition to relationships, sexuality and identity issues.
Asking about alcohol habits was not something we did before as it was too personal. (…) We realised that it was a very important topic to talk about with those we visited and now we are doing it. (…) We ask just as much about their alcohol habits as how much water and liquids they take in.” (Participant 1)
The age-specific limits for the target group had been adjusted up and down between the ages of 75 and 80 following evaluation of feedback from the recipients of the offer. The age variations are due to feedback that the offer was perceived as irrelevant of potential recipients. The participants consistently experienced that many recipients felt that this health service comes too early in the age course, and several older people were described as not having the need and therefore declined. The participants seemed to understand the recipients that they perceive themselves as able-bodied, thus perceive the offer as not very relevant.
It was a consistent opinion that many older people who agreed to the interview had assumed that the offer would have exclusively disease and injury prevention purposes, thus in line with understandings of the traditional preventive home visit (PHV). They could also have expectations related to wound care and drug-related clarifications.
My predecessor was a nurse and wore blue plastic covers on the outside of her shoes, and immediately sent some signals that gave a completely different focus: “Can you look at this wound?” There are many people who think we come home to remove carpets, but that’s really the last thing we do.” (Participant 4)
The offer is aimed at older people living with a health condition that is not yet perceived as limiting their quality of life and life expression, and these unfortunately happily declined.
That is what is positive about the outreach part of the business, that you have the opportunity to approach before it starts to go down (…). I also find that some of the 77-year-olds whom we seek out refuse our offer. And I think that has a lot to do with the fact that you’re not there mentally, that you understand your own potential situation in a few years’ time as you start to get older. (Participant 5)
There were many who declined – probably for various reasons, such as the experience of functional freshness, lack of information, and unclear expectations regarding the purpose of the conversation. Several of the participants believed that such a health-promotion measure should be able to meet needs to a greater extent. The municipalities represented in this study offered health-promotion dialogues to residents over the age of 80, except from one municipality with an age limit of 78 years. At the same time, some of the participants wished that the offer should cater to even younger age groups than the current target group to a greater extent, indicating that such a measure should also take care of broader needs in the aging process, such as transition phases, for example in the event of the loss of a partner, or how to be a relative of people with dementia.
We have something to gain in terms of being able to catch vulnerable older people earlier health than when they turn 80. I think that there is a potential that is socially and economically profitable as well. (Participant 3)
Several participants experienced that older people who expressed scepticism and ambivalence towards the offer in advance experienced the dialogues as useful afterwards. According to the participants, there was a significant proportion in the target group who did not see the need for such a health-promotion and preventive measure, presumably before they knew what the offer’s intention, content and utility entailed.