Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T22:39:24.671Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocaust survivors’ perspectives on using community aged care and support services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2019

Karen Teshuva ,
Allan Borowski  and
Yvonne Wells
Karen Teshuva*
Affiliation:
Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing, Australian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing, College of Science, Engineering, and Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Allan Borowski
Affiliation:
College of Science, Engineering, and Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Yvonne Wells
Affiliation:
Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing, Australian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing, College of Science, Engineering, and Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: k.teshuva@latrobe.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The extant literature on Jewish Holocaust survivors’ experiences of receiving aged care services typically focuses on the risk that formal care settings may reactivate traumatic memories. Absent from previous research have been the viewpoints of older survivors themselves regarding their aged care experiences. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used to investigate Jewish Holocaust survivors’ lived experience of using community aged care services. Thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted and analysed using thematic analysis. The credibility of the findings was ensured by methodological triangulation and peer debriefing. Four major themes emerged from the analysis: wanting carers to do their job well; being supported to maintain autonomy; having a good relationship with the carer; and being understood as an individual. Although Holocaust survivors described the lived experience of using community aged care services in terms of universal themes similar to those identified with other groups of care recipients, the data revealed that this experience is intertwined with individual earlier-life traumatic experiences. This study has implications for training age care staff who work with Holocaust survivors and older trauma survivors from other refugee backgrounds.

Keywords

community serviceshome careolder peopleHolocaust survivorsrefugeestrauma
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , February 2021 , pp. 231 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, KB, Mann, ES, Prigal, RW, Fein, A and Souders, TL (1994) Holocaust survivors in a Jewish nursing home: building trust and enhancing personal control. Clinical Gerontologist 14, 99–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, K, Fields, N and Dobb, L (2011) Understanding the impact of early-life trauma in nursing home residents. Journal of Gerontological Social Work 54, 755–767.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barel, E, Van Ilzendoorn, M, Sagi-Schwartz, A and Bakermans-Kranenbur, M (2010) Surviving the Holocaust: a meta-analysis of the long-term sequelae of a genocide. Psychological Bulletin 136, 677–698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodsky, J, Sharon, A, King, Y, Be'er, S and Shnoor, Y (2010) Holocaust Survivors in Israel: Population Estimates, Demographic, Health and Social Characteristics, and Needs. Available at http://claimscon.org/forms/Holocaust_Survivors_Israel-jdc.pdf.Google Scholar
Carlson, E, Lauderdale, S, Hawkins, J and Sheikh, J (2008) Posttraumatic stress and aggression among veterans in long-term care. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology 21, 61–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstairs, L (2004) Culturally sensitive care for elderly Holocaust survivors. If Not Now e-Journal 5. Available at www.baycrest.org/if_not_now/Volume_5_Fall_2004.Google Scholar
Charmaz, K (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Creswell, J (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, 2nd Edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Dannefer, D (2011) Age, the life course, and the sociological imagination: prospects for theory. In Binstock, R and George, L (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, 7th Edn. London: Elsevier.Google Scholar
David, P and Pelly, S (eds) (2003) Caring for Aging Holocaust Survivors: A Practice Manual. Toronto: Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.Google Scholar
Edvardsson, D, Winblad, B and Sandman, P (2008) Person-centered care of people with severe Alzheimer's disease: Current status and ways forward. Lancet Neurology 7, 362–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, MA (2004) Health professionals, Jewish religion and community structure in the service of the aging Holocaust survivor. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 38, 289–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elder, GH, Kirkpatrick Johnson, M and Crosnoe, R (2003) The emergence and development of life course theory. In Mortimer, JT and Shanahan, MJ (eds), Handbook of the Life Course. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, pp. 49–81.Google Scholar
Glaser, B and Strauss, A (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. London: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Glendinning, C and Newbronner, L (2008) The effectiveness of home care reablement – developing the evidence base. Journal of Integrated Care 16, 32–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glicksman, A (2017) Holocaust survivors in long-term care. Journal of Religion, Spirituality and Aging 29, 177–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groger, L, Mayberry, P and Straker, J (1999) What we didn't learn because of who would not talk to us. Qualitative Health Research 9, 829–835.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinton, D, Pich, V, Chhean, D and Pollack, M (2005) ‘The ghost pushes you down’: sleep paralysis-type panic attacks in a Khmer refugee population. Transcultural Psychiatry 42, 46–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschfeld, MJ (1977) Care of the aging Holocaust survivor. American Journal of Nursing 77, 1187–1189.Google ScholarPubMed
Hirst, S, LeNavenec, C and Aldiabat, K (2011) Conversations with Holocaust survivor residents. Journal of Gerontological Nursing 37, 36–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joffe, C, Brodaty, H, Luscombe, G and Ehrlich, F (2003) The Sydney Holocaust study: posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychosocial morbidity in an aged community sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress 16, 39–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joffe, H, Joffe, C and Brodaty, H (1996) Ageing Jewish Holocaust survivors: anxieties in dealing with health professionals. Medical Journal of Australia 165, 517–520.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahana, B, Kahana, E, Harel, Z, Kelly, K, Monaghan, P and Holland, L (1997) A framework for understanding the chronic stress of Holocaust survivors. In Gottlieb, BH (ed.), Coping with Chronic Stress (The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping). New York, NY: Plenum Press, pp. 315-342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenyon, G, Clark, P and De Vries, B (2001) Narrative gerontology: theory, research, and practice. New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Krefting, L (1991) Rigor in qualitative research: the assessment of trustworthiness. American Journal of Occupational Therapy 45, 214–222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonhard, B (2003) Nursing care for elderly Holocaust survivors. Experiences of Israeli nurses as related to their own life stories. Pflege von alteren Holocaust-Uberlebenden 16, 31–39.Google ScholarPubMed
Levine, J (2001) Working with victims of persecution: lessons from Holocaust survivors. Social Work in Health Care 46, 350–360.Google ScholarPubMed
Lewin, G, De San Miguel, K, Knuiman, M, Allan, J, Boldy, D, Hendrie, D and Vandermeulen, S (2013) A randomised controlled trial of the Home Independence Program (HIP), an Australian restorative home care programme for older adults. Health and Social Care in the Community 21, 69–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liamputtong, P (2013) Qualitative Research Methods, 4th Edn. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Padgett, D (2012) Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research, 2nd Edn. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Piercy, K (2000) When it is more than a job: close relationships between home health aides and older clients. Journal of Aging and Health 12, 362–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pirner, D (2006) Life Trajectory of Elderly Institutionalized Holocaust Survivors: An Ethnographic Study. University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. Available at https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/101763.Google Scholar
Rosenbloom, M (1985) The Holocaust survivor in late life. Journal of Gerontological Social Work 8, 181–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutland, S (2005) The Jews in Australia. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Safford, F (1995) Aging stressors for Holocaust survivors and their families. Journal of Gerontological Social Work 24, 131–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shmotkin, D (2003) Vulnerability and resilience intertwined: a review of research on Holocaust survivors. In Jacoby, R and Keinan, G (eds), Between Stress and Hope: From a Disease-centered to a Health-centered Perspective. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 213–233.Google Scholar
Shmotkin, D, Blumstein, T and Modan, B (2003) Tracing long-term effects of early trauma: a broad-scope view of Holocaust survivors in late life. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 71, 223–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shmotkin, D, Shrira, A, Goldberg, S and Palgi, Y (2011) Resilience and vulnerability among aging Holocaust survivors and their families: an intergenerational overview. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships 9, 7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shour, A (1990) Aging Holocaust survivor in the institution. Journal of Aging and Judaism 4, 141–160.Google Scholar
Sindler, A, Wellman, N and Stier, O (2004) Holocaust survivors report: long-term effects on attitudes toward food. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour 36, 189–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suedfeld, P, Soriano, E, McMurtry, D, Paterson, H, Weizbeck, T and Krell, R (2005) Erikson's ‘components of a health personality’ among Holocaust survivors immediately and 40 years after the war. International Journal of Aging and Human Development 60, 229–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teshuva, K, Borowski, A and Wells, Y (2016) The lived experience of providing care and support services for Holocaust survivors in Australia. Qualitative Health Research 27, 1104-1114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Manen, M (1990) Researching Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy. London, Canada: The University of Western Ontario.Google Scholar
Walsh, K and Shutes, I (2013) Care relationships, quality of care and migrant workers caring for older people. Ageing & Society 33, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zilberfein, F and Eskin, V (1992) Helping Holocaust survivors with the impact of illness and hospitalization: social work role. Social Work in Health Care 18, 59–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed