Population aging in Albanian post-socialist society: Implications for care and family life

Meçe, Merita H.

doi:10.1515/seeur-2015-0033

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Despite the existing infrastructure, the State Social Service in Tirana reports that only 50% of all applicants have been accommodated in these residential homes. 4,5 Around 62% of all Albanian municipalities are not offering any kind of services for older people. 5,6…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying ethical and legal issues in elder care

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: As a non–European Union member state, Albania is increasingly orienting itself on Western models regarding human rights, patient rights, and legal regulations for healthcare. Due to its limited fiscal and legal power, enforcing legal and ethical regulations poses a major problem. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate nurse’s knowledge and experiences regarding ethical and legal issues in Albanian elder care in state-funded and privately run institutions. Research design: The study was conducted using an inductive and qualitative design, utilizing a focused ethnographic approach, based on Roper and Shapira’s framework. Method: Data were collected between June 2017 and September 2018 using participant observation, field notes, and semi-structured interviews with 15 nurses in seven different elder care institutions. In total, 100 h of observation and 15 interviews were performed. Data analysis was based on Mayring’s qualitative content analysis. Ethical consideration: The approval for the study was obtained from UMIT—The Health and Life Sciences University, Austria. Findings: The findings of the study fell into the following main categories: “Everyday care issues,” “End-of-life issues,” “Legal issues,” and “Ethical-legal education and conflicts.” Discussion: The participants reported many ethical and legal issues when describing their everyday challenges and displayed a strong lack of ethical and legal education. Despite a wide spectrum in the quality of care between private and state-funded nursing homes, older people mostly do not know their own diagnosis. Conclusion: This study indicates that further ethical and legal education is needed. Furthermore, nurses need to be better prepared for ethical conflicts with families, as strengthening patient rights could come into conflict with traditional rights of the Albanian family.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying ethical and legal issues in elder care

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The power of the family, which becomes visible in this study, can be explained by cultural values and must also be considered an economic factor. Despite the already existing infrastructure, only about 50% of all the applicants can be accepted into residential homes [19], [20]. Although centers exist in Tirana and Shkodra, 62% of all Albanian municipalities do not offer any services for older adults [21].…”

Section: Cultural Impact and Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patient Autonomy, Decision-making and Cultural Impact in Elder Care in Albania

Podgorica

Shabani

Müller

et al. 2022

Open Access Maced J Med Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND: Maintaining patients’ autonomy and including them in the decision-making process is crucial in eldercare. This study explores the cultural impact of independence in Albanian nursing homes. This paper follows previous publications from the same project. AIM: Based on the previous research on ethical and legal issues, the aim was to identify how and why autonomy is frequently compromised. METHODS: An exploratory qualitative study with semi-structured interviews and field notes was conducted. The field notes and interviews were analyzed using inductive category formation following a qualitative content analysis approach to identify potential causes and core themes. For this study, 15 nurses from three public nursing homes, two private nursing homes, one palliative care center, and one daily care center in Albania were included in the study. The observations and interviews were conducted between June and August 2018 in 7 eldercare institutions. RESULTS: The study shows that autonomy is frequently compromised in this setting. Although residents have some freedom concerning movement, nutrition, and hygiene, they are mainly excluded from the decision-making process in treatment or palliative care. Patients are purposely misinformed about their diagnosis so that they live life “normally until the last day.” Here, a robust cultural aversion to talking about death comes together with a firm reliance on the family’s decision-making. CONCLUSION: The study indicates that strengthening patients’ rights by improving nurses’ education can lead to more severe family conflicts. Expanding patient rights can be perceived as limiting the rights of the family. This demonstrates the difficulty of imposing “western” health regulations in different cultural contexts. In addition to legal and ethical education, preparing nurses for conflicts with the residents’ families and creating awareness for fundamental patient rights among their relatives are critical steps to improve patients’ autonomy in Albania.

show abstract

“…The uneven distribution of informal care responsibilities between genders and across generations is a significant factor in the transformation of gender contracts in 'emptied' regions like Puka. In Albania today, the state social care provision is limited, while intrafamily support mechanisms of the kind that can still be relied upon in more affluent Southern European countries have broken down, leaving caregivers isolated (Meçe, 2015). The experiences of women in Puka as caregivers, combined with the multiplication of other responsibilities, is a revealing lens on the impact of rural emptiness on gender relations.…”

Section: Informal Carementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While migration has been ‘a dominant feature’ of most Central and Eastern European (CEE) societies since 1989, Albania is an ‘extreme case’ (Vullnetari & King, 2016, p. 207). In the first postsocialist decade, following 45 years of isolation, Albania saw 700,000 of its citizens emigrate, mainly to Italy and Greece (Institute of Statistics [INSTAT], 2012; Meçe, 2015). Between 1989 and 2011, the population decreased from 3,182,417 to 2,800,138 (Central Directory of Statistics, 1991; INSTAT, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Between 1989 and 2011, the population decreased from 3,182,417 to 2,800,138 (Central Directory of Statistics, 1991; INSTAT, 2014). This wave of emigration was accompanied by unprecedented levels of rural to urban migration within a country that in 1991 was the only predominantly rural country in Europe due to strict policies that had prevented urbanisation throughout the communist era (Meçe, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The impact of rural emptiness on gender relations in postsocialist Albania

Brooks

Meçe

2022

Sociologia Ruralis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores impacts of dramatic levels of outmigration from Puka, a remote region of northern Albania. Since 1991 depopulation, economic decline and state withdrawal have created conditions of what Dzenovska calls rural emptiness. Drawing on focus group discussions with women from eight villages, it explores how conditions of rural emptiness have led to a transformation of gender contracts, with women taking on additional responsibilities. However, these changes have been accommodated within a re‐traditionalised patriarchal system through the devaluation of tasks assigned to women, their increased surveillance by male relatives and erosion of women's social life outside the household.

show abstract

Population aging in Albanian post-socialist society: Implications for care and family life

Cited by 5 publications

References 22 publications

Identifying ethical and legal issues in elder care

Identifying ethical and legal issues in elder care

Patient Autonomy, Decision-making and Cultural Impact in Elder Care in Albania

The impact of rural emptiness on gender relations in postsocialist Albania

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About