 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Allen Glicksman, PhD, Planning Department, Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, 642 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130-3409, (215) 765-9000, ex. 5517, aglicksm@pcaphl.org
For many years there have been clinical and anecdotal reports that Holocaust survivors have greater difficulties in long term care settings than other older persons. These difficulties are often associated with the experience of having to accept formal service providers in their homes, or because they must relocate to a facility, usually a nursing home. For the first time since the War these individuals are faced with the need to totally depend on strangers, or enter an institutional environment. However, no systematic research has been conducted to determine if 1) these observations can be generalized to Holocaust survivors in general who are now in need of regular assistance because of increased frailty in old age; or 2) what the specific problems faced by such survivors might be; or 3) if the nature of these problems can be identified what can be done to train staff to deal with these issues. We will present the results of a study designed to answer those three specific questions. We interviewed Holocaust survivors receiving institutional and community-based LTC services, a matched group of older Jews receiving the same type of services who did not experience the trauma of the Holocaust, a professional working with each of the elders interviewed, other staff members of the agencies providing care, and family members of some of the elders. The study was funded by a private foundation, with additional funds provided by the NIA. The results from the analyses of the interviews with the elders, professionals, and family members were remarkably congruent. The experience of Holocaust survivors in long term care settings was systematically different from the experience of persons who did not have that trauma in their background. The most important differences could be clear specified – the survivors had few family members, both from the their family of origin and the families they created after the war, and this was high inter-correlated with their experience of loneliness and depression. Further, we learned that their experiences was also shaped in part by the perceptions of professionals that the Holocaust “explained” any negative behaviors in the survivors, and so the survivors were often “excused” when they exhibited negative behaviors, while other elders were more likely to be held accountable for their actions.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Access and Services, Refugees
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.