Innovations in Health Care for the Elderly
Due to the aging of the population and developments in medical technology, the number of older persons with (chronic) health problems will increase substantially during the following decades. Nowadays, the proportion of people of 65 years of age and older is 12-18% in most Western societies. We expect that this will be nearly doubled in the next three to four decades, which inevitably has consequences for the health care system, in particular for (services and facilities in) home care, care in nursing homes and hospitals.
Although (old) age in itself is considered as an important risk factor for processes of disablement and need of care in older persons and patients with chronic health problems, research suggests that environmental and psychosocial factors may also be at work.
Three main challenges for the future
The three main challenges for the future in this area of research are (a) to disentangle the role of medical, environmental (including technology) and psychosocial factors in trajectories of disablement in older persons, (b) to investigate determinants, prevalence and consequences of specific health care problems in older persons (e.g., pressure ulcers, malnutrition, falls, fatigue, pain, dyspnoea) in clinical settings (including nursing homes) and community-based settings, and (c) to develop and evaluate innovative, client-oriented, and targeted health care arrangements which handle these health care problems and maximise independence, social participation, quality of life and quality of care and reduce disablement in older people with health problems.
Mission
The mission in this research programme is, therefore, twofold; firstly to develop and disseminate knowledge and expertise on psychosocial, clinical and environmental determinants (including the organisation of health care arrangements and technology) of health care problems, need of care, social participation, independency and quality of life among older persons, and secondly, to develop and evaluate innovative health care programmes and interventions for older persons to slow down processes of disablement and to improve the socialisation of health care.
In addition, the implementation of research evidence in daily practice in home care, nursing homes and hospitals, and the place of these institutions in the chain of care, has our interest. Our research programme includes observational research (related to the first part of the mission) as well as intervention research (related to the second part of the mission).
Multi-disciplinary approach
The programme takes a multi-disciplinary approach. Therefore, different basic disciplines are involved, such as nursing science, gerontology, sociology, psychology, health care technology, health promotion, epidemiology, and (nursing home) medicine.