"Man kan inte ge de det de behöver"
En studie om arbetet och synen på äldres psykiska ohälsa i äldreomsorgen
The aim of this study was to understand how care staff in residential care perceive and work with elderly mental health and how these perceptions and work is related to aging. We have gathered our empirical material through eight qualitative interviews and vignettes with care staff in residential care. The study was conducted in a municipality with 10 000 to 20 000 inhabitants in southern Sweden. The material was analyzed with use of ageism as a theoretical frame of reference. The results showed that the care staff had different perceptions of mental illness in general and regarding the elderly. The results also showed lack of resources in terms of education, time and staffing. Care staff had the ambition to provide the time and support for older people with mental illness, but this ambition was most of the time not possible to implement due to the lack of resources. Medication treatment was therefore the common treatment method. Caring staff advocated psychological assistance to mental health in general, however this treatment was never mentioned as a suitable therapy for the elderly.