["So I would have been sitting at home and moping...": How do older single people in need of support experience companionship by volunteers after discharge from hospital?]. / "Ich hätte also zu Hause gesessen und Trübsal geblasen...": Wie erleben alleinstehende und hilfebedürftige ältere Menschen eine poststationäre Begleitung durch Ehrenamtliche?

BACKGROUND: Despite the well-known link between social support and health as well as quality of life only a few scientifically meaningful studies have been carried out to actively promote social support. In the +P Project (post-hospital lay support for patients) elderly people in need of support after a stay in hospital are accompanied in their daily life by volunteers. The qualitative research part in the study evaluates conditions which led to the adoption of the support by the volunteers and how the elderly people experienced this companionship. METHODS: The analysis followed the grounded theory method. In a theoretical sampling nine accompanied people were identified and participated in narrative interviews regarding their experience of the voluntary support. RESULTS: In addition to personality traits of the elderly and perceived seriousness of the project the interpersonal relationship was important for the adoption of the companionship. Key factors were the perceived similarity between the older people and their supporters as well as confidence in the volunteers and their skills. The support contributed to facilitating and enriching the daily life of the elderly and even friendships with the volunteers developed. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that volunteers can help to compensate a lack of social support for the elderly. The results confirm theoretical models of coping with age and disease-related losses and models of social relations in old age. At the same time this study underpins political recommendations to strengthen community engagement to promote social networks for older people.

[Project "FrühStart"--family midwives in Saxony-Anhalt. Their networking with other health care and child welfare professionals and subjective view of the families]. / Modellprojekt FrühStart--Evaluation der Familienhebammen in Sachsen-Anhalt. Vernetzung, Sichtweise der Klientinnen und Verankerung im Netzwerk Früher Hilfen.

The project "Family midwives in Saxony-Anhalt" was evaluated by a multidimensional approach in order to document the subjective perspective of the mothers as well as the networking of health care and child welfare professionals, while caring for highly vulnerable families. The documentation of 734 cases and quantitative data of 33 family midwives were analyzed. Ten mothers were interviewed and problem-focused expert interviews were carried out with 39 health care and child welfare professionals. The method of coding the interview texts was both open and guided by the research questions. After finishing the qualification course and while caring for highly vulnerable families, the networking of family midwives with child welfare professionals significantly increased. Besides the family midwives and the youth welfare office, the antenatal counseling centers were important "gatekeepers". An important ingredient for constructive networking and care for families is trust which draws on client-oriented care, availability, and advocacy by the family midwives. While the family midwives are respected as partners by the professionals of the child welfare system, networking with obstetricians and hospitals is unsatisfactory. In order to improve this, the latter must be a future goal.