Research on how municipal health care professionals’ approach and deal with older people who have active, problematic substance use, and how we can strengthen the professionals to improve their ability to help vulnerable citizens with problematic substance use.

Aim

This pilot study examines encounters between health care professionals and citizens in need of care who also have problematic substance use. The purpose is to collect knowledge on how these encounters play out and which dilemmas the professionals face, and how they tackle them. Based on our research, we aim to develop tools and/or recommendations that can help optimize these encounters for the professionals (focusing on e.g. safety, professional knowledge) and for the citizens (to give them the best possible care and assistance).

Background

In Denmark, there is a growing group of citizens in need of health care assistance who also struggle with substance use. This is, among other factors, due to improvements in damage reduction services and drug and alcohol treatment and treatment of comorbidities, meaning that people with substance use live longer lives. That means that a higher number of these citizens with active and problematic substance use enter into health care services such as home care and nursing homes. This also means that health care staff increasingly encounter this type of citizen in their daily work, now and in the foreseeable future. This presents challenges as many older people with active substance use often struggle with complex health conditions, and the care and treatment of these people can pose particular practical and ethical dilemmas to the professionals.

The project

We investigate the work experiences of health care professionals working with citizens with problematic active substance use through ‘go along fieldwork’ and qualitative interviews in two municipalities.

The project runs from May 1 2022 to September 1 2023.

Funding

Center for Alcohol and Drug Research.

Cooperation

The project is developed in collaboration with MANTRA (The anthropological research unit of Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University), and we cooperate with the municipalities of Odder and Syddjurs as well as the vocational health care school (SOSU) of Eastern Jutland.