Award Winners for Volume 15
Social Exclusion in Gerontological Social Work: Examining Older Clients’ Life Situations Through a Multidimensional Framework
Social exclusion is one of the key challenges faced by aging societies and a critical driver of the need for gerontological social work. This article examines social exclusion in gerontological social work from the perspective of social workers’ perceptions of older clients’ challenging life situations in Finland. The study utilizes a multidimensional framework of social exclusion, dividing it into five interconnected domains: exclusion from social relations, economic exclusion, exclusion from services, community and spatial exclusion, and civic exclusion. The data consists of seven online focus group interviews with twenty-two social workers and is analyzed using theory-driven content analysis. The results show that all five domains of social exclusion were embedded in the social workers’ perceptions of older clients’ challenging life situations. The domains were interconnected and overlapping, and in some cases, older clients were excluded from multiple domains building into complex needs. The findings provide a new understanding of the diverse disadvantages that older adults often experience and can be utilized when developing practices and interventions of gerontological social work.
Older adults in need of gerontological social work have social and health problems and complex life situations. The focus of gerontological social work has often been on care and health needs instead of responding to diverse social problems related to aging and later life. The multidimensional framework of social exclusion has been found to be useful for acknowledging the diverse disadvantages of older adults. However, it has been rarely used in the context of gerontological social work. Our study contributes to this research gap and demonstrates that the multidimensional framework provides more in-depth understanding of life situations of older adults in need of gerontological social work. In addition, the framework makes visible the connection between societal factors and individual life histories and circumstances of older adults. The findings and implications of this study can be used when developing interventions aimed at reducing social exclusion of older adults living in vulnerable life situations. Furthermore, the findings can be used in social work education across countries. In Finland, we have already integrated the findings in courses and lectures regarding gerontological social work and found that the empirical examples can help especially younger students recognise and understand support needs related to older client's complex life situations.
—Elisa Tiilikainen, Eeva Rossi, and Marjaana Seppänen