Balance autonomy & physical/psychological security for older people leaving hospital says study

An interesting article in the Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, at least judging by the abstract, and here was me saying earlier, don't trust the summaries go to the originals). It's from Australia. They studied the difference between older people's views of discharge planning before anything happened, their relatives and healthcare professionals, using a vignette of a frail older person in hospital.

The older people went for the safe option - the care home and so on - for the person in the vignette, but not themselves. The younger people balanced autonomy with security, provided the older person was mentally capable. Discharge planners are advised to stress balancing autonomy with security when working on the issue, look at the ethics of balancing physical with psychological security and help middle-aged people to plan in advance. Sounds like good advice, but I can only see the abstract - this isn't a journal I get.

Linley A. Denson, Helen R. Winefield, Justin J Beilby Discharge-planning for long-term care needs: the values and priorities of older people, their younger relatives and health professionals. Article first published online: 13 APR 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2012.00987.x