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Older people, care, and cancer: A critical perspective

Older people, care, and cancer: A critical perspective
Older people, care, and cancer: A critical perspective
Care of older people with cancer has received relatively little attention in the literature and this area of caring practice has yet to be firmly established in professional discourse. References to the increasing proportion of older people in the population are common, as are references to the problems associated with old age, whether these are seen as medical, or as inevitable consequences of natural processes. Health care for older people has sometimes been reported to be routinized or basic, and as taking little account of individual perspectives, and the ‘discourse of senescence’ represents a tendency to understand old age and the aged body in terms of degeneration and deterioration. Here, it is argued that older people are often portrayed as separate and diminished, and have little control over the definition of themselves as users of health services. This represents a constraint upon the possibilities of caring practice. Divesting ourselves of the ‘discourse of senescence’ may be a fundamental part of developing caring practice for older people with cancer in the future.
cancer, older people
0961-5423
98-106
Bailey, C.
af803055-3a2d-42cf-813c-47558ca0a3e5
Corner, J.
eddc9d69-aa12-4de5-8ab0-b20a6b5765fa
Bailey, C.
af803055-3a2d-42cf-813c-47558ca0a3e5
Corner, J.
eddc9d69-aa12-4de5-8ab0-b20a6b5765fa

Bailey, C. and Corner, J. (2003) Older people, care, and cancer: A critical perspective. European Journal of Cancer Care, 12 (1), 98-106. (doi:10.1046/j.1365-2354.2003.78437843.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Care of older people with cancer has received relatively little attention in the literature and this area of caring practice has yet to be firmly established in professional discourse. References to the increasing proportion of older people in the population are common, as are references to the problems associated with old age, whether these are seen as medical, or as inevitable consequences of natural processes. Health care for older people has sometimes been reported to be routinized or basic, and as taking little account of individual perspectives, and the ‘discourse of senescence’ represents a tendency to understand old age and the aged body in terms of degeneration and deterioration. Here, it is argued that older people are often portrayed as separate and diminished, and have little control over the definition of themselves as users of health services. This represents a constraint upon the possibilities of caring practice. Divesting ourselves of the ‘discourse of senescence’ may be a fundamental part of developing caring practice for older people with cancer in the future.

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More information

Published date: 2003
Keywords: cancer, older people

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 9287
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/9287
ISSN: 0961-5423
PURE UUID: 45bc2770-8a2e-495c-b0dd-b8be626433f5
ORCID for C. Bailey: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7528-6264

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Date deposited: 05 Oct 2004
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 04:55

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Contributors

Author: C. Bailey ORCID iD
Author: J. Corner

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