'A life worth living all my days' : Rural Social Work with Older People

Squires, Becky (2024) 'A life worth living all my days' : Rural Social Work with Older People. In: Rural Social Work in the UK : Themes and Challenges for the Future. Rethinking Rural . Palgrave McMillan, Cham, pp. 239-269. ISBN 9783031524394

Abstract

In rural areas of the United Kingdom (UK), the number and proportion of older people with care and support needs are increasing (Office for National Statistics, Demand for adult social care across counties and unitary authorities in England - Office for National Statistics. Accessed June 7, 2022, from ons.gov.uk, 2021a, Office for National Statistics, Social care: Estimating the size of the self-funding population | National Statistical. Accessed May 9, 2022, from ons.gov.uk, 2021b; Centre for Ageing Better, Summary | The state of ageing 2022 | Centre for Ageing Better. Accessed April 7, 2022, from ageing-better.org.uk, 2022). Despite the significance and diversity of this population, there is a significant lacuna - a gap - in the literature about social work practice with rural dwelling older people. This chapter explores the particular challenges and opportunities that rural contexts present for rights-based and relational social work alongside older people. It proposes the development of a practice framework, grounded in the social model of disability (Oliver, The politics of disablement. Macmillan. Accessed May 13, 2022, from www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/index.html, 1990, Oliver, Disability Soc 28(7):1024–1026, 2013). Social work must be able to respond positively to the challenge that, ‘Growing old in rural communities is diverse, different and changing’ (Manthorpe et al., Br J Soc Work (32):1132–1150, 2008a, Manthorpe et al., Health Soc Care Commun 16(5):460–468, 2008b, p. 466). A critical understanding of the myriad ways in which ageism (Bytheway, Ageism. Open University Press, London, 1995) and other intersecting oppressions (Barnard, Intersectionality for social workers: A practical introduction. Routledge, Abingdon, 2021) affect the lives of older people, will underpin rights-based social work, and support development of the relational practice that is valued in social workers (Beresford et al., Supporting people: Towards a person-centred approach. The Policy Press, Bristol, 2011; Black, The power of small gestures: Emotions and relationships in social worker practice. Accessed June 15, 2022, from https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/media/0rejjd05/smallgestures-9-1.pdf, 2022). Social work with older people is not simply a matter of responding to changing need; it is a matter of social justice (The College of Social Work, Excellent social work with older people: A discussion paper. The College of Social Work, London, 2015).