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List of contents
Dedication
Preface Frank J. Whittington
Acknowledgements
Introduction Mary M. Ball
Part I: The Context of Care •Meeting the Participants
•Abilities and Disabilities
•Health Care Practices
•Social Worlds
Part II: The Informal Care Experience •Family and Friends
•The Dilemma of Dependency
•Bargaining for Care
Part III: The Formal Care Experience •The Role of Formal Care
•Quality of Care The Client's Reality
•Someone to Come By: The Social Component of Formal Care
•Making the Client Role
Part IV: Conclusion •What Does It Mean?
•Epilogue
•Author Index
•Subject Index
About the author
Mary M Ball (Author) , Frank J Whittington (Author)
Summary
To date there has not been a clear look at the home care experience of older African Americans. "Surviving Dependence: Voices of African American Elders" attempts to meet the need for recording and interpreting the ordinary life of elderly African Americans on their own terms, in their own surroundings, and in so far as possible, in their own words. Ball and Whittington's research is unique in two ways: it focuses on older people who are African American and poor, and it describes the viewpoint of care recipients and their relationships with the public programs designed to help them. This book provides an in-depth view of the experiences of these seven frail elders as both care receivers and as active participants in their own care. The two primary themes the significant disabilities that often accompany old age and the tenacious will and ability to cope possessed by our informants are reflected in the title: "Surviving Dependence."
