Abstract

LETURIA ARRAZOLA, Francisco Javier. Experience in interventions with elderly dependent persons at the Matia Foundation. Psychosocial Intervention [online]. 2007, vol.16, n.1, pp.107-124. ISSN 2173-4712.

The Matia Foundation is a private social institution that focuses its activity on safeguarding and improving the quality of life of the elderly and the disabled. In recent years, an extensive process of organisational change has been carried out within the Foundation, based on the development of the psychosocial and social-health model, the specialisation and personalisation of the care, the generation of new specialised resources and the development of three fundamental areas of intervention. These three areas correspond to the Social Health Area, the Psychosocial Area and the Social/Community Integration and Participation Area. All of this has been carried out in conjunction with the development of the most advanced management systems. The Psychosocial Intervention Model works in an interdisciplinary and complementary way between the different disciplines involved, in addition to the contributions that behavioural gerontology offers for the ambient design, care and treatments, etc. with a population that displays a high prevalence of dependent situations, neurological and psychiatric pathology, sensorial deficiencies etc. One of the main objectives we aim to meet via this model is to complement the family and social relationship with a competent team of professionals, organised according to their disciplines, offering high quality, highly professional care, which is friendly, personalised and humane, by incorporating voluntary staff and taking into consideration the family as the central point of the intervention with the user and resident. As regards the Residential Care Model, we have aim to ensure execution by following the strategic planning of the activities carried out in the gerontology and residential centres and units in order to achieve a better quality of life for the elderly people in our care along with their families, in addition to guaranteeing and promoting their rights in order to fully satisfy their expectations with the maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Within this care model we can highlight the following fundamental aspects: the influence of the surroundings on the quality of life and the integral nature of the intervention. Through the integrated introduction of the new more advanced Psychosocial Care and Intervention Model to the most advanced management models and to a client-based focus that is open to the community, the Psychosocial Area of the Matia Foundation has experienced an important evolution in recent years.

Keywords : Psychosocial Intervention; Gerontology; Dependency; Elderly People; Quality of Life; Residential Care; Social Health Care.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )