The need for integrated, accessible and person-centred care for people with dementia to foster quality of life and facilitate life in the community has been voiced by health policy. Pharmacies have the potential to provide easily accessible information and support for people with dementia, caregivers and the public. The ‘Dementia-friendly Pharmacy’ programme aimed at re-orienting community pharmacy in Austria, focusing on stronger inclusion of professional counselling into core services. It followed principles of health promotion and person-centred care, aiming at empowering all actors involved, and at fostering quality of life. Methodologically, the programme was based on participatory health research, thus involving all relevant actors and consolidating their perspectives on issues related to dementia care. In the course of the programme, a workshop series covering topics relevant for dementia care in community pharmacy, as well as prototypes for small-scale projects were developed, and measures were taken for securing sustainability. Findings related to programme development and implementation encompass pharmacy staff’s motivation to participate in the programme, counselling knowledge and skills development, experience with building community partnerships and cross-organizational development and sustainability. Furthermore, effectiveness of the programme has been established. These findings are discussed against the background of re-orienting pharmacies.

According to demographic data, the percentage of elderly people within the population is growing, representing a vulnerable group to the effects of increasing heat, but little attention has been paid to developed adaptation measures. In addition, many older people leave their familiar homes and live in nursing homes. The person-centred care pursues creating spaces of high living quality for these people in nursing homes, to which plants and greenery can contribute. Greening is also considered an effective climate change adaptation measure. To create healthy conditions for this vulnerable group of elderly, both technical and social factors must be considered, and accordingly, a successful solution can only be achieved in an interdisciplinary way. The research and development of the project “Green: Cool & Care” dealt with this outset from a building physics, social, and nursing science perspective, and concepts to integrate greening measures in nursing homes were developed jointly by researchers, planners, staff, volunteers, and residents. For this purpose, measurement campaigns of air quality parameters, individual interviews and focus groups, as well as co-creative workshops were conducted aiming to include the objective building conditions as well as the subjective needs in developing and, in a further step, implementing greening measures.

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund „Doing Gender“ spielt in Pflegebeziehungen in der Organisation Pflegeheim eine zentrale Rolle. Ziel und Fragestellung Im Fokus des vorliegenden Beitrags werden Erfahrungen von Mitarbeitenden und Führungskräften eines Altenpflegeheims mit der sozialen Kategorie Gender vorgestellt und vor bereits bestehenden Forschungsarbeiten reflektiert und diskutiert. Material und Methoden Im Rahmen einer qualitativen Studie wurden Einzelinterviews und Gruppendiskussionen mit insgesamt 28 Teilnehmenden durchgeführt. Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerung Es konnte aufgezeigt werden, wie Praktiken des „Doing Gender“ in den Interaktionen mit den BewohnerInnen, im Arbeitsteam und im Kontext von Leitung und Hierarchie in der Organisation Altenpflegeheim wirksam werden. In den Interaktionen mit den BewohnerInnen werden geschlechtsspezifische Verhaltensweisen beobachtet. Im Team bestehen geschlechtstypische Unterschiede hinsichtlich Arbeitszeitgestaltung und Aufgabenübernahme. In Bezug auf Leitung und Hierarchie kann beobachtet werden, dass Männer in Leitungspositionen stärker in Übereinstimmung mit Erwartungen an ihre Geschlechterrolle agieren, während Frauen eher eine Diskrepanz von Erwartungen an die Führungsposition und Frauenrolle wahrnehmen.

In the spring of 2020, the Austrian government introduced COVID-19 containment policies that had various impacts on older people living alone and their care arrangements. Seven qualitative telephone interviews with older people living alone were conducted to explore how they were affected by these policies. The findings show that the management of everyday life and support was challenging for older people living alone, even though they did not perceive the pandemic as a threat. To better address the needs of older people living alone, it would be important to actively negotiate single measures in the area of conflict between protection, safety and assurance of autonomy.