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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the self-experience of people with moderate to advanced dementia. While people with dementia are widely assumed to lose their sense of self, emotions are preserved long into dementia and some can still discuss their lives, enabling exploration of respondents’ own self-conceptualisation of experience. Design/methodology/approach – Ten people, purposively sampled, living in long-term residential or nursing care. A mixed methods design with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach used semi-structured empathetic interviews to explore their experience and continuing goals, using supplementary information from family and others to contextualise core data. Data analysis identified emerging themes and superordinate concepts. Findings – Sustained well-being and resistant ill-being emerged as major themes. Findings demonstrated continuity in sense of self, moral awareness and diversity of emotional reactions to living with dementia, associated with their emotional capital. Research limitations/implications – The sample was small and limited to well- and moderately funded care homes. How to provide such support in less-well-funded homes needs further research as do reasons for resistant ill-being in advanced dementia. Practical implications – Findings suggest care provision for people with advanced dementia which acknowledges individual feelings may support their sustained well-being. Psychological assessments should take closer account of multiple factors in individuals’ situations, including their emotional capital. Social implications – Findings suggest everyday care of people with advanced dementia, may sustain their sense of self, well-being and emotional capital. Originality/value – By empathically facilitating in-depth expression of individuals’ feelings and views, this research illuminates the personal self-experience of advanced dementia, hitherto little explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to propose five organisational factors associated with abuse, neglect and/or loss of dignity of older people resident in care homes. It derives from one set of findings from the ResPECT Study of Organisational Dynamics of Elder Care commissioned by Comic Relief and Department of Health through the Prevention of Abuse and Neglect In the Care of Older Adults programme. Design/methodology/approach -- A knowledge synthesis method was selected to identify organisational aspects of elder mistreatment in residential care settings. The method was selected for its suitability in examining ill-defined and contested concepts such as; elder mistreatment -- where the available evidence is dispersed and produced in varied forms. A rapid review comprising a search of three academic databases and a detailed examination of selected investigation reports into institutional mistreatment was followed by panel meetings with subject matter experts to complete the knowledge synthesis. Findings -- This paper identifies and elaborates five organisational factors associated with elder mistreatment; infrastructure,management and procedures, staffing, resident population characteristics and culture. It also indicates macro-structural factors affecting care quality. Research limitations/implications -- Further research is needed to elaborate the influence of these organisational factors on mistreatment and to understand any interactions. Practical implications -- As an adjunct to personal factors, the knowledge synthesis indicates common organisational factors contributing to institutional abuse. This suggests that care quality is produced systemically and that it can collapse as a result of seemingly minor and unrelated organisational changes. Social implications -- Care home safety and quality is an ongoing concern, with popular analysis frequently stopping at the point of describing individual errant behaviour. However, as "problem" organisations are closed down, "problem" organisational factors continue to recur elsewhere. Originality/value -- The paper identifies and elaborates organisational aspects of elder mistreatment in residential care settings. The findings are original, valuable and grounded in relevant experience by the method of analysis and synthesis of the findings frominquiry reports as well as research and the contribution to the development of findings by those central to the issue, residents, relatives and care providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including older peoples' employment in India, their self-determination and impact of social, cultural and economic environment on older people's lives.