PHYSICAL DISABILITY
Hygiene Matters 76-year-old Elizabeth* shares her struggles with personal hygiene for SCA’s Hygiene
Matters campaign; a scheme designed to raise awareness of the connection between hygiene, health and well-being.
For many of us, as we grow older, certain aspects of daily life start to become areas of worry and concern, particularly when it comes to personal care.
Hygiene company SCA understands the emotional impact of hygiene. In particular it recognises that a lack of visibility and an unwillingness to engage in effective conversations can contribute to the persisting stigmatisation of the hygiene challenges faced by many of the world’s aged and infirm individuals.
To build on its knowledge of how hygiene taboos are affecting people’s quality of life, SCA has conducted an in-depth research campaign entitled Hygiene Matters.
Through this research, SCA found that 41% of older people believe ageing is a challenge to hygiene. A key obstacle can be age-related decreased mobility, which is something that 76-year-old Elizabeth*, from the South East, has been struggling with.
Speaking to SCA Elizabeth commented: “I have back pain and my knees are also bad, particularly as I had a fall earlier this year and landed on my knee. I’m having physio and I sometimes use a stick to help me walk.
“A few years ago I started to find getting in and out of the bath very
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difficult. When I got into the bath I couldn’t get out. The bath lift I had was no good – it didn’t work properly so I would be stuck in the bath. It took me ages to get out, and sometimes I had to call for my neighbour to help me.”
To try and combat these problems Elizabeth spoke to her local council and was able to get a new wet room installed in her flat. However, this had limited benefits when it came to her worries about personal hygiene.
Elizabeth continued: “The shower is another problem. When I get into the shower it gets water everywhere – it’s a wet room and the floor becomes very slippy, so I’m worried about slipping over, especially since I fell and hurt my knee.
“For me, just having a wash can take quite a long time. I must wash though because I don’t like feeling dirty, especially when I’ve been out on the bus and feel like I’m sweaty. I don’t like it. I always say cleanliness is next to godliness. I’m very fussy about everything and I need to feel clean.”
Elizabeth’s experience with managing hygiene is not unique among older people. Indeed, it falls in line with the information drawn out in SCA’s research.
The research showed that 79% of seniors believe that growing older
means a loss of dignity when it comes to managing their personal hygiene. More importantly, despite these worries, SCAresearch also revealed that 46% of older people have ‘never spoken to anyone’ about matters connected with their personal hygiene.
We are grateful to the older people’s charity Independent Age for working with us to discuss the issues of hygiene with older people.
Sarah Wilson, Communications Director at SCA, said: “Elizabeth’s experience, both her struggles with decreased mobility, as well as her worries about managing, as well as her hygiene, have been found by the SCA Hygiene Matters research to be incredibly common amongst older people in the UK.
“The management of personal hygiene, is a key component of the headline issues we face in the categories in which SCA operate, such as continence and tissue products. Through driving education, stimulating conversations and sharing stories such as Elizabeth’s, SCA is dedicated to raising awareness and improving understanding the hygiene challenges society is facing today.”
*Name has been changed
www.sca.com/en/About_SCA/ Hygiene-matters
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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