Older people’s views and expectations about the competences of health and social care professionals: a European qualitative study

Adapting and providing quality services for people as they age is a common challenge across Europe. The perspective of older people is fundamental in a person-centred care approach. Expanding research at the European level that explicitly includes their views can offer a relevant contribution to the development of evidence-based guidelines that can be shared in education and training across health and social care professions. This study aimed to identify common meaningful dimensions of professional competence in health and social care emphasised by older people from six countries in different regions of Europe according to their experiences. A qualitative approach was chosen with a total of 95 semi-structured interviews conducted in Austria, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Turkey and UK, following a common topic guide. Participants in this study were aged 60 and above, and recruitment considered age, gender, level of education and living arrangements. Results identified a set of universal skills and practices that according to older people, health and social care professionals should meet. Competences at the interpersonal level were central in older people’s discourses, and its core dimensions are anchored in relational, communication and socio-emotional skills of professionals. These findings reinforce the aspiration of establishing best practices in care that relies on the harmonisation of a competence framework that can be shared in the training and education of health and social care professionals across Europe and that voices older people’s preferences, expectations and needs.