This qualitative study aims to explore the valuable functionings—things that people consider to be important—of the older long-term unemployed and their ability to achieve valued outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 long-term unemployed people aged 45 and over. Participants were included through purposeful sampling. The theoretical frameworks of the latent deprivation theory and the capability approach were used to develop an interpretive analysis. Nine valuable functionings were identified: social contact, feeling appreciated, structure, feeling useful, meaningfulness, autonomy, financial resources, paid work, and being active. These valuable functionings were partly accessible through the activities that people performed, varying from physically active and physically passive activities to informal work. The functionings of meaningfulness, autonomy, financial resources, and paid work seemed to be difficult to achieve. We identified three groups. The first consisted of people whose work status changed when they entered the benefit system; for them paid work was still a valuable functioning, and they experienced the most difficulties in achieving valued outcomes. The second group also experienced a change in work status once they started to receive benefits, but those people adapted to their new situation by attributing greater value to other functionings. The third group had no change in work status, e.g., housewives who had applied for a benefit because they were not able to make ends meet after a divorce. This group did not experience a loss of functionings due to unemployment, nor did they try to achieve other functionings. The results of this study indicate a need for a more personalized, tailor-made approach, with an emphasis on an individual’s valued outcomes instead of on rules and obligations.

中文翻译：

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影响老年长期失业者实现有价值成果的能力的因素

这项定性研究旨在探索老年人长期失业的宝贵功能（人们认为重要的功能）及其实现有价值成果的能力。对20名45岁及以上的长期失业人员进行了半结构化访谈。通过有目的的抽样将参与者包括在内。潜在剥夺理论的理论框架和能力方法被用来进行解释性分析。确定了九种有价值的功能：社交联系，感觉被欣赏，结构，感觉有用，有意义，自主性，财务资源，有偿工作和活跃。这些有价值的功能可以通过人们进行的活动而部分获得，这些活动从体力活动和体力活动到非正式工作不等。有意义，自治，财政资源和有偿工作的功能似乎很难实现。我们确定了三组。第一个是进入福利系统后工作状态发生变化的人。对他们来说，有偿工作仍然是一项宝贵的职能，他们在实现有价值的成果方面遇到了最大的困难。第二组人一旦开始获得福利，工作状态也会发生变化，但这些人通过将其他工作的价值分配给新人而适应了他们的新情况。第三类人的工作状况没有变化，例如，家庭主妇因离婚后无法维持生计而申请福利。这组人没有因失业而丧失工作能力，也没有试图实现其他职能。