Social Work with the Elderly: A Rural Study

https://www.ijhsr.org/IJHSR_Vol.10_Issue.8_Aug2020/IJHSR_Abstract.045.html, 2020

Old age is associated with various physical disabilities which lead to dependency on others for daily activities. The dependency on others leads to depression. Negligence by family members is one of the most important factors for depression among elderly persons. Study showed that lack of affection and care were precipitating factors for depressive illness in elderly. Late life depression is associated with sex, marital status, literacy, socioeconomic status and family and friend care. These factors should be addressed while formulating health services for elderly persons. 1 The investigator conducted a non-experimental descriptive study on assessment of mental health problems and social supports among elderly people in a selected rural community, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal with the objectives to assess the mental health problems and social supports of elderly people. 160 elderly people were selected by convenient sampling technique. In this study mental health problems refers to anxiety, depression and suicidal thought. Data were collected with the help of interview schedule on Beck anxiety Inventory, 15 item Geriatric Depression scale, Multi-dimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) and Suicide Risk Screening scale. The study findings revealed that elderly people had 36.87% low level anxiety, 33.75% mild levels Depression and 25% moderate level Depression and 35.62%Suicidal thought. Study also showed that 86.87% elderly people had moderate level of Social Support. Result showed that there were negative relationship between mental health problem and social support as evident from r value and which were statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Result also showed that there were association between age, occupation, marital status with anxiety of the elderly people. There was association between education with depression of the elderly people. There was association between marital status and social support of the elderly people. Study Findings could be effective in developing awareness programme on improvement of social support of the elderly people and during counseling session of the elderly people with mental health problems along with their family members and friends. Future studies in this area could be conducted to a similar study can be replicated on a larger sample.

New Archaeological & Genological Society Kanpur (India, 2023

Social work is a multi-disciplinary approach that seeks to find and suggest solutions for a wide range of human problems. This approach has a significant role to play in addressing the challenges faced by the rapidly growing elderly population around the world. The present paper examines studies conducted in India between 2003 and 2023 that focus on the elderly population from a social work perspective. The studies are analyzed based on their focus, aims, and outcomes, and are categorized under different headings such as abuse of elders, caregiving and support, mental health of the elderly, intergenerational bonding, resilience, and the roles of social work in working with the elderly. The paper highlights the growth and need for geriatric social work in terms of academic and practical development, and identifies strategies for improving the practice. The studies provide valuable insights into the social, cultural, and economic factors that influence the lives of older adults in India and underscore the importance of social work interventions in promoting the health and well-being of this population. Given the alarming statistics on the growing elderly population worldwide, it is crucial for helping professions such as social work to be equipped with effective strategies to address the forthcoming challenges. Despite being referred to as a young country, rapid changes in the socio-demographic characteristics of the Indian population indicate several threats that need to be addressed.

The phenomenon of population ageing is becoming a major concern all over the world, for both developed and developing countries, since last two decades. The longevity is the one the greatest achievement of the modern world and demographic transition of growing elders will have a dramatic impact on the individual's life, structure of the family and other social institutions. Tribes constitute 8.61% of the total population of the country, numbering 104.28 million (2011 Census, Govt of India) and cover about 15% of the country's territorial area and most of them remain at lowest stratum of the society and their life is conditioned by the nature. The elderly among tribes are lowest stratum people and they face lot of psychosocial issues. The quality of life among tribal elderly is deteriorating because of inadequate facilities and weak support systems. Social work is practice-oriented profession to enhance the well-being of the people by intervening at the points where people find difficulties. It can make the unique professional contributions to elder people and their family to adapt the system or environment. Social work practice with tribal elderly has lot of challenges and there is a large scope for micro and macro level interventions. This paper try to documents the challenges and scope of social work practice among tribal elderly in India in context of systems or environments they live and recommend some measures to address these challenges.

The Pharma Innovation Journal, 2021

Aging may be viewed as a biological process, psychological and social development process of individuals including transition in social position, roles, status and attitude. This makes it necessary to look into the various aspects of their problems, social, economic, psychological health and other allied aspects (Basu, 2012). Elderly are the senior citizens of the nation leading their lives in a transitional phase. (Balamurugan and Ramathirtham, 2012). Ageing not only affects a person's looks, but also becomes a cause of physical deterioration. Psychological problems are also common among elder one (Bangari and Tamara Gaudi, 2014). Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, emotional and overall psychological wellbeing. It is all about how people think, feel and behave. Mental health can affect daily living, relationship and even physical health. Therefore the present study was conducted to investigate the mental health status of rural elderly. The study was conducted in Hisar and Mahendragarh district of Haryana State on 360 rural elderly who were selected randomly from Hisar and Kanina Block. It was found that 64.2 percent elderly were always playing useful role in family followed by 85.6% who sometime concentrate on work. Mental health status is average in (52.8%) cases as per observation of study. The status of Mental Health can be further improved by involving them in decision making and make them more useful to family and Society.

India is poised to become one of the largest countries to have more number of older persons in the near future. In the last few years, demographers provide alarming statistics on the growth of the elderly population and there is a need to work in this area as it is always assumed that the elderly are well taken care of and are safe in the custody of the well integrated joint family system in India. The concept of 'Geriatric Care' in India seeks an adequate attention to provide positive interventions for strengthening social support systems for the older persons. The support services in existing system require boosting to cater to the needs of increasing number of the older persons, both in urban as well as rural settings. Being a multifaceted profession, social work has a greater role to play in the area of gerontological social work. Gerontological Social Work aims at Increasing the capacity of the schools and departments to train students in the field of aging, exposing students to the range of programs and services within the country, exposing students to the current and emerging policy issues which affect the service systems, Providing opportunities for students to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for working older persons. But in India, it is yet to grow in to a separate field of specialization. Addressing the above issues, the researcher proposes the research paper. Hence, this paper would address the issues pertaining to the scope for gerontological social work in the background of population ageing.

International Journal of Pharma Research and Health Sciences, 2014

Background:The world over, in most countries, proportion of people who are 60 years of age or more, is growing much faster than that in any other age group. Old age is not a disease in itself, but the elderly are vulnerable to long term diseases of insidious onset. Therefore, the support system available to them at this juncture in life is very essential. This analytical study evaluated the quality of psychosocial support systems available for the aged in rural Punjab, India.Materials and methods: This study was conducted in a rural area of district Moga in the state of Punjab, India. The demographic data and profile of the village population was studied and out of the total population of 9,456, individuals who were 60 years or older of age who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Results:Out ofthe total of 1870 elderly population who met the inclusion criteria, 980 were females while the remainder 890 were men. 93% of the study population stated that the primary health care services provided in the village were not adapted to the needs of people of their age. 86% agreed that the infrastructure was not comfortable for them.Conclusion:There is a need to review the quality as well as the distribution of services offered to the elderly in rural Punjab, India, including the content of the services, especially where their mental health is concerned.

International Journal of Contemporary Research and Review, 2017

India is growing old! The stark reality of the ageing scenario in India is that there are 77 million older persons in India today, and the number is growing to grow to 177 million in another 25 years. With life expectancy having increased from 40 years in 1951 to 64 years today, a person today has 20 years more to live than he would have 50 years back. With this kind of an ageing scenario, there is pressure on all aspects of care for the older persons-be it financial, health or shelter. The main aim of the study is to understand the social and health problems of the elderly, and their attitude towards life. Study also tries to create awareness regarding the problem and develop a strategy for its prevention. Descriptive study was carried out to explore the problem of elder people. A total of 120 elderly patients (60 years age and above) who attended the outreach clinics were interviewed using a pretested schedule. There is a growing need for social work interventions to ensure the health of this vulnerable group and to create a policy to meet the care and needs of the disabled elderly. The results of the study showed that there is a need for geriatric counseling centers that can take care of their physical and psychological needs. Counseling could prove to be an important tool of family therapy and the end result could be beneficial for both the younger as well as the elder generation.

International journal of criminology and sociological theory, 2012

Ageing is a global phenomenon. In India, majority of 75 percent of elderly persons reside in rural areas out of which about 48.2 percent of comprise women. Today these elderly women face miserable conditions in their life, as they are family-bonded and refuse to move to old-age homes. Their health problems coupled with emotional wellbeing are serious crises facing Indian society at large. In order to study the condition of elderly women in rural areas, the present study was conducted focusing on their socioeconomic and health status. It was incidental that the elderly women have also psychological problems like depression, isolation, loneliness and frustration. If these problems are not dealt effectively, they can become a source of tension and stress. This is what constitutes the substantive concern of the present study.

International journal of scientific research, 2016

India is moving towards advanced phase technologically due to which there is increase in awareness of health care among the people that led to the improvement in the quality of health care facility and increase in quality of life. Therefore this cross-sectional study was conducted with the objective to find out various reasons for sadness in elderly people and their spending of leisure time. The study was conducted during December 2015 to January 2016 for 2 months duration in a rural area in Deoli Block in Wardha district. There were more male (61.70%) in our study than females (38.30%). Result shows that most (33.06%) males were sad due to poverty followed by loneliness (16.93%), financial constraints (16.12%), illness (8.87%) and felt neglected (8.06%). Among females most common reason for sadness was observed due to illness (27.27%), followed by neglected (15.58%) and equal reasons (1.29%) of poverty, loss of spouse, loneliness, children staying away and financial constraints wer...

Active ageing of individual and populations ageing is a one of the cherished dream of modern time. World Health Organization suggested to all countries should make policies regards to active ageing policies and programmes that enhance the health, participation and security of the older persons (WHO Active Ageing Frame Work, 2002). Social work is practice oriented profession to enhance the well being of the people by intervening at the points where people find difficulties. It can make the unique professional contributions to elder people and their family to adapt the system or environment. India is become the home land of number of tribal communities and most of them live in lowest socio economic stratum (Thakur et al., 1991; Basu, 1994).Tribes constitute 8.61% of the total population of the country, numbering 104.28 million and cover about 15% of the country"s territorial area (Census 2011, Govt of India). The quality of life among tribal elderly is deteriorating because of inadequate facilities and weak support systems (Basu, 1994). Social work practice with tribal elderly has lot of challenges, concerns and opportunities for micro and macro level interventions. This article documents the implications for gerontological social work practice for active ageing among tribal elderly in India and suggests some social work and policy interventions.