Mahesh, S. J. (2014) A study on the health issues of the elderly living in institutions with special reference to Vimala Terminal Care Center, Mysore. Asian Journal of Development Matters, 8 (2). pp. 78-83. ISSN 0976-4674
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Old age was never a problem in India. Old age homes were alien in concept and elder abuse was considered a Western problem. As life expectancy has increased from 41 years in 1951 to 64 years today, hundreds of old age homes have sprung up in India. Neglect of parents has become a big issue, so much so that the Indian government has passed "The maintenance and welfare of parents and senior citizens bill 2006", which makes it imperative for adult children to look after their parents. Healthy ageing is not only related to the advances in medical technology but also to a wide range of other factors like enabling the aged to lead a stimulating life, being fully involved in society and having meaningful social relationships. As the role of families as a social safety net for the elderly is fast eroding, the poor among the elderly have become the most vulnerable sections of society in India. India, like many traditional societies, today faces a unique situation in providing care for its elderly as the existing old-age support structures in the form of family are fast eroding and the elderly are ill-equipped to cope alone with their lives in the face of infirmity and disability. The onus of caring for the elderly is therefore now much more on the state than the family and has necessitated the creation of adequate institutional support. The present paper is descriptive in nature. It tries to bring out the health status of elderly in Vimala Terminial, Mysore. Since the study is conducted with 30 respondents in the old age home. All the details and information with regard to their Health status are collected by used both secondary and primary data are collected. Most of the respondents (57) are male and remaining 43 are female. Out of 30 respondents, 47 lies between the age group of 6570 years, 27 lies between the age group of 7580 years and rest 23 lies between the age group of 6065 years. Out of 30 respondents (33) are widow/widower, 30 of them are unmarried and 40 are married, which shows there is high prevalence of widows and unmarried in old age home and among those 40 married only 12 are living along with spouse and others are separated. More than half of the respondents 70 are illiterate, 17 are have only primary level education and remaining 13 are have high school level education. None of the respondents are not engaged in any form of gainful employment presently. And out of 30 respondents, 51 of them are getting monthly pension. Remaining 49 respondents doesn't have any form of source of income. It is a significant fact that, 49 of the respondents have no independent source of income, which shows their economic dependence. Most of the respondents 43 are destitute and 57 are physically disabled respectively. More than half of the respondents (53) are suffering from various physical ailment such as blood pressure (27), Diabetes (17), blindness (10) and remaining respondents (47) are suffering from joint pain and pain in joints. Most of the respondents are suffering from visual problems and pain in joints and joint pain is more prevalent among the female respondents. Majority of 88 of the respondents are availing the treatment currently availing in the old age home. Nearly 90 of elderly are suffering from different psychological issues among them 37 suffering from loneliness, 30 are suffering from hypertension and remaining 23 are suffering from feeling of depressed from life. In old age home, elderly people not getting nutritious food on regular basis but often they are providing nutritious food mainly when sponsored by outsiders. Currently, None of the elderly having bad habits like smoking, chewing tobacco and alcoholism. Results of the study revealed that most of the elderly felt the attitude of the younger generation is unsatisfactory towards them especially those who were in old age home
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Health and Old Age Problem |
| Subjects: | A Arts and Humanities > Sociology |
| Divisions: | Department of > Sociology |
| Depositing User: | Users 19 not found. |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Sep 2019 09:47 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2019 09:47 |
| URI: | http://eprints.uni-mysore.ac.in/id/eprint/8554 |
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