Swapnil Agrawal1, Aftab Ahmed Khan2
BACKGROUND
Due to various factors, elderly population is growing rapidly worldwide and also in
India. Changing socio-economic patterns, such as women becoming economically
active and participating in the workforce, and increasing mobility are all leading to
more nuclear households, altering social norms of elder care in the family. Old age
homes which were not common are now growing rapidly to fulfil needs of these
needy elderly people. It is important to understand socio demographic factors of
persons living in care homes. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare
socio demographic variables between elderly people living in old age home and
within the family setup.
METHODS
A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted
at two old age homes and various local areas of Kota, Rajasthan. The sample
comprised of 100 participants who were further divided into 50 participants from
old age homes and 50 participants from family. A tool such as socio-demographic
data sheet was administered to obtain the data.
RESULTS
Significant difference was found between these groups in age wise, regarding
marital status (case - 66 % widow or widower, control - 82 % married), literacy
(case - illiterate 52 % middle 30 % secondary or higher 18 % while in control
these figures are 34 %, 18 %, 34 %) employment (case - 86 % unemployed while
in control it is 30 %), family type (case - 36 % joint family, control - 80 % joint
family), socio-economic status (case – lower - 72 % control - upper 84 %) having
own house (case - 14 % control - 86 %) attitude of family members (case - attitude
of their family members perceived as bad 50 %, normal - 11 %, good - 39 % while
in control group these figures are 85, 18 %, 74 %).
CONCLUSIONS
Socio-demographic factors like marital status, employment status, housing and
attitude of family members play a major role in elderly population for which they
had to stay in care homes.
