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Gerontological Social Work in IndiaAn Emerging Field of Social Work

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Gerontological Social Work in India An Emerging Field of Social Work


S. Ruth Dayana1, B. Arunkumar2 and P. Ilango3

ABSTRACT 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.

INTRODUCTION

India is poised to become one of the largest countries to have more number of older persons in the near future. Being a welfare state, old age care would fall on the shoulders of government, civil society actors and social workers. Thus, in the paper, the authors attempted to emphasize the scope of gerontological social work in the context of increasing elderly population in India.
AGEING IN INDIA

India is a vast country both in terms of area as well as population. In terms of population it is the second largest country, which shares 15 percent of worlds population. Over the years as a result of the development in science and technology,
1 2

Lecturer in Social Work, Fatima College (Autonomous), Madurai, India. Lecturer in Social Work, Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirappalli, India. 3 Professor and Head, Department of Social Work, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India.

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Quality Enhancement of Social Work Profession in India: Issues and Challenges

there has been steady decline in fertility and mortality rates. A significant aspect of this demographic change is the increase in the number of elderly persons.

Fig. 1: Population PyramidsIndia


Source: World Population Ageing 19502050, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, United Nations, New York, 2002.

For instance, according to 1991 census, India had 60 million elderly who are above the age group of 60 years old, and they constituted about 6.7 percent of the total population. The census also revealed that the percentage of elderly was much higher in rural (20.3 percent) than in urban areas (1.97 percent). Indira Jai Prakashs report on Ageing in India (1999) revealed that, Indian aged population is currently the second largest in the world. The absolute number of the over 60 population in India will increase from 76 million in 2001 to 137 million by 2021. The socio-economic implications of this absolute size of the older populations are so profound and farreaching that population ageing is likely to be a major public policy concern in this region in the twenty-first century (Knodel and Debavalya, 1997).
CHARACTERISTICS OF AGEING IN INDIA

A majority (80%) of the elderly are in rural areas making service delivery a real challenge, Feminization of the elderly population (51% of the elderly population would be women by the year 2016), Rapid increase in the number of older-old (persons above 80 years of age). A sizeable proportion of the elderly (30%) are below the poverty line.
OLD AGE CARE

In the developed countries such as in USA, Canada and other countries the old age security program plays crucial role in helping the elderly. For instance, if a person lives in the above countries for at least 10 years, he/she can get a modest pension at age 65 after retirement. If one becomes a low-income senior, they may be eligible for other benefits as early as age 60. Pragmatically speaking, India lives and grows in its

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rich cultural traditions. One of such cultural traditions of India is, giving importance towards family, especially to joint family which still predominates in many parts of the country. The joint family system is the backbone of old age care, as the elderly need some socio-psychological and emotional support and, certainly family can give this without benefit of doubt; even better than the old age homes. To ensure that family should play an important role, younger generations must and should realise and concern for their parents and give respect towards other elderly members in the family because of their rich expertise of knowledge. Although the impact of modernisation and globalisation today has brought tremendous changes in the family structure, but it is observed that, the norms and values attached to the family still retain its place in most cases. The government of India both in case of state and central government have taken up the responsibility to take care of the aged and have started various schemes to provide care and support for the elderly. Besides governmental efforts, there are also Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which have also undertaken the work of taking care of the aged. Since the region is inhabited by over 60 per cent of the global population and has witnessed a rapid decline in fertility, the absolute size of the older population is a major concern. Broad estimates by the United Nations indicate that the Asian and Pacific region will contain an estimated 703 million older persons by 2025 and the figure is expected to exceed 1.2 billion by the year 2050 (United Nations, 2002).
GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK

Gerontological Social Work a multi-disciplinary sub-field that specializes in studying or working with older adults, responsible for educating, researching, and advancing the broader causes of older people. 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. Gerontological Social Work addresses the following issues: Financial well-being Family care-giving Mental health The health consequences of aging Kinship care

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Quality Enhancement of Social Work Profession in India: Issues and Challenges

Care management Life roles and relationships End of life care Living arrangements Autonomy Prevention Aging in diverse communities Resource Utilization Welfare Management.

The role of social work in aging is not yet fully understood by organizations and individuals working for older individuals. Too often it is believed that anyone who is well-intentioned can offer services for the elderly. But, social workers should also recognize that it takes a specialized knowledge base to provide quality and comprehensive care (Elizabeth, 2006). Social work looks at the person-in-environment and assesses bio-psycho-social issues. This means that the client and family are generally seen as the unit of care and that finding concrete resources is as important as providing good mental health counseling. Social workers are skilled in many areas and issues relevant to aging, such as age discrimination and client rights, domestic violence, loss and end-of-life concerns, substance use disorders, depression and living with physical challenges. However, in order to be as well prepared as possible to meet the increasing needs of the aging population, social workers should look for additional specialized education and advanced training opportunities related to older persons. With some excellent foundation funding, major advances in infusing aging content into social work courses have been made in academic programs. This will have a snowball effect for future social workers (Elizabeth, 2006).
Skills Required to Work with the Older Persons

If you choose to be a social worker for our eldest citizens rather than our youngest ones, you are up for a challenge. You must be willing to cultivate specific skills both personally and academically to succeed at your goal. To work with the elderly, one must have compassion and patience. Having a younger person come in to help or evaluate a situation can seem demeaning to some older people. You may be called names or told you are too young to understand their situation. While the majority of senior citizens are a joy to know, just like any people group, there is always a rough patch. Furthermore, if an individual is the victim of abuse or neglect, this may amplify the negativity in their personality. Another trait necessary is the ability to deal with severe mental illness as many older people in homes may have dementia, Alzheimers, or some other mentally debilitating

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illness that requires constant care. For this reason, many patients are fearful and confused. It is vital the social worker is able to discern between what is fact and fiction in this persons mind, while having the gumption to take on the challenge of dealing with the individuals unintentional inconsistency. Academically and professionally, there are various social work skills for working with the elderly that must be obtained.
CONCLUSION

The aging of our society demands an increased focus on aging within the social work profession and the preparation of more social workers skilled in working with older people and their families; hence we should identify the gap in our current knowledge and should work on.
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