Psychosocial problems, chronic illness and welfare service utilization among elderly population in urban areas of Vijayapur, Karnataka

INTRODUCTION

Population ageing is a major demographic issue for India in the 21^st century with wide implications for economy and society in general. With the rapid changes in demographic indicators over the last few decades, India with 7.7% of its population being more than 60 years has been labelled as “an ageing nation”. Presently India has around 90 million elderly and by 2050, the number is expected to increase to 315 million, constituting 20% of the total population.¹ Expectation of life at birth has been increased more in recent years. In India it is projected to be 67 years in 2011-2016.² The term “demographic burden” is used to connote the increase in the total dependency ratio during any period of time, mostly caused by increased old age dependency ratio, this is an inevitable consequences of demographic transition, and the country has to face this problem.³

Morbidity among elderly has an important influence on their physical functioning and psychological well- being. Psychosocial problems that confront older persons are the result of priorities, policies and practices of societies associated with social isolation, apparent reduction in family support, inadequate housing, impaired functioning, mental illness, widowhood, limited options for living arrangement and dependent life.⁴

The loneliness among elderly has effect on their health status and it leads to progressive spontaneous reduction of daily milieu and social requirements as well as an impression of dependence that cannot be easily overcome.⁵ Thus adding life to years that have been added to life is a significant challenge. Yet, ageing is not to be viewed from a problem perspective, its potential must be recognised and realised.

Objectives

• • To assess the psychosocial problems associated with the elderly.
• • To describe the chronic illness and utilization of welfare services among elderly.

METHODS

Study design

Cross sectional study

Study place

The present study was undertaken among the elderly population in the urban field practice area of Shri B M Patil Medical College, Hospital and research centre Vijayapur.

Study duration

September to November 2014.

Study population

Elderly aged 60 and above.

Methodology

Some areas were randomly selected which come under Urban Health training centre covering the population of around 5000 where house to house survey was conducted to enumerate all those who were aged 60 and above and those who were available at home during the visit were included in the study. A total of 372 elders were interviewed. The questionnaire was developed by reviewing related Indian studies. The purpose of the study was explained to them and informed consent was taken. The data collected was tabulated and analysed using SPSS version 16. Findings were described using proportions, percentages and chi square test was applied wherever applicable.

Inclusion criteria

All persons aged 60 and above

Exclusion criteria

Those not willing to participate, those who were severely ill were excluded.

RESULTS

Major proportion of the study population was in the age group 60-64, while a small proportion were 80 years and above. Around 54.5% were men and 45.4% were women. Majority were Hindus (79%). 19.2% of the men were widower and 27.2% of the women were widow. 46% of the men and 57% of the women were illiterate. 62% of them were involved in only routine household work and not involved in regular exercise, yoga or walking. More than 3/4^th of the participants were financially dependent. Half of the respondents (52.68%) were working. Half of the respondents were living with children, spouse and grandchildren but 70% of the elderly reported that they want to live along with their children and grandchildren (Table 1).

Around 32% felt lonely and 25.26% were sad presently, and the reason quoted was they felt that there advice is not taken into consideration at home and they did not have regular social contacts. Among the study population around 20% faced emotional ill treatment and 18% of them faced verbal ill treatment and the majority of the perpetrators were within the family (Table 2).

Among the study participants 67% complained of joint pain, followed by visual problems (49%) and 48% of them complained of dental and chewing problem and 41% had gastritis problem (Table 3).

DISCUSSION

Major proportion of the study participants in our study belonged to 60-69 years of age group which is similar to a study conducted by Madhu et al.⁶ Our study reported that around 27% were widow and 19% were widower. In a similar study conducted by Lena et al.⁷ 12% were widower and 68% were widow. Illiteracy was among 46% of the elderly which is comparatively less when compared to the study results conducted by Niranjan et al were percentage of illiteracy was 74%.⁸ In the present study 24% of the elderly had one or more addictive habits which is less when compared to study conducted by Niranjan, et al.⁸

Our results showed that 79% of the elderly were financially dependent, in a similar study conducted by Purohit et al reported 66% were financially dependent.⁹ Around 32% felt lonely and 25.3% were sad presently, and the reason quoted was that they felt that there advice is not taken into consideration at home and they did not have regular social contacts. In a similar study conducted by Prakash et al.² 23% of study participants reported lonliness and 17% of them felt that they were neglected at home.

66.66% complained of joint pain which is similar to study done by Padda et al.¹⁰ The proportion of chronic non communicable diseases was less when compared to study conducted by Prakash et al, who reported 48% of hypertension, 14% of asthma.²

Our study showed that 46% of the elderly were aware of the geriatric welfare services and only 7% of them utilized one or the other services. In a similar study conducted by Goel et al, reported 45% of the respondents had utilized geriatric welfare services which is high when compared to our results this could be due to the fact that majority in our study were illiterate.¹¹

CONCLUSION

With on-going economic development and the consequent changes in family structure and relationships, the elderly lose their relevance and their significance in their own households and face problems. The findings from the study clearly highlight that income insecurity, illiteracy, age related morbidity, psycho-social factors, less utilization and awareness about welfare services tend to make the elderly vulnerable.

Recommendations

There is a need to highlight the medical, psycho social and socio economic problems that are being faced by the elderly in India, and strategies for bringing about an improvement in their quality of life also need to be explored. The information can help and has important role in improving the well-being and quality of life of the elderly. Social security schemes should be more flexible to cover larger population.

Funding: No funding sources

Conflict of interest: None declared

Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee

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