scholarly journals Mechanisms for overcoming the social exclusion of the elderly people

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-123
Author(s):  
I. P. Shepelenko ◽  

Based on a theoretical analysis of the older generation’s problems and a longitudinal sociological study conducted by the author, the article proposes effective mechanisms of social practice to overcome the social exclusion of the elderly. It is emphasized that scientific research of the social problems of the elderly in Ukraine is caused by the rapid growth of this part of the population over the past fifty years, the need to overcome their social exclusion in current historical conditions and the view of older people as independent subjects of social and historical action. Based on the modern areas of scientific reflection on the changing social roles of older people (the theory of active ageing, the theory of separation and the theory of successful ageing), an attempt is made to build a model of overcoming social exclusion of the elderly in the theory of successful ageing. The author describes the contradictory situation in the Ukrainian society under the influence of public opinion and mass media. On the one hand, there is the uncertainty of social and personal identification of older people, because of which a significant proportion of this social group considers itself quite active to perform various economic and social functions. On the other hand, members of the 60+ generation increasingly feel limited in rights, unclaimed and devalued, state the presence of low self-esteem due to latent or overt ageism on the part of society. The conducted sociological research revealed the vectors of effective inclusive social practice for the elderly people in the public organization “Gardeners’ Club” in Kharkiv, which unites people following their vital interests, values, and behaviour patterns. The study results confirmed the hypothesis of the possibility of building a model for overcoming the social exclusion of the elderly on the positions of the theory of success, included in society ageing.

Author(s):  
Olga Vasilyevna Zayats ◽  
Nadezhda Vladimirovna Osmachko

The paper reveals the essence and significance of digital socialization of older people, the importance of overcoming social exclusion by older citizens in terms of access to digital technologies. The purpose of the paper is to reveal the role of social service centers for the population, which act as agents of digital socialization of older people (based on the materials of a sociological study). The objects of the study were elderly people receiving social services in the Primorsky Center for Social Services of the Population, and senior citizens who were trained in computer literacy courses. The authors set the fol-lowing tasks: to determine elderly people’s interest in mastering computer literacy and how effective the “Internet ABC” program is. In addition, it was sup-posed to establish the importance of integrated cen-ters of social services for the population in ensuring computer literacy of pensioners. As a result of a sociological study, it was found that older people show a significant interest in modern information technologies. Computer courses organized on the basis of the center for social services help elderly people to get information about state and municipal services, work with the websites of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the Social Insur-ance Fund, Public Services and Multifunctional Cen-ter.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 1428-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Meersohn Schmidt ◽  
Keming Yang

AbstractA key issue in understanding the social lives of older people is how active they are in coping with the demands of ageing. Often the ‘successfulness’ of ageing is measured with medical and biological criteria. While the notion of ‘active ageing’ is more appealing and neutral, its meaning is often obscured, fragmented or inconsistent. Our aims in this study were to establish ‘active ageing’ as a process in which older people try to take control of their lives by conforming to or resisting different social imaginaries of later life, and to explore individuals’ strategies for making the best use of available resources and fending off potential risks of social exclusion. We adopted a two-stage research design. First, we produced artistic images that corresponded to social imaginaries of tensions in ageing in three social domains (politics, mass media and older people). Then, we used these images as stimuli in interviews with a balanced sample of 32 middle-aged and older residents of Santiago, Chile, to discover their strategies for coping with these tensions. Although imaginaries of ageing tended to describe ageing in terms of restrictions and stereotypes, we found diverse and increasingly flexible life projects and expectations of activity in later life.


Author(s):  
Malek Alaoui ◽  
Myriam Lewkowicz

Encouraging elderly people to stay at home as long as possible is associated with a higher risk of social isolation. Nowadays, aging well at home cannot be reduced to the management of physical and cognitive frailties and technologies should also tackle the quality of life of the elderly by fostering their social interactions. However, designing appropriate services and ensuring their adoption remain open questions, to which we try to provide answers at the methodological and instrumental levels. The authors present here a Living Lab approach to design communication services for elderly people at home. They illustrate this approach by describing their participation in a European project aiming at developing and evaluating Social TV services and they conclude with recommendations for the successful socio-technical design of services that foster the social engagement of elderly people.


Ekonomia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
Sylwia Wojtczak

Social policy toward old people in Poland — conditions, development and directions of changesSocial policy shapes people’s living conditions. In the era of dynamic demographic changes, especially the aging of the population observed in Poland and across the world, the activity of the state focused on improving the quality of life of the elderly is particularly important. Population aging is a demographic process of increasing the proportion of older people while reducing the proportion of children in the society of a given country. Elderly people will continue to be a part of society, mainly due to the progress of civilization, advances in modern medicine and the popularization of so-called healthy living.Social policy toward the elderly should not be limited to managing the social security system and social welfare. Eff ective use of human and social capital of the elderly will be a growing challenge for this policy, and for senior citizens — spending satisfactorily the last years of one’s life. However, for some senior citizens, old age means or will mean poverty and living on the margins of civil society. The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Polic y is responsible for the social policy of people in Poland, off ering for example in the years 2014–2020 to senior citizens such programs as “Senior +”, the Government Program for Social Activity of the Elderly ASOS or “Care 75+.” Each of the above programs have appropriate criteria that must be met to be able to use them. Are older people eager to use them, or are the eff ects of these programs already visible? This study will attempt to answer the above questions. The main purpose of the article is to diagnose and analyze selected government programs targeted at older people. In addition, perspectives for changes in social policy toward older people in Poland will be determined.


Author(s):  
Atef ATA ◽  
N. M. Fonseca Ferreira

Over the engineering history, environmental and social needs inspire the development and innovation of many wonderful applications. For example, when the industrial robots entered our industrial life, great advances especially in automotive industry where the industrial robots cover about 90 % of the car industry activities started to change our own life. As the number of elderly people is increasing rapidly all over the world, this requires us to focus on their needs as their children left them alone in our busy daily life. Mechatronics and robotics can offer many possibilities to help elderly people by providing smart solutions for their daily needs as well as entertaining them during their lonely long stay at their homes. Many companies are providing smart mobile robots in different platforms (wheeled or walking) to help the elderly people depend on themselves in receiving their food and medicine at prescheduled times. Other companies are interested in providing smart wheel chairs to help the elderly people navigate indoor and outdoor freely and conveniently without any external help. Meanwhile, some companies are providing entertainment robots in different shapes to talk, play and communicate with elderly people in a nice way. The objective of this paper is to explore the mechatronics and robotics capabilities to assist elderly people and to make their life easier, comfortable and self-governing without any external help. This paper will highlight also the effect of the environment and the social needs in inspiring new innovations. As an example, the innovations by Badi Az-Zaman Ismail Al-Jazari, a Muslim scientist, will be investigated. This paper is going to discuss also the idea and the motivation behind two of Al-Jazari’s robotic applications (Although the term robot was not coined at that time). These two devices are the washing hands and the peacock fountain. Although he used to apply mechanical structure and fluid for controlling the motion of the two devices, they were very beautiful and resemble some of the robotic applications nowadays.   


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1599-1603
Author(s):  
Hossein Fallah ◽  
Jalil Nazari ◽  
Alireza Choobineh ◽  
Mohammad Ali Morowatisharifabad ◽  
Mohamad Asghari Jafarabadi

The aging trend of the world population has increased the number of elderly people. Older people prefer to spend most of their time at home. The problem is that today's homes are often unsuitable for the elderly and the disabled. Thus, problems of the current design approaches, which are based on percentiles as well as the tendency to involve the elderly and disabled people in society, have put the concept of inclusive design into consideration. Application of new design approaches, such as inclusive design allows designers to design products and services to meet the needs of a larger group of users regardless of their age and ability. Given the rapid aging of the world population, more research is needed to design specific products and environments for elderly people. Keywords: Home design, Aging, Ergonomics, Adaptation


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-40
Author(s):  
D.A. Bistiakina ◽  
◽  
T.V. Soloveva ◽  
E.G. Pankova ◽  
◽  
...  

the article presents the results of the author’s research carried out within the framework of the scientific project “Transforming the social well-being of war veterans in the context of Russian transformations at the regional level”, analyzing the social well-being of older people during the period of the introduction of the forced self-isolation regime due to the danger of the spread of coronavirus infection. The role of state and public social organizations in mitigating the consequences of forced self-isolation of older people is revealed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 4792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsao ◽  
Shu ◽  
Lan

Through virtual interaction and multivariate communication, the social interaction and life satisfaction of elderly people can be improved. This study integrated virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to construct a visualized reminiscence therapy system, which provides not only reminiscence entertainment but may also aid in dementia prevention for healthy and sub-healthy (a therapeutic working concept which defines an intermediate stage between health and disease) elderly people. Images taken by an LG 360 CAM are primarily introduced into Power Director 360 as the guide interface. The special effects are joined using After Effects. With the model constructed under 3ds Max, the reminiscence therapy system integrated by virtual reality and augmented reality is then established by the Unity engine. It is shown that the developed 3D ancient building model can be used by Samsung Note 5 smartphones as well as VR CASE glasses to increase the immersive experience for the elderly. Through nostalgic elements triggered by the AR/VR three-dimensional model and video/audio interaction, the feasibility of our integrated system for reminiscence therapy is thus verified. Through reminiscence therapy, memories and thoughts can fully be activated as a therapy for elderly people. The visualized reality system developed in this study can further promote the social interactional satisfaction of elderly people.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Shao ◽  
I-Jui Lee

In the stage of aging society and population aging, the social needs of the elderly are widely discussed by researchers. Especially driven by the demand of tele-medical treatment and tele-rehabilitation therapy, it is vital for the elderly to integrate into virtual communities by combining social virtual reality (VR) with different medical services and entertainment needs. In addition, affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, it is more difficult for people to have face-to-face contacts. With more remote consultation, entertainment and virtual social connectivity, the application of social VR is more urgent and valuable. However, there is little discussion on the acceptability and influencing factors of social VR among the elderly at present. Therefore, in order to get further data, we used (1) early stage semi-structured interviews and then (2) Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) questionnaires for investigation. One hundred fourteen elderly people aged 60–89 living in the metropolitan area of Taipei were taken as the subjects. To help them understand the situation and state of using social VR, these elderly people were asked to use a head-mounted display (HMD) to experience social VR games. The preliminary results showed that the elderly had obvious preference for entertainment (32.4%) and medical treatment (31.3%). The interview showed that this was related to the physiological condition or medical needs of the age range. In order to further understand how social VR would affect the social life of the elderly, we proposed the further demand structure of UTAUT Model based on the interview of both experts and the elderly. The model structures include (1) Performance Expectancy, (2) Perceived Enjoyment, (3) Social Influence, (4) User Attitude, (5) Behavioral Intention, and so on. These structures were applied to conduct interviews and questionnaires to find out the influence extent and relevance of the elderly on different structural needs, and suggestions were given accordingly. The results of the above interviews showed that (1) the elderly thought that the functions of entertaining and interacting of social VR could increase their social opportunities, and also meet medical needs (teleconference, cognitive decline, etc.), (2) the closeness of social relations (between family members, friends, doctors, and places), and also affect the relevance of Perceived Enjoyment (β = 0.77, p = 0.000 < 0.05). The results of these phenomena and interviews showed the interplay between the demand structures and their special relevance. They also indicated that as to social VR technologies, various demands and functional issues of the elderly need to be considered, and these demands would appear in the subtle usage, and different social VR interfaces and functions would emerge based on their special living ways and physical and psychological demands.


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