Elderly participation in the decision-making process from community: application of the grounded theory method

Abstract

The elderly are currently a pressing problem for moldovan society, exacerbated by the intensive demographic aging process, the migration of the young and adult population abroad, the decrease in the quality of life as a result of the budget deficit, the increase in dependence on social services. The created situation requires public and governmental authorities to pay more attention to this age group by including it in all public policies, programs and projects, etc. At the same time, measures are being created to increase social and economic activism among the elderly, so that they maintain their independence from social services and benefits. However, the results recorded are quite modest. Therefore, the purpose of the present study lies in explaining the participatory behavior of the elderly in the decisionmaking process in the local community by identifying the factors that obstruct an active involvement and establishing the mechanism by which these factors are conditioned. To achieve this goal, the grounded theory method was applied, the Straussian version. In the result, the central category was identified – discrediting the opinion of the elderly, as well as 15 other categories between which the causal relationships were established for generate the explanatory theoretical model. A set of operational hypotheses derived from the data were also formulated, which may constitute new avenues of research.