Le Benevolat: Un Lien Entre Des Personnes Agees et la Communaute

Abstract

This study examines the various solutions for loneliness and social isolation with the elderly who live outside of an institution. The sample consisted of senior citizens and volunteers who were randomly selected from a community day centre. Specifically, the study examines the effects of the relationship on the volunteer, the senior citizen and on their interactive process. The volunteers were divided into two intervention groups. One control intervention group played the role of the “friendly visitor” which consisted of visiting the senior citizen of their residence and interacting in an informal manner. The other group, the experimental intervention group consisted of volunteers who served as a “short-term link” between the elderly and the possible social community resources available to them. The volunteers motivational levels were examined as a function of which group they belonged to. The degree of loneliness and social isolation for the elderly were examined as a function of what kind of intervention they received. The results appear to demonstrate that the volunteers in the control group have 1) a higher degree of egocentrism and activity than the experimental group; 2) a lower level of altruism than the experimental group. For the elderly, the results seem to indicate that the degree of loneliness and social isolation substantially decreased when the elderly are visited by the volunteer belonged to the experimental intervention group. From these results, one can readily ascertain that the helping relationship of the short-term link nature lead to a more successful type of intervention for the elderly sample in this study. Implications and the importance of the role of the community psychologist are discussed as a function of the differences and similarities between the volunteers and the elderly respectively.