The context of perceived and desired social support among Korean older adults

Abstract

Social support has multiple dimensions, the context of which can be explored by qualitative methods. In this study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 21 local senior center members (9 men and 12 women aged 65 and older) in Seoul, South Korea, in order to explore how they perceive and desire social support in an aging society. The qualitative methods in this study also included thematic analysis and constant comparison to identify three main themes: “no or denied support,” “not to be greedy and shameless,” and “justification and hopelessness.” In the interviews, perceived and desired support did not emerge immediately as the participants were reluctant to share personal concerns with or to seek support from others. Nevertheless, they would turn to spouses and children for both emotional and instrumental support when in dire need. A shared norm among the participants was that seeking support would be an embarrassing and shameless act for themselves and a burden to others. They justified the discrepancy between the perceived and desired support as part of aging and felt hopelessness about it. The findings of this study have implications that implicit, individual social support may be effective than explicit, group support activities for those who are passive in recognizing the need for and seeking social support. In assessing and interpreting social support in old age, both perceived and desired support should be included and contextual approaches can be useful in so doing. The senior centers should be a more active advocate of successful aging that would offset hopelessness, negative attitude toward life, and social disconnection. Future research should focus on identifying effective strategies to bridge the gap between perceived and desired social support in older adults in this society of changing values and social norms.