Senior Citizen Welfare Research Articles

Welfare Of Senior Citizens & Sustainable Development Goals: Learning For India

Welfare Of Senior Citizens & Sustainable Development Goals: Learning For India

Issues under the Welfare of Senior Citizens Act and Multi-Family Housing management Act for the management of a sale-type senior housing

Issues under the Welfare of Senior Citizens Act and Multi-Family Housing management Act for the management of a sale-type senior housing

Enhancing Dementia Nursing Homes in South Korea: Lessons from German Building Standards

South Korea is an aging society with a rapidly increasing number of people with dementia. In that context, this study aimed to compare dementia nursing home building standards in South Korea and Germany, based on the minimum physical and architectural requirements specified by both countries’ relevant laws, to gain insights into improving South Korean building standards. I examined South Korea’s Welfare of Senior Citizens Act and its Enforcement Regulations, and Germany’s Federal Nursing Home Act (HeimG), Regulation on Minimum Standards for Nursing Homes (HeimMindBauV), and the corresponding state regulations. The analysis revealed differences regarding the basic requirements, facility sizes, composition of necessary rooms, and detailed regulations pertaining to these rooms. South Korea emphasized autonomy, including barrier-free and compensatory environments, as well as safety and security. Meanwhile, Germany enhanced similar aspects of autonomy to those in South Korea, including the barrier-free standard DIN 18040-2. Additionally, Germany incorporated features such as familiarity, sensory stimulation, legibility, and social interaction, reflecting aspects that offer orientational cues for autonomy. Improving South Korean building standards requires stronger regulations on the autonomy of individuals with dementia. Further, additional regulations on familiarity, sensory stimulation, legibility, and social interactions should be considered. The results provide foundational data for cross-national comparisons to establish building standards for dementia-friendly built spaces in dementia nursing homes in South Korea. Further surveys on spatial utilization, discussions, and the application of proposed improvements in Korea would contribute to enhancing the dementia-friendly nursing home design in the country.

고령자 웰다잉을 위한 법제 개선 방안 (4)

This paper deals with the topic of so-called education about death or preparation for death. This paper, as part of the studies from a legal perspective on the well-dying of the elderly, aims to analyze the current status of legislation and operation related to death (preparation) education and seek improvement points. The Elderly experience so-called ‘death anxiety’, where they feel fear and stress about their own death through the death of family members and relatives. The purpose of death education is to alleviate and resolve this ‘death anxiety’ through understanding the process and nature of death, to rediscover the value and meaning of life, and to have a positive attitude toward the remaining life and the future. Through death education, it becomes possible to exercise the correct ‘right to self-determination’ to independently decide how to end one’s life. This paper reviews the legal and institutional status of death education. The death education for the elderly is carried out as part of elderly education or leisure activities at leisure welfare facilities for the elderly (for example, welfare center for senior citizens, center for senior citizens, educational courses for senior citizens, etc.) under the Welfare of Senior Citizens Act. In addition, Jeju Island is the first and currently only local government in Korea to enact and implement an ordinance on death education. This paper proposes the following as a legal and institutional improvement plan for death education. First, it is necessary to systematically legislate various matters related to death education for the elderly. Next is to improve the death education contents delivery system for the elderly. Lastly, it is required to classify the subjects of death education by age and provide education contents appropriate for each age group, thereby promoting death education for the elderly and institutionalizing death education for youth.

Analysis of digital capacity-related factors influencing health promotion participation and active aging of older adults residing in rural areas in South Korea: A structural equation model.

This study aimed to identify the correlation between digital capacity, health promotion participation, and active aging of older people living in rural areas in South Korea to assess the factors influencing participation in programs for health promotion and active aging. Data were collected through a 1:1 face-to-face survey using a structured questionnaire from 13 February to 24 February 2023 during the older individuals' visits in the senior citizen welfare centers and senior citizen centers in the region. The Measuring Digital Skills questionnaire used to assess the digital competence of South Korean individuals was employed in this study. To confirm the structural relationship between digital capacity and health promotion participation and active aging in the older population aged 65 years and older based on the collected data, a structural equation modeling analysis was performed. Active health promotion participation had a positive effect on active aging. The pathway that older adults in Korea can led to participation in health promotion and active aging in the current situation is not mainly through the digital competency whereas mobile internet skill showed positive influneces. In the digital era and super-aged society, various programs are provided to older individuals to enhance the utilization of smartphones. However, education and programs for strengthening digital capacity should be organized to explain the advantages of digital use and to inform of the dangers of addiction to ensure healthy aging through social participation and exchange both online and offline.

Church Responsibility Towards the Influence of Civilization on Christian Senior Citizens

The invaluable place of senior citizens cannot be overemphasized in the African community. In fact, any community devoid of them can be considered incomplete by every human standard. Senior citizens are male and female individuals who are above sixty years of age. There is a paradigm shift against senior citizens in contemporary Nigeria due to the influence of civilization. The paper identifies specific factors responsible for weakening the strong foundation of the place and welfare of senior citizens in Nigerian societies and they are inadequate appropriation of civilization in the African context, change of value for communal family life, the ideology of liberation and individualism, eradication of kinship care and co-residence practice, economic instability, unemployment, insecurity, oppression and injustice. Caring for senior citizens is rooted in the Bible and the responsibilities of the church toward senior citizens in the face of civilization include advocating and promoting policy for the care of senior citizens, celebration programmes for senior citizens, ministering to the spiritual needs of senior citizenry, and reconciliation, among others. The paper submits that the church should faithfully discharge their roles towards the welfare of senior citizens and this will help them to live a fulfilled life and prepare them for eternity with Jesus Christ. The paper concludes that the challenges of civilization that are confronting senior citizens can be mitigated through church responsibilities toward senior citizens.

지방자치단체장의 복지권한과 책임 -「국민기초생활보장법」 상 자활센터 운영에 관한 쟁점을 중심으로-

There is a controversy over the authority to designate and cancel a self-sufficiency centers, which is the Minister of Health and Welfare have under the 「National Basic Living Security Act」. This is because the essential authority belongs to the central government even though basic local governments carry out most of the main tasks of centers installed in metropolitan and basic local governments. It is a problem arising from the confusion of the ideology, principles, and standards of the distribution of authority surrounding welfare affairs.
 In details, for the case of self-sufficiency centers, it is appropriate that the head of a local government who have control over area get a core authority to it installed in a metropolitan area or local government. However, in reality, the authority is concentrated in the Minister of Health and Welfare. This situation have a gap with the legislative purpose of the 「Local Autonomy Act」 and 「Special Act On Local Autonomy And Decentralization, And Restructuring Of Local Administrative Systems」.
 Since a self-sufficiency business supports self-reliance of the low income class in the local community, it is a task that should fully consider various regional characteristics. As a similar case, most of the designation and declaration systems stipulated in the 「Welfare Of Senior Citizens Act」, 「Act On Activity Assistant Services For Persons With Disabilities」, and 「Social Welfare Services Act」 are established under the authority of local governments. Therefore, the 「National Basic Living Security Act」 also needs to be improved to give the authority to designate and cancel a self-sufficiency centers to heads of metropolitan and basic local governments.
 On the other hand, 「National Basic Living Security Act」, which is currently the basis for operating a self-sufficiency centers, have insufficient legislative grounds in regulating entry, operation, and exit of the centers. For this reason, a case suspected unconstitutionality were found due to violation of the jurisprudence of the delegated legislation. It is an issue that requires urgent improvement because it can neutralize the self-sufficiency support business for the low-income class in Korea.

Quality of Life of Elderly Living in Residential Care Facilities in Malaysia

The establishment of policies to enhance the welfare of senior citizens considers the quality of life to be a key indicator of wellbeing. The purpose of this study is to determine the quality of life for senior citizens residing in residential care facilities run by the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Malaysia. 459 people from 12 different locations participated in the survey. After that, the data were examined using the descriptive method of analysis in the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Physical, psychological, social, and environmental aspects of quality of life were evaluated. The findings offer a thorough understanding of the elderly and have a number of implications for future study and decision-making.

충북 지역 노인들의 삶의 질과 주관적 건강도의 선행요인에 대한 탐구

Purpose - The purpose of current study is to investigate the determinants of quality of life in Chungbuk province using Korean longitudinal study aging data. Design/methodology/approach - This study used quality of life and perceived healthiness as the dependent variables. This study selected perceived healthiness, economic participation, annual travel frequency, religion, and fellowship as the independent variables to account for quality of life. For the data analysis, this study implemented econometric analysis, which includes ordinary least square, one-way fixed effect, and feasible generalized least square. Findings - Perceived healthiness positively affected quality of life. Also, quality of life is positively influenced by economic participation and annual travel frequency. However, religion and fellowship appeared as non-significant attribute to account for quality of life. The results also present that perceived healthiness is positively influenced by economic participation, annual travel frequency, and fellowship. Research implications or Originality - Given the results, this offers the implication for the senior citizen welfare policy. This study also produced policy implication for local community.

Discussion on the Protection and Support of Rights in Criminal Procedure for the Elderly Victims of Abuse - Focusing on the revision of Welfare of Senior Citizens Act -

최근 노인학대 발생 비율이 지속적으로 증가함에 따라 노인보호전문기관을 중심으로 노인학대 예방 및 대응책이 마련되고 있다. 특히 2017년 ｢노인복지법｣의 개정으로 경로당과 노인교실을 제외한 모든 노인복지시설의 운영자 및 종사자에게 인권교육 이수 의무가 부과되었다. 다가올 초고령 사회에서는 이러한 추세가 이어져 노인학대를 비롯한 노인 인권에 대한 관심이 더욱 높아질 것이다. 한편, 노인학대는 범죄의 성격을 갖는다는 점에서 여타 인권문제들과 구별된다. 즉, 형사절차상 학대 피해 노인은 범죄피해자로서의 지위를 가지게 된다. 따라서 노인학대의 증가추세가 계속된다면, 범죄피해자로서 형사절차에 직・간접적으로 관여하는 노인의 수 역시 확대될 것이다. 그러나 학대 피해 노인은 인구사회학적 취약성으로 인해 형사절차 참여 과정에서 여러 문제를 겪을 것으로 예상된다. 예컨대, 법률용어의 이해, 피해자 지원에 관한 정보 획득, 사법기관과의 의사소통 등에 상당한 어려움을 겪을 수 있다. 학대 피해 노인이 자신의 피해자로서의 권리를 실현하기 위해서는 무엇보다 형사절차 진행 과정에서 학대 피해 노인의 권리를 보호하고 지원하는 제도가 체계적으로 정비될 필요가 있다. 그럼에도 불구하고, 현재까지 형사절차상 학대 피해 노인의 권리 보호 및 지원에 대한 연구는 거의 이루어지지 않았다. 이에 본 연구에서는 현행법상 규정된 학대 피해 노인에 대한 형사절차상 권리 보호 및 지원 제도를 검토하고 그 문제점을 파악하고자 한다. 또한 이를 토대로 학대 피해 노인의 권리를 효율적으로 보호하고 지원하기 개선방안을 제시하였다. 구체적으로, 보조인의 역할에 관한 규정 신설, 노인학대관련범죄의 범위 확대, 피해자 변호사 선임 특레규정 및 진술조력인, (긴급)임시조치와 피해노인보호명령, 통지규정 신설을 ｢노인복지법｣ 개정안과 함께 제시하였다. 이를 통해 형사절차의 진행 과정에서 학대 피해 노인의 권리가 보다 적극적으로 실현되기를 기대한다.

The Enhancement of Fire Safety in Small-Scale Senior Citizen Welfare Institutions Based on Fire Protection Defense-in-Depth Strategy

The number of elderly living in small-scale senior citizen welfare institutions in Taiwan has been increasing. Hence, enhancing the quality of care and safety of the residents in these institutions is a pressing issue. Our research team visited and reviewed data on 53 small-scale institutions in Tainan based on in-depth fire protection defense strategies and proposed a three-layer protection mechanism. The results showed that: (1) half (50%) of these institutions only meet the old anti-seismic system; (2) 26 (49%) institutions have multi-story buildings, thus, more staff needs to be arranged for night shifts to enable emergency responses on each floor; (3) all institutions have fire detectors; (4) 84% of the elderly living in these institutions are mobility-impaired and need to rely on the assistance of staff for evacuation; (5) most institutions (91%) employ foreign female caregivers which mostly work on night shifts; thus, routine training of emergency response should also consider the abilities of the foreign caregivers; (6) 35 (66%) institutions arrange only 50% of the day-shift manpower for the night shift; (7) 37 (70%) institutions should evaluate whether the function of their fire detectors is affected by fan air; and (8) 11 (21%) institutions use inflammable materials for furnishings to create a “cozy” atmosphere. This study also suggests that preventing smoke from spreading from a room that is on fire to other areas is an important evaluation item. Hopefully, these findings can serve as a reference for countries that are facing an increasingly aging population.

Staffing Levels and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths in Korean Nursing Homes.

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread rapidly worldwide. Nursing home (NH) residents are the most vulnerable high-risk population to infection. Professional registered nurses’ (RNs’) infection control is irreplaceable. We used a secondary data analysis method using the government's senior citizen welfare department large data set about all NHs (N = 3,389) across Korea between January 20 and October 20, 2020. Bed size positively associated with the mortality rate (No. of COVID-19 resident deaths / No. of total residents) (p = .048). When the proportion of RNs to total nursing staff was higher, the infection rate was 0.626% lower (p = .049), the mortality rate was 0.088% lower (p = .076), the proportion of confirmed COVID-19 cases per resident out of the total number of NHs was 44.472% lower (p = .041), and the proportion of confirmed COVID-19 deaths per resident out of the total number of NHs was 6.456% lower (p = .055). This study highlighted nurse staffing criteria and suggests that increasing RNs in NHs will reduce infection and mortality rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. We strongly suggest NHs hire at least one RN per day to properly function, and a minimum of four RNs to provide a fully competent RN workforce in long-term care settings in Korean NHs.

Influenza vaccination and influenza-like-illness incidence rates in the elderly using the senior citizen welfare center

Influenza vaccination and influenza-like-illness incidence rates in the elderly using the senior citizen welfare center

Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007: A Critical Appraisal.

Background:The sociocultural changes associated with globalization and development have weakened the traditional values and family support systems for senior citizens (age 60 years and above). There is an increase in the prevalence of elder abuse and difficulties in getting appropriate care and support. This has mandated legal measures to protect the rights of the senior citizens and provide them care and support by the family and other stakeholders. Consequent to being the signatory for the “Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002,” several countries, including India, have introduced legislation for the social protection of senior citizens. “The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens(MWP) Act, 2007” is an important legislation in India to safeguard the elderly from exploitation and abuse.Methods:This article critically evaluates the implementation of the MWP Act, 2007, and the related challenges in protecting senior citizens from abuse. The article will also highlight the proposed amendments in the Act to strengthen the effective implementation of legal protection for senior citizens and ensure their well-being and dignity.Conclusions:The MWP act is an important legal measure to ensure mainatinence and welfare of senior citizens and protect them from abuse and neglect. There is an immediate need to incorporate the necessary amendments so that the act gets more pragmatic value and becomes and important tool for elderly care and protection and reduce vulnerabilities and ensure holistic care with support in various bio-psycho-social domains.

Ensemble Feature Selection for the Recognition of Human Activities and Postural Transitions on Smartphones

Human activity recognition (HAR) plays a vital role in the field of ambient assisted living for the welfare of senior citizens which provides satisfactory results in terms of wearable devices, ambient sensors, and smartphones. The usage of smartphones is familiar among users and it is widely adopted in activity recognition due to its low-cost, intrusiveness, and convenience. The embedded inertial sensors such as tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscopes are utilized to analyze the activities through the generated time and frequency domain features. Various state-of-the-art techniques have been proposed for significant feature selection to improve recognition performances. This paper proposes an ensemble of feature selection technique which selects minimal features from the intersection of features evolved in various other feature selection techniques. Extensive experimentation has been carried out using the HAPT dataset to identify the significant difference with state-of-the-art techniques through familiar classification performance metrics.

Awareness and utilization of various schemes launched by government of India for the welfare of senior citizens

Background: Government of India has provided various welfare services to support the elderly population, but awareness and utilization of these services is questionable. Objectives of the study were to assess the awareness and the extent of utilization of various schemes by the senior citizens.Methods: Using systematic random sampling technique, 420 senior citizens visiting out patient department of a tertiary care centre were enrolled in the study. Information was obtained regarding the sociodemographic profile and the awareness and utilization of various welfare services by the participants. Four adjoining states (Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh) were purposely included in the study.Results: The mean age of the participants was 67.84±5.91. Maximum awareness was observed for old age pension scheme in all the four states. A gap was observed in the awareness and utilization of various senior citizens schemes. There was significant difference in awareness and utilization of most of the schemes amongst all the four states.Conclusions: There is a need to generate awareness regarding various schemes for the senior citizens among the general public of India in the Northern Region as a lot of gap was observed in the awareness and utilization of these services.

Senior Citizens during COVID-19 Crisis in the Philippines: Enabling Laws, Current Issues, and Shared Efforts

While COVID-19 affects all ages, there is an unheard side of a vulnerable group of older people across the globe amid the current crisis. This article discusses the condition of senior citizens in the Philippines during the COVID-19 crisis. The review showed that various enabling laws have been enacted to secure the welfare of senior citizens. However, the current crisis revealed issues such as deprivation of income sources, inaccessibility to essential needs, inadequate physical space, and unspoken negative perceptions, which all greatly affect the senior citizens. Thus, to implement the laws and solve the issues, shared efforts should focus to improve social pension payout, guidelines for mobility, different approaches of remote access to essential goods and services, and meaningful internet connectivity in the context of senior citizens.

Perlindungan Kebajikan Warga Emas Gelandangan dan Daif Menurut Akta Orang-Orang Papa 1977: Suatu Tinjauan Perundangan

Malaysia is reported to be an “elderly’”country by 2030. Senior citizens are “jewels in experience”, wherefore their welfare rights should be protected under the law or by the public in general. Therefore, this paper discusses the rights of senior citizens to be protected by examining the provisions of the Destitute Persons Act 1977. The study was carried out through library research. Apart from analysing the provisions of the Destitute Persons 1977 Act, reported cases of underprivileged and ill senior citizens in Malaysia were also taken into view. In addition, this article also discusses the role of government agencies in helping senior citizens in need of protection and care, in the form of physical or financial assistance. Finally, this article discusses the actions and recommendations of the government which seeks to draw up an Act specifically aimed at protecting senior citizen welfare rights as a whole.

Modelling the profitability of reverse mortgage loans with life-long annuity payments

The article deals with the economic mechanism of reverse mortgage as a loan product aimed at raising the welfare of senior citizens who own real estate, for organic farming and soil management. The article discusses the financial and historical aspects of the implementation of the reverse mortgage instrument, as well as defines a potential of implementation of this instrument in Russia. Having identified the potential, the authors also mentioned the factors that could prevent Russian banks from adopting this mechanism. The article addresses one specific factor – absence of adequate instruments to predict and evaluate financial performance of reverse mortgage instruments. Consequently, the aim of the current paper is to create a mathematical model of reverse mortgage loan; specifically, current paper focuses on reverse mortgage loan with life-long annuity payments. In order to derive such model, the authors adopted a perspective, according to which loans are perceived as specific products present on an open market. As a result, we have obtained a model that allows lenders to calculate expected gains from reverse mortgage loans with respect to unknown loan span and varying demand, thus diminishing the uncertainty about reverse mortgage properties and making this financial product more attractive and for agricultural planning and economic, agricultural logistics and transport, et al.

A Narrative Review of National Programmes for theElderly in India: The Geriatric Care Policy needs tomainstream Aging in Development

Background In response to the demographic transition sweeping across India which has led to an increasing proportion of older adults in India the National Policy for Older Persons NPOP was instituted in 1999 to promote the health and welfare of senior citizens. In 2011 Indiarsquos National Policy for Senior Citizens was announced and intended to further address several contributing factors. This accounted for the changing demographics of India the changing economy social milieu advancement in medical research science and technology and high levels of destitution prevalent among the elderly rural poor. It intended to cater to the needs of this high proportion of elderly women than men who experienced loneliness and were dependent on children while arguing that it represented to create an age integrated society. This once again reinforced the notion that by increasing the capacity of the family to take care of their older family members through increasing family bonds and intergenerational understanding and support. However it is evident that the actual implementation of this policy particularly in the rural areas has been relatively insignificant and the reality is compounded by the general breakdown of the joint family system and the migration of the younger generation to the towns and cities. Many elderly parents in Indiarsquos villages are left to fend for themselves as waves of migration leaves them alone and unsupported for their basic needs and medical requirements. Though the NPHCE was launched in 2010 and envisaged a tiered system of care provision for the elderly its vertical nature has meant its integration into the community has been marginal. This situational review article primarily focuses on the various facets of elder care policies in India. Since there are challenges to the living conditions of the elderly in India faced by the brunt of modernization urbanization and migration. As a nation gradually being impacted by the aging phenomenon we must adopt practices from other nations who have experienced aging and have taken policy measures to that effect. The focus needs to be on delivering effective social assistance schemes tailored contributory schemes and amend eligibility age and criteria to be of benefit to the rural and urban poor. An appropriate time has come to assess the implementation of our policies for senior citizens and review geriatric healthcare provisions vis a vis demographic trends mainstream aging in development and institutionalize a comprehensive geriatric care policy that is in tune with an aging India.