A study on the the experiences of living-alone elders receiving friendly visiting services

• Main Author: 洪文滿
• Other Authors: 呂寶靜
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/40832787083224924325

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 社會工作研究所 === 99 === Taiwan has launched The Formal Services for the Living Alone Elders since 1998. Among the services, friendly visiting is one of them, which improves social contacts of living-alone elders through in-home visits by volunteers. On account of studies in the past focused mostly on the perspective of services providers and ignored the elders’ viewpoints, this study is based on the elders’ point of view, aiming to build a detailed description of the experiences of living-alone elders receiving friendly visiting services. With the focus on the above point of views, the research questions that guided the inquiry into the experiences of the living-alone elders are as follows: (1) What are the detail services of friendly visiting programs that the elders actually received? (2) What benefits the elders think they have gained from friendly visiting? (3) What are the patterns of interaction between the elders and volunteers? (4) How would the patterns of interaction between the elders and volunteers vary by time? (5) What are the factors that affect relationship development between the elders and volunteers? and (6) How friendly visiting affects self-perception of the elders? This study adopts a qualitative design and interprets data collects through semi-structured interviews with samples of 9 study interviewees, 7 females and 2 males, draw from living-alone elders listed by a certain Seniors Service Center in Taipei City. These interviewees age from 70 to 80, two of which are living with relatives, and the others are living alone. Present significant results from the data are gathered as follows: A. The contents of services that the elders actually received: The elders gain emotional support from the process of chatting, visiting, accompanying, and caring provided by volunteers. In addition, informational support and instrumental support are also provided. The former includes (1) information about programs and activities, (2) news about social welfare, and (3)contact information from Seniors Service Centers; and the latter includes (1) provision of goods, (2) services of accompanying to the doctor, and (3) inpatient care. Furthermore, the time volunteers provide services also means the time they do the research and report back to the Seniors Service Center about the elders’ condition so that the lives of the elders can get tracked, which include (1) private information, (2) everyday life situation, and (3) emergency conditions. That is to say, the Seniors Service Center can “concern about” the elders and “handle” their conditions at the same time. B. Benefits the elderly think they have gained: The friendly visiting reinforces the links of the elders to the world as well as the ties between the elders and volunteers. Furthermore, in the process of the contact of the elders and volunteers, emotional effects are reflected positively on the elders due to chatting, visiting, accompanying, and caring provided by volunteers, which also prevent them from negative feelings, such as being lonely, getting bored, or feeling a sense of social exclusion. C. The stories between the elders and volunteers: Besides official arrangements, there may be other approaches for the elderly and volunteers to meet each other, including: (1) they are neighbors originally, (2) they were introduced to each other by an acquaintance, and (3) they knew each other before in programs provided by Seniors Service Center. Additionally, the elders and volunteers interact mainly through conversations, which are mostly related to public topics instead of private ones. This means, the interaction mostly remains in a public territory. However, as time goes by, the elderly grow more close and familiar to volunteers. Under this situation, interaction patterns between the elderly and volunteers can be inducted into four categories: (1) task-centered based interaction, (2) ordinary social interaction, (3) interaction involved in private daily lives, and (4) neighborhood interaction. Finally, related factors which affect the interaction relationship between the elderly and volunteers include (1) personal background, (2) compatibility of the elder and volunteers, (3) personal characteristics of volunteers, and (4) environmental factors. D. Self-identity of the elders through process of friendly visiting: On one hand, the elder’s reactions toward the visiting services are decided by services out of volunteers’ goodwill, which also puts the elders into a position of service receivers. These reactions include: (1) the necessity of appreciation, (2) a sense of indebtedness which is compensated by repaying, and (3) an attitude of obeying, which means the elders are shifted into a place of passive objects instead of subjects as a service receiver. On the other hand, the elders attempt to realize their position as a “subject,” that is, the leading role, mainly in two ways: (1) The elders interpret care from volunteers positively, trying to take themselves as friends of volunteers or respectful seniors instead of the needed ones. (2) The elders prevent themselves from being merely help takers by paying back or even becoming volunteers themselves, providing services for others actively. Finally, the study focuses on a special case, in which the identity of living-alone elder is in debate. Offspring of the elder, who think their father need not help, are arguing with the Center whether the elder can be identified as a living-alone elder or not; however, the power to make decision is in the hands of Seniors Service Center. Under this situation, the elder makes a series of responses:(1) At first, he appeases his children by restating justified and legitimate reasons from the Center. (2) But in fact, he still has doubts on his identity. (3)In the end, he seems to accept the truth on the surface but rejects it at heart, insisting to realize himself by being an active volunteer to provide services through programs of Seniors Service Center.