published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ii, 46 p. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43).

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 133-136).

There are many studies and reports on the needs of the Aged. This thesis adopts the ''type-study'' approach, and seeks to get the information as reported by old people themselves. For this purpose it confines itself to (a) persons on social assistance, old age assistance or old age pension, and (b) married couples, age limits being fifty-five to seventy-five years. The eighteen couples chosen for study were interviewed in their homes, the object being to get first-hand knowledge of their circumstances and their own point of view of their needs. This was aided by a prior study of case material from the city of Vancouver Social Service Department. It proved possible, in the main, to typify married couples at this age who could be considered "adjusted" and "unadjusted". This study points up the unmet needs of the unadjusted type, and suggests amelioration of their present circumstances by expansion of volunteer and housekeeper services and certain kinds of recreational units. New services suggested for future experiment which would probably apply to both groups include improvement in communications, specialized in-service staff training, and extension of casework counselling services to include older groups not in need of economic aid. An attempt has been made to stress the preventive and rehabilitative aspects which may prove capable of avoiding and correcting accelerated ageing. The subject is of Special concern in British Columbia to-day, due to the lengthening span of old age, and growing industrialization with its concomitant economic and family problems. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Policy-makers and others historically have assumed that welfare programs should give assistance to the poor and carry stigma. This attitude in part developed from the English Poor Laws tradition in which poverty was considered a negative condition. Labeling theory has often been used to explain the process of welfare stigmatization. Once an individual is labeled as a deviant, such as a welfare recipient, a self-fulfilling prophecy is initiated. Others perceive and respond to the individual as a deviant and the individual also internalized the stigma attached to such a role. The stigma attached to public dependency becomes an outcome of this labeling process. This study identifies the relationship between welfare stigma and the elderly and has three objectives. First, it challenges the usefulness of labeling theory in explaining the perception of welfare stigma among elderly recipients. Second, it analyzes why different levels of stigma are attached to different public assistance programs. Third, it examines why some recipients feel more stigmatized than others. Historically, the elderly poor have heen identified as the deserving poor and provided for under most social programs. Because of differential treatment between the elderly poor and the able-bodied poor, this study contends that these groups develop different self-images as welfare recipients. A single welfare image applied indiscriminately to both groups results in a poor fit. Instead of internalizing the negative image from the outside community, the elderly may have internalized the deserving poor image and subsequently perceive their welfare status as less stigmatized. Congress established the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in 1972 to replace the state-run Old Age Assistance (OAA) program. By placing SSI under the Social Security Administration, this new program seeks to provide additional income with less stigma to the aged poor. Data for this study come from two separate surveys: a local survey of 400 respondents and a national survey of 8600 respondents. The most important dependent variable in this study is welfare stigma. It is operationally defined by three indicators: 1) whether recipients feel bothered in receiving assistance; 2) whether recipients feel embarrassed to admit their welfare status; and 3) whether recipients perceive community disrespect for thier welfare status. Factor analysis enabled a welfare stigma index to be constructed using the above three items. The often cited welfare stigma was not substantiated by the data. Elderly recipients of both OOA and SSI had low stigma feelings. Labeling theory, while useful in explaining welfare stigma of other poor subgroups, is not applicable to the elderly. Significantly less stigma was found to be associated with SSI than with OAA. Other findings supporting the SSI program include: more recipients had confidence in the Social Security Administration than in local welfare agencies; more were satisfied with the performance of SSI than with OAA; more non-recipients expressed a willingness to use SSI. In contrast to findings of many studies, this study found that some demographic variables, such as education and socioeconomic status, were significantly related to stigma. This study has theoretical and practical significance. First, it demonstrates that labeling theory is not useful in explaining stigma perception of the elderly. Second, it provides important baseline data to judge future performance of SSI and other similar programs. The analysis calls for the need to design effective social programs on a universalistic rather than class-specific basis. Options for change in the income-maintenance programs in the 1980's are discussed and include an analysis of the two-tier proposal.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-06-21T12:34:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Ludovico Moreira.pdf: 1492765 bytes, checksum: 8f168c17fc3fa025b33aeaad64a6bdb1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-21T12:34:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Ludovico Moreira.pdf: 1492765 bytes, checksum: 8f168c17fc3fa025b33aeaad64a6bdb1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Currently aging is the subject of multiple studies in academic and social means, emphasizing social and cultural practices that can avoid the loneliness or the inactivity of the weakened elderly or almost dependent. These practices seem to be the key to the creation of significant moments in the everyday life of these senior people, making the environment in which they are welcomed more humanized from the exemplary focus on successful music-therapy activities that meet the needs and requirements of the elderly. Nowadays, the day-Centers for the elderly gained a special importance being a social equipment that aims to provide hospitality, conviviality, care and protection for the senior, during the day, or part of it, when one family member or caregiver cannot provide better assistance more productive for the elderly. The music-therapy is one of the knowledge areas that can bring a positive interference in a tax form to own its area of concentration and performance that allows offer music-therapy activities in accordance to the requirements and characteristics of aging. In the interface of these two knowledge areas is that the present masters research whose objective was: (i) at first, to conduct a systematic review of available publications about the topic, which were analyzed in its specific contribution to the needs of the elderly person; (ii) next, the work seeks to demonstrate how the implementation of music therapy service in a day- Center for the elderly, describing the music-therapy procedures and techniques applied there. The study counted with the collaboration of a group of 7 seniors who participated in the sessions of music-therapy in the period in which the survey was conducted. The methodology used was the action-research, a method that allows linking knowledge and action, and brings the involvement commitment of all members that take as active subjects of a process guided by a research project when the own elderly is summoned to be active in his own process. The results indicate that music-therapy attendances enabled the elderly, the opening of new communication ways, greater interaction and integration between all of that group, when it was possible to observe improvements in his body posture, in the vocal tract and respiratory, plus they reveal a greater well-being after the sessions. Well-being, that can help seniors to take a more active stance on the issues of the day, with some relatives including reporting a better living of the elderly in the family environment. In short, music-therapy practices, according to the cognitive stimulation and functional model, focused on elderly person, allowed the resumption and the development of new skills for the elderly served in the day-Center here in focus, the Koru / Atualmente o envelhecimento é objeto de múltiplos estudos nos meios acadêmico e social, estando muito em evidência as práticas socioculturais que podem evitar a solidão ou a inatividade dos idosos fragilizados ou semidependentes. Estas parecem ser a chave para a criação de momentos significativos no cotidiano desses idosos, tornando o ambiente em que estão acolhidos mais humanizado, a partir do foco exemplar em bemsucedidas atividades musicoterapêuticas que atendem às necessidades e exigências dos idosos. Nesse sentido, ganham destaque, nos dias atuais, os Centros-dia do Idoso, um equipamento social que visa a proporcionar acolhimento, convivência, cuidados e proteção aos idosos, durante o dia, ou em parte dele, quando um famíliar ou cuidador não pode prover uma melhor assistência mais produtiva ao idoso sob seus cuidados. Uma das áreas do conhecimento que pode intervir, com muita eficiência, nessa situação é a da Musicoterapia que, tributariamente ao próprio de sua área de concentração e atuação, permite-se oferecer atividades musicoterapêuticas em consonãncia às exigências e especificidades do envelhecimento. Na interface dessas duas áreas do conhecimento é que se situa a presente pesquisa de mestrado cujo objetivo foi, de início, (i) realizar uma revisão sistemática das publicações disponíveis sobre o tema, que foram analisadas em sua contribuição específica às necessidades da pessoa idosa. A seguir, (ii) o trabalho busca demonstrar como se deu a implantação do Serviço de Musicoterapia de um Centro-dia do Idoso, descrevendo-se os procedimentos e técnicas musicoterapêuticas ali aplicadas. O estudo contou com a colaboração de um grupo de sete idosos que participou dos atendimentos de musicoterapia no período em que a pesquisa foi realizada. A metodologia utilizada foi a da Pesquisa-ação, método que permite interligar conhecimento e ação, e que traz como pressuposto o compromisso de envolvimento de todos os integrantes que se assumem como sujeitos ativos de um processo orientado por um projeto de pesquisa, quando o próprio idoso é convocado a ser sujeito ativo do seu processo. Os resultados indicam que os atendimentos de musicoterapia possibilitaram, aos idosos atendidos, a abertura de novos canais de comunicação, uma maior interação e integração entre todos daquele grupo, quando foi possível observar melhoras na sua postura corporal, no trato vocal e respiratório, além de eles revelarem um bem-estar maior após os atendimentos. Bem-estar que pode ajudar os idosos a assumirem uma postura mais ativa diante das problemáticas do dia a dia, com alguns familiares inclusive relatando uma melhor convivência do idoso no ambiente familiar. Em suma, as práticas musicoterapêuticas, segundo o modelo da estimulação cognitiva e funcional, centradas na pessoa idosa, possibilitaram a retomada e o desenvolvimento de novas habilidades aos idosos atendidos no Centro-dia aqui em foco, o Koru

Pour assister les aînés, les technologies apparaissent a priori comme des ressources intéressantes. Encore faut-il qu’elles soient acceptées. Les modèles théoriques d’acceptation des technologies existants s’ancrent difficilement dans les cadres disciplinaire et empirique de la gérontologie. L’objectif de cette recherche est donc de proposer une théorisation du processus d’acceptation des technologies qui tienne compte du vieillissement biopsychosocial. Une démarche scientifique empirico-inductive est mise en œuvre. Il s’agit d’une Théorisation Ancrée (TA) dans l’expérience vécue par des aînés associés à la conception d’un calendrier interactif (Amelis). Les études psycho-ergonomiques conduites pour la conception avant et pendant l’usage d’Amelis montrent que les AME ont plusieurs fonctions utiles pour les aînés. Mais des obstacles d’usage apparaissent concernant l’apprentissage, la crédibilité du système, ou encore ses sollicitations corporelles, émotionnelles et cognitives envers l’utilisateur. La compréhension de cette réalité vécue par les aînés assure l’ancrage empirique de la TA dont les résultats mettent en évidence la centralité du concept de temporalité. Ce concept se décline selon les dimensions chronologique, adaptative et axiologique du temps. Ainsi, dans un contexte gérontologique, l’acceptation d’une technologie se rapporte à des moments spécifiques, à des processus développementaux et adaptatifs mais aussi aux perceptions et valeurs accordées au temps. Intégrer le concept de temporalité et ses déclinaisons aux modèles d’acceptation des technologies renforcerait leur cohérence théorique et empirique avec le vieillissement. / Technologies may support older adults in their aging process. However, to be useful, they have to be accepted. Existing technology acceptance models are not well adapted into the gerontological context. These models probably neglect aging-specific acceptance factors. The aim of this study is to understand the technology acceptance process by the older people. We develop an inductive and empirical approach for conceptualising the acceptance dimensions related to the biopsychosocial experience of aging. We used an adaptation of the Grounded Theory (GT) methodology to investigate older participants’ experience during the participatory design of an interactive calendar called Amelis. Both the design studies and the usage studies highlight that Amelis can be useful for the elderly in different ways. Nevertheless, we identify barriers to the use of such technology. They are related to the learning process, the credibility of the electronic device, and various loads for users (i.e. cognitive, emotional, physical). Understanding user experience represents the empirical basis of the GT. The GT results emphasize that time is a key concept to analyze technology acceptance by the elderly. Three conceptual dimensions appear regarding time: chronological, adaptive, axiological. The gerontological context gives precise meaning to those dimensions. Accordingly, technology acceptance by the elderly especially depends on (1) specific moments (2) adjustment process regarding aging changes (3) time value. Underlining the importance of time provides directions for further research within the elderly. It also supports the evolution of professional practices as well as institutional choices.

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