Rising demand for community based long-term care services for senior citizens in India

Headnote

The aim of this paper is to understand and meet physical and emotional needs of senior citizens. Freedom and concept of nuclear family have resulted in the demand for formal care of· elderly, which involve a strategic approach. The India has a culture of home based care, but the changing family value system, economic pressures of the children, neglect and abuse has caused the elders to fall through the net of family care. Researches show that living arrangement has become an important constituent of well-being of elderly. Thus, there is a need for a model which would provide better care and take into account their well-being. Institutionalization of older people is not popular in Indian society; one reason behind it is that culturally family is the prime institution to take care of older family members because of which older people have no mind set for old age homes as care giving institution in later life. Secondly, the population size of older people is so high that care homes cannot accommodate them well. Lack of proper infrastructure and skilled workforce in elderly care is another big reason for the low popularity of institutionalization. Above all is the social stigma for institutionalization for the rising demand of community based care system. Older people feel most satisfied and happy around the globe when they are in their homes with their family members. This paper is an attempt to highlight the need for long term care services asa support system for senior citizens in the community.

Keywords: health care, long term care, assisted care, community based elderly care

Overview on long term care

Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Recent advances inhealth sciences and improving social conditions, it has become a duty for health professionals to make the later years of an individual more productive and enjoyable. Long term care means helping people with their medical and daily activity needs over the long period of the time irrespective of their age. The majority of the user of such long term services and support is elderly citizens. The reason being cognitive decline which occurs due to the drop in regional brain volume, loss of myelin integrity, cortical thinning, impaired serotonin, acetylcholine,...