FACILITATING ACTIVE AGEING: A SOCIAL WORK INTERVENTION WITH INSTITUTIONALISED OLDER ADULTS

Abstract

Older adults in many developing nations move to care homes for reasons other than ill health, but the institutional routines, paired with the separation from families, may curtail their autonomy and choices, adversely affecting their active ageing prospects. This study introduced a novel social work intervention that targeted individual-level, personnel-level and institutional-level modifications to improve the active ageing prospects of institutionalised older adults. A total of 35 participants (16 males and 19 females) were recruited from seven care homes in Kerala, India. The active ageing status of the participants significantly improved after the intervention (137.77±45.1) compared to that before the intervention (128±44.2). The findings show that structural and personnel changes in the institution, combined with individual and family-level interventions, can improve the active ageing prospects of institutionalised older adults in developing nations, where institutionalisation is not always necessarily a consequence of ill health. Keywords: older adults, care homes, active ageing, play therapy, mental health education