Determination of the most common problems and fundamental needs of elderly through expectation of middle age population and experience of the elderly persons

ABSTRACT

The most common health problems of the elderly are amnesia, cardiovascular, arthritis and sensory impairment. More than half of the elderly subjects were dependent on others in one or two of their activities daily living. The expectation of the middle age subjects about presence of health problems in old age corresponds to what actually experienced by elderly but middle age subjects do not have an accurate conception of what is the extent of the elderly health problems. The other problems faced by the elderly are psychosocial problems, financial problems, inadequate medical care, decline of functional abilities, as well as transportation problem. The findings revealed the main sources of emotional stress experienced by elderly are loneliness and feeling of emptiness, career disappointment, deterioration of the health status and bad attitude of public towards elderly. The fundamental needs of the elderly are satisfactory living condition, satisfy psychosocial needs, accessibility of medical care, recreational activities and to be involved in doing useful thing, as well as good attitude of society towards them. Some differences were found between elderly views and the middle age expectations. As regards preparation for retirement, the majority of elderly did not plan for retirement while most of the middle age are preparing themselves for retirement