| Title |
A Study on the Elderly's Social Support and Life Satisfaction in the Residence Types - Focus on Single and Couple Elderly Households - |
| Keywords |
Single and Couple Elderly Households ; Residence Ambient Environment ; Social Support ; Life Satisfaction |
| Abstract |
This research is designed to study the residence environment of the elderly residing in three different types of residence - the local community, silver towns and nursing homes and compare their level of social support and life satisfaction of the residents. The subjects of the study was those aged 65 and older who live single and couple - 68 residing in the local community, 32 in silver town and 32 in nursing homes. The result of analysis is as follows; 1) the residence environment is different in the three types of residence in terms of number of children, living with a spouse, subjective economic status, and participation in group activities; 2) as for social support, emotional support is the highest among the elderly residing in the local community and declines among those in silver town and the lowest in nursing homes, which suggests that the local community still maintain the support system for the elderly, however it declines in silver town and drop further in nursing homes. But in terms of instrumental support, there is no meaningful difference in the three types of residence. The result shows that the elderly residing in nursing homes are supported by systematic medical and residence service which make up for instrumental support similar to those in the local community and silver town; 3) life satisfaction is the highest among those residing in nursing homes, however there was little meaningful difference. The result means quality of living is similar among three different types of residence. What is interesting is those living in nursing homes has similar level of life satisfaction despite their lowest emotional support. |