A profile of social isolation and the influence of demographics in older persons living in residential care, Durban, South Africa

A profile of social isolation and the influence of demographics in older persons living in residential care, Durban, South Africa

Blog Article

Introduction: Residential care settings have shown high social isolation rates with incumbent risks necessitating measurement to formulate health promotion policies.Objective: To measure social isolation levels in older persons living in a lower socio-economic residential care setting in South Africa.Method: A cross sectional control board wire survey with older persons from four inner city residential care facilities.

A researcher-administered questionnaire was developed based on the Working Paper No.66, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.Data were analysed to describe social isolation and assess the influence of demographics.

Results: The response rate was 72.14% (n = 277) and representative of the residential Chocolate care population for age and gender.Nearly half of the respondents (47.

3%) met criteria for social isolation in terms of social network support and density and almost 20% for perceived isolation through decreased levels of friendship.Conclusion: Although residential care does not prevent social isolation, the residents in the setting may provide a buffering in the provision of some social support.