Adjustment among Elderly Living in Old Age Home and within Family Setup

INTRODUCTIONOld age is the closing period of the life span. It is a period when people 'move away' from previous more desirable periods or times of 'usefulness'. Old age is considered as a curse being associated with deterioration of all physical, psychological factors, isolation from social, economic and other activities. Socially, this stage was considered as the sum total of one's lived experiences. Hence, the society offered a space of respect to the old. In such a society, the aged were the repositories, transmitters, and sole authorities of wisdom and knowledge. All these provided a 'golden age' concept to this stage, old age. Adjustment is a process involving both mental and behavioral responses by which an individual strives to cope with inner needs, tensions, frustrations and conflicts and to bring harmony between these inner demands and those imposed upon him by the world in which he lives if the conflicts are solved to satisfy the individual needs within the tenets approved by the society the individual is considered adjusted. Adjustments in old age are difficult because of the limited capacity of the old, their diminishing energy and declining mental abilities. The degree of success depends upon the individual's adaptability. The world will not adopt itself to the elderly, only the elderly will have to adopt themselves to the world. Adjustment is the flexibility in adopting appropriate behaviour towards changing ability, role, responsibility, environment and social network. Option for control and self-determination are important aspect for older adults for their mental health.Shekhar (2013) found that some of the physical and behavioral symptoms are: tearfulness and sadness, irritability, social isolation, sleep deprivation, exacerbation of preexisting pains and of the pains caused by the increase in muscular tension [5], loss of appetite, difficulty in sleep, loss of sexual activity, and the loss of interest in daily activities that produce pleasure.Kotwal et al. (2009) found that elderly people who living with family faced many health problems in compression to people lived in old age home. Sethi (2013) found that elderly people who living in old age home faced more health problems than people living with family members. Gupta et al. (2011) conducted study and found that people had poor health adjustment of elderly people in community.Old age in an important time in life because in that stage, they are dependent on their own resource for their happiness. Adjustment has a positive relationship with health, income, active role, education, social network, social security and life satisfaction and a negative relationship with poor health, stressful events such as role change, widowhood and anxiety about future. Elder people always fears that they will end up living in an old age home. This fear explains why elders fight so hard to maintain their independence. Old age homes are seen as a place older adults are sent to die, neglected and forgotten by their family. The home environments primarily for those elderly persons who are unable to stay with family members due to any reasons. It is an alternative shelter where elderly persons can share their feeling, liking, experiences with each other staying at this type of settlement. They live in an institutional set-up with some rule and regulations of institute.Aim:To assess and compare Adjustment between elderly people living in old age home and within the family setup.METHODS AND MATERIALSA cross sectional research design method was adopted for the study. The study was conducted at Old age home, D.A.V. Nand Raj and Urse line Society Old age home, Ranchi, Jharkhand. This study was approved by Institute ethics committee. Permission to conduct study at old age home sought from old age home authority. Study aim and objective were explained to the participants following the consent by participants interviewed with standardized tools by first author. …