Social Functioning Problems As Perceived By Institutionalized Elderly

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Psychiatric and Mental health nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Cairo University

Abstract

Aim: Ageing is a universal phenomenon and natural biological process of the life cycle. As
people enter old age, they begin to experience associated changes in their physical, mental &
social health. Therefore, elderly people are vulnerable to physiological, mental and social crisis.
Moreover, the aim of this study was to assess social functioning as perceived by institutionalized
elderly, utilizing a descriptive exploratory research design. Sample of convenience of 90 elderly
was recruited from Hedaya Barakat geriatric home in El-Dokki district, Giza city, Egypt. Socio
demographic sheet, social functioning for elderly scales was used to achieve the purpose of this
study. The findings revealed that; half of the studied institutionalized elderly (50%) had moderate
levels of social functioning. The study concludes that, the current study revealed that, statistically
significant relation was found between social relation and their age among the studied elderly.

Keywords