Abstract:
The research Guidelines for Self-Adjusting of the Elderly in Kalasin Province : A Case Study of the Elderly in Na Mon District, Kalasin Province aimed (1) to explore the number of elderly in the area of Na Mon district, Kalasin province, (2) to study patterns of relationship between the elderly conducting their lives at present and incomes, education, activities, and others, and (3) to investigate guidelines for adjusting of the elderly and management model for enabling the elderly to live with society and community happily.
The population was elderly, aged 60 years up, in the area of Na Mon district, Kalasin province. The samples were obtained by purposive sampling from the area of Song Plueai Municipality and Yot Kaeng Sub-District Administrative Organization. They included 64 elderly from Village No. 1 of Song Plueai Village, 67 elderly from Village No. 3 of Kham Ngio Village, 58 elderly from Village No. 5 of Sangkhom Phatthana Village, 64 elderly from Village No. 8 of Sangkhom Patthana Village, 97 elderly from Village No. 4 of Patthana Anamai Village, and 50 elderly from Village No. 10 of Huai Kaeng Village. To conduct this research, the researcher (1) explored information of elderly in the area of Na Mon district, Kalasin province by inquiring, interviewing, and studying documents from leaders of villages and communities, (2) collected data using a questionnaire on patterns of relationship between the elderly conducting their lives at present and incomes, education, activities, and others, and (3) organized a forum for investigating guidelines for adjusting of the elderly and management model for enabling the elderly to live with society and community happily in order for all sectors to express ideas, participate, and summarize the whole picture of this research. The qualitative analysis was used to analyze and summarize data which were presented descriptively.
The results indicated that the population in the area of Na Mon district, Kalasin province was 33,057 people, consisting of 16,582 females (50.16%) and 16,475 males (49.84%). After exploring five administrative areas including 66 villages, there were 2,843 elderly. Among these elderly, 1,878 elderly (66.06%) were 60-69 years of age. 740 elderly (26.03%) were 70-79. 203 elderly (7.14%) were 80-89. 22 elderly (0.77%) were 90 up. With regards to patterns of relationship between the elderly conducting their lives at present and incomes, education, activities, and others, it was found that the elderly with lower primary level of education were agriculturists, traders, and general employees. They needed assistance from a government organization in terms of products price guarantee, workshops for new knowledge, and agricultural techniques. They wanted the government to provide them with the quality education and a standard marketplace. The elderly needed to adjust to their low ability to work due to ageing, lessening productivity and ability to compete with others. They wanted the government sector to assist about appropriate additional careers. The children should carry out the elderlys duty in agriculture. Regarding elderlys incomes, the elderly received incomes from the allowance given by the government, selling agricultural products, and money given by their children. The elderly wanted the government to (1) increase allowance, (2) help them have a certain income from agriculture, (3) give monthly allowance to the patients with diabetes, like elderlys allowance, and (4) allocate budget to promote additional careers to all villages. The duty to earn incomes should be provided to elderlys children. In social participation, the elderly were members of a club, led the community to perform activities related to education, arts and culture, and customs, and were local scholars. Additional activities related to arts and culture and customs including 12 local customs (Hit 12) and 14 rules (Khong 14) should be organized. Villages, temples, and schools (government organizations) should collaboratively organize an activity. A club or association should be founded sustainably. In economics, the price of agricultural products was low. The agriculturists could not determine the price and the price of consumer products increased very much. The elderly wanted the government sector to guarantee the price of agricultural products and control the price of products in accordance with incomes and cost of living. They also wanted the government sector to seek out a marketplace for selling agricultural products with a higher price, increasing familys incomes and reducing the cost of production and expenses of family. In the environment and health, get rid of solid waste, plant trees within villages or area of house, and buy ready-made food and drinking water. The elderly had diabetes the most. Besides, they got blood-pressure, bone diseases, arthritis, and eye diseases. They did not get an annual health check and received a primary medical treatment at a sub-district health promoting hospital. More trash cans should be provided and the trash should be collected thoroughly. There should be a healthy place for getting rid of the trash. The hospital of district or province, where the patients live, should admit the patients so that they would not go far to a hospital of other provinces. The elderly should (1) take care of their own health and keep their own house and community clean and shady, (2) adjust eating behavior to selecting healthy food, avoiding damaged food, always get a health check, follow suggestions of doctors and see the doctors according to the appointment, exercise, and have enough sleep. The community and society together with government organizations should seriously put priority on environment and health of community. There should be a certain budget allocated for supporting environment and health. In sports and recreation, there were no sport activities, persons taking responsibility, and certain budget. There should be an exercise activity for elderly with a certain organization taking responsibility. The children should closely take care of the elderly in family, not let them as social problems. In relaxation, there was no a place for relaxing in the area of community. There should be an appropriate place for relaxing in locality. The community should take part in taking care of elderly. Children should care about the right way of relaxation, organize activities for recreation within family, and talk to the elderly more to reduce their stress, not to make them feel distracted, abandoned, and alone, and to create a good relationship in family. Neighbors could be friends sharing ideas, talking together, eating together, performing activities together to make the elderly relax, asking each other how everything is going, and giving advices to each other. Having pets and chatting with children working in other provinces could help the elderly feel relaxed and reduce their loneliness and stress. Regarding management model, the government sector or related organizations should take action in establishing a club or association (formal/informal), provide assistance and support in terms of policy, practice, and development, as well as maintain the advantages of community, sufficiency, and sustainability.