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VOLUME 8,
NUMBER 4, 2005
Social Networks among the Elderly during Slovenia's transition
period
Valentina Hlebec, Srna Mandič
This article deals with changes in the composition of social
support networks of the elderly during the period of transition
in Slovenia between 1987 and 2002. Multiple Classification
Analysis is used to evaluate the effects of year of measurement,
age of respondents, gender, marital status and education
upon composition of social support networks. The composition
of support networks changed significantly over the period
of transition in Slovenia. The main change has been a reduction
in the percentage of kin and an increased percentage of
friends in network composition. Most important changes for
the elderly
are associated with education, gender and marital status.
The percentage of friends has increased most for those
elderly with better education, although kin still represents
the
majority of each support network. Partners are the main
support providers for older men in 2002, thus indicating
a significant
reduction in the heterogeneity of their support networks.
The percentage of kin was reduced to 50% for single people--siblings
and extended family being the main support providers, besides
friends and neighbors.
Key words: elderly, social support
networks, Slovenia, transition, quality of life, family,
gender, education
Unequal accessibility to direct social care services in
living environment
Maša Lukan Civič
Constitution of Republic of Slovenia assures right to social
security to all citizens. The content of the right is described
in Social Security Act which among other social rights
names also right of elderly people for social care in their
living
environment. But the present organization of social politics
in the field of helping elderly allows inequality in accessibility
and quality of direct social care, depending on area of
residence and kind of help needed. Inequality is based on
evidence
gathered from data of Ministry of work, family and social
matters and the authors own research, which compared hourly
rates of direct social care services in different areas.
Key
words: right to social security, direct social care, unequal
accessibility to social care services
Ageing in the Promised Land
Bori Grabovac Morse
The Health Care System for Elderly Persons in America appears
to favour only the healthier and the richer citizens.
Old age is supposed to signal ease of life, ie, retirement,
respect that comes from experience of life and a worry-free
existence...If this were true for American and Slovenes alike,
some of the "bad-changes", ie, reduced mobility,
fixed incomes and others subtle adjustments life throws at
the aged might not make this period a time to fear, even
dread.
The elderly class in Slovenia and America, and their range
of options differ somewhat from society-to-society...Americans
are presented with more choices in the areas of housing/and
other varying degrees of supervised living/care. Slovenes
pay lass for health care(There are 44 million people in the
US without health insurance), and have a "safety-net" in
their pension plan(s).
Key words: healthcare, housing, social and financial security
From companionship to art workshops in the home for the
aged
Manca Podjed, Natalija Vrešak
Graduation thesis is a display of our voluntary work in
the home for the aged which began as companionship with elderly
and later developed into art workshops. The workshops took
place once a week. In theoretic part we define the concepts
of age and aging, gerontology, social immune system, companionship,
voluntary work and art therapy. In the research part of the
thesis we present the results of the evaluation of workshops,
which we acquired through qualitative analysis of interviews
of participants. Through evaluation we tried to get the return
information and insight into reasonability as well as necessity
of art activity in the homes for the aged.
Key words: age and aging, home for the aged, solidarity,
voluntary work, companionship, art therapy, qualitative research
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