The Supporting Participation Model of The Elderly Social Adaptation by The Network Organizations

Abstract

The objectives of this qualitative research were (1) to study the participation process of network organizations in supporting elderly social adaptation, (2) to present the supporting participation model of the elderly social adaptation by the network organizations. There were 28 key informants, who are local government officials, teachers, parents/relatives network organization agency, and people involved in the elderly; 18 from Bang Khu Rat Municipality Community, Bang Bua Thong District, Nonthaburi and 10 from rural communities in Nong Mu Sub-district Municipality, Wihan Daeng District, Saraburi. The qualitative research, the instrument was open-end questionnaire with in-depth interviews. The data was analyzed by Content Analysis. The results revealed that process of participation in social adaptation support among the elderly was based on the characteristics of social adaptation in 6 aspects: 1) social standards 2) social skills 3) tendency toward anti-resistance behavior 4) family relationships 5) relationships in educational institutions/clubs/social groups and 6) relationships in residential communities. The supporting participation model of the elderly social adaptation by the network organization has 4 steps: 1) decision making, 2) participation in implementation, 3) participation in utilizing or receiving benefits, and 4) participation in monitoring and evaluation. Finding found that important policies and strategies for implementing and supporting the activities of the elderly based on the main functions of the government and according to the bureaucratic model i.e. community development planning. The participation process, the public sector is first step for decision making which included planning participation and next step be implementation, monitoring and evaluation belongs to government or local administrative. The elderly plays a role again in receiving benefits.