RNDr. Miloslav Hetteš, CSc. Dedicated to the contribution of social work to the European Year of Active Aging and Intergenerational Solidarity 2012.
The older population is a part of society and tends to be important in social work, its goal as subjects, beneficiaries, clients, users, but also providers in voluntary and professional form. Population aging is a term that is one of the most frequently used in the press, in everyday life, in the vocabulary of politicians and ordinary citizens. Therefore, it deserves to know its background and possibilities. This study contains a lot of practical advice that can be used in the creation of policies, principles and daily procedures in social work in connection with the elderly population, but not only exclusively with it. Elderly people are an integral part of society, just like children, young people and middle-aged people. Society is all of us in every phase of our unique life. Population aging, economic growth and a sustainable dignified life are interconnected issues. People want to be happy, they try for it, but they don't always taste more lasting happiness. We are often convinced that happiness and a dignified life is directly dependent on economic growth. Population aging is often understood as something inappropriate, even harmful. Extending human life is an integral part of development, civilization and desire. It does not represent any "threat", on the contrary, it is tangible evidence of human wishes. In European countries in the 17th century, the average life expectancy was 27 years, in the 18th century it was 37 years, and in the 19th century the average life expectancy was 48 years. Can we understand this as an undesirable development? Many parents today live long enough to enrich their happiness by knowing their children's children and sometimes the next generation. If people learn (get the opportunity) to eat better, take better care of themselves and live more actively, the age of 80 will soon be completely normal, and even without a significant increase in health care expenses. This process is global. As late as 1901, the average life expectancy in India was 23 years, and in China in 1948 it was only 29 years.
Much more serious is that fewer and fewer children are being born. The drop in the birth rate below the value providing the possibility of preservation (survival) of the given population is spreading globally. Immigration will not be a sustainable solution to the so-called rich countries, because, figuratively speaking, there will be nowhere to take from.
In Holland it is said that one father will support ten children rather than ten children of one father. What kind of life awaits the current group of longer-living residents? The answer is not simple. Because the situation even in the so-called developed countries is far from satisfactory. Even in these relatively prosperous countries, old people live in poverty, with prejudice against old age, in depression, in abandonment, they are abused, without the use of their abilities and without work. What then awaits the life of the elderly population in poorer countries. The prospects of a dignified life for the elderly remain a great challenge not only for social work, but for the whole society due to demographic changes.
CONTENT
Old age Old people and human rights Aging and sustainable development Aging in everyday politics Integration and participation of elders Labor market and population aging Older people as consumers Lifelong learning Health promotion and disease prevention Integration of the gender approach Family and Aging Improving intergenerational solidarity Long-term care Volunteering Privatization of old age and pension (in)security Evaluation of the pension system Principles of old-age pension insurance Social protection of the elderly Values and "Values" Good luck
Imprint: Title: Aging society. Selected chapters of social work with seniors Dedicated to the contribution of social work to the European Year of Active Aging and Intergenerational Solidarity 2012 © Author: RNDr. Miloslav Hetteš, CSc.. Reviewers: prof. JUDr. Vojtech Tkáč, CSc. doc. PhDr. Irena Kamanová, PhD. Publisher: University of Health and Social Work St. Elizabeth, Bratislava, 2011 Year of publication: 2011 Quantity: 300 pieces Number of pages: 192 Cover author: Estian Wagenaar Print: SAP spol. s.r.o., Bratislava ISBN: 978-80-8132-031-6