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Services for married couples on assistance and pension : a type study of a selected group of cases, Vancouver, 1956

University of British Columbia

There are many studies and reports on the needs of the Aged. This thesis adopts the ''type-study'' approach, and seeks to get the information as reported by old people themselves. For this purpose it confines itself to (a) persons on social assistance, old age assistance or old age pension, and (b) married couples, age limits being fifty-five to seventy-five years. The eighteen couples chosen for study were interviewed in their homes, the object being to get first-hand knowledge of their circumstances and their own point of view of their needs. This was aided by a prior study of case material from the city of Vancouver Social Service Department. It proved possible, in the main, to typify married couples at this age who could be considered "adjusted" and "unadjusted". This study points up the unmet needs of the unadjusted type, and suggests amelioration of their present circumstances by expansion of volunteer and housekeeper services and certain kinds of recreational units. New services suggested for future experiment which would probably apply to both groups include improvement in communications, specialized in-service staff training, and extension of casework counselling services to include older groups not in need of economic aid. An attempt has been made to stress the preventive and rehabilitative aspects which may prove capable of avoiding and correcting accelerated ageing. The subject is of Special concern in British Columbia to-day, due to the lengthening span of old age, and growing industrialization with its concomitant economic and family problems.

Text

2012-02-02

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/40422

Social Work

University of British Columbia

Graduate