Most families have positive attitudes towards elderly - survey

A new study on the elderly in the United Arab Emirates by Dr Faisal Mohammad Khair Al Zarad seeks to discover attitudes of families caring for their older members.

The aim, says the author, is to understand the relations between the families and the older members they are caring for and how both feel about each other.

The study is a survey of 130 families taking care of 75 male and 55 female relatives in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

Although the report is seen as a modest scientific attempt, the methods and steps taken to find out the attitudes and behaviour of the families and their elderly members, are rigorous.

The survey, recently published in a book by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies, is based on a detailed questionnaire administered by a team of social experts to the families as well as a series of 15-minute interviews with the older members being cared for.

The survey, which is seen as new since it looks into the dual relationship between the family and the elderly and the interaction between them, has come up with a battery of statistical data about those taking part in the sample, age groups, their health needs, socio-economic characteristics, educational background and participation in family affairs.

Those in the study range from the 60-64 age-group to the over 89 age-group with the average age being 76.27 for males and 71.54 for females.

It was discovered that 41.33 per cent of the sample still take on simple jobs in agriculture, in shops, library services and charities that provide limited income.

This increases their spirit, the report says, and makes them active members of society.
However, these tend to be at the lower end of the age-groups.

Figures show slightly less than 90 per cent prefer to live with their families such as their wives, sons, grandchildren, while 7.1 per cent live with their relatives and three percent go from place to place.

Al Zarad points out these figures suggest the majority want to live with their families and not in government-run institutions.

Also, 75 per cent of families who look after older members have what Al Zarad calls a positive attitude towards the elderly. They say families must provide health, social and psychological care for the old which is a moral, religious and social duty.

Further, they say care must be provided by the married couple, sons, daughters and grandchildren of the elderly, and not left to the servants. Those families are against putting the elderly in government institutions and say what is required is to integrate them into the family.

But it must be noted those families tend to be looking after those below 70 years old.
They are generally fit and do not have chronic health problems, are involved in simple jobs, and tend to be active in family affairs.

From the questionnaire, it was noticed they don't depend wholly on their families for their needs, having some sort of independent income.

However, 25 per cent of the family sample have a negative view towards the elderly and growing old, believing their care can best be accomplished in institutions, even if this was on a long-term basis.

They believe these institutions have the proper facilities and expertise to look after the elderly in a better way, the report suggests.

However, those families have grandfathers or grandmothers of advanced years who have difficulty in movement, have impaired hearing, and suffer from behavioural problems that include interfering in the affairs of the sons and daughters. They are not active and tend to be house-bound.

All these may negatively affect how the family perceives them. Most of these families live in flats and work outside with little time for the elderly and caring for them is left in the hands of the servant or relatives or sometime friends.

On the other hand, those with positive attitudes live in villas, have a high educational background and tend to have an extended family network living in the same surroundings.

The sample exhibited has other characteristics as well. Families gave a more positive attitude about their female relative as opposed to males; 76 per cent of the male sample are smokers; 58.67 per cent of the overall sample don't work and depend on the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; only 24.62 per cent can read and write and those that do are over 60 and less than 70 years old; and 73.05 per cent, males and females, practice religion while eight per cent didn't want to answer this question.

One of the purposes of the study as Al Zarad suggests is to make families and society aware of the needs of the elderly and points to the fact that government and other private institutions must support those families with elderly members.

Active members are well accepted
* The study includes 130 families looking after 70 male elderly members and 55 female members.

* The age groups of the sample range from 20-64 year-olds to 85-89 year-olds, with one being over 89.

* Over 90 per cent of those in the sample live with their families and prefer it that way.

* 76 per cent of the male sample are smokers.

* 44.33 per cent of the sample are still engaged in simple work activity.

* Only 24.62 per cent of males and females are able to read and write.