ASSESSMENT OF THE STRESS EXPERIENCED BY THE SENIOR CITIZENS IN ERNAKULAM DISTRICT OF KERALA
No Thumbnail Available
Files
Date
2011
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Ageing is a complex plienomenon accompanied by physiological, psychological and soiuid
changes which often results in a decline in health status (Hemalatha, 1999), Ageing is a
continuous process that begins with conception and ends with death. Ageing is not a disease but a
biological process (Henry, 2000). Ageing is a gradual developmental process of biological,
psychological, sociological and behavioural change that begins at the moment when an
individual is born (Chandrasekhar and Rhooma. 1999). Ageing refers to the nomial piugtessive
and irreversible biological changes occurring in an individual’s life span (Nalarajan. 1998). In
spite of all efforts taken by the govemment and other agencies, the feeling of neglect and the
condition of being abandoned are indeed leading to stress in the elderly population. Tliis study
was caiTied out using a sample of 307 elderly from old age homes and free living elderly from
selected areas of Ernakulam district of Kerala. The tool used for the study consisted of a
questionnaire prepared by the investigator and a standardized stress inventoi^. The study
revealed that institutionalized elderly experienced high levels of stress in total than the free living
elderlv.