How to improve the quality of life of the elderly at nursing home and its benefits

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Illustrated by Republika.co.id

The success of health development is marked by the improvement of several aspects, such as the quality of human resources, quality of life, family welfare, and life expectancy. One of the concerns is the increasing life expectancy of the community, which will have an impact on increasing the number of older people. The Elderly is one of the groups or populations at increased risk. The total number of older people in 2010 is 18 million (7.56%) and increase to 25.9 million (9.7%) in 2019 and is expected to continue to increase in 2035 to 48.2 million ( 15.77%).

Most of the findings explain that the elderly experienced several declines in health status, especially physical health status. The health status of the elderly decreases with age. Many elderlies who experience psychological and physical problems such as chronic diseases and feel lonely.

Many factors affect the quality of life of the elderly, including (1) Age; it affects the quality of life of an individual, the older the individual the more the quality of his life drops. As we get older, the emergence of despair will be better things happening in the future, (2) Education; Quality of life will increase along with the higher level of education obtained by individuals. It happens because individuals who have low education will feel insecure and feel that they are not useful, (3) Marital status; Married individuals have a higher quality of life than unmarried individuals. Married couples will feel happier with their couple who are always there to accompany them. In general, individuals who are married have a higher quality of life than individuals who are not married, divorced, or widowed or widower due to spouses died, (4) Family; Family is also a factor that affects the quality of life. Individuals who have a complete and harmonious family will have a higher quality of life. Family can provide support and affection to improve the quality of life and (5) Financial; Financial aspect is one aspect that plays an essential role in influencing the quality of life of individuals who are not working. Good financial will make the individual a more high quality of life.

Some interventions developed to improve the quality of life of the elderly in nursing homes are by following the activities carried out at the institution. The activities carried out at the orphanage are gymnastics, recitation, making crafts, and health checks. Some findings explain that elderly exercise can improve strength, improve balance, increase energy, prevent and delay diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis, improve mood and prevent depression and improve cognitive function or the way the brain works.

Likewise, with recitation. Elderly who attend the study get not only spiritual benefits (get new knowledge related to religious knowledge) but also social benefits (strengthen friendship, increase friendship, and share knowledge) and psychological benefits (happy feelings). It can also increase religious awareness. Religion involves all functions of the human body and soul, so diverse consciousness reaches cognitive, affective, and motoric aspects. The motoric aspect in question is religious behavior carried out by a person in religion, such as performing prayers on time, following the recitation, performing fasting, and others.

Most of the elderly in the institution also make handicrafts. Crafts that can be followed are making flowers from plastic materials, knitting and embroidering, and making doormats. A fun way to keep the brain active is to make art, including crafts and actively socializing with others. Keeping the brain active is one way to reduce the risk of dementia or senility in old age. People who participate in arts and crafts activities and socialize in the middle to advanced age have a risk of memory loss that often causes dementia up to 73%, and it can help protect brain neurons and stimulate the growth of new neurons.

Health checks carried out on the elderly are to detect early illnesses or health threats faced by the elderly. This is a health service effort that aims to improve the quality of life of the elderly. Degenerative diseases to other health problems in the elderly can be detected earlier through a health check. If there are health problems in the elderly can also get treatment faster. In doing future activities, the elderly can do better, optimally, and avoid more severe health problems.

Besides that, the way to improve the quality of life is to maintain the social interaction of the elderly. Many findings state the relationship of social interaction with the quality of life of the elderly. Older people who have social interactions with family, fellow friends in the orphanage, and pleasant orphanage staff have a good quality of life. Author: Iswatun

Link: https://www.psychosocial.com/article/PR290080/22742/

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