New Delhi: Around 67 per cent of adults living away from home are worried mostly about the health of their parents.
However, only 10 per cent parents considered physical health to be a major concern.
Interestingly, social life and daily needs were the most challenging concerns for them.
The gap in expectations between elderly and children was highlighted in a recent survey, which aims to understand the perspective of elders and their children on the needs of elders living alone.
Conducted by IVH SeniorCare in partnership with Wellness Health and You (Age Friendly India), the “Jug Jug Jiyenge” survey included a gender-mixed sample size of 1,000 each of senior citizens from Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Mahara-shtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka and their children who have been living away from them for at least five years in all parts of the world.
In Delhi-NCR, around 6.8 per cent elders living alone are happy with arrangements made by their children.
Highlighting how children fail to understand the needs of the elderly, the survey found that only 10 per cent elders consider physical health to be a challenge, whereas 66 per cent are worried about maintaining their social life and everyday needs. This questions the general understanding of the masses and children — those living away from parents — that health is the most important concern for elders.
“The disparity in the thinking of children living away from home and their elderly parents raises many red flags. While children are right to worry about the physical health of their elderly parents, the parents’ key concerns about missing out on social life and difficulty in meeting their everyday needs highlight underlying mental health issues.
“Children fail to understand that health is not merely concerned with the physical aspect, instead it is a state of physical and mental wellbeing. Living a socially secluded life in the absence of children often predispose elders to a feeling of loneliness, which can later transform into depression,” said Dr G.S. Grewal, elder care specialist and consultant at Max Hospital and chairman of Wellness Health & You.
