| dc.description | A Project submitted to the Department of Health Promotion and Education, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Public Health (Health Promotion and Education) of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The rampant social neglect of the elderly as depicted on the streets of Ibadan caused by
modern life job demand of significant social support and eroding culture of caring for the
elderly that has crept into our society necessitated this study. Furthermore, there is dearth
of studies investigating the perception of the elderly towards the use of specialised home
for the aged in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State. This study was
therefore, designed to investigate the perception of the elderly towards the use of
specialised home for the aged in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State.
The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey which used a simple random sampling
technique in selecting 384 consenting participants in Ibadan North Local Government A
rea. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on respondents’ s
ocio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of the elderly on usefulness of specialised
home, perception of the elderly on use of specialised home for the aged and willingness
of elders towards the use of specialised home for the aged. Knowledge was assessed on a
20-point scale and scores between ≤0-6, 7-13 and ≥14-20 were categorised as ‘poor’,
‘fair’ and ‘good’ respectively, perception was assessed on a 30-point scale and scores
≤0-14 and ≥14-30 were categorised as ‘poor and good’ respectively while willingness
was assessed on a 18 point scale and scores between ≤0-9 and ≥9-18 as ‘not willing’ and
‘willing’ respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and
Fisher’s exact test at p < 0.05.
Mean age of respondents was 65.5±0.5 years and 67.2% were married. Mean knowledge
score was 3.0±0.1 and those with fair and good knowledge were 1.3% and 98.7%
respectively. Majority (99.5%) perceived adoption of specialised home for the aged as a
good alternative for catering/caring for the elderly and 78.6% were willing to adopt
specialised home for aged. Main reason for the unwillingness of some of the respondents
was the African culture of reciprocal care of the aged. Significant association was found
between the perception of the elderly on specialised home for the aged and their
willingness to utilise such specialised home. Despite favourable perception and
willingness towards adoption and utilisation, many respondents were not unwilling to
utilise specialised home for the aged, on cultural grounds. Health promotion strategies
such as advocacy, public enlightenment, training and social support are needed to boost
the perception and willingness of the respondents towards adopting specialised home for
the aged. | en_US |
