Group Work With The Elderly

China has already entered into a period characterizing as radical ageing in recently years. The governmental fund elderly care system plays a critical role in coping with the problems accompanied by aging in China. People are becoming interested in the effectiveness of this elderly care system in improving life of the elderly. Professional social workers are equipped with specialized methods, skills, and knowledge in their work aiming at improving service quality and thus meeting the need of the elderly. However, by looking into the specific institutions within the current elderly care system, one would find some problems such as low level of professionalization of their stuffs. In the meantime, the lack of professional training of social workers impairs the capacity of institutions in providing professional services for the elderly.Based on our internship in the Wenjiang Second Nursing Home, we adopted group work method combined with participation observation and interview in the elderly to test the effectiveness of such professional intervention among the elderly. More specifically, we first conducted a field investigation in the institution to understand the conditions of the institution and the elderly’s needs, and based on these information we further evaluated the feasibility of conducting group work among the elderly. We gathered information concerning the effectiveness of such professional intervention through interviewing the participants. Although the group work has to some extent achieved its goal in enriching the life of the elderly, the effectiveness of professional intervention is to be improved through the long-lasting joint efforts of both parties—the professional social workers and the management of institutions.