Research On Social Work Intervention Of Digital Empowerment For The Elderly ——Based On "Digital EpidemicPrevention,with The Elderly" Project In Shanghai

With the rapid development of digital information technology and the deepening of aging,the problem of digital divide among the elderly is gradually manifested.The outbreak of COVID-19 in the past two years has further accelerated the development and application of digital intelligence,and the Internet access rate of the elderly has broken through on a certain scale catalyzed by the epidemic.However,due to the lack of digital usage skills and digital information literacy of the elderly,as well as the leakage of personal information and telecommunication fraud,which have caused various obstacles to the life of the elderly group,and also brought about their psychological fear and rejection of digital information technology,the digital survival dilemma of the elderly group has been dramatically magnified.Under the advocacy and guidance of macro policies and social circles,although the current situation of smart device usage among the elderly has been improved to a certain extent,most of the elderly are still trapped in the "gully".Therefore,this study focuses on the structural problems arising from the intertwining of epidemic prevention and control and the digital divide among the elderly,deeply explores the social needs of the elderly in the context of the normalization of epidemic prevention and control,constructs a digital empowerment process model for the elderly based on the empowerment theory and the digital empowerment process model,and carries out social work services by using professional methods such as group work and social advocacy.On the one hand,direct interventions are carried out for the elderly,with the core of "smartphone + digital epidemic prevention" and different types of digital empowerment scenarios as the main lines,to help the elderly improve their operational skills in using smart devices,build up their self-confidence in using smartphones and enhance their sense of self-efficacy.On the other hand,through indirect services such as resource linkage and social advocacy,social work strives to reduce the "digital rejection" of the elderly in the social environment,create a digital-friendly social and cultural environment for the elderly,and promote the construction of a digital inclusive society in the context of the normalization of the epidemic.The analysis of the group intervention results in this study found that the social work professional group intervention for digital empowerment of the elderly based on the three levels of empowerment theory: personal,interpersonal and social,achieved certain results,including significant results in improving digital using skills of the old,alleviating their psychological fears and strengthening their social support power,but in terms of self-efficacy,due to the short intervention period and other.However,in terms of self-efficacy,it has not been significantly enhanced due to objective reasons such as the short intervention period,which requires continuous improvement and exploration of more effective social work intervention programs in the future.Finally,this study summarizes the social work intervention path for digital empowerment of the elderly from the direct intervention and indirect services of social work,which further reflects the empirical and practical significance of this study.In addition,this study proposes digital empowerment strategies for the elderly from the perspective of multiple subjects,which provides some references for future research on multiple subjectivity governance in digital inclusive society for the elderly.Professional social work should actively respond to the national call,cooperate with multiple subjects,and bring into play professional advantages to help older adults in China cross the digital divide.