A Study On The Practice Of Group Work For Peer Support Of Lonely Elderly People In Rural Area

The pace of population aging in China is gradually accelerating,and the number of elderly people is increasing dramatically.Rural areas are the aging severely afflicted areas due to their special social conditions.In rural areas of China,widows and orphans face diverse requirements from the material needs to the spiritual needs,from the lower levels to the higher levels due to their lack of family roles and their long-term marginalization.These diverse requirements result in weak social support that prevents them from aging healthily.The formal support provided by the government can guarantee the basic survival of widows and orphans but cannot effectively respond to their spiritual needs.Peer support is an important part of the old people’s life in their old age.Therefore,from the perspective of social work,this paper attempts to help widows and orphans obtain peer support to meet their diversified needs,solve their old age problems better,and improve their sense of well-being and quality of life.In this study,we found that widows and orphans are unable to obtain peer support effectively due to multiple factors such as personal reasons and social isolation.At the same time,widows and orphans have requirements for peer support such as material needs,emotional needs,companionship,labor and information.Therefore,this study followed a step-by-step group work method to make widows and orphans realize that they can acquire more rewards by helping each other with peers.Group members can acquire the ability and awareness to seek and offer peer help actively,and effectively apply the peer support obtained in the group to their future life,so as to expand the scope of peer support and enhance the degree and effect of peer support.In the evaluation stage,the effectiveness of the group was assessed through social worker interviews,observations and satisfaction surveys.The results of the study showed that the group work was beneficial to building peer support for rural widows and orphans,and the intervention of peer support group was effective in two aspects: peer support could effectively compensate for the lack of family roles and improve their social adjustment ability;peer support was beneficial to the target group in adjusting their psychological state and improving their life satisfaction.At the same time,the group members affirmed and recognized the content and form of the group activities and the performance of the social workers.The group objectives were basically accomplished,which shows that the social work intervention is beneficial to the establishment of peer support for rural widows and orphans and is effective.