Research On Social Work Intervention In Linking And Allocating Resource For The Elderly With Dementia

To investigate the status of resource links and resource allocation for the elderly with dementia in the welfare medical institution,and to explore social work intervention pathways in linking and allocating the resource for the elderly with dementia in the welfare medical institution,taking N Hospital of Changsha City in Hunan Province as a specific case,qualitative research was applied to conduct interviews in which investigated the elderly with dementia and healthcare providers in this hospital,and to conduct participant observation and in which investigated the process of resource links and resource allocation for the elderly with dementia in this hospital.Social support theory and the social network approach in social work were integrated to analyze.Needs of the elderly with dementia were divided into four dimensions,physiological needs including survival,medical treatment,nursing and rehabilitation,psychological needs including belonging and love,comfort and selffulfillment,social needs including communication and achievement,and spiritual needs of seeking the meaning of life.In order to obtain resource to meet the needs,there were two pathways in linking and allocating resource for the elderly with dementia in N Hospital,one was that resource was linked through the social network which was generated by themselves,and the other is that resource was linked and allocated through the social network which was expanded by the Ministry of Social Work.However,there were two difficulties,one was that brought on by the pandemic,resource was reduced by the shrinkage of the social network,the other was underutilization of resource.To deal with these difficulties,the rehabilitation service project for the elderly with dementia was carried out by social workers.To raising the project funds,social workers expanded the relationship between the elderly with dementia and donators by social advocacy,and took advantage of the original social network which was formed by donators and charities.In this project,there were two social work intervention pathways to increase resource which was embedded on the social network.One was improving the strength of the relationship between the elderly with dementia and nurses who offer work therapy by social work supervision,the other was expanding the social network by group work.Therefore,the instrumental resource was linked and allocated by maintaining the original social network and the socioemotional resource was linked and allocated by expanding the social network among the elderly with dementia.