Internet Use And Mental Health Of The Elderly

With the development of economy and society as well as the progress of human civilization,the material conditions of the elderly have been gradually improved.All sectors of society have been paying more attention to the improvement of not only physical health but also the mental health of the elderly.At the same time,with the rapid development and popularization of the Internet in China,an increasing number of middle-aged and old people start to use the Internet which is gradually applied to all aspects of their life.Therefore,further research on the use of the Internet by the elderly research on the use of the Internet by the elderly,and the role of the Internet in the mental health of the elderly is particularly necessary.At present,scholars home and abroad have mainly studied the relationship between the Internet use and mental health of the elderly,with the focus on whether the impact of using the Internet on the mental health of the elderly is positive.Besides,some scholars began to study how Internet affects the mental health of the elderly people,and some have proposed macro and median level recommendations from different perspectives.This paper is aimed at exploring whether the use of the Internet has an impact on the mental health of the elderly,and studying the heterogeneity between the use of the Internet and the mental health of the elderly by conducting a logistic regression of the variables about these two factors obtained in the CGSS 2015 database.Through the research,the following conclusions could be drawn:Internet use has a significant impact on the mental health of the elderly,and it is positive;compared with elderly females,Internet use has a positive prediction of mental health for elderly males;compared with older people,Internet use has a positive predictive effect on the mental health of comparatively younger people;compared with elderly people in higher social classes,Internet use has a positive predictive effect for those in lower social classes.Based on the above research results,and relevant social work theories,I will discuss how to improve the mental health of the elderly by strengthening the proper use of the Internet in three aspects:social case work,social group work and social community work.Specifically,social workers can use the Internet as an auxiliary intervention when engaged in special casework,so as to help meeting the autonom y needs,personal growth and self-efficacy needs of the elderly;they can set up asocial group or support group to teach the elderly how to use the Internet to expand their social support network and improve their mental health;when engaged in community work,they can advocate the improvement of Internet infrastructure and the establishment of specialized community websites for the elderly so as to engage the elderly in using the Internet and improve their mental health.