A Study Of The Adaptation Problems Of The Elderly Resettled In Communities Changing From Villages To Habitats

In recent years,the urbanization process of China has been accelerating.However,behind the development of urbanization is a large demand for land,which forms a government-led urbanization path of "land acquisition-demolition-resettlement-upstairsvillage resettlement ",resulting in more and more resettlement populations.These resettled people " moved " from rural areas to cities in a very short period of time,they must experience identity,habits,social,cultural,psychological,and other aspects of change.Among these people,the elderly face more problems.As a vulnerable group,the resettlement of the elderly is more passive and difficult to adapt to change,which not only affects the quality of life of the elderly but also affects the overall realization of social stability and transformation goals in the long run.This study adopts the qualitative research method and uses the specific method of case study to collect data from ten resettled elderly people and two community workers in community J.Through in-depth interviews and participant observation,we collect data to understand the actual living conditions of the resettled elderly people in the"village-to-residence" community in their new community life,The study will analyze the causes of social adjustment problems of the resettled elderly and try to propose targeted and practical coping strategies from a social work perspective.The field study found that there are rural and urban elements intertwined in the"village-to-residence" communities,and the resettled elderly often experience varying degrees of discomfort when facing the new urban community due to their own ability and literacy level.Specifically,these discomforts can be classified as discomfort in social interaction with family,peer groups,and the community;cultural maladjustment in tenns of land-based homeland feelings and resident identity transformation as well as urban cultural awareness;life adaptation barriers caused by the change of living space and living environment;and psychological adaptation conflicts caused by community recognition and self-identity.These social maladjustments phenomena will seriously affect the quality of life of the resettled elderly in the new community and affect all aspects of the resettled elderly’s life,psychology,and communication.Based on the findings of the field research,this study attempts to explore the causes of social adaptation problems of the elderly in the "village to residence" community through the lens of social support theory.The study found that the causes of social maladjustment among the elderly in the "village to residence" community can be discussed at three levels:micro,meso,and macro.At the micro-level,affected by factors such as the low educational level of the elderly,the decline of physical function,and the solidification of ideas,the elderly have poor initiative and weak ability to adapt to the changing environment;at the meso-level,due to multiple factors such as insufficient family care,weak emotional support,poor community infrastructure,and aging management style,the resettled elderly have not established a good meso support network;at the macro-level,the local government’s demolition and resettlement policies largely put the resettled elderly in a passive position,losing their initiative in the face of environmental changes.With reference to modern social work professional theory,according to the analysis of the factors of social maladjustment of the elderly in placement,the author believe that if we want to solve this problem,we need to rely on the individual,families,communities,governments,and the professional strength of social workers to work together to solve the problem from all levels and aspects of social support.At the individual and family levels,individual elderly people should actively change their mindset and improve their initiative;families should provide more emotional companionship for the elderly;communities should improve infrastructure construction,create a new community culture,improve community cohesion,and improve the overall quality of the management team to truly create a comfortable community environment for the life of the elderly people;the government should provide the elderly people with a more beneficial life development of social resettlement policies and social security policies;social work should play a professional role in helping the vulnerable groups and use its expertise to provide adequate social support for the elderly in resettlement.