A Case Intervention Study On Mental Endowment Problems Of Empty-nesters In Rural Areas

The seventh national population census in 2021 shows that China’s population aging process is accelerating,the number of elderly people continues to increase,and there is a significant difference in the level of aging between urban and rural areas.Data show that the number of elderly people aged 60 and above in China is 264.02 million,accounting for 18.7%of the total population of China,among which the rural elderly account for 75% of the total population of the country,and the proportion of the rural elderly population aged 60 and above is 23.81% of the total rural population.The proportion of the elderly population aged60 and above in the urban population is 7.99 percentage points higher than that of the urban population,and the level of aging in rural areas is significantly higher than that in urban areas.Correspondingly,a large number of young rural labor force swarmed into cities for work,and the phenomenon of "empty-nester" in rural areas is increasingly intensified.The number of "empty-nesters" in rural areas is increasing and obviously far more than that in urban areas.In addition to material and economic support,empty-nesters also need to meet their emotional and psychological needs,so as to help them spend their old age peacefully and joyfully.This kind of emotional,psychological needs of the elderly group to meet,that is,"spiritual endowment".However,the rural empty nesters are limited by many factors,and their mental needs are not met with enough attention,which makes them face more serious problems,more complex reasons,and more difficult to improve.However,the deficiency of "spiritual endowment" makes a considerable number of empty nesters in rural areas depressed and dispirited,losing hope,feeling self-pity and unwilling to communicate in interpersonal relationships,and even causing regrettable and irreparable consequences,which ultimately affects family harmony and even social stability.Z is a typical example of rural empty nesters in village D of T city,Hubei Province.This study took Mr.Z as the service object,and firstly sorted out the problems existing in his mental endowment,including his own strong sense of loneliness and vanity,serious phenomenon that his children only pay attention to economic and material support,weak contact with relatives and neighbors and lack of emotional support,and the community has no time to pay attention to the spiritual and cultural life of empty-nesters,etc.Then it analyzes the causes of these problems,including the existence of self-cognition deviation,the loss of life meaning,the lack of filial piety education for children,the lack of ethics of "raising and respecting ",the narrow way of communication with friends and neighbors,the weakening of deep interaction,and the limited awareness and ability of rural community spiritual endowment service,etc.Based on the analysis,it has been clear about that Z has the needs to rectify cognitive biases,rebuild the meaning of life to improve demand,strengthen children’s filial piety education,strengthening the "raising and respecting" ethical demand,expand communication channel to interact with neighbors,deepen the demand of the interpersonal interaction,and enhance community empty nester spiritual and cultural life demand supply consciousness and ability.Finally,through the intervention of social work,this study uses narrative therapy to refute dialogue to change Z’s deviant cognition and clarify the meaning of life.Guide Z’s relatives and friends to play the role,supplement filial piety education,strengthen the ethical awareness of "raising and respecting both";Deconstruct the problem from an advantageous perspective,improve the communication mode of Mr.Z,and improve interpersonal openness;Design and carry out community public welfare activities in line with the self-realization needs of Mr.Z to enhance his sense of value and dignity.This study is devoted to the service and summary of representative cases,and provides sample accumulation and practical evidence for the improvement of common problems of similar groups through the acquisition of first-hand data and materials,hoping to make some beneficial preliminary attempts and explorations for subsequent related studies.