A Casework Intervention Study On The Spiritual Consolation Of The Left-behind Elderly Living Alone In Rural Areas

In the 1990s,with the increasing number of migrant workers,the left-behind elderly groups in rural areas have emerged on a large scale.Nowadays,with the guarantee of material life,people’s spiritual needs are increasing day by day.The satisfaction of spiritual needs is directly related to the physical health,quality of life and happiness of the left-behind elderly,which has a great significance in the sustainable development of rural areas,but also in the harmony and stability of the society.Whereas,due to widowhood,separation,divorce and other reasons,the left-behind elderly living alone are lack of children’s care and spouses’ companionship.Many left-behind elderly living alone are more likely to be alienated by their families and society,resulting in bad emotions such as loneliness,anxiety and depression,even leading to suicide behaviors.Therefore,as a special vulnerable group of the left-behind elderly,their mental health problems are more prominent and need more social attention.This study takes S city of Hebei Province as the survey site,selects 100 left-behind elderly people as the questionnaire survey objects through stratified sampling,including 28left-behind elderly people living alone and 72 non left-behind elderly people living alone,and conducted a field survey on the spiritual consolation status of the elderly.According to the problem performances of the left-behind elderly living alone in the questionnaire survey results,they are divided into three types: physiological function degeneration type,emotional dependence on spouse type as well as discordant family relationship type,then their psychological health is evaluated by the psychological health evaluation scale.Based on the analysis of the evaluation results of the scale,the researcher selects one client with serious lack of consolation among three types as the intervention object.Finally,under the guidance of social support theory and activity theory,the service plan is designed around four aspects such as children’s emotional support,leisure and entertainment life,interpersonal communication status as well as self-worth realization,and carries out seven case work interventions.In the process of intervention,combined with social work professional skills,direct and indirect intervention is carried out to help the client restore their life confidence,reconstruct social support network,which will meet the needs of consolation.After the case service,the researcher evaluates the intervention effect from processes and results of the activity,then summarizes and reflects against the whole case practice process.The assessment results show that the past misconceptions and negative emotions of the client have been improved,a positive and optimistic attitude towards elderly life has been established,the initiative and ability of self-spiritual consolation have been improved.At the meantime,emotional support strength for the client from families,peer groups,neighbors and communities has been strengthened,and the subjects and sources of consolation for the left behind elderly living alone have been increased.Finally,consolation plight of the left-behind elderly living alone has been alleviated to certain extent.