A Comparative Study to Assess the Social Problems among Male and Female Senior Citizens in A Selected Hospital at Salem

Abstract

Objectives: 1 to evaluate the social problems among male senior citizens in a selected hospital. 2 To assess the social problems among female senior citizens in a selected hospital. 3 To compare the social problems between male and female senior citizens in selected hospitals, such as the Hospital. Hypotheses: H1: There is a significant association between the social problems among senior citizens and their selected demographic variables. H1[a]: There is a significant association between the social problems of senior citizens and their marital status. H1[b]: There is a significant association between the social problems of senior citizens and their payment. Methods: This was a quantitative descriptive comparative study. The sample is the male and female senior citizens aged 55- 75 admitted to Shanmuga Hospital. The sampling technique used was the non-probability purposive sampling technique. Demographic data is utilized to gather the characteristics of the sample. It included age, gender, education, marital status, number of children, employment status, monthly income, and living companionship of the senior citizens. Demographic data was used for descriptive analysis. A 3-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the social problems among the male and female senior citizens in selected Hospitals at Salem. The Likert scale consists of 15 questions with 3 options, always, sometimes and never, with the scores 1, 2, and 3, respectively. A structured interview schedule was used to evaluate the social problems of senior citizens in a selected hospital. Results: The findings of the study revealed that out of 15 male samples, 3(20%) had mild social problems,6(40%) had moderate social problems, and 6(40%) had severe social problems. The findings of the study reveal that Out of 15 female samples, 3(20%) had mild social problems, 7(47%) had moderate social problems, and 5(33%) had severe social problems. In this study, the unpaired 't' test was used to compare the social problems of male and female senior citizens. The unpaired t-test value was 0.1, which is less than the table value of 2.05, showing no significant difference in social problems of male and female senior citizens. In this study, the association between the social problems of senior citizens and their selected demographic variables (marital status and payment). The chi-square analysis was done to check the association 8.79, 1.1 value for the marital status and payment for the table value 12.59 respectively at p<0.05 level. Hence, there is no significant relationship between the social problems of senior citizens and their demographic variables (marital status and payment). Conclusion: The male and female senior citizens were experiencing social problems, and there is no significant association between them and selected demographic variables such as marital status and payment.