Family-Based Long-Term Care for the Elderly in Indonesia
Writer :
Humas Ditjen Rehabilitasi Sosial
Translator :
Karlina Irsalyana
JAKARTA
(July 29, 2021) - The Director
General of Social Rehabilitation of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Harry
Hikmat was a speaker at the International Webinar on Social Work Profession in
Geriatric Current Roles, Challenges and Emerging Trends. Harry spoke about Long
term Care for Geriatrics: Family-Based Home Care Services.
The Elderly is someone who is over 60 years old.
In Indonesia, there are two categories of Elderly, namely Potential Elderly and
Non Potential Elderly. "The government focuses on handling the
Non-Potential Elderly because this category requires long-term care", said
Harry.
The elderly population will increase by 10% in
2020 based on data from BPS, Bappenas, Indonesian Population Projections for
2015-2035. This number is likely to continue to increase until 2035 by 16.5%
with more female elderly than male.
As many as 44% of the elderly in Indonesia
have comorbidities such as hypertension with the highest percentage of 63.5%,
dental problems by 53.5% and other diseases with a low percentage such as
rheumatism, oral problems, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, kidney
failure and other malignant diseases (cancer).
Many Indonesian elderly want to be cared for
by their spouses or children if they need treatment in the future. Therefore,
families, especially spouses and children, need skills and abilities in caring
for the elderly.
This is reinforced by BPS data, Susenas March
2019 that 40.64% of the elderly live with 3 generations in the family. This
shows that family-based care is the main approach in caring for the elderly who
need long-term care.
As many as 79% of elderly caregivers are
family members based on data from SILANI Bappenas 2020. They have an important
role in the daily activities of the elderly, especially for the elderly who
have chronic diseases. They are ready to give attention to administering drugs,
checking blood pressure, body temperature, and others. In addition, 10% of
Indonesian elderly need a nurse to help with daily activities.
During this pandemic, Indonesia is seriously
paying attention to safety and health guarantees for the elderly. In addition
to treatment, the elderly are the first group to be vaccinated and receive
facilities to prioritize health services.
"During the pandemic, home care is still possible
by implementing health protocols. One of these services can be carried out by
social workers," said Harry.
Social Workers play a role
in providing therapy (physical, psychosocial, and spiritual), inviting the
elderly's family to support the elderly as loved ones, ensuring that the
elderly receive the services they need, serving as communication liaisons
between the elderly and the service team and ensuring access for the elderly to
the social rehabilitation services provided by the government and community.
There are several
challenges faced by social workers in Indonesia, such as the level of skills
related to family-based long-term care, the need for associations related to
geriatric social workers as a medium for sharing experiences and formulating
competency standards and certification.
In addition, it is also a
challenge how they explain to other professions their role in long-term care
and training of caregivers to ensure families have competence in providing
services and care for the elderly at home.
There are several things
that need to be done to anticipate an increase in the number of elderly people
from year to year, namely increasing the quality and quantity of social service
programs for the elderly to protect the elderly from various risks of aging
(illness, neglect, loneliness), Provision of certified social nurses, including
social care for household members (children, grandchildren, siblings,
housemaids) and increasing the role of the family in caring for the elderly.
Other efforts are improving
public services through Posyandu Lansia (Indonesian Elderly Integrated
Services) which provide support to the elderly following
development/age needs, increasing national sustainability campaigns in all
sectors, increasing the role of the community and the private sector in
handling the elderly, including job opportunities for prospective Elderly,
improving the quality of social welfare of the community from an early age, so
that in old age it does not become a burden for the family or society.
Sources from several
countries in the world also said the importance of the role of Social Workers,
one of which is Sally Hughes, a representative from Canada who created an
Extended Opportunity Programs and Services project, which is a program for
Social Worker volunteers who want to learn and improve skills in the community
service, specifically for the elderly.
"Elderly in Canada are
not given enough attention, tend to be retarded, so many elderly Canadians
experience mental disorders such as depression. So we initiated a program in
collaboration with the Ministry of Health and NGOs to train Social Workers and
provide knowledge about caring for the elderly," he explained.
In Spain, Social Work is
recognized as a profession. This was conveyed by Reuben representatives from
Spain. The government has also facilitated 17 communities to take care of the
elderly since 2006. Caring for the elderly in the community must also meet
requirements, if the caretaker is a young woman and is single, she is not
allowed to leave the elderly in the community, she must take care of herself.
In Nepal, Aasati Poudel
said that people tend to be less concerned about the elderly, especially the
elderly who suffer from dementia. The Government of Nepal took the initiative
to raise public awareness of the elderly through the community.
Magie, a speaker from South
Africa has been running a charity mission since 2014 to create an advanced
healthy aging program that aims to improve the health of the elderly. He funds
training and sports activities for the elderly to keep them healthy.
The webinar, organized by
the Heritage Foundation of India, was attended by 350 participants from 26
countries. This webinar also features speakers from South Africa, Spain, Nepal, and Canada.
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