There is an ongoing debate around nursing homes and whether or not it is the right thing to do when family members grow older. It is a matter of familial and social concerns. Sometimes, families will have elderly relatives that have sicknesses that require them to be away from their families because the family does not have the facility to take care of them. However, in some societies, leaving elders at an old folks' home is something that is stigmatized because it gives the impression that the children don't care for what will happen to their parents or grandparents.
We gathered responses from 28 respondents from Indonesia, the Philippines, the Netherlands, South Korea and the United States about this issue.
Question 1: How old are you?
We asked for our respondents' ages because we wanted to know the generation that these people are in and how to find any differences in their understanding of this issue.
10-13: 2 people
14-16: 18 people
17-19: 0 people
20-25: 1 person
26+: 7 people
Since most of the respondents were in the age range of 14 years old to 16 years old, we can assume that our respondents will have some sort of a good understanding about this issue. By 16 years old, we assume that these respondents have had some interaction with their grandparents and other elderly people.
Question 2: Please enter your ethnicity and the country you live in.
This was an open-ended question where our respondents could fill in because we didn't want to discriminate people from certain cultures.
Most of our respondents said that they lived in an Asian country, while a small portion lived or came from the United States.
Where do our respondents come from?
Indonesia: 12 people
Philippines: 9 people
United States: 1 person
South Korea: 4 people
Chinese-Indonesian: 1 person
British-Indonesian: 1 person
What type of culture do our respondents claim they come from?
Asian: 26 people
Caucasian: 1 person
Dutch: 1 person
Question 3: How do you think your culture views the elderly?
We asked our respondents on how they felt like their culture viewed and treated their elderly. In this question, they did not need to state any explanation because this was a multiple choice question.
Extremely important: 8 people
Very important: 15 people
Somewhat important: 4 people
Not so important: 1 person
Not at all important: 0 people
Question 4: How do you (personally) view the elderly?
In this question, culture and society aside, we asked how they personally viewed the elderly. They didn't need to hold onto social or cultural views.
Extremely important: 10 people
Very important: 15 people
Somewhat important: 3 people
Not so important: 0 people
Not at all important: 0 people
Question 5: Do you think that leaving your elderly relatives at a nursing home is the right thing to do when they grow old?
This is the Yes/No question where we first ask the question about nursing homes. Surprisingly, no respondent said yes.
Yes: 0 people
No: 20 people
Undecided: 8 people
Question 6: Have you left your grandparents at a nursing home?
This is another Yes/No question where we ask if they have left grandparents at a nursing home but we didn't need their reasons why yet.
Yes: 2 people
No: 26 people
Question 7: What do you think are the reasons why people leave the elderly at a nursing home?
This was a free answer, our respondents could answer in a couple of words or in a paragraph. Most of our respondents said one thing or the other, work or being unable to care for the elders. However, two respondents said something detailed.
"Sometimes, nursing homes are very beneficial and essential for both the elderly family member and the family. When I stated above that our family had put a member in a nursing home, you must understand the reason. Our family does not have the facilities or resources to properly care for my grandfather. Because he has advanced dementia, he needs constant care and better living conditions than we can provide. Sometimes putting families in nursing homes is also safer for the elderly. Because we do not have maids or other helpers in the United States, sometimes it is better for the person's health and well-being if they are in a home where if they fall they can be immediately helped. However, I also know that people use nursing homes as a quick fix and to pass on all responsibility for an elderly family member to others. It can be good and bad." (Respondent #27)
"If at a certain point, an elderly person cannot look after themselves normally, and if their family is too busy to consistently look after them, that's when people leave their elderly at a nursing home." (Respondent #24)
Question 8: If you haven't already, would you leave your grandparents at a nursing home?
In this question, we asked respondents if personally they would leave their elders at a nursing home.
Yes: 0 people
No: 28 people
From what our respondents said, most of them did not really support leaving their family members in nursing homes, but they also gave ambiguous answers. It shows us the interesting spectrum of how people from different cultures and countries view how to treat the elderly and whether or not placing them in a nursing home is the first action we must take.
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