Reasons for the Creation of New Social Networks by the Elderly after Relocation ()
1. INTRODUCTION
The elderly population in Japan surpassed 22 percent (28 million people) and the elderly population is expected to continually increase in the future as well [1]. In Japan, the importance of preventing the elderly from being in need of care in order to maintain the current supply system of the Japanese Association of Healthcare Service is emphasized [2]. At the same time, the relocated elderly population in Japan is increasing, and the percentage of the elderly population aged 65 or above, who have experienced relocation in the past 5 years is approximately 10 percent [3].
The reasons for the relocation of the elderly are retirements, housing and financial conditions, changes in the family structure such as a spouse’s death, and changes in health condition [4,5]. In the Sixth National Survey on Migration in Japan (2010), the most common reasons for the relocation of the elderly aged 65 or above for both men and women were “family-related reasons” and “housing-related reasons” [3]. For elderly people, relocation is a significant event, and it became apparent that contributing factors such as whether the relocation is prepared or not, whether the relocation is voluntary or involuntary as well as their health condition and controllability have an impact on their health conditions later on and life expectancies. [6,7].
For the relocated elderly to create social networks in a new environment is considered to be a critical issue. In research regarding accommodation after relocation, the following became clear: social networks can be the mediator for the relocation stress [8], learned resourcefulness-related relocation adjustment [9], and social interaction of the elderly with their environment is decisive for life adjustment [10]. Thus, despite the changes in their environment due to relocation, if there is a restructuring of the social network after the relocation, then it can alleviate the negative impact of being relocated.
In research regarding the factors of the elderly people’s QOL and health, it is shown that the neighborhood factors, environmental buoying and social network were linked to their health [11]. For the elderly, it is also reported that communications with their friends rather than their family and relatives could have an impact on the long-term survival rate [12]. Further, it is said that social networks can become a part of the social capital of the elderly people’s lives, and it is expected that the research on social networks in neighborhoods for the elderly will be carried out in the future as well [13].
It is getting apparent that it is significant for the elderly to create a neighboring social network and to alleviate isolation [13-15]. However, as of now there are few reports why the elderly people create social networks from the viewpoint of the elderly themselves.
The purpose of this research is to examine the reasons why the relocated elderly create social networks in the neighborhood. It is thought that it is important for the relocated elderly to create a neighboring social network for their health and life later on. This time, the research questions are what kind of reasons and what kind of people that the relocated elderly create social networks with.
The significance of the research is to understand the elderly people’s feelings toward neighboring social networks after the relocation and help to create support which is considerate to an individual feeling. At the same time, in order to enhance the strength of communities where the elderly live, shedding a light on what kind of people the elderly people were seeking around them and what kind of expectation they had will become materials for considering a community level intervention.
2. METHODS
2.1. Field and Participants
They are 65 years or above who relocated in the past 5 years to “A town” suburb in the metropolitan areas of Hokkaido. The population of A town is about 20,000 and the aging rate is about 18 percent. The number of the relocated elderly to the town is about 10 to 20 people per year. The approach to recruit the relocated elderly people within 5 years was through a referral by the local welfare commissioners in the town.
Researchers asked the local welfare commissioners association to support to this study as researchers had participated their meeting. All of local welfare commissioners member are 40 people. Six of the local welfare commissioners introduced to researchers the candidates (14 people) who relocated and being appropriate for this research conditions. Another procedure is that researchers directly contacted members of the Health care program provided by the town which aims to prevent the elderly people from staying at home all the time. Participants were whom researchers had met in the health care program. Researchers had participated 10 times and asked them to entry this research. No people rejected in both procedures.
The subject area is a town with heavy snowfall. In winter, the residents need to remove snow off the streets and roofs and a block-association and neighbors mutually cooperate to work it out. There are no large condominiums in the research subject area, and all of the subjects live in public one-story houses or detached houses.
2.2. Data Collection
The 3 certified public health nurses conducted an individual interview. The semi-structured interviews were conducted individually. Interview took 30 - 120 minutes. The location of each interview was chosen according to their hopes e.g. their house or a room of the health center. The following questions were asked to elderly people. “What kind of change were happened, as you had relocation, with neighborhood between before and after the relocation?”, “How did greet in the neighborhood immediately after the relocation?”, “Usually, How are you doing with association with the neighbors?”
2.3. Consideration of Ethical Sensitivity
Verbal and written explanations of the purpose of the research were given to the all participants. Upon getting consents from them, the interviews were recorded and the verbatim records were written. Researchers kept The Code of Ethics for Nurses [16] strictly in all the procedure. It was also explained to them that personal information would be strictly maintained and the obtained data would not be used other than for the purpose of this research.
2.4. Data Analysis
The qualitative inductive way was taken for the method of analysis.
At the first stage of the data analysis, the researchers repeatedly and carefully read the transcripts with the research questions in mind. Next, the comments regarding neighboring social networks from the transcripts were extracted from each case individually. Then, the comments regarding the reasons for making neighboring social networks and the people who they create networks with were extracted, and those contents were compared by the elderly who live alone and those live with their families.
The table of the work of data was made according to the individual. The portion told about the relation with the neighborhood was extracted as a code. The code for all the participants was overlooked. The similar code was arranged in the near and the subcategory was made. When the meaning of a subcategory was similar, a category was completed. In this process, the joint research person analyzed together and one person experienced in qualitative research joined examination. In order to enhance the credibility of the analysis, thorough deliberations were made among the collaborators.
3. RESULTS
Table 1 shows participant’s characteristics. There were