SUHVEY ELM .r F-Y ' ""1‘7Iv""\"f“ RFIALJ A‘L‘o .|\."_JnVC4‘._‘ "Y‘\‘. ;; “' " ~ ,"'.v~"-u V‘I-‘l:v.‘-l'\r VILJH'K—AA‘~ ‘ 114-.1 at [1‘ ‘- (‘u‘k—- ...I‘J, i _.' JAA..\J[XL'~ A4 OF PRE EXT AI“ PQTE" LY A38, Jternfe1dt F I ‘ ‘ 91913005 FINES: Luis “J. 25t per day per item . 3 ‘Zfi\}'\‘ i , _R_§ URN us LIBRARY MATERIALS: ‘)'\ "3":‘17'5‘.’ 1 P1 :9 in book return to renove \i M ”" '4 i. 'e from circulation records ' l 1.3' '. v " SURVEY OF PRESENT AND POTENTIAL RESOURCES FOR OLDER PEOPLE IN LARSING,MICHIGAN by JV Aeee Stgrnfeldt ‘F .F" A PROJECT REPORT Submitted to the School of Graduate Studied of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Social Service Summer 1951 ...- Mad... 4...... a. R lamina. 4. _ S m E m “—- .—-_.‘. ._.__—.—. _. 4__.‘ __— ..__.._...__ u- .n... ._... -'> - ’ I rut; . I . . ‘_ , - , ' . . -‘ — . .v- 4- - - . '— '-_ a“ . ‘flfl-‘A— “—_v—-—._‘-‘—- . r- . . d. In ' If; ‘ -4?“ A: (7 - LEA "“ thx. - ' , “.1'. _. ___ . .41.”. 1 ”a. (3—51)" . _, ‘ E'Wd‘ A. . . TABLE OF COETEKTS I INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of problem 2. Review of a previous study 5. Definition of terms 4. Lethods and techniques II PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA A Data about the organizations 1. Type of organizations 2. Number of members 5. Number of older members B Data about the present services and activities 1. Groups for older people 2. Participation in group activities 5. Individual services C Data about potential programs for older peeple 1. Previous plans 2- Available resources 5. Interest in future programs III SULmARY, CONCLUSIONS, AXD RECOAJEKDATIONS 1. Summary 2- Conclusions and recommendations ELECTED BILLIOGRAPHY (1) APPEKDIX Page l2 l4 17 17 17 22 22 22 25 52 52 41 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Organizations to which questionnaires were sent, by content and replies 10 2. Organizations which replied, by size of membership I} 5. Members of 60 years and over in the organizations studied 16 4. Organizations, which have sponsored or established an old-age group 18 5. Organizations, which have previously considered organizing a group for older people, by awailable resources and interest 19 6. Participation of older people in the activities of their organization 21 7. Individual services provided by the organizations to the older peeple 25 8. Individual services provided to older peOple 24 9. Resources, which could be made available by organizations for group activities of older people 26 10. Resources, which could be made available for group activities 27 11. Interest in membership of organizations for the planning of old-age programs 51 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page I Organizations, to which questionnaires were sent, by content and replies 11 II Resources, which could be made available by organizations 28 The writer wishes to eXpress her sincere thanks to Dr.Ernest 5. Harper and Dr.Bernhard Ross, under wh>se supervision, kind guidance and interest the study was undertaken. She is also greatly indebted to Mr. Peretz Katz and miss Esther Anson for their valuable help with the project. INTRODUCTION Statement of Problem The present study is a survey of the existing and potential re- sources for the group activities of the older people in the city of Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan- The Ingham County Council of Social welfare in order to meet the needs of the aging pepulation in the local community planning, orga- nized in February 1950 the Committee on Older People. The problem of the aged has recently become very acute. The per- centage of the persons over 60 years in the United States is rapidly increasing. At the beginning of this century, there were about 5,000,000 persons 65 and over in the United States. This was 4.1 per cent of the total papulation. Looking at the 45 through 64 years group, these constituted 15.7 per cent of the pepulation, totaling 10.4 millions. By 1950, the total population of this country, aged 45 and ever, had increased from 15-48 millions to 42.5 millions -- an absolute increase of 29.02 million persons. The 45 to 64 group now makes up 20.5 per cent of the total population and the 65 plus 1 group equals 7.6 per cent of the total. It is estimated that by 1 Fact Book on the hployment Problems of Older Workers, (0.8. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 19$), p.l. 1975 there will be 20 millions over 65, or 11.0 per cent of po- 1 pulation. With the constant increase in numbers, the needs and problems of the older people have attained almost primary status in.the focus of social planning. Many communities have recognized the various problems affecting the aged and have started to organize community programs, in order to meet these needs. The aging is a biological, psychological, and sociological process and all the problems are closely interrelated. The communities have used an overall approach in studying the particular needs of the older people in their com- munities and explored the available resources in all aspects. A comprehensive community planning for the aged encloses most of the major fields in social welfare. A basic philosOphy, which was felt by the Lansing committee to be imperative in the development of any program, was the idea,' that older people should be the ones to determine, what they need. Also, the older people should be asked to assume leadership roles in the actual development and presentation of program.and in ini- tiating a study of the local situation. It was also agreed, that there would be a definite need for volunteer leadership, both.from the lay group and from the professional group, to help give gui- dance and direction.to the programs It seemed to the committee that a starting point should be a program, which would provide for constructive use of time by older 1 Philip Hauser - Committee Report. National Conference on Aging, Washington, D.C. August 12 - 15, I950- peeple. In other words, it seemed that a recreational program might be a logical starting point, before getting into other areas of con- cern, such as health, housing and other kindred problems. A pilot- type of program was agreed upon, an evaluation of the experience of this pilot program should be made as guide for future expansion of the program. According to the plan of action, first, a study was initiated to determine the needs of the older people in the community. As second step, it was determined, to explore the present and poten- tial resources to meet the needs and as third, to improve, promote and initiate the existing and new necessary and.more adequate programs for the older people. Review of a Previous Study It is interesting to note from the conclusions and summary of the pilot-study 'A Survey of the Needs, Interests and Backgrounds of a Representative Sampling of Elderly Persons in the Fourth Ward in the City of Lansing, Michigan", a study made in 1950, certain attitudes, which were entirely congruent with the data from the va- rious studies done in.other cities. A majority of the persons in the group considered their health fair or better, and none felt, that their health was ”very poor“. A majority of the people interviewed had no gainful employment. Fifty per cent of the group quit working full time either, because they could not find work, could not work, because of age and health, or because they were retired by their employer. The attendance at group activities, as well as at religious services was infrequent by most, due to difficulty in walking and lack of transportation;infrequent attendance at religious services tended to be caused mueh.more by the previously mentioned reasons than in a decline of interest. Although a few actively participa- ted in organizational activities, more tended to belong to organi- zations and not participate; even.more did not belong to any type of organization. There was also a very noticeable decrease in the number of persons holding offices. A preference was shown for mixed groups of all ages. It was found, that transportation was a problem of most , as noted before, since walking was difficult for some and public transportation was often expensive. The conclusion of the study was, that in this group as in other similar groups, not only were the unity and intensity of family life changed and diminished, but the companionship of friends also de- creased with increasing age; a strong emotional need for companion- ship was prevalent. It was concluded, that since many of the studied group knew no others of the same age and with shmilar interest, that community programs were needed to meet the needs, interest, and back- grounds of elderly people. Definition of terms Since the needs of the older people have been eXplored by va- rious studies and presented in the current literature, the needs of the older people have been determined to certain extent, however, there is a necessity to examine the available resources and interests in the community, as to be able in a realistic way to initiate some of the pilot program. It was also felt, that the community needed a widespread community education program, interpretation and prepa- ration in understanding the volume of the problem. The Committee had no data about the Lansing community concerning the present participation of older people in the activities of the civic organizations. As a second step toward the set goal, the com- mittee started the present survey I'Survey of Present and Potential Resources for Older People". In defining the term "older people", one has difficulty in attempting to confine the period of old age. The older person in this culture is lacking a definite well-defined social role and a concept of the possible eXpected age level marking the boundary bet- ween adulthood and old age. In.many instances women over 55 and men over 40, are unable to find work, since they are considered too old to be employed on certain jobs. The employers are hesitant to employ persons of 55 and over, although a refusal usually has no justifi- cation. The present survey doss not concern with the later years of the middle age from forty to sixty, which already have the typical anxieties and frustrations of the older years. During this period the adjustment to the older years may be gradual, the person still feels himself able to work, is active, however, it is already a period, where certain changes may occur very suddenly, a loss of a job may often result in a permanent unemployment. During this pe- riod of time usually the individual still is, or is gaining, the peak of his social status. He is surrounded by his familiy, friends, is aetive in his job, clubs, church and has accepted and achieved the according roles. it is actually a misconception in defining the old age as starting at 60, since the change to old age is varying from individual to individual and from situation to situa- tion. In this study, it was felt that the pepular term ”older peop- 16" should be used with the designation of an age group of 60 years and over. Methods and techniques The indirect method through a questionnaire which was sent to the leaders of various civic and religious organizations was chosen as a method to secure data. The aim was to send the questionnaires to all organizations which had recreation, leisure time, or other social functions as their primary program, and were generally recognized as organizations with constructive community activities. The first draft of the questionnaire was elaborate and lengthy, but was later reduced to a smaller form of two pages. The reason of de- creasing the number of questions was the calculation, that a long list of questions probably would not interest and tempt the majority of the organizations to answer it. It was an attempt to make the questionnaire as clear and brief as possible, in order to receive the best number of responses for the specific questions which were essential for the study. The questionnaire is composed of 5 major parts: 1) data about the organization (type, membership, number of ' older members) 2) data about the present services and activities for the older members fi) data about the potential programs for older peeple and existing interests. The questionnaires were sent to the organizations, which were listed with the Ingham County Council of social Welfare, Chamber of Commerce and the local newspaper “State Journal“. The lists were compiled and finally consisted of 466 organizations. The question- naires were sent to the presidents of the organizations, since many organizations did not have any clubrooms and their meetings were held at various different places in town. The lists were not en- tirely reliable, since some of them dated even.more than.a.year ago. It was felt, that although the lists came from three different sour- cos, they might not have the entire coverage of Lansing orga- nizations. The number of the organizations included, however, seemed to be entirely satisfactory for a reliable sample. II. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA A. Data about the Organization 1. Typg 2; organization. Table 1 presents the distribution of the organizations according to the type of activities. Distribution to the listed groups, however, was tentative, since there was no re- liable information cn hand about the objectives of the organizations. The total of the questionnaires, which were sent out, was 466 and the returns were 169, which is 57.6 per cent of the total. The largest groups, to which the questionnaires were sent, were the Religious Organizations with 151 represented, and the Social, Business and Service Clubs with 146 organizations. These two groups form 65.7 per cent of the total number of the questionnaires which were sent out. The highest return of 66.7 per cent was received from the Business Associations, from the 24 questionnaires which were sent out, 16 were returned. The next highest group was the Youth Organizations and Child Study Groups, from the 24 replied 15, which forms a return of 54.1 per cent. The lowest return was from the Fraternal Orders; compared TABLE 1 ORGANIZATIONS TO WHICH QUESTIONNAIRES WERE SENT, BY CONTENT AND REPLIES ’___._....< __7.—_ 10 - estionnaires sent ‘h. 1i.." Per Type of Organization Per cent Per cent cent Number Distribution.Number Distribution replies TOt‘l sooesseeee z.66 100-0 169 100.0 5706 Religious Organizations 151 52-4 47 27.8 55-1 Social,Business a. Service 1A6 51.) 58 54.5 52.9 Clubs American Legion Posts do #0 8.6 14 8.5 55.0 V0t.0rg. Fraternal Orders 25 50A 2 102 800 POTeAe 25 504 9 504 $00 Business Associations 24 5.1 16 9.4 66.? Youth Org. a. Child Study 24 5.1 15 7.7 51m Groups Aoademical Organizations 12 2-5 4 2-5 55-5 Labor Unions 11 2-4 5 1-8 27.2 Social lelfare Organiza- 8 1.7 5 1-8 57.5 ticns 11 mmgmm 652 2.222.22U 2% H23 $222 -mm~22<2zo22m%a 22:3 o2.- m20F