42.3% of seniors prefer to live at home rather than with their children
There comes an age when people become somewhat more dependent. Whether due to illness or due to the aches and pains of years, the truth is that there is a moment in life when we see how close and dear people, like our parents or in-laws, begin to lose faculties ... and we have to decide. Do we take them home with our family? According to a recent study, almost half of the elderly do not want this option: they prefer to continue living in their own home.
Specific, the report of the Obra Social "la Caixa" and the Gerontological Institute reveals an important change in trend: the 42.3 percent of the older people surveyed prefer to live in their own home, Meanwhile he 4.5 percent refuse to live at home with their children.
The study, which has been titled First people: Caring how we would like to be cared for, also assures that, after the preference of living in the own home, the grandparents would choose a residence for people like them (28.6%) and, at a great distance, an adapted home (7.4%).
Most grandparents refuse to live with their children
It also highlights a significant fact: the 4.5 percent of respondents do not want to live in the children's house, a figure that goes down to the 2 percent in the generation between 55 and 74 years.
The study, coordinated by the two entities mentioned above, aims to be a participatory research on care and dependence on the elderly. To reach their conclusions, a total of 4,784 people have been surveyed, of whom 3,696 were citizens and 1,088 were professionals.
Of the total number of participants in the study, it is noteworthy that one in four cares for some other elderly person, something that occurs mainly in those who are between 35 and 54 years old (38.3%), which would coincide with adults who take care of their parents and older.
The benefits of caring for an elderly person
Although Spaniards prefer not to live in their children's homes when they are elderly, most respondents look after someone who is elderly. What consequences does this have? Asked by the caregivers, 84.1 percent of the respondents talk about emotional benefits thanks to the creation of a "feeling of usefulness and satisfaction". Of course, most mentions as the main opposition that leisure and leisure time is reduced.
The study also wanted to know what is considered good care for an elderly person. In this line, 30.9 percent of the sample believes that the most important thing is to have time to devote to the person in question. The second most mentioned option has been to have support and professional services (26.7 percent), followed by training (22.8 percent) and have information and advice.
Non-professional care for the elderly
These needs mentioned by the respondents are more important than it may seem. This is recalled by the report, which states that in Spain there are 4.4 million people who perform non-professional care tasks in the domestic sphere. Of these, it is estimated that more than 700,000 are over 65 years old.
"They are joined by hundreds of thousands of women who perform paid care tasks from their position as domestic workers", add the report in this same line.
To conclude, a note of the future: by 2050 it is estimated that in Spain there will be twice as many older people: a total of 16 million. Of these, almost half will be over 80 years old. Likewise, it is estimated that by the middle of this century there will be more than 172,000 people with more than one hundred years of life, which is 13 times more than at present.
Damián Montero
