Physical, Psychological and Social Education Needs of the Korean Elderly

노인의 신체적, 정신적 및 사회적 교육요구도

The purpose of this study was to examine what types of physical, psychological, and social problems elderly and what sort of education they were in want of to tackle their problems. The subjects in this study were 109 elderly who used Lifelong Education Center and social welfare agencies in Suwon. The data were gathered from September 1 through the 30th day, 2004. The instrument was questionnaires prepared by this researcher after reviewing relevant literature. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS(Ver. 11.0) program. The major findings were as follows: 1. Among different types of problems with the elderly people investigated, 42.2%, found economic problems most serious, followed by health problems with 33.9%. 2. They got a 4.36, 4.02 and 4.70 in needs for physical, psychological, and social education respectively. 3. Regarding physical area, the elderly people were most in want of education about the prevention of dementia. As to psychological area, they attached the meaning of death and preparation for that. Social area, they wanted to learn about problems with the elderly. Based on the findings of the study, I suggest that More educational programs geared toward the elderly should be developed in response to their needs for education.