24 საათიან სახელმწიფო მზრუნველობის სისტემაში მყოფ ხანდაზმულთა ბიო-ფსიქო-სოციალური გამოწვევები საქართველოში

The present work "Bio-psycho-social challenges and needs of the elderly people in the 24 hour
statecare system in Georgia" is thesis submitted in partial fulfillement of requirements for the degree of
Master in Social Work.
The aim of the MA thesisis to study the bio-psycho-social conditions of elderly people in the 24 hour
state care system, identify existing challenges and needs and elaborate relevant recommendations. To
accomplish this, tasks were oriented to study the four main issues in relation to elderly people: 1) the
psychological conditions of beneficiaries; 2)their physical and physiological conditions; 3)the social
conditions of the beneficiaries; 4) the neture and quality of the existing services.
In order to answer the aims and goals of he research we used the qualitative research methdos:
literature review, analysis of documents, in-depth interviews and focus groups with the beneficiaries
and expert interviews. The target groups of empirical research was the beneficiaries living in the 24hour
state

care systemsituated in Tbilisi and western Georgia, namely Kutaisi, Batumi and Samtredia.
Overall 46 beneficiaries were interviewed. For expert interviews we have chosen the social worker,
doctor and psychologisthaving the practical experience of working with the target group in the
institutions. In order to study the condition and attitudes, we used
The study revealed that elderly people in the 24-hour state care system are characterized with unstable
psychological conditions, which are expressed with high anxiety and depression. The study revealed
that the adaptation process of elderly people with the institutions and services is difficult, they suffer
with the various types of illnesses. The have a weak social networks,problems in integration into
society and are often victims of stigma and discrimination. In general, the beneficiaries declare to be
the content with the environment and services, although this is position revealed in comparison to
previous situation, beened a homepless. The important factor affecting the level of satisfaction with the
service is very much defined with the size of the institution and number of persons living per room.