Effectiveness of Teaching Module on Practice of Caregivers' and the Satisfaction of the Elderly in Selected Old Age Homes

Background: In the educated families, the old parents voluntarily opt for the stay in old age homes thinking that they should not be a hindrance to their children. They have made up their minds that they can lead a happy and peaceful life with their same age group people. In the western countries too, old age homes are in common practice and the people over there lead a healthy life. Our investment too, had realized the present day situation and established many old age homes.

Objectives: This study investigated practice of the caregivers regarding the care of the elderly and understanding how far the elderly people are satisfied with the environment and care provided in the old age homes.

Materials and methods: The research design selected for this study was pre Experimental design . Subject selection employed a random sampling method. Subjects meeting the inclusion criteria were interviewed after providing written consent. Data were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. This study was carried out at ten old age homes.

Results: In the pretest, 45% of the caregivers of the elderly had average level of practice, 35% had poor level of practice, 20% had good level practice and none of them had excellent level of practice regarding care of the elderly. According to the posttest practice, 37% of the caregivers had excellent level of practice, 63% of the caregivers had good level of practice and none of them had average and poor level of practice. In the pretest 96% of the elders had inadequate level of satisfaction, 4% of elders had moderate level of satisfaction and none of them had adequate level of satisfaction. As regards to the posttest, 11% (33) of elderly had adequate level of satisfaction, 89% (267) of the elderly had moderately level of satisfaction and none of them had inadequate and poor level of satisfaction.

Conclusion: The overall aspects of the practice score of caregivers of the elderly regarding care of the elderly were improved and also the satisfaction level of the elderly was improved after giving educational intervention to the caregivers.