The Knowledge and Practices of Self-Care Capabilities among Geriatric Population

Introduction: Aging is a universal process. In the words of Seneca - "old age is an incurable disease". Sir James Sterling Ross Commented "you do not heal old age, you protect it, you promote it and you extend it”. The number of old age people indwelling in the world is increasing rapidly. Some of them tackle the situation in a more pleasant way. But the majority of the geriatric clients are seeing it in negative manner. Here comes the importance of the self-care activities. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, old age is the time of life when you are old, above the age group of 60 years. Objective: The Objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge of self-care capabilities among geriatric population in Handignur village in Belagavi district of Karnataka state in India, to find out the practices of self-care capabilities among geriatric population in Handignur village and to find an association between knowledge and practices regarding self-care capabilities among geriatric population in Handignur village. Methodology: Descriptive survey design was used for the study. A total of 252 study subjects above 60 years were selected for the study by using purposive sampling technique. The setting selected for the present study was Handignur village in Belagavi district, Karnataka state, India. Data collection was done using items assessing knowledge regarding self-care capabilities and check list; related to items assessing practice. Results: Out of 252 subjects surveyed, 105(41%) were having good knowledge, 90(35.7%) were having average knowledge and only 57(22.6%) were having poor knowledge regarding self-care capability. Among practices, majority gave their feedback in terms of not following the practices mentioned in the checklist. There was a strong association between knowledge and variables like age, occupation, monthly income, gender, type of family, diet, education, habits, health conditions, but religion did not show any statistically significant association regarding self care capability. Conclusion: The study aids as a milestone to provide optimal care for the growing number of elderly people. It also reflects the attitude practiced in the past and modified in the future by the nurses. The study also enhances the impact of the age, gender, occupation, socio-economic status, health condition and activity for the daily living in the health care system of geriatric population.