A Descriptive Study of Common Ailments, the Social Support and the Coping Strategies of the Elderly Living with Family in a Selected Village of Haldwani, Uttarakhand

Background and Objective: Aging is a universal phenomenon and a natural biological process of life cycle. It is not a disease which can be cured. “Old age eventually leads to end of life span”. It is a period when people ‘move away’ from previous, more desirable periods or times of usefulness. Life span is frequently subdivided into early old age, which extends from age 60 to 70, and advanced old age, which begins at 70 and extends to the life. The present study assessed the social support network available for the elderly to deal with the common ailments, and to find out the correlation between the social support network and health status of the elderly. Descriptive and exploratory research design was adapted. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the samples. A sample 30 was selected in the age group 60 and above. This study result for the social support score was high for large number of the respondents 22 (73.3%) and 20% of the elderly had moderate social support score and only 6.7% had low social support score. The family was the center of life activity and major social support for all of them. The correlation value between social support and composite health status was r= 0.17 which showed that there is a weak positive correlation. Whenever the elderly experienced health problems they 18 (60 %) were consulting the doctor. No major disability or handicap was prevalent except minor auditory degeneration and joint stiffness.