Population ageing is one of the major structural changes currently affecting the development of all European welfare states. Many countries have reformed their old age pension systems and/or implemented important new policies to respond to increasing – in quantity as well as quality – demands in elderly care. The paper explores citizens’ attitudes and expectations with regard to the division of responsibilities between the elderly themselves, family members and the state when it comes to ensuring the well-being of elderly in the future. How to ensure that people have sufficient financial means in their senior years and questions related to the provision of elderly care are two issues at the core of this debate and is the thematic focus of the paper.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 34228829In Slovenia, like in many European countries, the predominant housing option for the elderly is living at home with the support of home care services and/or family, or living in an institutional care setting. Various studies indicate that the elderly are unwilling to move elsewhere and that health issues are one of the important factors influencing the decision to move. This study explores how willing the elderly are to accepting various housing options in cases of poor, diminished health. It examines the attitudes people have toward different housing options, with particular focus on less known options such as senior co-housing, household groups, a caregiving family for elderly people, and multi-generational communities. Based on a cluster analysis, the authors explore which housing options are acceptable to the elderly in Slovenia, how people are grouped regarding the acceptability of moving elsewhere when in need of care, as well as the characteristics of these groups—that is, their socio-demographic characteristics, their current dwelling and neighbourhood characteristics, and attachment to their dwelling and neighbourhood
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 2763715Housing is one of the basic human goods and rights. Its role is multilateral, as it allows satisfying many human needs, and in addition, housing is not limited to a narrow living space, but also includes a wider living environment in which an individual resides. Particularly at the time of age, housing is supposed to have a special meaning. According to various studies, the elderly want to stay in their living environment as long as possible. Through the analysis presented in this article this was confirmed also for Slovenia. It turned out that older people are very attached to their home or home environment, and that they are satisfied with staying in it. At the same time, there are also some differences between the elderly, depending on how old they are, where they live, how long they live in their homes, etc.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 2776259There has been a noticeable intensification of the discussion in the literature on the topic of home ownership as an instrument of accumulation of wealth, especially in relation to the welfare state transformations that have occurred across Europe in recent decades. The thesis, originally advanced by Jim Kemeny, has been expanded by various authors exploring the potential for home ownership to function as a pension. The literature discourse on this topic has, this far, focused on developments in Western European countries, with only rare contributions addressing post-socialist Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. This paper contributes to the debate with an investigation of the validity of this theory in one of the CEE countries. Can the relevance of the theory be confirmed in a country where owning a home may have a fundamentally different meaning compared to that it has in others where it may have some degree of validity?
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 2873795In times of globalization and increasing individualisation the decreasing importance of local community is often debated. The neighbourhood is supposed to become less important as a source of social ties. At that the elderly are the group on which these trends would have the most negative impact, as they are more oriented on their immediate environment due to lower mobility. In the article we discuss what is the evaluation of elderly of their neighbourhood, the role of neighbours in their social support networks and the changes in time. At that we observe the neighbourhood as a potential actor in community care. The results indicate that the importance of neighbourhood is decreasing and that the neighbours are less often the source of various types of social support. This trend can be seen in both observed generations (middle-aged and elderly). However, the difference between generations is present and indicates higher importance of neighbours for the elderly. The neighbourhood still presents (although limited) source of community care and source of ontological security.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 33486173