The purpose of this study is 1) to investigate the current situation and problems of the rural vulnerable class(the elderly living alone and grandparents-grandchildren families), 2) to identify the current conditions and problems of related policies, and 3) to suggest policy tasks to improve the welfare level of rural vulnerable class.
The research methods were the field survey, in-depth interview, collection and analysis of existing data, and so on. The field survey was conducted among 328 elderly living alone and 313 grandparents-grandchildren families. The in-depth interview was conducted among 20 elderly living alone and 10 grandparents-grandchildren families. Existing related data were collected by searching the data of related research institutes and governmental organizations. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage, means and cross-classification tables were used to organize and summarize the data. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the influence of social supports on the life satisfaction.
Major policy tasks to improve the welfare of elderly living alone are as follows: 1) nationwide expansion of group home tasks utilizing elderly hall, village hall, and so on, 2) reinforcement of meal services and nutrition improvement programs, 3) expansion of emergency safety care services, 4) improvement of the elderly employment tasks, 5) support of walking assistance appliance, 6) improvement of the elderly care services, and 7) improvement of the manpower assistance task for rural vulnerable class.
Major policy tasks to improve the welfare of grandparents-grandchildren families are as follows: 1) enforcement of periodical fact-finding survey, 2) enactment of the law for supporting grandparents-grandchildren families, 3) integrated case-management, 4) support of housework helpers and family counseling services, 5) adolescence mentoring program, 6) enforcement of grandparents education, and 7) construction of social support networks.


Researchers: Dae-Shik Park, Sang-Jin Ma, Kyung-Eun Choi
Research Period: 2010. 1 ~ 2010. 10
E-mail Address: pds8382@krei.re.kr