For the topic of experiencing help, I decided because I find the word help extremely interesting, a positive word and the word I first think of when I hear social work. We have often mentioned in college that people who need help go for "power", and as social workers we can add strength to them or add only something that we have and that others do not have or do not have enough of. Older people have a great fear of the possibility of functional walking, which would lead to the inability to self-sufficiency or independent living. At the same time, they are most worried that they will have to go to a social institution due to their deteriorating health and inability to provide for themselves, thus leaving their home environment. Thus, in my master's thesis, I wanted to find out how old people accept and experience the help of others in a period when they themselves are no longer able to live independently. I was mainly interested in how old people experience the help of another as their own helplessness, or whether the help of others gives them greater independence in life. I researched what desires old people have to receive help and what expectations they have towards their loved ones. The aim was also to find out what kind of support formal and informal networks are for the elderly and what advantages and disadvantages they see in formal and informal care. Through research, I have found that old people accept help as positive and welcome, help is not in their way and they do not feel powerless because of it. The help they receive relieves them, but they are also more independent and can do more things with the help of others than they would otherwise if they did not have help. The wishes and expectations of older people relate mainly to social contacts and relationships with loved ones, especially children, brothers, sisters and spouses, as older people want to socialize and connect with people, most often close family members and grandchildren. For those old people who do not have a large social network, it means more that they have satisfied emotional support and socializing, and for those who have a lot of visits and support from relatives, it means a lot that they also have satisfied material needs. During the research, I found that social networks of older people (in the foreground are close family members, then friends, neighbors, volunteers,…) are an important factor influencing the well-being and quality of care of people living in the home or benefit from home care. The interlocutors receive the greatest support from the closest family members, mainly in the form of socializing, conversation and a little less in care, while they receive support from formal caregivers mainly in the form of instrumental (material) support.
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