A Nominal Group Process Approach to Identification of Assessment Needs of Multi-Problem Elderly.

Although nearly 11% of the population of the United States is over 65 years of age, there is, to date, no coherent national policy coordinating services to the elderly (Peterson, Powell and Robertson, 1976) . It is widely acknowledged that the elderly are the victims of inflation, rising crime, and lack of incentive to participate meaningfully in the nation’s economy. Nevertheless, Congress continues to plan for Federal assistance in a piecemeal fashion, treating senior citizens as a categorical group (Etzioni, 1976). Government services ranging from food stamps to crime prevention comprise 134 separate Federal programs administered under five executive departments and five independent agencies which come ultimately under control of 49 Congressional committees and sub-committees (Satchell, 1980). These services, seldom coordinated at the highest administrative levels, often reach the elderly through multiple local agencies in a fragmentary form with many categorical restrictions. Service coordination at the local level, as at the Federal level, has been plagued by formidable bureaucracy which forces the elderly into a dependent state in which they "... feel compartmentalized, subordinated, confused, and ’left out’" (Lowy, 1972, p. 28) .

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Year

1980

Author dc:creator

• Thibodaux, Louise R

• Elderly
• Federal assistance
• Crime prevention

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/6905

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.library.uab.edu:etd-collection-7897