THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELDERLY'S WELFARE STRUCTURE IN THAI SOCIETY: CASE STUDY OF UMONG MUNICIPALITY MUEANG LAMPHUN DISTRICT, LAMPHUN PROVINCE

Abstract

Objectives of this research article were to study knowledge on welfare of the elderly of local administrative agencies, to study the structure of the elderly welfare work of local administrative agencies and to propose a suitable welfare structure for the quality of life of the elderly in Thai society. It was a qualitative research by applied research. Data were collected by interviewing 18 key informants and participant observation and analyzed by content descriptive interpretation. The search findings were as follows: The welfare for the elderly of Umong Municipality Mueang Lamphun District, Lamphun Province was of 2 forms: 1) Providing welfare according to the government's mission, such as the elderly allowance 2) Providing integrated welfare among government agencies, non-governmental organizations and communities by providing opportunities for private organizations and citizens to take part in brainstorming, leading to the design projects and activities to meet the needs of  3 groups of elderly; bed bound elderly ,home bound elderly and social bound elderly. More importantly, it must truly be the needs of the elderly in the community under measure 4 S’s: 1) Physical health promotion 2) Mental health promotion 3) Promoting cognitive health and 4) Encouraging the elderly to live happily in society.