The rate of old people over 65 was 3.4% of the population in Korea in 1970, 5,9% in 1995; it is expected to be 7.1% in 2000, 9.9% in 2001, and 13% 2020. With the increase of the aged, various kinds of senile diseases threatening the mental health of t...
The rate of old people over 65 was 3.4% of the population in Korea in 1970, 5,9% in 1995; it is expected to be 7.1% in 2000, 9.9% in 2001, and 13% 2020. With the increase of the aged, various kinds of senile diseases threatening the mental health of the aged have become a major social problem. Senile Dementia is the most serious one. By an estimate, 5% of the old people living in Seoul--24,800 out of 496,000--suffer from Senile Dementia and some 100,000 families are in trouble because of them.
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of sport participation and leisure activities of the old people on the chance of Dementia, to afford the data for its prevention, and to show the importance of the development and use the sport programmes having an important influence on mental health of the old people with normal perception faculty.
The statistical process methods utilized in this study for analyzing the data are MMSE-K Point(using individual interview method) and SPSS WIN Program version 8.0.(for analyzing the data on sport participation). T-test and One-Way ANOVA are used to verify a test of significance in the mean error between the demographic difference and sport participation difference.
121 male elderly from four Social Community for Senior Citizens around Seoul were selected as the subjects of this study by random sampling method. Their marks on MMSE-K showed the chances of Dementia according to the demographic difference, the degree of sport participation, the degree of indirect sport participation, and the degree of recreation participation.
The results of this study are summarized as follows,
1. The aged who are educated highly have less chance of Dementia than those who are not.
2. The aged who are paiticipating in sport actively have less chance of Dementia than those who are not.
3. The aged who are watching games or sportcasts on TV frequently have the less chance of Dementia than those who are not.
4. The aged who are participating in the recreational activies (including card games) have the less chance of Dementia than those who are not.