The aging speed of our country which has entered the aged society as the population of 65 year old senior citizens has exceeded 7% in 2000 is progressing by an unprecedented quick speed throughout the world. While the interest toward the aged is growi...
The aging speed of our country which has entered the aged society as the population of 65 year old senior citizens has exceeded 7% in 2000 is progressing by an unprecedented quick speed throughout the world. While the interest toward the aged is growing rapidly in gear with this trend and the problem of the aged followed by increase of aged population, the interest toward elderly welfare is getting increased. The Ministry of Welfare is trying to expand the elderly sanitarium facility or home welfare services and enforce a system called 'health caretaker' by introducing the「Elderly Long Term Care Insurance」and preparing a comprehensive countermeasure for the aged to cope with such problems.
As the opinion that elderly specialists are needed is increasing out of necessity to enforce this law, the caretakers and elderly social workers have been trained by non-official qualifications centered on field workers or university professors, the reality is that such education is lacking in organization or education and qualification management while similar organizations are scattered in random because such training is provided by private organizations. At a point of facing the enforcement of Elderly Long Term Care Insurance, the situation is that workers who are only in charge of professional nursing and caring are needed in reality for the aged people who are in need of protection. Moreover, because the reality is that government would even systematize the 'health caretaker' in addition giving a government authorized qualification if the education time of certain period has been completed, the fact that related professional workers are necessary is recognized by everyone.
In case of elderly welfare services, it is hard to expect satisfactory results if the professional workers are not ensured qualitatively or quantitatively even if the excellent facility or services are expanded and the method of raising expenses such as public or private care insurance policy, etc have been adopted. But just by looking at the fact that our country is trying to import the system called 'health caretaker', the reality is that the awareness toward necessity of professional workers on the field of aged people is still lacking and because the service is remaining at a beginner stage as it is lacking compared to the desire and demand of the elderly as the lower structure for providing services is insufficient, we must diversify the facilities providing elderly welfare while systematizing professional workers providing elderly welfare as government authorized license and raising them systematically by going through a certain curriculum and evaluation process by raising the awareness toward the necessity of elderly welfare for it to provide a diverse and professional services for feeble and handicapped old people.
Therefore, this thesis has examined the system of providing services for healthy aged people as well as the aged people who are in need of protection, the system of elderly welfare related providers that are scattered at random and also examined the necessity and introduction plan of elderly professional social worker system.
The introduction plan of elderly professional social worker system presented through this study is as follows.
First, although the professional social workers have been imported as national qualification system through the amendment of social welfare business law, because the professional social workers couldn't be adopted by each field and area followed by the system, the elderly professional social worker system must be legislated by elderly welfare practice which is the method to provide the services of professionally and continuously satisfying various demands of aged people who are able to live ordinary life as well as the aged people who are in need of protection.
Second, because the reality is that the conditions of social welfare job sites are unable to guarantee an environment to perform the job which sums up to the corresponding qualifications although the professionalism of social workers is being aimed at, I'd say that it is necessary to build an infrastructure for the field of social welfare.
The elderly professional social workers would provide a specialized and professional service for the elderly and this would contribute to raising the quality of long term care insurance policy while contributing to the promotion of national welfare at the same time. Therefore, the elderly professional social workers are expected to make the standard of elderly welfare one step higher by protecting the interests of elderly and subjects of long term chronic diseases through professionalism and by coping actively with the changing environment and welfare demands.