Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

A gradual yet rapidly increasing challenge in the field of health care and public health, especially in resource stricken regions and developing countries like Nigeria, is care for the elderly. Gathering their experiences is important for improvement of students’ and researchers’ learning. Therefore, this study engages the elderly in the community so as to improve teaching and research endeavors among students. Seven elderly women and men were invited to the classroom to share their ageing experiences with undergraduate students during seminar sessions. Shared experiences were collated and used as a means for a community outreach in order to create an enabling environment between the community the Department of Public Health. Many research questions arose from the engagement. How much does elderly care cost at the family level and at the institutional level? What are the perceived health-related challenges among the elderly? What is the perception of the level of care among the elderly in the community? What are the perceived needs among the elderly? To what extent is the quality of life of the elderly enhanced? Engaging the community in addressing the needs of the elderly, coupled with allowing the community to own the initiative, remains a powerful weapon. Encouraging students to drive such initiative spurs their interest into researching other elderly issues and such interfaces of learning become mutually beneficial in the education of students and improving the quality of life of the aged.