The Independence of Urban Hispanic Elderly: The Growing Need for Social Support Networks Book

This book will help health care and social services professionals to develop more effective mental health treatment and intervention programs to better serve the Hispanic elderly. Since the mental and physical effects of illness reduce the ability of the elderly to function independently, there is a pressing need for adequate social support networks. Social ties and the support network they can provide can become critical factors in the maintenance of independence. For the elderly, the reported consequences of a relatively weak set of relationships include psychiatric morbidity, poor adjustment to widow(er)hood, a greater risk of institutionalization, increased mortality risk, and delayed recovery from disease.

Because of the growing number of elderly people, particularly those of Hispanic descent, and their increasing longevity, the demands is increasing for long term care and social supports, and the dispensing of that care in both specialized settings (skilled nursing facilities, health related facilities, etc.), and community care situations (home with formal and/or informal care).