Psychosocial Factors and Wellbeing of the Aged in Lagelu Local Government Area, Oyo State

Abstract

Aging is a series of processes that begin with life and continue throughout the life cycle. With a collapsing extended family, the aged no longer enjoy the care and support of the family members and relatives as in the traditional African society. These psychosocial factors affect the aged wellbeing and expose them to challenges of various dimensions. This study examines the psychosocial factors and well-being of the aged in Lagelu local government area of Oyo state, Nigeria. A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. A purposeful sampling technique was used to select the sample of 200 aged persons. Self-developed questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument. Three hypotheses were tested with inferential statistics (Chi-Square Analysis) and set at a significance level of p<0.05. The results revealed a significant relationship between loneliness and the wellbeing of the aged in Lagelu Local Government, Oyo State: c2 = 328.410, and p < 0.001; a significant relationship between depression and the wellbeing of old aged in Lagelu Local Government, Oyo State: c2 = 345.547, and p < 0.001; a significant relationship between environmental factors and wellbeing of the aged in Lagelu Local Government, Oyo State: c2 = 340.529, and p < 0.001. The study concluded that   financial, social, healthcare and housing issues are very critical to the wellbeing of the aged. The study concluded that social workers should be at the centre of implementing programmes and advocating for policies that would enhance wellbeing of the aged in the society.