Rural to Urban Migration and Resettlement: A Case Study Analysis on Psycho-Social Problems of Dislocated Elder People in Trichy, Tamil Nadu
Author : Lency Cherian and Garsho Rahul
Abstract :
The aged people play a vital role in passing over tradition, culture, values and experience to the next generation. They contribute effectively to society and they are valuable resources for society. So it is the duty of society to look after them in all aspects, especially their mental health. Due to rapid urbanization and development as a whole, a huge population moves from rural to urban places for many factors. And the main problem of this dislocation is the problem of psychologically and socially adapting to the different surroundings and an entirely new life style. More will be the difficulty of adaptation to urban life for the aged people to that of the younger generation. From living in a well-known and simple lifestyle to a much more busy and developed area, the aged people, mainly from the age of 70 and above, face psycho-social problems. Rapid urbanization, the influence and attraction of westernization and modernization are the leading factors of rapid rural to urban migration in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu. The elderly people who were dislocated from rural to urban areas are facing loneliness, depression and psycho-social adjustment problems in their daily life and it adversely affects their mental wellbeing and social life. These problems will eventually affect their physical health and lead to related issues. The problems of dislocated elderly people should be addressed and should provide psycho-social intervention to them. The present qualitative study design aims to understand the psycho-social problems of rural to urban dislocated elderly people and provide suitable social work intervention and suggestions. The researcher adopted a case study method for gathering data and the study is descriptive in nature. The data was gathered from the dislocated elderly people, in the age category of 70 and above in Trichy district, Tamil Nadu. The paper will conclude the major psycho-social problems of dislocated elderly people and the findings and suggestions will be useful for future researchers and also for the micro and macro level intervention of social work.
Keywords :
Dislocation, elder people, psycho-social problems
