Ways of Improving the Elderly Challenges in Oboro Ikwuano, Abia State

Providing appropriate care to the elderly is emerging as one of the major challenges of this century. The study identified ways of improving elderly challenges in Oboro Ikwuano, Abia State. Five research questions guided the study. The population consist of 244 elderly from Amawom and Umugbalu community in Oboro, Ikwuano LGA of Abia State. Multistage sampling techniques was used to select the sample size of 120 respondents for the study. The instrument used for data collection was the elderly challenged questionnaire (ECQ). The instrument was validated by three lecturers from department of Home Science /Hospitality Management and Tourism, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia Stata. The research questions were analysed using frequency and mean. The elderly persons should be accepted by the society, so they don’t feel rejected G = 3.41. love and affection from loved ones should always be given to the elderly to make them feel happy( G = 3.54), the elderly persons should live in a conducive environment that is free from health hazard (G = 3.33), should be adequately cloth as protection from weather condition G = 3.08 and should not be allowed to walk far from their environmentG = 3.04. Regular exercise and medical check-up( G = 3.56); and that the elderly persons should avoid alcoholic totally( G = 3.28) are ways of improving the health challenges of the elderly. The elderly becomes as dependent as a child does on their caregivers, financially, emotionally or physically, thus leaving a broad window for possible health challenges, and therefore the elderly should be helped by family members, government and the communities to overcome these challenges. Based on the findings, the recommendations were made which include that government and family members should care for the elderly by providing the basic needs of living and the family members should provide the elderly with caregiver that will be of help both social and psychological assistence.