Social work services for older persons in LeSotho : guidelines for practice

Abstract

Lesotho, like many other African countries is confronted with the clinical, social and fiscal challenges of meeting the needs and demands of an ageing population. Though, historically, the extended family’s multi-generational householdold has been an important source of care for older persons in African settings, it has been rendered ineffective by factors such as poverty, modernisation, urbanisation and globalisation. The goals of this study were to develop an in-depth understanding of the social work services offered to older persons, to determine the kind or type of services they require and offer practice guidelines for social work services in Lesotho. This study employed the qualitative research approach, guided by phenomenological, exploratory, descriptive and contectual research designs. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with a sample of 13 older persons, 11 social workers and 10 social auxiliary workers. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to identify suitable participants for the study. Furthermore, five steps were used in the analysis of data (Terre Blanche, Durrrheim & Painter, 2011:33). Despite the shift in orientation from welfare to the developmental approach, in the delivery of services by social workers, services for older persons in Lesotho remain largely welfare and residual in nature. There is also slow progress in the implementation of the developmental approach. This has been attributed mainly to inadequate financial and human resources in Lesotho’s Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), and the lack of interagency and multidisciplinary collaboration and coordination among stakeholders.Though ageing cannot be prevented, it is possible that some of its consequences can be mitigated or delayed, to enable older persons to enter old age successfully and with dignity. The guidelines for social work practice include the fact that the social workers should reach out to older persons at their homes as well as carry out an assessment/s to determine their needs and appropriate intervention. The social workers should also play a lead role in facilitating interdiscipilinary and interagency collaboration and coordination, to ensure the provision of comprehensive services to older persons.