A Descriptive Study of a Safe Community in the Elderly Residents of Barangay Kaunlaran, Cubao, Quezon City

Abstract

This paper presents a descriptive study of a safe community in the elderly residents of Barangay Kaunlaran, Cubao, Quezon City. This was done by developing an American framework of a safe community that can be suitable to the Philippine condition. Specifically, the objectives of the study are 1.) to determine the features of a safe community according to the elderly residents of Barangay Kaunlaran, Cubao, Quezon City; 2.) to determine their attitude and behavior towards their community’s safety situation and; 3.) to identify and evaluate the factors that affect these perceptions. Moreover, the study makes use of a close-ended questionnaire using the survey method combined with open-ended questionnaire. It was administered to 100 elderly residents of Barangay Kaunlaran, Cubao, Quezon City or 10% of the estimated population of old people in the said Barangay. For this reason, this study is considered a qualitative research. In the American framework of a safe community for the elderly, a safe community is a place where they can procure their needs, wants and desires, in all aspects in life. The data gathered reveals that the respondents know the availability, as well as, the deficiency of the features of their community. Therefore, this contributes to the respondents’ perception that their community is safe. This is a similarity between two frameworks that leads to a positive result and which can also lead to an assumption that the American framework can be suitable to the Philippine condition. Another similarity that is also evident is the presence of crime in both settings. Contrary to the first similarity, however, this poses as a safety hazard that can be very stressful for these people and which can lead to a negative result. Regarding the differences in both settings, the installation of grab bars is not widely employed in the respondents’ community, which again poses as a safety hazard. Similarly, in both settings, the attitude of the elderly towards their safety situation in the community is said to be that of less anxiety, fear and worry regarding the untoward circumstances that happen or might happen in their community. These aged individuals should not feel threatened or hampered of the things they want to do. However, because of the safety hazards that were proven to be present in their community, it cannot be avoided that they would still feel the said emotions. With regards to the elderly’s behavior towards their safety situation in the community, it was found out that in both settings, the elderly know what to do in order to counteract the stressful situations they experience in their community. More specifically, they know what preventive measures to employ in their community. On the other hand, in the community of Barangay Kaunlaran, the respondents were not able to employ safety measures such as allowing extra time to cross streets and going in groups when going out in the neighborhood. Such an analysis of the data gathered was derived because of other several factors, aside from the safety hazards, that also considerably affect the elderly’s concept of a safe community. These factors are the inherent and learned aspects of the elderly, which include the biological, social and psychological aspects, and their acquired characteristics, such as their educational attainment and background, socioeconomic status, occupation, civil status and past and present health status.