Day 3

Today was exciting as it was the first time I attended a focus group discussion! It was an entirely new experience to me as I had never attended an FGD before, and it was also conducted in Chinese. I was actually concerned that I might affect the flow of the dicussion or that the participants might temper what they had to say as they might have thought I would not understand them completely. I was also concerned about my ability to fully understand what they had to say as while I am proficient at Chinese, should they choose to use a dialect other than Cantonese I would not be able to translate at all.

What struck me most about the two FGDs today was the difference between the two separate groups of participants. The service users were visibly much less active and more sedate than the non-service users, who were an exuberant group. While I was expecting some difference, I was not expecting such a vast dichotomy between the two. This might have to do with my prejudices about the elderly however - I tend to associate older adults with being more sedate and having a calmer disposition, so to have such a lively group of non-service users was a surprise.

This however highlighted to me the truths about the various theories I have learnt in school, to do with gerontology - such as role theory, social exchange theory, etc. The seniors with stronger social networks and who led much more active lives were visibly happier, healthier, and younger looking as well. The group which admittedly were less active was more sedate and "down cast". The salience of the concept of Active Aging really hit me at that point.

It also made me reflect on how I might age in future - being so active now, I would need to occupy myself after retirement with things other than household chores or my (future) duties as a grandmother. Factoring in the physical ailments that come with age however make me wonder how active I would be able to keep myself in future.

In terms of the subject of the FGD, I was surprised at the responses from the participants. I had always suspected that the services available in the community were underpublicised to all age-groups, but I was not aware that (for example) not being told which hotlines were specifically for the elderly would make a difference in their utilising the service. I also had previously thought that trying to "save face" would be a deal-breaker for whether the seniors would use the service, but this somehow did not seem to be such a big issue for them. What mattered more were the preconceived ideas about what counselling was about - that it was only for those who were severely depressed.

It made me realise that, similar to several other community services available, that publicity was important not only in getting the message out there (and making the public aware of the services) but more importantly, in framing how the services are perceived by the public. This is especially important as we begin to introduce newer and more "up to date" services in the community, which undoubtedly would have mindsets that might not be able to comprehend how these services would be of use to them. In trying to do our jobs as social workers, it is vital that the various ministries (and the government) help to frame the services in a more positive light to the community; if not, no matter how good a job we might do as service providers, we will never be able to fully meet the needs of the community.

One thing I am concerned about would be transcribing the material collected through out the FGDs, as I am not sure how clear the tape recorder will be (or if I will be able to differentiate the various voices). Hopefully the notes I took in the FGDs will help with that!