Extent of Mental Health among Elderly of Rural Haryana

Page: 79-82

Praveen Kumar and Meenu Singh (Department of Sociology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana)

Mental health of older persons is influenced not just by ageing changes in the body and brain, but by socio-economic and psychological factors (Prakash, 2002). Ageing not only affects a person’s looks, but also becomes a cause of physical deterioration. Psychological problems are also common among elder one (Bangari & Tamaragaudi, 2014). Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, emotional and overall psychological well-being. It is all about how people think, feel and behave. Mental health can affect daily living, relationship and even physical health. Therefore the present study was conducted to investigate the mental health status of rural elderly. The study was conducted in ahirwal and bagar eco-cultural zones out of 5 cultural zones of Haryana (Menon, 2002) Hisar and Mahendragarh district of Haryana State on 360 rural elderly who were selected randomly from Hisar and Kanina Block. It was found that 64.2 percent elderly were always playing useful role in family followed by 85.6% who sometime concentrate on work. Mental health status is average in (52.8%) cases as per observation of study. The status of Mental Health can be further improved by involving them in decision making and make them more useful to family and Society.