Awareness about Social Security Schemes among elderly: A comparative study among rural and urban population of Khordha District, Odisha

Abstract

Background: Demographic transition has led to a rise in elderly population, their social security being a priority. Awareness and utilisation of these being less researched, we undertook this study. Aim & Objective: To find the awareness regarding existing social security schemes, the pattern of their utilisation and enlist the challenges faced in utilising them. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to March 2018, among randomly selected consenting elderly in the urban and rural field-practice areas of a medical college. Data was analysed using EpiInfo software. Results: A total of 540(270 each in urban and rural) participants were included.55.93% in urban and 51.48% in rural were aware and 33.38% in urban and 15.56% in rural utilised atleast one of the schemes. 27.78% in urban and 25.19% in rural expressed their dissatisfaction with the pension received. The differences in the awareness about property protection and old age pension had a statistically significant difference between the urban and rural population with better awareness among the urban elderly. Conclusions: The awareness levels were nearly the same in the urban and rural population, but utilisation rates had a marked difference. Lesser utilisation in rural areas needs to be researched, causes identified and addressed.