농어촌 취약계층의 생활실태와 정책 개선방안

Abstract

독거노인과 조손가족은 농어촌의 취약계층 중에서도 가장 취약한 집단이다. 최근에 농어촌 독거노인이 사회적 이슈로 부각되고 있는 이유는 많은 독거노인들이 경제적으로 가난하고 건강상태도 나쁠 뿐만 아니라 사회안전망의 사각지대에 놓여 있기 때문이다. 농어촌 조손가족의 문제는 가난의 대물림뿐만 아니라 농어촌, 노인, 여성, 아동 문제가 복합적으로 연계되어 있다. 그러나 농어촌 조손가족은 소득, 건강, 교육 등의 측면에서 많은 문제점에 노출되어 있음에도 불구하고 사회적으로 제대로 주목을 받지 못하고 정부의 지원도 크게 부족한 실정이다.

이 연구는 농어촌에 거주하는 취약계층의 생활실태를 독거노인과 조손가족을 중심으로 심층적으로 조사하여 이들이 당면하고 있는 다양한 어려움을 해결할 수 있는 정책 개선방안을 마련하고자 하였다.

The purpose of this study is 1) to investigate the current situation and problems of the rural vulnerable class(the elderly living alone and grandparents-grandchildren families), 2) to identify the current conditions and problems of related policies, and 3) to suggest policy tasks to improve the welfare level of rural vulnerable class. The research methods were the field survey, in-depth interview, collection and analysis of existing data, and so on. The field survey was conducted among 328 elderly living alone and 313 grandparents-grandchildren families. The in-depth interview was conducted among 20 elderly living alone and 10 grandparents-grandchildren families. Existing related data were collected by searching the data of related research institutes and governmental organizations. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage, means and cross-classification tables were used to organize and summarize the data. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the influence of social supports on the life satisfaction. Major policy tasks to improve the welfare of elderly living alone are as follows: 1) nationwide expansion of group home tasks utilizing elderly hall, village hall, and so on, 2) reinforcement of meal services and nutrition improvement programs, 3) expansion of emergency safety care services, 4) improvement of the elderly employment tasks, 5) support of walking assistance appliance, 6) improvement of the elderly care services, and 7) improvement of the manpower assistance task for rural vulnerable class. Major policy tasks to improve the welfare of grandparents-grandchildren families are as follows: 1) enforcement of periodical fact-finding survey, 2) enactment of the law for supporting grandparents-grandchildren families, 3) integrated case-management, 4) support of housework helpers and family counseling services, 5) adolescence mentoring program, 6) enforcement of grandparents education, and 7) construction of social support networks.

Researchers: Dae-Shik Park, Sang-Jin Ma, Kyung-Eun Choi Research Period: 2010. 1 ~ 2010. 10 E-mail Address: pds8382@krei.re.kr