농촌지역 사회복지서비스의 수요와 전달체계 : 강원도 횡성군 사례를 중심으로

Abstract

급격한 농촌사회의 고령화는 농촌의 생산구조 및 기반을 축소시킴에 따라 농촌에서 불안정한 생활을 가속화하고 있다. 이러한 상황을 극복방안으로 농촌지역에서는 사회복지서비스 제공이 증가할 것으로 예상된다. 농촌지역의 특수성을 고려한 맞춤형 복지정책이 필요한 시점에서 농촌지역의 사회복지에 대한 수요와 복지서비스의 수요의 전달체계의 현황을 파악하고자 한다. 또한, 농촌복지의 서비스 활동이 마을 내 일자리 창출 및 마을공동체사업(Community Business)의 성장 가능성을 타진해 보고자 한다.

Research Purpose As the rapid aging weakens a foundation and structure of agricultural production, it has accelerated unstable life in the rural society. To solve this problem, it is expected that the provision of social welfare service will be increased. As a tailored welfare policy considering rural characteristics is needed, we try to understand the needs and delivery system of the social welfare service in the rural area. Additionally, we identify the feasibility of the creation of employment for the elderly or community business from the social service.

Research Method The survey as a quantitative method and the in-depth interview and focus group interview as a qualitative method were chosen for this study. In details, 188 elderly rural residents responded to a field survey consisting of closed-ended questions. The in-depth interview was conducted with approximately 10% of respondents to collect qualitative data. For 11 social public officers and 7 private social workers, a field survey and a focus group interview were also conducted. The in-depth interview and focus group interview followed the below process; ① obtaining all participants’ consent who take part in both interviews to record discussion, ② converting the recording into text transcripts, and ③ 3 researcher’s analyzing the qualitative data with Atlas.ti 6.0 program.

Research Conclusion and Discussion The study reached a conclusion as follows based on the results drawn from a field survey, in-depth interview and focus group interview. First, participants mainly desired to ① better access welfare services by transportation improvement, ② get support for farming activities as part of welfare services, ③ get health and medical services. Second, on the 9 major principles of the delivery system of the social welfare service, while most of the elderly responded positively, most social public officers did negatively. Additionally, most social public officers responded negatively to only questions for them on interaction with regular public officers, allocation of human resources, assignment of work, reflection of officers’ opinion, management of human resources. In terms of a question on cooperation and networking between public and private organizations to provide integrated welfare service, while most social public officers responded negatively, all private social workers responded positively. However, some private social workers in the focus group interview pointed out the lack of cooperation with social public officers in terms of delivering and exchanging information related to welfare services. Third, concerning the feasibility of the creation of employment for the old or community business from the social service, since most of respondents have engaged in farming in spite of an advanced age, it seems to be difficult to create jobs in the non-agriculture sector. However, it would be possible to make new jobs by approaches of development of welfare services founded on farming. Since rural communities tend to avoid welfare services by an individual, it will be more effective to be offered to them by a group in a community. Particularly, a group voluntarily organized in the community will have chances to extend its business by undertaking welfare business besides its original work. For example, an ‘agricultural support group’ which is established by a local agricultural cooperative can farm for the elderly at cost. Groups like the ‘sisters’ garden plot’ or local food organization forming the certain business foundation can also expand vicarious farming or welfare service such as ‘Elderly care by Elderly’ project by the additional employment. Since these businesses have difficulty making profits, government’s support is needed to meet their profitability.

Researchers: Byoung-Oh Lee, Jong-San Choi, Young-Ran Yang, Jae-Hong Park, Xi-Jie Jin, Gou-dong Xu E-mail address: bolee@kangwon.ac.kr