["Current city district-oriented counseling of the elderly"--forms of approach and intervention patterns]

The Federal Ministry for Youth, Family, Women and Health in the Federal Republic of Germany supported a research project on counselling processes with the elderly. The overruling aim is to enable them to live at home as long as possible. A model of preventative intervention was developed and tested by a group of gerontologists and social workers in Kassel. Every fifth inhabitant aged 60 and over in a working class district of Kassel was interviewed (n = 106) with respect to his/her living conditions and need for care. As a second step, all aged persons at risk (i.e. with low income, in social isolation, with health handicaps - as well as those of a very old age) were selected (n = 53). Two social workers contacted them at home and attempted to build up a relation of confidence with a view to active counselling measures. This paper reports some important statistical results and specifies the concepts of counselling procedures developed. They are basically biographically and help oriented, encompassing intervention in acute situations of need as well as counselling in the more restricted, traditional sense of the term.