Our project focuses on helping elderly who live alone gain access to coping strategies.

One of the limitations of survey would be that elderly would not tell their genuine feelings to
strangers that they are not comfortable with (Leong, 2013), hence it is difficult for us to gain a
wholly accurate view of the situation as results might be more optimistic than the actual
situation. Also to prevent biasness, elderly have to be surveyed in a neutral location, e.g. their
home instead of the SAC. A possible suggestion would be to conduct surveys at a door to
door setting. Results can be moderated in accordance to body language ranked against a
depression scale, living environment and comments from social workers instead of taking
their answers at face value. This is especially so when obtaining answers to sensitive
questions such as are you lonely which tend to invite rather elusive answers. In such cases,
the elderly’s body language, comments from a social worker and their living environment can
be a more accurate guage of their mental health then their mere spoken words, which might
not be wholly accurate since elderly may be uncomfortable with sharing their mental state
with strangers.

Another possible limitation in dialect hotlines is a different counselor with every call. Elderly
may prefer the previous counselor they have spoken to as they prefer a familiar voice which
promotes a sense of familiarity. However in a hotline setting, the counselor is purely arbitrary,
they might get a new counselor every time they call. This may minimize sharing as with a
frequent switching of counselor, it is difficult to build up a relationship. A possible suggestion
is to allocate specific counselors for elderly and possibly time slots for elderly who call
frequently. This is to facilitate a formation of relationship between the elderly and the
counselor. In the event that elderly do not call at the allocated time slot, counselors can call
and step in to check. A limitation is the inflexibility of the scheme especially if there is a large
elderly base as elderly might not be able to change call timings flexibly.

Lastly, ironically, the elderly who require the most help are the ones least predisposed to
seeking it. Take elderly who are at early stages of dementia, and exhibit signs of depression,
they are less likely to mingle and partake in activities. Hence our action plans might not be
able to target these elderly who are most in need of help, as these elderly are unlikely to be
swayed by advertising and are unlikely to participate. Instead, preliminary action such as
identification of such elderly, and subsequent counseling by social workers to reintegrate
them into society should be carried out as a prequel to our action plan. The counseling by
social workers, could help alleviate the mental hurdles faced by the elderly and make them
partake in our activities which would enable the formation of relationships that would promote
good mental health in the long run.