Rhianna Solida

Social Problem Analysis Part 4

Melania Popa-Mabe

October 29, 2023

The problem of social isolation in the elderly is an issue that is experienced for a myriad

of reasons. Some of these reasons can include loss of mobility and senses like hearing and vision,

inability to work, illness that requires them to stay home, and the death of peers among others.

Elderly people are at a higher risk of experiencing these causes of social isolation and are

therefore more likely to experience social isolation. Some effects of social isolation can include

negative health outcomes, both physical and mental, and even death. There are different ways of

looking at the interventions available for socially isolated senior adults, through the needs-based

and rights-based approaches. These approaches look at the causes of the issues differently, and

because of this, prescribe different interventions.

A needs-based approach is one that looks at the individual client rather than the issue as a

whole, in order to treat each client based on their needs. This is done through professionals

performing needs assessments (Dover, 2013). These needs assessments allow the social workers

and the other helping professionals to determine what the clients see as their needs and identify

the “symptoms” that the clients are experiencing. A strength of this approach is that is works

closely with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and allows social workers to ensure that all of a

client’s needs are met (Mcleod, 2023). Making sure that the most basic needs are being met

allows for the more social needs, like where the issue of social isolation falls, to be met. This

approach also allows for the client to be the expert of their own situation, and share with the
social worker what needs they place the most value on (Dover, 2013). A weakness of the needs-

based approach has to do with the fact that meeting a client’s needs is limited by the available

resources (Dover, 2013). Resources may be limited by eligibility factors as well as area. Another

limitation has to do with the fact that a client may not consider an area of their life to be a need

as the social worker may. Some clients who experience homelessness may be alright with that

part of their life, even though it is a need on the lowest level of the hierarchy of needs. This could

stop the client and social worker from being able to accomplish their farther goals (Dover, 2013).

A needs-based approach concerning the issue of social isolation in the elderly would

mean that a case manager or social worker from an organization or agency would perform a

needs assessment on a senior adult who is either referred to their organization or has come for

services based on their own perceived needs. Interventions will be implemented by the social

worker based on the individually identified reasons for social isolation, such as the lack of

mobility, loss of senses, or loss of meaningful relationships. These would be treated as symptoms

and treatments would be prescribed on a case-by-case basis. It would be an advantage of this

approach that many needs would be able to be met so long as there are available resources. Even

so, it is a limitation that if no organization in a senior adult’s area can help with their needs, they

will not be able to receive assistance (Dover, 2013). An individual intervention for this issue

could be befriending interventions, interventions to provide higher mobility, and better health

care interventions. These interventions would solve the individual problems of single clients but

would not solve the underlying issues.

A rights-based approach looks more into the reasoning behind social problems to provide

interventions that would look more into the causes of the issues being presented. This would look

like a macro social worker finding more overarching issues that contribute to the problem. This
would look like social workers becoming involved in policy-making or advocating for client

rights to be upheld (Androff, 2013). Certain rights are guaranteed by individual states and

countries, as well as the UN, and the purpose of the rights-based approach is to make sure these

are being met and to help increase the levels of rights for certain populations (Androff, 2013). An

advantage to this approach would be that it serves a larger number of people than the needs-

based approach. It also treats the underlying causes for issues that require intervention rather

than the symptoms, meaning that it will become an issue for fewer people to begin with. A

limitation for this approach is that it does not treat multiple issues at once. While the needs-based

approach is more personalized and can treat all of a client’s needs simultaneously, the rights-

based approach is more focused on a single problem (Androff, 2013).

A rights-based approach concerning the issue of social isolation in the elderly population

would look like social workers and policymakers advocating for senior adults to have certain

rights that would guarantee their access to resources that help with their mobility, health care

access, transportation, and places for them to spend their time to build meaningful relationships.

A limitation to this is that these rights would likely not be able to be tackled all at once. They

would also likely take longer to accomplish than the interventions through the needs-based

approach. These interventions are also less individualized for the clients that they are assisting.

An advantage is that by advocating for these rights, fewer individuals will experience the

negative outcomes of social isolation to begin with. This approach also means that fewer

resources will need to be expended to treat the symptoms of social isolation.

My preferred intervention would be that of the rights-based approach. This would serve

the most amount of people so that they never even experience the extreme effects of social

isolation due to not having the correct resources. I also think that the fact that the rights-based
approach uses fewer resources that could be used to help solve other issues and more people is

important to consider. While I think that this approach serves more people, because it takes

longer to accomplish it is important to keep those who are already experiencing the effects of

social isolation and use some of the needs-based approach tactics to serve them as well.
 References

Androff, D. (2013, September 3). Rights-based framework and Social Work. Encyclopedia of
Social Work.
https://oxfordre.com/socialwork/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.001.0001/
acrefore-9780199975839-e-1014
Dover, M. A. (2013, June 11). Human needs: Overview. Encyclopedia of Social Work.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.554
Mcleod, S. (2023, October 12). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html