Landmarks in social welfare provision Essay Example

Landmarks in social welfare provision Essay SOCIAL POLICY Introduction Social Policy is a term which refers to some kinds of regulations, statute law, rules and operations that get into the life position helpful to human public assistance. It is the survey of societal issues that has a important relationship for human well-being. And the systems should be promoted for the well-being of human being. The Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics defines societal policy as an interdisciplinary and applied topic concerned with the analysis of societies responses to societal demand. It involves in recognizing the theories and some rules of societal subjects. The societal policy covers psychological science, geographics, jurisprudence, sociology, environment, political relations, economic sciences etc. It affects our mundane life that we can populate by. Basically societal policy is concerned with critical demands as in instruction, health care, H2O, nutrient, shelter that can do a life worth to populate. The publicity of intervention of ill, giving support to physically disable individual is the portion of societal policy. In short, societal policy is the survey of human well-being and intends to extinguish those jobs which are obstructions for human well-being. We will write a custom essay sample on Landmarks in social welfare provision specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Landmarks in social welfare provision specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Landmarks in social welfare provision specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Undertaking 1 Explore the historical and modern-day landmarks in societal public assistance proviso In the clip of 1901 to 1945 there was some of import landmarks for societal public assistance in united land. The authorities of united land introduced some public assistance plans to guarantee human well-being and to increase the living criterion. The important landmarks of societal public assistance are- 1901Seebohm Rowntree’s foremost survey of poorness in York, Poverty: a survey of town life. 1908Old Age Pensions Act: means-tested pensions from age 70. 1911National Insurance Act: illness insurance and limited commissariats for unemployment 1920 Unemployment Insurance Act: non-manual workers included. 1940Old Age and Widows’ Pensions Act: pension age for adult females reduced from 65 to 60. 1945Family Allowances Act: ?0.25 a hebdomad for each kid after the first. 1948National Assistance Act: Poor Law abolished. 1959National Insurance Act: calibrated pensions introduced. 1966Supplementary Benefit replaces National Assistance. 1971National insurance invalidness benefit introduced. 1975Social Security Pensions Act: province earnings-related pensions ( SERPS ) . Earnings-related national insurance parts introduced at 5.75 % . 1976One-parent benefit introduced 1977-79 Tax-exempt kid benefit phased in, replacing nonexempt household allowance and child revenue enhancement allowances. 1986Social Security Act: three major Bills in one. 1988Tax cuts and benefit cuts Top rate of income revenue enhancement down from 60 % to 40 % . Standard rate of income revenue enhancement down from 27 % to 25 % . 1994 Budget introduces ‘welfare to work’ steps to ease passage into paid work and promote full-time work. Assorted steps piloted Introduction of kid attention allowance for certain parents claiming household recognition and related benefits. 1996 Jobseeker’s allowance replaces unemployment benefit and income support for the unemployed. Contributory benefit is paid for 6 months alternatively of 12 and the degree is reduced for 18-24 twelvemonth olds ; jobseeker’s understanding is introduced. 2001Children’s Tax Credit introduced – a revenue enhancement allowance for those with kids. 2006The Government’s White Paper Security in Retirement proposes an increasing retirement age, personal nest eggs histories, and a basic province pension uprated in line with net incomes from 2012. 2008Welfare Reform Act 2007 comes into force. Equally good as doing minor alterations to profit statute law, it introduces a Local Housing Allowance to simplify Housing Benefit for in private rented renters. Analysis the quality of life for the service users have improved over clip The authorities has recognized the positive part of service users in societal attention planning and development of society. Service users are taking active and effectual portion in societal attention and wellness attention services. The societal theoretical account of disablement was made cardinal for service users by the authorities. It became the demand of independent life. Service users are interested in what work can assist them to carry through their intents and better their life. Examination of the past and current societal policies related to the wellness and public assistance demands of the population of United Kingdom during the period of political alterations and passage during and after the World War 2. The authorities took back the authorization of the local authorities board and national wellness insurance committee in 1919 under the accoucheuses act. There was some issues that roses by some groups interested in wellness and societal public assistance which affected their life as in Unemployment Poverty Health insurance Mental wellness Maternal and infant mortality Nowadays the authorities has taken some major public assistance plans for human well-being. Some of them are as Social Insurance Programs- It is concerned with the anterior net incomes and paysheet part which is based on pecuniary demand of a human being. Unemployment insurance- It provides fiscal support to an person when they are unemployed. Workers’s compensation- this is the 3rdof import plan. It says workers should be compensated if they are affected by fatal hurt from work or for other relevant standards. They besides should acquire medical aid. Explanation of the alterations in ideological attack since 1945 have impacted on modern-day societal policies After 1945 there had been a extremist alterations in assorted facets as in adult females rights. The authorities gave adult females the equality in the society. Children were being abused before 1945. The authorities had passed a jurisprudence that prevents it. Nowadays these kind of Torahs are practiced across the universe. Designation and application schemes to happen appropriate solutions Very specific regulations should be developed to happen a more accurate solution Heavy brainstorming to recognize the nucleus jobs Develop a long term program to increase societal consciousness Contemplation of work and justification of decisions Prior to the 1945 societal policy rules and patterns in the society was obscure. After 1945 societal policy was acquiring into form which is contributing for human public assistance. The society is acquiring the good impact of societal policy by recognizing and back up those policies. Undertaking 2 Key wellness and societal policy legalisation and short treatment about how the political leaders managed the station war societal public assistance policies Parliament is the lone house in where jurisprudence can be passed by the parliament members. This procedure starts with a measure of act base on balls through in the parliament. This act can originate from the parliament member or civil society or any other beginnings. If the authorities agree these proposal so it will set before the parliament. It will come up in the treatment on the footing of importance and dependencies.by formal regulations this should undergo with audience procedure. If the maximal parliament member supports the act, they will give their consent. And they set a class of action about wellness policies. After this the act can merely come in the whole system and the people should obey this act. There are some factors that affects wellness including biological factor, populating criterion and nutrition factor. Very important factors impacting United kingdom’s people wellness are smoking, association for intoxicant, bad diets and deficiency of exercising. If people are willing to alter their attitudes toward wellness so it is really easy to extinguish those factors to harm people. The modern-day political relations is a influential factors that can act upon the policy shapers to develop policy for their ain involvement. After the 2nd universe war the authorities of United Kingdom had introduced a station war consensus which covered the mix economic system, Bolshevism, unemployment, foreign personal businesss etc. after 11945 the authorities had launched some lodging policies to rehabilitate people. They opened a window to construct up educational centres, lodging undertakings, medical centre etc. the chief aims of lodging policies is that construct a friendly vicinity. The authorities intentionally extinguish the restrictions and reconstruct a free economic system to stabilise the state. B. Measure the impact of these policies and results Basically wellness attention and societal attention is the fact which is related to ‘care services’ . But it should be segregated from political relations and the current authorities. The UK authorities is profoundly focused on the separation of societal and wellness attention. If these two organic structures separated so it causes a major job in the society. It affects the society severely. It increases the medical intervention charge and other societal installations. The UK authorities intends to bind these Ts: two entities together. The authorities ensures that service users benefited by holding: Schemes for wellness publicity Health and safety Manual handling Data protection Food handling Care pattern Mental wellness Children Disability Design and use appropriate methods To do a successful design of societal policy some elements are to be considered. They are depicted below- Finding out factors that can impact the policy Analyze the environment in where the policy will follow Choose appropriate people doing policy To use policies the authorities should develop a proper system so that the policy can convey the proper result. There would be some drawbacks in the system. If the policy shaper take those drawbacks under consideration so it is expected to bring a better result. Duty for pull offing and forming activities Basically policy makes for the improvement of people. Each and every policy is a undertaking. It includes a immense undertaking to be done to convey outcomes. At first the responsible authorization should do a proper policy that can cut down obstructions from society. The authorization should take the duty to pull off the undertaking. To implement policy the authorization must form activities to follow the policy. Undertaking 3 Analysis the modern-day policy developments in Health and Social Care in the UK By and large, The UK government’s societal and wellness attention section works to plan a policy that delivers a societal attention system which enhances their self-respect and position, for all categories of people. The Government attempt to supply this installation in a broad scope as possible they can. They wanted to supply medical aid in wide scope for each people. Public wellness spheres and complementary wellness scenes are the current enterprises taken by the authorities. Besides those there are few policy that act every bit initiatives as wellness attention such as gender, cultural issues, disablement etc. for keeping that sort of policies, they has imposed some kind of ordinances. They were besides advancing their enterprises through local telecasting webs. They have besides taken enterprises in educational sector and nutrition sector. They did some educational runs and supply good diet charts for all. In those enterprises there is a opportunity to be linked up with a multi-agency partnership which creates 1000s and assorted sorts of occupation chance that can assist extinguish unemployment job. Evaluation the impact of the current policy enterprises on wellness and societal attention service users The United Kingdom’s authorities possesses a really impressive methods to guarantee that the policies, events and plans are practiced and delivered in broad scope in an efficient and effectual mode to peoples. The UK authorities committed to do grounds based policy. It is enrolled to UK authorities to possess a high quality policy rating. This procedure requires policy shapers and those individuals who will implement these policy to utilize the best available resources and grounds. Which is available in national statistics, national achieve, regulating agents etc. the authorities took over some scheme that includes public disbursement and revenue enhancement in the policy rating procedure. How can these policies to better quality of life of service users? The United Kingdom’s authorities tried to heighten the quality of life of their service users. For this purposes they took over assorted public assistance policy for their service users. Though it is a really hard undertaking to bind together these two entities, the authorities still making the occupation really expeditiously. If these entities breaks loose so many systems will be broken down. If those entities separated so those entities will be segregated and operated independently. Ex- infirmary discharge charge will be riser than old yearss if those two entities will segregate. This kind of policy can better the policy user’s life by take parting interested groups which works for their improvement. And these work as their representative in wellness attention system. They can besides take part in public hearing procedure and publically appointed councils as a member. Undertaking 4 Evaluate recent developments in Health and Social policy The authorities of United Kingdom supply a good finance to wellness and societal attention section to develop rules and guidelines to guarantee the societal public assistance for human well-being. The most recent and of import – Public wellness The authorities took some tough action against smoking. They banned smoking in public topographic points, banned tobacco advertisement in some topographic points. Under 18 elderly people could non purchase coffin nail from stationary store. They imposed baccy company to attach graphical warning about bad effects of coffin nails in coffin nail packages. By taking those actions England had the control over baccy. The bosom onslaught rate had fallen to 211 % . At last the public wellness position is in a good status due to this policy devising. Children and households The authorities launched every kid affairs project for the improvement of every kids. This undertaking introduced a new attacks for the well-being of kid, start at the clip of taking birth. Child protection After the decease of Victoria climbie the societal worker started to work on protection of child issue. They wanted a great communicating system between constabulary, instruction and children’s services. There was a positive result of their work. Social attention Social attention was so much neglected by labour authorities. Finally, the societal came into their ain way in 2005. In that clip the antediluvian system split up and the kids service section was created. They took some advanced policies that brought advantages to people. That was the twelvemonth at that place was a turning concerned issue about older people. Several politicians was profoundly concerned about older people when they were retired from occupation. Politicians brought the issue into lamplight. Then they took over some enterprises for the improvement of older people. Condemnable justness In the last decennary the universe sees the extremist alteration in the condemnable justness sector. The figure of prison officers is being increased by authorities for supplying a good care to the felon. The prison and probation installations is besides been increased. In 2000 there was around 24000 prison officers look after 65000 captives. And now there is around 29000 prison officers for looking after 85000 captives. There is crisp addition of condemnable offense, brought them to the justness. So there is monolithic additions in fixed P [ punishment mulcts. Analysis the differences in formation and acceptance of societal policy enterprises from other positions The societal and wellness attention policy has emerged in 20Thursdaycentury in United land. To do a great state the authorities provides assorted public assistance benefits to the citizen as in educational installation, communicational installations, wellness services etc. Health attention services has controlled by the private sector in USA. The authorities has launched some occupational insurance policy to command the wellness attention services. The USA authorities does non take part in those undertakings. In Japan, they are besides every bit like as USA. They besides gave these undertakings to the private sector. The private sectors operates wellness attention services and develop policies for the improvement of their citizens. There are many states like western Europe, the wellness attention system is operated by both private sector and province. The province makes policy and private bureaus comply those policies. It is a good scheme to hold control over the whole wellness attention system. In Waless, the wellness attention system is patient centre focused. The authorities is apt to reply to all citizens in this system. There is some communities responsible for doing rules, regulations and policies. In Scotland they follow a different system. There is a contract between authorities and single citizens. In England the policy ensures the betterment of wellness attention services rater t5han the policy. The system is maintained by a contract between the authorities, services and the clients. Why national Health and Social policies need altering over clip to react to the emerging social-political and economic tendencies The policy can’t be framed by some regulations or rules. It is ever a affair of alteration. The universe is altering twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours bit by bit. So the old system can’t work in the new changed universe. New policies should be developed to accommodate with the new universe. Otherwise the system will fall in down. Every twenty-four hours there are some new jobs comes into the lamplight that should be dealt with. Harmonizing to Margaret Thatcher ‘We offered a complete alteration in direction’ . Changes should be done in a way that brings the benefit to the service users and to the statute law for the accomplishing their ends. we see that there is rapid growing of population, technological revolution is taken topographic point. In this state of affairs the old policy arises a at odds issue with these. Although any policy that involves with important alterations related with major cost that will necessitate political support accomplishment s but that should be done one twenty-four hours to get by with the altering universe. Decisions Since 1945 the authorities has recognized the value of societal public assistance and policy. The people of the nation’s understood the importance of the societal public assistance for increasing their criterion of life, self-respect and opportunity of populating independently. The UK authorities made some important landmarks in assorted sector after the Second World War. They increase the adult females rights. The political leaders lead the state in the economic adversity after Second World War. They made some important act to better the parliament act. They introduced some act such as wellness act and societal attention act. In that clip the authorities was profoundly concerned about those two entities as in wellness attention and societal attention. They are intended to bind them with each other. The UK authorities ever tried to distribute out the public assistance undertaking to every citizen of the state. Besides the medical aid they besides did some educational run and t ook some societal consciousness undertaking. In the blast decennary we saw some betterment in wellness attention and societal sector. There is been alteration in public wellness, condemnable justness, protection of kid, immature and old people issues. In every state there are some kind of societal policy are possessed. Many states are in contract between citizens. Many states transferred this occupation from public to private sector. In the border of globalisation everything is altering quickly. In the age of technological revolution the policy can non be fixed in old mode. The policy should be changed with the altering universe to make better for people.

Depression and Life Satisfaction Essays

Depression and Life Satisfaction Essays Depression and Life Satisfaction Essay Depression and Life Satisfaction Essay The correlation between depression and life satisfaction for older adults was examined using questionnaires. Four hundred and one older adults (age 65 and above) filled out two questionnaires that assessing depression and life satisfaction, as well as two irrelevant questionnaires that were used to prevent from guessing the hypothesis. As hypothesized, significant negative correlation was found between depression and life satisfaction for older adults. However, the strength of the correlation was quite low. This might due to the inadequate use of questionnaires or participants’ characteristics. Keywords: depression, life satisfaction, older adults Effect of Depression on Life Satisfaction for Elderly Population People who are suffering from depression tend to have a negative view of life. Consequently, they generally have lower level of life satisfaction as well. Previous research has suggested a strong negative correlation between depression and life satisfaction. That is, as one gets more severe in his depression symptoms, his overall life satisfaction will decrease dramatically. For example, in one study conducted by Headey, Kelley and Wearing (1991), the participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing their general life satisfaction, positive affect, anxiety and depression. They found that â€Å"one of the well-being (psychological) dimension, life satisfaction, is quite strongly and negatively correlated with a distress (psychological) dimension, depression; life satisfaction and depression are near opposites† (p. 63). This result was not only limited to one study. In the early studies, Frisch, Cornell, and Villanueva (1989) also obtained significant negative correlations between life satisfaction and depression. Furthermore, Frisch et al. explored the underlying process of the relationship between depression and life satisfaction. They suggested that depression was a combination of negative self-evaluation and hopelessness, which in turn were â€Å"based on repeated failures to fulfill aspirations and meet personal standards in highly valued areas of life (life dissatisfaction)† (p. 92). Recent research suggested that one of the most susceptible groups to depression was the elderly population. According to Socio-emotional Selective Theory (Carstensen, 1992), as individuals age, they desire less social stimulation and novelty, and tend to select close, reliable relationships to meet their emotional needs. However, since access to close relationships was not always readily available for elderly people, loneliness might be a result. Consequently, there was a potential risk of developing depression. Additional research supported this theory. In his study of elderly and depression, Alexopoulos (2005) argued â€Å"psychosocial adversity, including economic impoverishment, isolation, caregiving, and relocation, tended to contribute in psychological changes, thereby further increasing susceptibility to depression or triggering depression in already vulnerable elderly individuals† (p. 1961). Both arguments were plausible in explaining the reason why older adults were the easy target of depression, and they also led us to a question – was the correlation between depression and life satisfaction for elderly population just as strong and negative as the general population? We have to recognize that the elderly population is somewhat different from the general population. Most people who comprise this group have accomplished their careers and start enjoying the relaxing later years of their lives. After all, it is time to taste the fruit of their labor. Therefore overall, elderly individuals should have more sense of achievement and therefore a higher level of life satisfaction than general population. However, as discussed before, the elderly group is also more likely to be vulnerable to depression. The deterioration in health, loss of established interpersonal relationships, and a sense of weakened control over one’s life, all could be the contributions to depression (Chao et al. , 2006). In addition, the decrease in energy and slow-paced life style may also make some elderly people feel hard to cope with. Under these unique circumstances, will depression still exert a strong influence on the perception of life satisfaction, or the feeling of achievement will override the feeling of loneliness? The current study explores possible relationship between depression and life satisfaction for older adults. Specifically, it is hypothesized that for older adults, higher level of depression is strongly associated with decreased life satisfaction. Method Participants Four hundred and one older adults (177 males, 224 females, Mage = 72. 98 years, age rage: 65. 23 – 94. 24 years) were recruited from doctor’s offices during their routine physicals in Ontario, Canada. The participants were predominantly White (92. 3%), with some Black (7. 7%) patients as well. One percent of the participants were disabled either physically, visually or audibly. In this case, the surrogate of the disabled participant could assist him to complete the study. The rest of the participants were relatively healthy and no participant was having a major health concern. Almost all of the participants (99. 1%) lived either in a house or an apartment, with only 0. 9% lived in board and care home, or other arrangements. A majority of the participants (87. 1%) were retired or were homemakers. Nonetheless, there was still a considerable proportion of participants (12. 0%) working at either a full or part time job. The participants and their surrogates were both compensated with 10 dollars for their participation. Materials and Procedure Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) Short form developed by Andresen et al. , (1994) was used in assessing depression in this study. The original CES-D comprised 20 items measuring the current level of depressive symptomatology, with emphasis on the affective component, depressed mood. The scale demonstrated a very high internal consistency for general population (? = . 85) and psychiatric patient population (? = . 90), as well as adequate test-retest reliability (correlation range: . 45 . 70). CES-D Short form consisted 10 out of 20 items from the original scale that was aimed to test for reliability and validity among well older adults. Items without high correlation to the total score or items deemed redundant by high correlations to each other were eliminated to form the 10-item version. The response to the CES-D ranged from 1 (rarely or none of the time) to 4 (most or all of the time), and the total was calculated by summing across items and dividing by the total number of items (10). Patients who had a total of 10 or higher on the CES-D were classified as possessing a high number of depressive symptoms. Life Task Participation/Satisfaction Questionnaire developed by Harlow Cantor (1996) was used in assessing participants’ level of life satisfaction. The first part of the questionnaire, Participation, comprised 33 activities that fit into 8 clusters: social activities (e. g. informal visiting with friends or neighbors); mass communication use (e. g. reading books); building knowledge (e. g. reading professional publications); home activities and hobbies (e. g. home repair or maintenance); artistic activities (e. g. playing or singing with musical group); activities outside home (e. g. ttending sporting events); service activities (e. g. community service); and games (e. g. board games with others). Participants indicated the extent to which the participated in these activities on a four point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 4 (frequently). In the second part of the questionnaire entitled Life Satisfaction. Participants indicated their level of satisfaction on a five point sca le in the following eight areas: paid work, hobbies and recreation, marriage, children, friendships, community service activities, participation in cultural activities and religion, where 1 = extremely satisfying and 5 = not at all satisfying. Finally, in the last part of the questionnaire, Prior Life Satisfaction, participants indicated how satisfied and important they felt with each of the following domains: occupational success, family life, friendships, richness of cultural life, and service to society. The response was recorded a five point scale, where 5 = Extremely satisfied / Extremely important and 1 = Not at all satisfied / Not at all important. Procedure CES-D and Life Task Participation/Satisfaction Questionnaire, along with two other irrelevant questionnaires were administered to the patient and his surrogate at the same time in the doctor’s office after the patient finished the physical examination. The purpose of the irrelevant questionnaires was to prevent the participants from guessing the real hypothesis. If the surrogate was absent, a copy of the questionnaires would be mailed to him with detailed instructions (e. g. how to fill out the questionnaire and how to mail it back). If the patient was unable to physically complete the questionnaires, his surrogate could record his response for him, but could not complete the questionnaire for the patient. There was no time limit on completing the questionnaires and the patient and his surrogate were not allowed to communicate. At the end of the study, both patient and his surrogate received a compensation of 10 dollars. Results Six participants’ partial data were missing and therefore excluded from the analysis tests for those variables of CES-D. The dimensionality of the 10 items from the CES-D short form was analyzed using principal axis factoring analysis. The scree plot indicated that the CES-D short form was one-dimensional. This result was consisted with what CES-D designed to emphasis on – depressed mood. All the correlations were greater than . 30 except for one item: â€Å"sleep was restless† (r = . 189). This item differed in content from the other nine items in that sleeplessness was not exactly a depressive mood, but more of an outcome of depressed mood. Based on the result, this one item assessing the outcome of depression was eliminated from the scale. All the item-total correlations for the revised nine-item scale were greater than . 0. The revised scale was retained the name â€Å"Depressive Mood† to reflect the content of the items. The internal consistency estimates of reliability were computed for Depressive Mood scale using coefficient alpha. Value for coefficient alpha was . 78, indicating satisfactory reliability. Similarly, the dimensionality of the eight items from the Life Satisfaction part of Life Task Participation/Satisfaction Questionnaire was analyzed using principal axis factoring analysis. Based on the scree plot, two factors were rotated using Direct Oblimin rotation procedure. The rotated solution yielded two interpretable factors, satisfaction with personal life and satisfaction with interpersonal groups. No items loaded on both factors. The internal consistency estimates of reliability were computed for Life Satisfaction scale using split-half coefficient. For the split-half coefficient, the scale was split into two halves such that the two halves would be as equivalent as possible. In splitting the items, we took into account whether items assessing the satisfaction of personal life or the satisfaction of interpersonal groups. One of the halves included items â€Å"how satisfying is paid work,† â€Å"how satisfying is community service, â€Å"how satisfying is culture,† and â€Å"how satisfying is religion,† while the other half included items â€Å"how satisfying are hobbies,† â€Å"how satisfying is marriage,† â€Å"how satisfying are children,† and â€Å"how satisfying are friendships. † Values for split-half coefficient was . 52, indicating a low internal consistency. Note that for Life Satisfaction scale, eight indicated â€Å"not applicable. † Therefore in factor analysis and reliability test for Life Satisfaction scale, the data of the participants who indicated â€Å"not applicable† were excluded. The reason why they were excluded was because an indication of eight could be a large influence on the mean and therefore the results would be misleading. More than half (68. 1%) of the participants’ data were excluded for this reason. The results shown above were based on 128 (31. 9%) valid cases. Pearson Correlation coefficients were computed between two items: CES-D total for patients and total life satisfaction for patients. The test was based on 393 participants, with eight participants excluded from the analysis due to their missing data. The result of the correlation analyses was significant, r(391) = -. 1, p = . 0125. This result suggests that there is a negative correlation between depression and life satisfaction. However, the relationship between these two variables is weak. Discussion The finding from the current study indicated that for older adults, there was a significant negative correlation between depression and life satisfaction, despite the relationship was weak. It supported the hypothesis of higher level of depression would be associated with decreased life satisfaction. However, the finding failed to support the hypothesized strength of the relationship. This result was consistent with the findings of Headey et al. (1991) in terms of direction, but not strength. This might indicate that the questionnaires used in this study were not fine enough to discover a high correlation between the two variables in reality. A replacement of one or both of the questionnaires could be taken into account in future studies exploring the relationship between depression and life satisfaction. The low correlation might also due to the characteristics of the participants. For example, the participants were predominantly (92. 3%) White and almost all of them were living independently. Consequently, a replication of the study to other ethic groups was necessary before generalizing the finding to other populations. Similarly, almost all the participants (99. 1%) lived independently in a house or an apartment. Therefore, a replication of different living arrangements could be conducted as well. The result of the current study supported that an increase in life satisfaction could result in a decrease in depression. This might gain some insight into the treatment for depression for older adults. That is, the treatment for depression could be directed towards increasing in life satisfaction. For example, engaging in extensive social interactions or employment could make one feel fulfilled and satisfied, and therefore decreased the likelihood of developing depression. Previous research supported this implication. A study conducted by Aquino, Cutrona, and Altmaier (1996) suggested that social support, as well as participation in paid and volunteer work, were significantly and positively related to life satisfaction within elderly populations, with volunteering activities â€Å"significantly related to higher levels of social support. In summary, the current study yielded partially similar results to previous research. That is, there was a negative correlation between depression and life satisfaction for older adults, but the relationship was weak. Therefore in general, life satisfaction seemed to be a good indicator of signs of depression for both general population and elderly population. Furthermore, future research could explore whether gender difference will affect th e direction or strength of the relationship.