Społeczne konsekwencje medykalizacji procesu starzenia się na przykładzie analizy portalu Senior.pl
Social consequences of medicalization of old age – an analysis the Senior.pl website

Summary/Abstract: Society is rapidly ageing, particularly in European countries. Poland is among the top seven countries in Europe in terms of the rapid growth of its ageing population. This situation makes it necessary to deal with many various of challenges, one of which is the public perception of the elderly. Theaim of this article is to present the process of medicalization of old age from the perspective of the media and the elderly. For this purpose, an analysis was undertaken of one of the Polish largest websites for the elderly – www.senior.pl, which made it possible to identify the social perception of old age and the aging process, as well as other topics which concerned the audience of the website. Results of the analysis demonstrate the extent of the medicalization and pharmaceuticalization of old age. However, the main emphasis of the websites exchanges was placed on healing medicines instead scientific medicines. The subject of the articles posted on the website was completely dominated by health, including a healthy diet and complementary and alternative medicines. The significant role of medical issues among all the articles and posts on the internet forum testifies to the perception of late adulthood mainly in the context of illness and disability. The website is used mainly by persons who are better educated, more active, and do not have problems using new technologies but it very rarely raises the topic of activation and education, instead focusing almost exclusively on diseases and treatment.

• Details
• Contents