Social priorities

Definition

A social indicator is necessary in community development plans and they are the measure of some aspect of the Human Condition. The issue of social priorities comes immediately after as an application of the methodology for social policy to establish which actions will be carried out first and which follow after; according to a pre-established order or selection, asking the users or clients of a development plan about which issues should be the first to attend to and/or assign aid.

Social Indexes

These priorities are established by building social development indicators with indices such as: the poverty index, measured, for example, with one or more such as the Engel coefficient or the cost of the shopping basket or the level of self-sufficient economy. Once a list with each social indicator has been selected, it is necessary to have established the indices that define each indicator. In the example above, the poverty index could be defined by the cost of food divided by family income, that is, the Engel coefficient. The percentage of households without electricity or water also allows us to measure poverty. In this process, you can proceed with another indicator, such as the level of education or another one, the medical assistance facilities. Thus we end the scale of indicators that have been defined and composed with indices or percentages or averages, or any measure of statistical data. They are extremely useful for planning short- and medium-term objectives regarding the population's quality of life.

Selection of Priorities

The different concepts have been taken from the ongoing project, 1995 - 2006, Human Condition" in Barnstable County (CapeCod), USA.

• Qualitative social priorities for areas (indicators) that are considered interconnected and that have been studied in the last decade.

• Cost/and access to health care.
• Houses and homeless people.
• Self-sufficient economy.
• Violence.
• Substance abuses and other addictions.
• Discrimination.
• Majors.
• Young.
• Stress, anxiety and depression.
• Lack of time for himself and others.

The most voted in the polls are the issue of health, followed by housing and so on. In addition, some comment can be made on the evolution of development in the population since there are other surveys during the last decade. You can also have observations of a sociological type on the changes in the culture of the population since this and the needs define the priorities, a certain opinion in a functionalist analysis.

Housing and homelessness are priorities, however they appear differently in 1995. At that time, for example, the number of homeless people was not measured. Health-related topics have been redefined and raised their priority to first place in 2004. The last two Stress... and Lack of time... appear for the first time and are qualitative indicators. The Economy... indicator has also been redefined. Seniors and Youth are fluctuating, while Transportation and Unemployment do not appear. New indicators appear and others stop being used.

Other non-governmental surveys, from the local newspaper and foundations, agree on priorities within the range of the ten positions, but with differences. This question is interesting.

The Cape Business Magazine. Nov/Dec 2007, Peter Francese presents a vademecum of socio-labor and demographic issues for the County and on the same dates a survey of health issues is carried out by the municipal group Human Condition.

Methodology for the Total Project

Reviewing the entire process:

• A demographic study of the population and
• A socio-economic study on people who are going to vote or poll.

Both use statistics from the last two censuses.

• Field work for hypothesis contrasts.
• First a pilot sampling survey.
• Eventually exam other surveys.
• Development of the roster social indicators.
• Construction indexes to define its components.
• Establishment of social priorities for
• Sampling survey to build the table.

• Legislative and budgetary aspects.
• Posteror follow-up and critical of the Process.

The contrast of working hypotheses can also refer to the suppression of some or new priorities, or to the same indicators that measure them; but primarily with the field work the aim is to build a scale of priorities ordered by the importance that the respondents give them.

On the question of the importance of cultural evolution and values. A theoretical perspective in sociology and from the point of view of functionalism and measurement scales with the Indicators Juan Díez Nicolás emphasizes that cultural evolution causes changes in priorities. The responses of those surveyed serve to establish a scale of social priorities, but cultural evolution and changes in values make a difference. Similarly, economic development (needs) obsoletes some priorities and emphasizes others.

Human development indices and quality of life priority scales have been developed worldwide by the United Nations: Human Development Index, including Life Expectancy, Literacy Rate, Education Rate and Product Gross interior. The indicators of development objectives have cataloged 12 priorities with their statistics for all countries.

The first is poverty and, consequently, hunger.

In addition, the Values Surveys of ASEP (Spain) work on 12 topics on [materialism-postmaterialism] or materials and spirituals. Spiritual values are more important the higher the social class and the exposure to information grows. They have applied research methods on the most complex results such as 'path analysis' and graphic analysis. On the Internet: materialism-postmaterialism.

It only remains to comment that thanks to the clarity of the SIISE definitions, Ecuador, which have been very useful to write this article. On the Internet: siise definitions.

Admission based on social priorities in centers for the elderly

The increase in life expectancy and the low birth rate are causing an increase in the percentage of older people and an older population. And as a result, a greater number of cases of older people at risk of lack of protection and/or abuse.

Social services are the set of services and benefits for the prevention, care or coverage of the basic individual and social needs of people in order to achieve or increase their social well-being.

In article 8 of Decree 58/2014, of December 11, which approves the Catalog of Social Services of Castilla y León, it describes the situation of extreme social need as "one of a pressing nature that affects and compromises personal capacities, resources and means of subsistence, family and social relationships and security, generating a situation of serious lack of protection for the affected people that requires urgent, unavoidable and urgent intervention, in order to prevent it from worsening and/or or cause further harm."

The emergency admission file must contain the documentation required for ordinary processing, although in any case, it will be essential to issue the admission resolution, the application, the medical report and the social report, "the Services Manager Social, at the proposal of the corresponding Territorial Management, may exceptionally agree on the admission of an elderly person in an emergency situation in order to safeguard their personal integrity. (Decree 56/2001, of March 8, which approves the Regulations regulating the regime of access to places in residential centers for the elderly, dependent on the Administration of the Community of Castilla y León and to concerted places in other establishments)

The admission will be made in the first vacant position that occurs in any of the residential centers of the Social Services Management or in concerted places, taking into account the characteristics of the person.

Thus, the places for the elderly are classified as:

- Valid places for older people: People who maintain personal, physical and mental conditions, which allow them to carry out the activities of daily living autonomously.

- Places for assisted elderly people: People with limitations in their personal autonomy and who prevent them from carrying out basic activities requiring the help of third parties.

- Psychogeriatric places: People assisted with severe behavioral disorders, derived from or compatible with dementia, which make it impossible to live together.