Italy, a Southern European country with 60.8 million inhabitants, has the largest proportion of elderly citizens (aged ≥65) in Europe of 21.4%. The aging of the population is due to a number of reasons, such as baby boomers growing old, an increase in longevity, and low birth rate. Although international migration has increased in recent years, the addition of a foreign segment of the population has neither compensated for nor significantly curtailed the aging phenomenon. The impact of aging on the economic sustainability concerns the progressive reduction of the workforce, high incidence of pension spending in the overall resources allocated to welfare, recent reform of the pension system, and the growing issue of "non-self-sufficiency" in the elderly. Despite limited financial measures dedicated to research, Italy is conducting important studies on aging, both at the national and international level. Physicians and researchers in the field of geriatrics and gerontology are not only promoting quality of life in the elderly, and healthy-active aging, but also contributing to economic stability and social organization. Finally, nutritional and lifestyle habits-and their role in preventing chronic diseases-are the focus of the current international event EXPO 2015, with many sections dedicated to the elderly.
This article analyses the work position of social workers in Italy according to national research carried out in 2008 which considers 1000 people registered at the OAS (Ordine Assistenti Sociali). The first theme it dealt with concerns spheres of professional engagement and the most relevant types of users whom social workers encounter depending on territorial context and work seniority. The other two themes concern working conditions, analysed according to activities actually carried out, and the interests that social workers show in these activities. On the whole, we found a national situation characterized, on one hand, by a wide plurality of working areas corresponding to the increasing plurality of types of users, and on the other hand, by elements of substantial homogeneity, concerning both the types of intervention actually carried out, and, above all, concerning the subjective importance they gave to them. In particular, the respondents gave high priority to the nature and quality of the relationship with the users of social services.
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