SOCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE IN CRISIS CONDITIONS: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The purpose of the article is to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of social assistance to the elderly in crisis. The scientific novelty of the study lies in а need to create the concept of «social assistance to the elderly in terms of social risks and threats to life and health» as a new area of research that will summarize developments in the social sciences and humanities. The concept will help reduce the level of social and vital threat to the benefit of life, overcomes the crisis and a new organization of own vital activity, by the state – effective social policy and social protection for vulnerable elderly, by civil society – a system of volunteering and mutual assistance. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study bases on an interdisciplinary approach, which relies on the concepts of philosophy, law, psychology, sociology, and other sciences. The system approach as a methodology allows studying the «system of social assistance to the elderly» as a complex system that includes a set of connections, relations between government agencies, and non-governmental organizations whose activities aim at providing social services; «mechanisms for providing social assistance to the elderly» – as a set of practical measures, methods, forms, methods, principles, tools through which social policy implements in the system of social services. Conclusions. The changing social reality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging the social and welfare security of the elderly. The need for social assistance is increasing, and the possibilities of using its traditional forms in lockdown conditions are narrowing. In a pandemic, the system of providing social services at the recipients' place of residence is of great importance, which increases the requirements for developing an effective mechanism to provide assistance in united territorial communities and to develop new forms of work, especially digital, in emergencies that threaten the lives and health and social ...