A COMPARISON OF SUBJECTIVE QUALITY-OF-LIFE INDICATORS ACROSS DOMAINS OF JEWISH SENIORS LIVING IN THE COMMUNITY

Abstract

This paper sets out to describe the comparisons of subjective quality-of-life indicators acrossdomains that enable Jewish older persons – and, in particular, those who are members of CapeJewish Seniors Association, Milnerton1 – to remain living in their communities. From the outset,and for the purpose of this paper, two concepts need clarification. Firstly, the term “Jewish”pertains to any one who professes to be Jewish either through birthright or religious conversion,and who consider themselves Jewish, irrespective of their frequency of attendance at a place ofworship. It also pertains to any person of Hebrew descent (Barnhart & Barnhart, 1987:1132;Lamm in Donin, 1991:8). Secondly, the terms “seniors”, “aged” and “older person” are usedinterchangeably and will be used to denote people aged 60 and over. The Older Persons Bill,South Africa, defines older persons as women and men aged 60 and 65 respectively ( Ministryfor Welfare & Population Development, 2003:3).2

Keywords

• subjective quality-of-life indicators
• jewish seniors
• community