Social capital and the care and support of older people in Ghana: understanding perceptions and attitudes

Ghana, like many sub-Saharan African countries, struggles with population ageing, but this is often under-reported, thereby marginalising the concerns of older people in major social, national, and economic debates. Traditionally, older people's care has been primarily entrusted to the extended family, reflecting and fostering collectivism and communalism. However, trends suggest that the traditional extended family system is declining and is no longer capable of sustaining older people’s care due to multiple interrelated and complex socio-economic and cultural factors, including structural social and economic changes, modernisation, urbanisation, individualism, and growing adherence among youth to a nuclear family system.

The study employed social capital as a lens to investigate the perception and attitudes of household members towards older people's care in Cape Coast, Ghana, using mixed methods. The study was guided by a pragmatist philosophical paradigm. Quantitative data was collected by a household survey using the Integrated Questionnaire for Measuring Social Capital (SC-IQ), and qualitatively through focus group discussion. The SC-IQ data on six proxy social capital variables were analysed through categorical principal component analysis (CATPCA). The focus group data was analysed thematically. The results were integrated for interpretation.

The study revealed that while social capital remains high at the household level, it has evolved from traditional extended family systems to membership in groups and networks, such as welfare associations and religious groups. Despite the high level of social capital, this has not translated into improved care for older people. The study also found a mixed picture in terms of attitudes to the traditional care of older people. The results indicate a mismatch between what people say and do in practice. They also show Ghana poised at a juncture, in which the old system of care has broken down but an adequate new one, reflective of the continued influence of communal attitudes, has not yet emerged.