Institutionalization for the elderly is a novel phenomenon among the Arab population in Israel

Institutionalization of senior citizens is foreign to Arab Moslem mores. Ho wever, the rapid modernization process witnessed among the Arab population in Israel is also leaving its mark on the social values of this community: the once axiomatic rule that offspring or close family act as sole caregive rs of the elderly person is losing its strength. Thus, the Arab community i s slowly viewing the idea of external caregiving in a more positive light. The object of the present descriptive account is to compose a primary profi le of the elderly Arab citizen who enters, or already occupies, one of the two old age homes for Arabs in Israel. The salient features that will make an elderly person a candidate for placement include lack of family, sick an d/or invalid partner, childlessness, loneliness, and diminished ADL (activi ties of daily living). To make retirement homes a meaningful part of the ra pidly westernizing Arab society in Israel, the contents of the formal servi ces aimed at these citizens is open to reevaluation.