Awaiting Long-Term Care Services in a Rapidly Changing Environment: Voices from Older Chinese Adults

Long-Term Care Preferences Among Chinese Older Adults: The Role of Sociocultural Factors

Understanding individuals' long-term care preferences is essential to the provision of person-centered care. This study aims to describe the preferences for long-term care settings and investigates sociocultural factors associated with long-term care preferences among older Chinese adults. Responses from 22,112 older adults aged 60 years or above were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Four ideal long-term care settings were identified: in-home care, community day care, institutional care, and undecided long-term care arrangements. The study found that the majority of participants desired to age in place at home, regardless of their health status and social support conditions. Therefore, research and advocacy efforts are needed to inform policymakers to strategically develop home-based long-term care supports in China.

Problems in the home and community-based long-term care for the elderly in China: A content analysis of news coverage

PURPOSE

The purpose of this paper is to identify the issues that limited the supply of home and community-based Long-Term-Care (LTC) for the elderly, offer essential insights into the sustainable development of China's LTC.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

A content analysis of news coverage on 12 major portals in China has been conducted to identify the issues.

FINDINGS

The results demonstrate that there are 12 significant problems in the supply of home and community-based LTC for the elderly. For the service providers, the lack of qualified LTC professionals, limited service types/low service quality and unrealised integrated care, lack of steady profit patterns are the three major problems. The deficiencies of the LTC system and the lack of incentive policies and legislation for private investors' participation are the two major problems faced by the government. The public is confronted with a shortage of home and community support resources and unable to adapt to a change due to their mindsets.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The issues identified in this paper can not only provide some opportunities to various stakeholders in this area but also offer insights into the sustainable development of China's LTC.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The findings presented in this paper provide the means to understand the home and community-based LTC market in China for private investors and government, which will help to promote the cooperation between the two.

Allocation of Eldercare Responsibilities between Children and the Government in China: Does the Sense of Injustice Matter?

China's large aging population poses grim challenges to eldercare provision. Against the background of withering traditional kinship-based eldercare and the increasing significance of government-sponsored support programs, this study draws on data from the 2013 Chinese General Social Survey to investigate not only the correlation between the sense of social injustice and the preference to allocate eldercare responsibilities between public and private agents but also how this correlation varies between urban-versus-rural regions. We find that perceived social injustice is significantly correlated with the odds of designating the government, instead of family members, to shoulder eldercare responsibilities. Further mediation analysis suggests that this correlation is mediated through concerns about eldercare. On average, the link between perceived social injustice and the preference for eldercare duty allocation is weaker in rural China than in urban China. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.