TY - JOUR
T1 - China’s Elder Care Policies 1994–2020
T2 - A Narrative Document Analysis
AU - Krings, Marion F.
AU - van Wijngaarden, Jeroen D.H.
AU - Yuan, Shasha
AU - Huijsman, Robbert
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/5/18
Y1 - 2022/5/18
N2 - Until the 1980s, institutional elder care was virtually unknown in China. In a few decades, China had to construct a universal social safety net and assure basic elderly care. China’s government has been facing several challenges: the eroding traditional family care, the funding to assure care services for the older population, as well as the shortage of care delivery services and nursing staff. This paper examines China’s Five-Year Policy Plans from 1994 to 2020. Our narrative review analysis focuses on six main topics revealed in these policies: care infrastructure, community involvement, home-based care, filial piety, active aging and elder industry. Based on this analysis, we identified several successive and often simultaneously strategic steps that China introduced to contend with the aging challenge. In Western countries, elder care policies have been shifting to the home care approach. China introduced home care as the elder care cornerstone and encouraged the revival of the filial piety tradition. Although China has a unique approach, the care policies for the aged population in China and Western countries are converging by emphasizing home-based care, informal care and healthy aging.
AB - Until the 1980s, institutional elder care was virtually unknown in China. In a few decades, China had to construct a universal social safety net and assure basic elderly care. China’s government has been facing several challenges: the eroding traditional family care, the funding to assure care services for the older population, as well as the shortage of care delivery services and nursing staff. This paper examines China’s Five-Year Policy Plans from 1994 to 2020. Our narrative review analysis focuses on six main topics revealed in these policies: care infrastructure, community involvement, home-based care, filial piety, active aging and elder industry. Based on this analysis, we identified several successive and often simultaneously strategic steps that China introduced to contend with the aging challenge. In Western countries, elder care policies have been shifting to the home care approach. China introduced home care as the elder care cornerstone and encouraged the revival of the filial piety tradition. Although China has a unique approach, the care policies for the aged population in China and Western countries are converging by emphasizing home-based care, informal care and healthy aging.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130184783&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19106141
DO - 10.3390/ijerph19106141
M3 - Review article
C2 - 35627677
AN - SCOPUS:85130184783
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 10
M1 - 6141
ER -