Independence and home care for the elderly in rural areas near Chinese cities : Rural Sunan

In rural areas of China, with the aging of the population and the increasing number of nuclear families, it has become difficult for families to support the elderly, and home-based care services are becoming attractive.This paper aims to illustrate the significance and problems of families' support and home-based care services by analyzing living conditions of the elderly and their various care service needs. A survey was conducted in rural areas in Sunan, China, where home-based care services have already spread and lineal families usually have 3 generations. The survey is suitable for this study. This paper is composed of four chapters. Chapter 1 clarifies the current state of welfare policies for the elderly in rural areas, while Chapter 2 clarifies the different figures of elderly care services for the elderly at various ages. Chapter 3 evaluates the attributes and independence of the elderly, and Chapter 4 evaluates home-based care services. In the final chapter, a comprehensive consideration is given. The lives of the elderly vary greatly depending on their stages of independence. They support their children in the early stages of old age and receive mainly living and mental support in the middle stages. Since long-term care is required in the latter stages of old age, the burden on the family is heavy. However, due to changes in Chinese families, the function of conventional elderly care is weakening. Social support is now needed, especially when the period of full-term care is prolonged in the latter half of old age. In rural Sunan, this is referred to as“home-based care service.”This care focuses on housework and life assistance, and is suitable for elderly who need support in the middle stages of old age, but there is no health care service for healthy elderly in the early stages and no long-term care service for the elderly in the latter stages. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the institutional aspects, such as legislation, fund procurement, and securing of training for long-term care personnel to solve those problems