China has stepped into an aging society in 2005 with its 7.6% population reached the age of 65 and above(Flaherty et al. 2007; Population Division 2009). China already has the largest aging population in the world and is expected to have more than 400 million elderly persons by 2050, accounting for 30% of its total population(Beijing Municipal Working Commission on Aging 2009). It is confirmed in this research that China showed a clear and irreversible trend of population aging by different indicators in the past decades. Nonetheless, the degree of unevenness in its spatial development of aging population is high in China. How China’s social security system copes with the drastic demographic changes constitute the focus of this research. A comprehensive evaluation of the social security system for aging population in China, through a case study of Beijing, is conducted in this paper. The main channels of assistance under the current elderly social security system, including old age pension, social health care, institutional care and family care, are examined through statistical analysis. It is found that as China’s GDP grows, the provision levels of pension, health care and institutional care rise as well. However, there exists no significant relationship between China’s GDP and family care. This research further shows that social eldercare does not necessarily replace family care both in terms of financial support and daily living care. In contrast, more elderly depend on their own and also support themselves by labor income when family care is not available. The current social security system is found to be far from perfection and falls short of fulfilling the comprehensive needs of the elderly. The increasing severity of aging problem may worsen the situation. Developing a social security system with broader elderly coverage, fairness among the rural and urban residents and financially sustainability would be the future direction for China to face the problem of aging population. / published_or_final_version / China Development Studies / Master / Master of Arts in China Development Studies

It is generally accepted that there is social alienation towards the elderly in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong society, the poor elderly are stereotyped as being a group of weak, handicapped, and lonely people. Often they are regarded as outdated and unable to adapt to rapid changes in society. The virtue of respecting elderly is facing challenges because of rapid social changes. Recently, the government has proposed the elderly move to China to grow old. “Aging in Place” has become harder to archive nowadays and it is common for Hong Kong families to commit their elderly family members to nursing homes away from society due to the changing family structure. People admit that there are challenges and obstacles of letting elders “age in place”. Urban development, social gentrification, poverty and the decline of traditional cultural values have posed a considerable threat to the idea of “aging in place” in Hong Kong. Currently, in order to administrate with higher degree of convenience and effectiveness, nursing homes are often too “institutionalized” and lack relaxing and intimate environments. This thesis is attempting to re-code this planning strategy for an aging population and develop a new precedent of living for the elderly in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, it is attempting to make a rectification on present elderly home and retirement housing settings and to investigate the real needs of elders. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Zoology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1978. / Bibliography: leaves [269]-281. / Microfiche. / viii, 281 leaves

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references. / Microfiche. / xiii, 191 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

Although there is a general trend of aging as the expected longitude increase for human being, the developing countries which, according to the report of WHO, have grown old even before grow rich face a more challenging state than the developed countries. These countries, especially their rural parts, are less likely to adapt to the aging trend with relatively smaller medical budget, less developed professional training of care takers, and a lack of public awareness of prevention and treatment of geriatric disease.(Organization, Health, Promotion, & Course, 2011) On the other hand, it indicates a big stage for distant medical service to play because of its lower cost of implementation and effectiveness in controlling the overall medical expenditure given such service would help to prevent and control at a earlier stage of disease. Therefore in developing countries like China and for population like the older citizen who has less mobility, online healthcare information platform is expected to play a much more important role than in developed countries. At the same time, experienced can be borrowed from investigations and installations of online platform of health information designed for the older population where they usually serve as a supplement to the primary health care facility in developed countries like UK. / published_or_final_version / Library and Information Management / Master / Master of Science in Library and Information Management